Romeo & Juliet on Valentine's Day

I saw Franco Zefferelli's stunning 1968 "Romeo and Juliet" on the Castro Theatre's big screen just blocks from the Mission District in San Francisco's historic Castro neighborhood.

My friend Jessica and I, decided to be each other's Valentine's date the only night before and thus, didn't have tickets to the sold out show. We managed to score vertiginous balcony seats by just showing up and letting the universe provide the tickets.

Not only was it a treat to see such a film on the type of screen it was meant to be seen on, but it was also an experience reminiscent of a time when single, big screen movie houses dominated in an era before the multiplex. The theaters themselves were integral parts of their communities serving as common gathering spots and helping to sustain local business such as restaurants, bookstores and cafes. That was why movie going used to be such an experience, precisely the experience that cannot be replicated on a plasma TV with 500 channels or in a multiplex.

I felt distinctly privileged, as though someone gave me backstage passes year in which I was born (incidentally the year this film was released) to such an amazing film, in such in amazing place, that today, is all but impossible to experience except in a Theatre like the Castro.

Juliet, Olivia Hussey, was in attendance and was no less lovely than she was 40 years ago when the film was made.

More to come