Movie theatres matter, don't they folks? Filmmaker Rustin Thompson thinks so. He traveled across the American West, visiting more than 100 small-town movie theaters for his new documentary, The Last Picture Shows to see if they matter to other people as well.
In this episode of The Film Talk, Jett Loe talks with Thompson about the people who refuse to let their local cinemas disappear, the communities that support them, and why a movie theater can be so much more than a place to watch a film.
The Last Picture Shows screens at Albuquerque's Guild Cinema November 10th throught the 12th.
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Jett Loe (00:02.02)
So Rustin Thompson, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today about this beautiful, lovely film. And I am I am biased, I am prejudiced, but of course I was practically raised in a movie theater in Berkeley, California that showed two different films every day. And I love and miss on a daily basis that communal experience of going to the movies. tell us a little bit, Rustin, what did seeing movies in a theater growing up mean to you?
Rustin Thompson (00:13.058)
Yes.
Rustin Thompson (00:28.66)
wow. well it sort of meant everything. I I grew up in a s a town about 30 minutes south of Seattle. And I discovered movies early on. funny enough, my my parents divorcing when I was nine was like a great thing for me because they didn't know what else to do with me to except to take me to movies. So I went to movies all the time. And I would on a Saturday, I would go to a film.
With my mom, we might see something like Steve McQueen in Bullet because she loves Steve McQueen. And then on Saturday it was my dad's turn, and he would take me to see Barbarella because he was in love with Jane Fonda and who wouldn't want to see her in Barbarella, right? if you ever saw that movie. And yeah, yeah, I figured. and I just I I sort of realized that I because I was an only child.
Jett Loe (01:15.587)
I've I've I've I've seen it.
Rustin Thompson (01:25.996)
I sort of learned about the world and how to be in the world. And I learned about relationships and friendships and and politics and violence and love and everything by watching movies. That's that's basically where I feel like I I got my education. And when I went to the University of Washington in Seattle in 1976, this was like in the the heat of the 70s cinema era, and I just saw so many.
great films during that time. and it really, you know, seeing seeing movies in a theater, there was really no other choice, right? That was that was all we had back then. and then in like the mid late eighties, the the mid eighties the VCR came along and kind of changed that calculus a little bit. But I still love going to cinemas. I try to see five to ten movies a month in a theater when I can.
Jett Loe (02:20.116)
What I, you know, I do want to interject. I I love the idea that your male-female archetypes are are the characters of Bullet and Barbarella. I'm not sure that's healthy. I mean, they both meant well for the listeners out there who've seen the films that you can, you know, make make up your own minds. So let's let's talk a little bit about about this film because you traveled to more than a hundred small theaters, you know, across the American West, if I understand this.
Rustin Thompson (02:30.03)
Ha ha ha
Rustin Thompson (02:35.79)
Yeah, yeah. Right.
Rustin Thompson (02:47.416)
Yeah.
Jett Loe (02:49.774)
Correctly. And my concern when I started watching the film is, is this going to be a requiem? Because the, you know, our theater's just falling apart, they're closing down. Do kids not care anymore about the movies? But it didn't feel like a requiem to me. There was, I felt there was some sense of hope that there's still a potential for communities to gather around a shared cinema experience. Am I being naive there?
Rustin Thompson (03:11.926)
No, no, you're not. but I will say that I w when I set out to make this film, I was going to make a film that was going to be a kind of brooding black and white art piece. I was going to do an essay, almost a wordless essay, on these on these empty, forgotten, abandoned, lonely theaters in these small towns in the cinema deserts of the American West. but I realized after meeting a a couple of the owners of theaters that were still
alive, I thought, you know, I I really have to include the people in this film because they're changing my conception of what this movie was gonna be and where I thought it was heading. And I realized that there are actually several small town cinemas out there that are staying open against all odds and are trying to work with the system when they need to and work against the system when they can and are keeping these theaters open for the good of their very small but oftentimes very dedicated and loyal community. And that's and that's
That's what I learned while I was making the film. So it naturally became more hopeful because the people I w I was meeting were so hopeful and resilient about their business.
Jett Loe (04:22.892)
The folks you know that you met or that we see in the film anyway, it's almost it it feels like it's not necessarily a a a job to these folks, it's almost like a charge or it's almost like a they they feel some sort of responsibility to the community to keep something going. D does that make sense?
