I remember the muggy night as if were a week ago — even though it was in June of 1977. My parents dragged me and my toddler sister to the Ranch Drive-In on Old Branch Avenue in Clinton, Md.
They’d explained it was just like a regular movie theater, except we had the “privilege” of staying in the car. Since my only experience in being in a car involved waiting for what seemed like forever for my parents at a store, my young self had little enthusiasm for this highly-touted “drive-in” thing.
Little did I know I was in for the experience of a lifetime.
It wasn’t simply that we got to see the first “Star Wars movie” and the original “Smokey and the Bandit” as a double feature — I fell asleep fairly early on into Smokey.
It was a chance to do something uniquely American and fun, and that’s why I felt like I was getting back to my roots by making my first trip to Newton’s Valle Drive-In last weekend. We didn’t make it to the Ranch Drive-Inn very often in the years after the Star Wars adventure, but it is always a memorable experience.
I distinctly remember seeing Saturday Night Fever and the first Superman movie at the Ranch before it closed for good in 1984 — as did many of America’s treasured theaters. I can still see John Travolta strutting on that giant screen — and Superman soaring over Metropolis. With a couple of exceptions, I went from the early 1980s until last weekend without enjoying the drive-in experience.
There was a 1990s trip to an ill-fated California theater. That four-screen beauty met the fate of many of its drive-in family a short time later, being plowed under to build one of those big blue “W” stores we all love to hate, but shop there just the same.
There was last year’s trip to the Starlight Drive-In, one of only two theaters remaining in Nebraska. But aside from those two occasions, I had gone without a drive-in movie for 30-plus years — yet those muggy summer Maryland nights, under both the stars of the sky and the stars on the screen — remained powerful, positive memories from my youth.
That’s why when I first learned a few things about Newton, I was excited to hear the Valle was a regular part of summer life. The first time I drove by the well-maintained place, I could tell a lot of sweat and attention to detail had been put into preserving the decades of memories that reside there. My first trip to Iowa’s oldest operational drive-in exceeded my expectations Saturday.
Not only was there the smell of popcorn in the concession stand, children burning up energy on the grass as the sun descended, but the Valle is so clean and well-maintained, and the screen and sound were more perfect than in all my 1970s memories of Maryland. A fair crowd showed up, even with it being a bit on the cool and breezy side and with the same films playing from the previous weekend.
The only sad moment was an expected one — I’ve followed the Fast & Furious franchise through all seven full-length films, so to see Paul Walker tributes and his final official on-screen moment after the actor’s death was heartwrenching.
While Fast & Furious is sort of guilty pleasure of mine, as I don’t really enjoy most modern “shoot ‘em up” movies, it pleased my heart to see racing across a giant screen. It was just like watching X-Wing fighters and the Millennium Falcon fly across the night sky 37 years ago — except in 2015, I appreciate those moments so much more.
Walker passed away in a fiery, real-life 2013 wreck on a California street I drove on many times when I lived in that area a few years ago. We run across the same circles in life again and again — and jewels like the Valle help keep those circles connected.
Contact Jason W. Brooks at
641-792-3121 ext. 6532
or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com