From the looks of the empty theater in today’s strip, there wasn’t a single movie playing before 7:30? It doesn’t look like a cineplex, just a single-screen old tyme theater. If they’re only showing one or two movies a day it’s no wonder theaters like these might be in trouble.
Of course, the person who sold Harry and Holly their tickets also personally accompanied them to their seats because that’s just how theaters in Westview work? Is he also the popcorn seller and projectionist?
Son of Stuck Funky 
“It’s between rows ten and twelve…”
“Row eleven?”
Angrily: “NO! Between rows ten and twelve!”
I never worry about the language in my comments being ungrammatical, unwieldy, bad syntaxxy, or doucheburgerly, because I consider the caliber of the writing that I’m commenting on and realize douchebaggery and such is most appropriate.
Am I insane, or does a ceiling fan in the middle of a movie theater seem like a horrible idea? Isn’t that going to interfere with the projector? And just be noisy, considering how small that theater seems to be?
Also in response to the ticket taker’s question: Where’s the humor? Or the point to this?
” Look, there will probably be 6 people here tonight, sit wherever the hell you want. Gotta run, looks like someone needs popcorn, I gotta open the concession stand.”
@spaceman
Here are the points Batty makes:
Harry is a movie connoisseur. Therefore, he chooses his seat wisely.
Only old movies, shown in old style theaters are relevant to real movie connoisseurs.
The theatre has only one employee, and the doofus sells tickets 2 hours before showtime, even though they will get 6 customers max.
No humor here, and not much of point. Looks like Batty made no resolutions this year, or if he did, none of them were about improving the quality of his writing.
Oh goody, now TB is ripping off “The Big Bang Theory”.
Wasn’t this the guy who had a whole set-up to transfer movies from VHS to DVD? One might think he already has a pretty nice home theater. And he probably already owns Casablanca (on VHS, of course).
Dude, it’s Casablanca. Even assuming this dinky theater has surround sound, it’s not going to be used much in this case.
I’m curious to know who he thinks would find this interesting or entertaining. Is our take-away supposed to be that Harry has issues?
“Is our take-away supposed to be that H̶a̶r̶r̶y̶ Batty has issues?” Fixed that for ya.
I’m not sure where TB is going with this, but it’s pretty much guaranteed to end up in a cul-de-sac. All we have so far is a gratuitous Crankshaft crossover, a showcase of Harry’s OCD, and demonstration of TB’s utter disdain for any of the female characters besides Cindy. There’s really no discernible difference between Harry’s wife, Holly, or Dinkle’s wife. They’re all three drawn as Jabba the Hutt with a blonde wig.
Yeah, that’s definitely supposed to be Max Murdoch. He and his not-girlfriend bought the Valentine theater in a series of Crankshaft strips last year. Or maybe the year before, I don’t remember… why would anyone expect me to?
Anyways, he is starting to look disturbingly like Crazy did in Act II. Present-day Crazy, of course, is starting to look disturbingly like Chuck Ayers.
Donna, meanwhile, appears to be about as interested in seeing Casablanca as one would expect an avid video arcade gamer to be.
I’m honestly rather puzzled at this love of Casablanca – Harry and indeed all the male characters in FW are man children when an obsessive interest in things of their childhood – Comic books, decoder rings and cookies et, al – Casablanca is about adult things – Love, sex, desire, courage, Nazis, and bourbon – no one says word one about comic books the entire film.
No matter whether that woman is Holly or someone else, I still want to know what kind of woman merrily puts up with this shit, regardless of if it’s a date or a casual friendly outing.
There’s nothing unusual about enjoying classic movies made from before one was born–unless it’s King Kong, in which case, why bother, Owen–and it’s a very pleasant experience to see them in a nicely restored vintage theatre.
The thing is, if Crazy Harry is such a nut about seating, that means he’s been to many vintage theatres and has probably been to this one, probably many times. (I don’t seem to recall any viable theatres in Westview.) In fact, I bet he’s been to this theatre so many times that he’s on a first-name basis with the staff.
So, Monday’s strip should have shown the ticket-taker saying, “Hey, Crazy Harry! I see you’re hear at the usual time, heading for your usual seat!”
Instead, we have to pretend that nothing exists outside an obsession. I’m not sure what to make of that.
“hear”…”here”…
–it was a pun!
Coming soon: Upon hearing that his stupid movie will be delayed, an enraged Harry screams “I’M GOING TO GET MY GUNS AND AMMO!” prompting a panic that is quickly and wryly resolved when he returns to his seat with a copy of “Guns And Ammo” magazine. Meanwhile a distraught Marianne immediately considers suicide upon hearing the news, but a certain old band leader has a zip drive disk that might change her mind. And Bull is diagnosed with Silly Alzheimer’s, similar to the type that rendered Morty Winkerbean into an adorable frisky chain-smoking old coot. Marianne is so overwhelmed by the news that she, well, you know.
Just think. If Cliff Anger hadn’t given up his career he could have have his films viewed years later to an empty theater just like this one
No “could” about it. Cliff was on screen in this exact theater back in March of last year.
Of course, the person who sold Harry and Holly their tickets also personally accompanied them to their seats because that’s just how theaters in Westview work?
Nonsense. He did it because he was curious just how far Crazy would take this asshole pretense. He was so curious he left the cash register alone to get stolen, but it’d be worth it to see a genuine doofus like Crazy navigates his natural habitat.
Donna is a vestigial appendage as always.