Rustin Thompson (04:36.248)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the some of the theaters are open seven days a week, some are open five, some are open four. but they are thinking all the time about this business that they have and they have employees to think about and they have to deal with the studios to keep the movies coming in and they know a lot of the people who walk through the door and they've come they've come to be dependent upon. and and I think that when the the if a theater does close, it's a real heartbreak for the owners.
To to have to make that decision because they know they're leaving a void in in their community.
Jett Loe (05:14.69)
You know, just interviewed the other day the artistic director of the Alex Theater in Glendale, California. And that's one of those, you know, old extravagant movie palaces. And of course, being in Southern California with such a a movie going audience, it's easier, I think, to keep people in there. But he his stuff that he does, they have all sorts of different things. They have all sorts of different types of events, they have music in addition to to movies. They played the Odyssey there in seventy millimeter, which was a a a big deal for them.
Rustin Thompson (05:24.387)
Yeah.
Jett Loe (05:43.17)
When you were talking to these different owners, yeah, you know, across the the West, was there any sort of consensus that came out to you in terms of like what works and what doesn't to keep these theaters going?
Rustin Thompson (05:56.023)
Yeah, oftentimes it's not just what works for them. Oftentimes it has to do with the makeup of the community, the makeup of the actual main street that the that the theater is on. I found this kind of consistent of the theaters that I featured in the film, and even the ones that that that are still open that I didn't actually talk to the owners, that there's more going on in those towns on those main streets than just the theater. I often find that
There is a a great independent bookstore. There is a cafe or bakery, there is a f often a craft brewery. There are a couple of decent restaurants that stay open late enough for people to actually go to in the evening in in in these towns. And and so there that that that says to the owner of the theater and the people in that town that there's a there is community buy-in on the sort of cultural and aesthetic vitality and future.
of that town. And so those theater owners have it a little bit, I won't say easy, but they know that they can bring people in. They know they have an audience who cares. but they still have to they have to deal with some of this crap that they get from Hollywood that they have to show. and if they decide not to show those films, they lose a certain segment of the audience who thinks like, well, why aren't we showing Spider-Man 48 or whatever the latest sequel is? You know, why aren't we showing the Odyssey? Why aren't we showing
Shazam seven, Fury of the Gods, you know.
Jett Loe (07:27.588)
Sh an odd thing, and dear listener, if you see the film at the guild this week or you can catch it on on streaming, I w there is an unexpected narrative through line about people being forced to watch Shazam throughout the whole. You know, I did see the first Shazam. It was okay. I don't I don't know my like everyone else, I don't think I saw the second Shazam. Or if I did, it l left no impact on me. getting back to what you said earlier about craft
Rustin Thompson (07:42.179)
Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (07:50.471)
Right, right, right.
Yeah yeah.
Jett Loe (07:57.699)
You know, breweries or bookstores, there's someone in the in your documentary that says, What is a town for? It's a place for gathering. And so I like that idea that this is another component of community. And I wonder if there could be if we see a resurgence or if we see these these theaters stick around, is it because people had that hunger for community? And can you put that in sort of the umbrella of that desire for the real and the tactile, right? We think about
Rustin Thompson (08:05.719)
Yeah.
Jett Loe (08:26.19)
People wanting to have albums and CDs and Blu-rays and books and getting away from just the the the the pain of black glass, the black mirror, right? You actually want something tactile. and I wonder if there's a hunger for that. Does that make sense?
Rustin Thompson (08:37.644)
Yeah.
I I think it absolutely makes sense and I and I and I've seen it. I've played in twenty-five film festivals, most of them have been regional festivals in smaller smaller towns. and I'm often meet younger viewers there and and the young people that are that are volunteering at these theaters, and they they have expressed to me their commitment to cinema and the to the to the theatrical experience.
I've also done like maybe 80 or 90 QA's since I've been on the road with this film since July. And I often have especially younger people coming up to me afterwards and saying, like, I am rededicating myself to getting out to the movies. and that we've read articles about this and I've had conversations about this that I think especially younger people, but I think everyone, they are getting tired of the algorithms dictating their choices. They're getting tired of the of the Netflix window saying.
