This happened tonight at a 70mm screening of 2001: a space odyssey at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, CA. Appropriately, this occurred just after the "trippy" stargate sequence. They stopped the movie (you'll hear everyone applaud) and eventually got this guy out of the theater. They had to rewind the last reel and after several minutes the movie started up again. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkHeI7qKRPs Neil
From the spoken comments and what looked to be punch throwing, I got the impression that some of the rest of the audience were just as big arseholes as the guy who started the fuss, and he may have had the excuse of having mental problems. How would they have reacted to someone having an epileptic fit or some other form of seizure?
Suddenly a phone going off in the middle of a movie doesn't seem so bad. As for the guy tripping out, well, by all rights he's probably sitting in a jail cell right now where he belongs. As for the people who restrained him and got him out of the theater, it took a hell of a long time for the police to show up... and if this guy had had a gun or other kind of weapon who knows what he might have done? With regard to the question about having a seizure, I think it's unfair to compare the two situations. This was a guy, clearly coked out of his mind and going apeshit to the point that he was being asked to exit the theater. He refused. That's why he was forcibly escorted out. You're worrywarting about two different scenarios.
Well, at that point -- which I interpret as Dave Bowman's persona having been uploaded into the simulation spaces of the monolith -- or pretty much any other point in the movie actually, it's not like some guy in the audience going apeshit was going to cause anybody to miss some important dialogue. I wondered if he was some sort of performance artist of the piss variety.
Just me, but did anyone else think it sounded like Matt Frewer? I couldn't really get a look at him in the video.
Watch Star Trek IV and then come back to this thread. Someone from the theater posted that police had to taser this guy 5 times to get him under control. I wish there was video of that! Neil
... and what does throwing some random nutter out of a movie theater have to do with Science Fiction & Fantasy?
Who knows what the guy was on if anything, but I guess you could assume he wasen't in his right mind. I didn't hear what he was saying that started the whole thing, but I'm willing to bet he was just getting off on that shit and making his emotions vocal. They didn't have to treat him like a freaking leaper and aplaud. Get him out of there if you must, but don't be assholes. I've seen my share of annoying loud people in theatres, but you don't have to whip out the pitch forks and torches. As far as the Cops taking too long and tazering the guy 5 times, I would be surprised if they didn't do that. They were probably finishing their donut. I joke, I joke, I kid, I kid. Next time dude will at home and trip balls. It's more fun that way anyway. He was probably scared to death and didn't realize what was going on anyway.
Well it did happen during a sci-fi movie, one that was advertised as "The Ultimate Trip". The first bit of applause was when they turned the movie off. The second bit was for the people who got "Robert" out of there. This wasn't a case of a loud, annoying person. This was a person having a full on meltdown, most likely drug induced. It happened right after the stargate sequence and this wasn't just some random person walking in off the street. He was there to experience 2001 in his own unique way and he wasn't able to handle it. This video starts in the middle of the event. He was standing, shouting and causing a disruption which led to this person to record it. You can even hear someone from the theater tell him the police are on there way (you can hear the "5 seconds to get out" part) and he didn't leave. Neil
A friend of mine who was there told me that the puncher hit the tripping guy because the tripping guy was trying to choke his friend. Find out the story when it hits yahoo or msn online tomorrow I guess. Doesn't sound implausible, as you can hear someone tell him "you're in a theatre with people", trying to get the guy back to reality in some way. <edit> Ok, just read this on youtube comments. (I can't believe I'm reposting comments from youtube!): "Deal gently? You have no idea how bad it was. You can't tell from the video what was happening. I was a row behind. The guy manhandled a kid and hit people. I doubt this was acid- more like meth. The police tazed him 5x outside & he was still going. Dude who punched him did it to stop him from strangling a man- & it worked."
If true, it does seem like reasonable force to punch the twat. After his subsequent journey, I doubt he came to in Louis XVI-style police cell.
I believe TGT last posted around here as Semi Latus Rectum. I am but a pale shadow of the original The Great Mambo Chicken. To avoid further confusion, I think I shall ask T'Bonz to change my login name.
More videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TgDCbXv_UY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxViLpD7MGE Neil
Ooh look, several white guys manhandle a poor deranged black guy out of a movie theater, while the rest of the audience appear to devolve into ape men. That's entertainment apparently. Maybe if it had been set to classical music it would make sense...
I am going to lobby my congressman to apply the death penalty to anyone who disrupts a movie. Plus, the disruptor should refund my ticket price, with interest.