The Man In The Seventh Row by Brian Pendreigh Page B
Authors: Brian Pendreigh
Tags: Novels
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a dangerous movie. She had loved him and he thought he loved her until they went to see The Searchers . It turned out they were completely incompatible and he never saw Debbie again.
'We'll go to something else,' says Anna.
'No,' says Roy, 'They say you see something different every time.' And Roy is sure he will.
***
'I don't see why we have to see another western,' said Debbie as they walked past the Playhouse towards the little Salon cinema 50 yards or so farther down the road. If the Playhouse was the father of Edinburgh cinemas, the Salon was the baby, and a rather dirty, unattractive runt at that. The Playhouse's elegant dark stone facade dominated Greenside, while the Salon hid in its shadow, a narrow entrance, squeezed between shop fronts, and disappearing under the Georgian houses behind it. Other second-run cinemas showed films that were a few months or maybe even a few years old but the Salon showed films that were a few decades old, some of which no one had wanted to see even when they were new. The Searchers was different. Roy had already read up on it in his 'Pictorial History of Westerns', which promised one of John Ford's most haunting films and a superb performance from John Wayne.
Roy handed over his pound note and took his change before they made their way downstairs to the dingy stalls. There was no balcony.
'What a fucking dump,' said Debbie. 'It stinks.'
'You get used to it,' said Roy.
'What is that smell?'
'It's the smell of history,' said Roy as he settled in the seventh row.
'It's the smell of dust and piss,' said Debbie as she inspected the blackened seat next to him. The cinema was empty, but for a woman offering Eldorardo ice cream from a tray.
'I don't know why I agreed to come. It's not even a new film. You could watch it on TV .'
'Not on a big screen.'
Debbie sat down huffily and they both sat in silence. Soon the faded red curtains would draw back in a strange striptease, to reveal a naked off-white screen, stained by the cigarette smoke of past audiences. The house lights would dim and John Wayne would once more appear to take Roy away from cold, rainy Edinburgh to ride the ranges of that place they called the Wild West.
'I hate John Wayne,' said Debbie, as the Warner Brothers logo appeared on a brick wall. Roy could not remember seeing this opening card before and thought a brick wall a curiously inappropriate motif to introduce a western.
'He's a man's actor,' said Roy.
'Shite,' said Debbie. 'He's a crap actor ... and a fascist.'
The film opens with a plaintive ballad that asks what makes a man to wander and to roam, what makes a man turn his back on home.
'What a naff song,' said Debbie. 'Is this a comedy?'
'Give it a chance,' said Roy.
John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, who returns to the family homestead in Texas after fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. It has taken him three years to get home. He returns with a medal and two bags of freshly minted Yankee dollars, but little in the way of explanation for his prolonged absence. There is something about the way John Wayne looks at his brother's wife that suggests more than brotherly affection, which Roy did not really appreciate that first time round. Ethan gives the medal to his ten-year-old niece Debbie.
'Oh, she's called Debbie too,' said the other Debbie and Roy interpreted her subsequent silence as evidence that she was beginning to enjoy the film.
Ethan rides off with a posse in pursuit of rustlers. They find the cattle dead and realise the cattle raid was a diversionary tactic. Ethan looks off across the desert, his eyes full of pain and impotent rage. He knows what is happening. Big John always knows what is happening. But there is nothing he can do. Not this time.
Ethan's brother Aaron watches birds take off in alarm and spots something flashing off in the distance. His wife tells Debbie to go and hide where her grandmother is buried. She settles down beside the tombstone.
Roy felt Debbie jump as a
'We'll go to something else,' says Anna.
'No,' says Roy, 'They say you see something different every time.' And Roy is sure he will.
***
'I don't see why we have to see another western,' said Debbie as they walked past the Playhouse towards the little Salon cinema 50 yards or so farther down the road. If the Playhouse was the father of Edinburgh cinemas, the Salon was the baby, and a rather dirty, unattractive runt at that. The Playhouse's elegant dark stone facade dominated Greenside, while the Salon hid in its shadow, a narrow entrance, squeezed between shop fronts, and disappearing under the Georgian houses behind it. Other second-run cinemas showed films that were a few months or maybe even a few years old but the Salon showed films that were a few decades old, some of which no one had wanted to see even when they were new. The Searchers was different. Roy had already read up on it in his 'Pictorial History of Westerns', which promised one of John Ford's most haunting films and a superb performance from John Wayne.
Roy handed over his pound note and took his change before they made their way downstairs to the dingy stalls. There was no balcony.
'What a fucking dump,' said Debbie. 'It stinks.'
'You get used to it,' said Roy.
'What is that smell?'
'It's the smell of history,' said Roy as he settled in the seventh row.
'It's the smell of dust and piss,' said Debbie as she inspected the blackened seat next to him. The cinema was empty, but for a woman offering Eldorardo ice cream from a tray.
'I don't know why I agreed to come. It's not even a new film. You could watch it on TV .'
'Not on a big screen.'
Debbie sat down huffily and they both sat in silence. Soon the faded red curtains would draw back in a strange striptease, to reveal a naked off-white screen, stained by the cigarette smoke of past audiences. The house lights would dim and John Wayne would once more appear to take Roy away from cold, rainy Edinburgh to ride the ranges of that place they called the Wild West.
'I hate John Wayne,' said Debbie, as the Warner Brothers logo appeared on a brick wall. Roy could not remember seeing this opening card before and thought a brick wall a curiously inappropriate motif to introduce a western.
'He's a man's actor,' said Roy.
'Shite,' said Debbie. 'He's a crap actor ... and a fascist.'
The film opens with a plaintive ballad that asks what makes a man to wander and to roam, what makes a man turn his back on home.
'What a naff song,' said Debbie. 'Is this a comedy?'
'Give it a chance,' said Roy.
John Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, who returns to the family homestead in Texas after fighting for the Confederacy in the Civil War. It has taken him three years to get home. He returns with a medal and two bags of freshly minted Yankee dollars, but little in the way of explanation for his prolonged absence. There is something about the way John Wayne looks at his brother's wife that suggests more than brotherly affection, which Roy did not really appreciate that first time round. Ethan gives the medal to his ten-year-old niece Debbie.
'Oh, she's called Debbie too,' said the other Debbie and Roy interpreted her subsequent silence as evidence that she was beginning to enjoy the film.
Ethan rides off with a posse in pursuit of rustlers. They find the cattle dead and realise the cattle raid was a diversionary tactic. Ethan looks off across the desert, his eyes full of pain and impotent rage. He knows what is happening. Big John always knows what is happening. But there is nothing he can do. Not this time.
Ethan's brother Aaron watches birds take off in alarm and spots something flashing off in the distance. His wife tells Debbie to go and hide where her grandmother is buried. She settles down beside the tombstone.
Roy felt Debbie jump as a
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