You know, here's what you watch next, you know, or picked just for you. And people realize like, I don't want to be manipulated by some AI intelligence out there that thinks they know what I want to see. plus there is the there is the the the the sort of like continuously scrolling through all of our streaming channels to find something to watch. And oftentimes there's too much. There's too much abundance. You can't decide what you want.
So they're looking for curated experiences. I think people are looking for at theaters who do really interesting programming. Even if they have to show a blockbuster, they're doing interesting programming around that. And people want the smart people who run these theaters to say, this is what I found out there for you. Maybe it's not playing at all the small theaters in the country, but it's playing at ours. And I think you're going to like this. And people are looking for that.
Rustin Thompson (10:34.55)
So I think there's definitely this move back towards the the theatrical experience, sitting in a cinema in the dark, put your phone away. And I I think it goes right along with all of those other things you mentioned, people going back to vinyl. I understand that now the old digital cameras are are even even though they're cameras you you had to get the film developed or you have to wait a little while to see the image, that's come back in in in vogue now too. So
Jett Loe (10:53.462)
Mm-hmm. yeah.
Jett Loe (11:02.873)
Well
Rustin Thompson (11:03.522)
I I think that's a thing.
Jett Loe (11:05.398)
Well, sure. It's it you know, the the fact is that with digital or the the ad advance we have in our technology, everything is so clean, pristine, and perfect that we I think naturally try to gra gravitate towards finding the imperfections. Like maybe in in the imperfections there can be beauty. In the imperfection we can have something that we can discover the new. And that's a problem when you have, you know, the chat bots, they're always so affirmative.
Right. They're always saying everything is wonderful. And if everything is wonderful and everything is pristine, then you can't find the unusual and the different and explore the, you know, that that vein as a as it were. Because you do lose something with digital. I know I'm sound you know, kids get off my lawn, but yeah, I was driving through Espanola, small town in northern New Mexico. I was driving through there the other day. I remember there was the old movie theater I would always drive by. I was multiplex, and they used to have the names of what was.
Rustin Thompson (11:31.821)
Yes.
Rustin Thompson (11:40.728)
Yeah, right.
Rustin Thompson (11:56.822)
That's in my film.
Jett Loe (11:58.893)
this was a different one. This was like one of the multiplex ones, not one of the, not one of the older ones. It's like a part of it, part of a northern New Mexico chain. But the thing is that it didn't have the name of the movie the the movies that are playing. Instead, it just has the dot-com on the marquee. And you just feel like you're you're just losing something. You're losing that romance. And yeah, I I like that in your picture you do have a guy that extols the virtues of standing on a rickety ladder and putting up.
Rustin Thompson (12:00.488)
really? okay, okay. All right.
Rustin Thompson (12:14.082)
Rustin Thompson (12:19.235)
Yeah.
Jett Loe (12:26.464)
the the name of the the film and it's not Shazam that he's showing. So you you went around. How long did it take you to make this picture?
Rustin Thompson (12:29.602)
Right. Right.
Rustin Thompson (12:34.37)
Well, I I first had the idea in December of twenty twenty two, and then I I started filming in late spring of twenty twenty three. So I took about four or five, six separate road trips throughout the American West. I'd be gone for like a couple of weeks, come back home, go out again for two or three weeks, and I would often often map the course using two tools. Really, I use the Cinema Treasures website, cinematreasures.org.
which lists every city in the world that has well it lists every city in the world and then it will tell you if it has a movie theater there and whether the theater is closed, opened, abandoned, forgotten, turned into a subway sandwich shop, turned into a church, or still open. And they will oftentimes have photographs too. And if if it's a theater that's still open and operating, you'll see that lit up marquee that looks so great on Main Streets. Those are the places that I went to to film the open ones.
But then I also sought out this the small towns that the the theater's been closed for forty or fifty years and it sits on this forlorn main street. so I used the Rand McNally Atmos at Atlas and the Cinema Treasures website, and I would just map my route using using those two tools.
Jett Loe (13:50.373)
Are you are you saying you didn't use like Apple Maps or Google Maps? You do did you deliberately take a paper-based atlas and draw on it? like was it was it like Robert De Niro did in I Heard You Paint Houses or The Irishman, where he maps out where they have to go to to to to hand off the cash or pick up the is that did you really do that?
Rustin Thompson (13:59.182)
Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (14:09.208)
Yeah. I did. I really had a a paper ran McNally because because it's it's so it's so much easier to get a full picture of where you're going and then you can quickly flip from Utah to Colorado through the pages, you know. and and sometimes I was in areas where I didn't have a good signal until I actually got to these towns. I you know, I use Google Maps sometimes, but for the most part it was like there's the interstate or there's the
Jett Loe (14:14.244)
That's commitment.
Jett Loe (14:24.206)
Sure.
Rustin Thompson (14:35.362)
The two lane highway, it's got a number on it. I just gotta follow that for fifty miles and I'll I'll get to a theater.
Jett Loe (14:42.582)
So I I have to ask, Rustin, you you've met all these theater owners that are keeping the the cinemas afloat for varying degrees of success. Do you have any pro tips? Any pro tips for people out there that wanna that wanna get get open or or take over a failing small community theater? Because I tell you, I live out here in the mountains on a few acres and I've I've I've been tempted to think, hey, maybe I could set up a drive-in where the neighbors could just drive on up.
Rustin Thompson (15:00.172)
Yeah. Wow, yeah.
Jett Loe (15:11.458)
I think I would only show two movies though. I'd either show Tarkovsky's Andre Rubolev or or Toby Hooper's Life Force. So it's Rubilev, you gotta go high or you gotta go low. But that aside, any any any pro tips for people out there? What have you learned?
Rustin Thompson (15:16.205)
Ha.
Rustin Thompson (15:21.388)
Right, right. That's a hell hell of a double b well, what I've learned is that it helps to know your audience. you've gotta know if you've got a more elderly clientele that's gonna fill the seats, or if you've got a more mixed age clientele. if there are kids that might come to the theater, and you wanna show some of those films that that they like. Although I think, you know, films for kids are are really kind of stupid these days.
There's just, you know, I I won't I won't even go down that road. But so you gotta know your audience. And I think if you if you are a film buff yourself, you're gonna wanna program your theater so you wanna see what's playing there. I think some of these theater owners, and we met a couple, they are like a one-man force, but that means they gotta do everything. So it's a lot easier for them just to take whatever the studios are shoveling out that week.
And they put it on their screen for two weeks or three weeks, and that's all they show. And then they don't have to think about it. If you wanna get more adventurous, it requires a lot more work. I I have seen on the receiving end of this talking to the theater owners, and you you know, they have to manage all of these hard drives or or manage all of these digital downloads. They gotta manage the posters. they've gotta figure out how they're gonna promote it. They got that's a lot of work. And it really depends on how
how much commitment you want to make to the theater to make that happen. But I think if you've got other things going on in your community, as I said before, and there's a closed theater on Main Street, it's a much better bet to open that up than it is to walk into a dusty Main Street and try to figure out how to get that theater.
Jett Loe (17:08.036)
Well, that makes sense. I appreciate, you know, any sort of pro tips again if I do have the endeavor of opening up the Tarkovsky Hooper drive in theater out here in the in the East Mountains. I think that's a great place to end it. Please go no, go ahead.
Rustin Thompson (17:15.938)
Yeah. Yeah.
You know, it's really it's you know, it's I'm gonna say it's really interesting to see what's going on with this little theater called the Gem in PH, Nevada, which isn't I don't think it's that very far from where you are, actually. I mean it's a probably a couple hundred miles, I don't know. Anyway, they this town, it's in my film and there's like it's so tiny. and and but this couple from Las Vegas has bought this theater that's been closed for fifty years.
And they are making trips from Vegas back and forth to refurbish this theater. And they've got crews in there helping them out. They've gotten grants. and I'm not quite sure why they're committed to this in this little town, because it's a bit of a a drive to get to, but they have this vision that they want to see that that marquee on this tiny main street lit up with a film. and I'm hoping to show my film there in maybe a year or two when they finally get their projection system set up.
But it's a it's a hell of a commitment.
Jett Loe (18:19.364)
Well, you there is something special about those old little movie theaters that have the neon. I'm thinking of we've got an old movie theater like that in Truth or Consequences in New Mexico. I was just in Silver City last weekend. There's the silco there. There are these little places and there is a little bit of magic. And the guild that we have in Albuquerque on the old Route sixty six, which is festooned with neon signs and old motels and bars and all s you know, what what have you? It's a great little hole in the wall theater.
Rustin Thompson (18:26.797)
Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (18:37.283)
Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (18:44.79)
Yeah, yeah.
Jett Loe (18:49.276)
it's I think there's I think there's certain magic in there. So as a cinema buff, I wanna end up we always ask people, Do you got what you got a big recommendation? You got something you've seen recently in the theater that you think people would love or you think is special?
Rustin Thompson (18:53.571)
Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (19:03.288)
Something I've seen recently. Well, I mean, this is not too much of a stretch, but you can see everything. The Nathan Fielder and is it I can't remember the guy's first name, the Oppenheim Field Fielder documentary, you can see everything about Elizabeth Holmes. I think that's definitely worth seeing. right, right. Have you have you seen it?
Jett Loe (19:18.894)
The great date picture. I have, I have. It's it's it's it's it's a real piece of work. And what what's wonderful about it, and I saw it in a small theater here in New Mexico and it was sold out. You know, I had to I had to sit in the in the front row so that people's jowls were the size of yachts d due to the due to the distortion.
Rustin Thompson (19:26.456)
Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (19:36.163)
Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (19:44.014)
Ha ha ha.
Jett Loe (19:46.233)
But it's it's one of those films and that that come around, dear listeners, that like sort of restores your faith in cinema because it shows you that the movies are not over, that are still new ways of making movies, new stories to be told, new ways of telling stories. And this is a new way of t I think that film is a new way of telling story, which makes it so exciting, if that makes sense.
Rustin Thompson (19:58.622)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Rustin Thompson (20:04.012)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, it's interesting. not to d not to blow my own horn or anything, but it's been interesting the reaction to my film in some ways, because it's a documentary, but people come to it expecting that it's going to be a t a predictable documentary that's going to be full of information and a lot of talking heads. And I'm going to tell all sides of the story. And I think they're pleasantly surprised to realize it's more of a it's more of a of an atmospheric
Tone poem in a way. I'm just trying to capture the feel of the West and the feel of these spaces. And I have a lot of music, mournful sort of, you know, folk country music. And I'm trying to just capture the mood of the West. And I want people to just kind of sit with the images for a while and not be just inundated with information. I don't explain all of the things that you think a documentary should explain. and I'm hoping that that's
I I I've I've again going back to young people, I've had young people say, like, I haven't seen a film like this in a long time. They just don't they don't really don't watch documentaries much at all. And if they do, it's usually some kind of Netflix murder mystery thing, you know, true crime. so so I'm just saying that that, yeah, like you said about the the Nathan Fielder doc, there's all these ways to make documentaries and I would love to see more of those get on the screen that are not predictable and that actually make you walk away feeling something.
Jett Loe (21:30.307)
Well, you know, I think the film is is almost like a meditation at some level, or can or you know a kind of almost like a coffee table book, you could think of it that way, where you're slipping into the space and looking at the images of these old the imagery of the old theaters. And it it's it you know, it points out the the difference between going to see a film in the theater and watching something on streaming when you're on your phone. Because I imagine if you're on your phone and you're watching as a younger person, you might be on, you know, you'd be looking at your phone the whole time because
Rustin Thompson (21:35.309)
Yeah.
Jett Loe (21:59.523)
The film has this space without dialogue, right? Whereas where if you're in the cinema, you're, you know, you're then forced to luxuriate and delve in and be within that space, if you know, if if that makes sense, which is why I'm looking forward to seeing it at at the guild. Folks, at the guild this Thursday, November 10th through the 12th, because it'll be like you're inside the film. It'll be interactive because you'll be sitting, if you're at the guild, you'll be sitting in a small theater watching a film about small.
Rustin Thompson (22:02.029)
Yes.
Rustin Thompson (22:10.506)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Rustin Thompson (22:17.26)
Yes.
Rustin Thompson (22:28.158)
Right. Yeah, so thanks.
Jett Loe (22:29.144)
Theaters. Well, Rustin Thompson, thank you so much for for being on the show. We really appreciate it. And I it's a beautiful small film you made and I I wish you all the best for your your future work as well.
Rustin Thompson (22:39.81)
Thanks so much. Really happy to talk to you.