Once Bonded, Brew & View thrice
Moments past and local culture lost will continue to stir C-U Blogfidential this winter like the longest of overarching shadows, but we must continue to embrace their historical worth. For instance, 20 years ago today on Saturday, January 4, 1997, we might have invited friends to meet us at the “Brew & View” on campus and then decided over pizza slices and libations whether to stay for THUNDERBALL at 7:45 p.m., YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE at 10 p.m., or DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER at midnight. If otherwise not busy that evening, we could have simply camped out for the entire James Bond marathon thanks to the allure of $3 movie tickets, cheap concessions, beat-up sofa seats, drink specials at a fully-stocked bar, and the rarity of watching right here in Champaign-Urbana “new 35mm Technicolor prints” of famous films we had previously only seen on television in cropped and censored forms.
Before the Canopy Club began occupying the former Thunderbird Theater at 708 S. Goodwin Ave., Urbana, in 1998, prior entrepreneurs rented the property and established the Brew & View at the Thunderbird. Their agreeable concept was aimed directly at the University of Illinois student body and modeled after the long-running Brew & View at the Vic in Chicago – book double and triple features of second-run flicks that young people would know and want to see, keep prices low across the board, and reserve off nights for special events rentals. Sensing an opportunity, Paul Young of the Champaign news weekly The Octopus collaborated with this upstart venue to host a series of offbeat festivals in the hopes they would attract the community at large. Not unlike the Brew & View itself, their novel effort shone brightly and burnt out quickly between 1996 and 1997.
Certain programs cooked up by The Octopus appealed to general moviegoers while others reveled in peculiar subgenres that would be fancied mostly by the adventurous, reflecting the rise of attention paid to “cult,” “mondo,” and “psychotronic” cinema in the Eighties and Nineties. Staff writers, UIUC professors, and employees from co-sponsor That’s Rentertainment took their turns in selecting films with Young as well as contributing informative notes to the two-page schedules that appeared in the weekly. The trio of “clip and save” promotions we’ve reproduced in this post feature bylines from none other than CUBlog editor Jason Pankoke, constituting his earliest pop culture writing in C-U media. They include “The 1st Annual Octopus Sci Fi Film Festival” from June 1996, “Splatterfest” from February 1997, and the aforementioned “Sean Connery as James Bond 007.” Click on each thumbnail for a large-size facsimile you can read!
Eight film festivals took place during the nine-month stretch this Octopus/Brew & View partnership lasted; below we have compiled the chronology as best as possible, based on revisiting Ye Ed’s personal copies of The Octopus and leafing through a collection archived at the Champaign County Historical Archives in the Urbana Free Library. The Octopus would continue to sponsor unique and alternative film happenings that were organized by others in our community, such as a 3-D double feature of THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON and IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE at the University YMCA in March 1997 (Vol. 3, No. 9, 3/7/97, p.20) and the entire four-year run of Grace Giorgio and Eric Fisher’s Freaky Film Festival starting in October 1997 (Vol. 3, No. 39, 10/24/97, p.F1-F4), but never again take the lead on something this audacious. We are slightly shaken by the reminder.
~ Jason Pankoke
p.s. As listed on a ballot appearing in The Octopus, Vol. 3, No. 29, 8/15/97, p.12, movie suggestions of a decidedly mainstream bent were fielded from the weekly’s readership for a “Midnight Flashback Film Festival” set to run at the Goodrich Savoy 14 between 10/3/97 and 11/8/97. A subsequent full-page schedule in Vol. 3, No. 35, 9/26/97, p.11, more or less confirmed the Champaign-Urbana and University of Illinois communities would rather see CADDYSHACK, THE LOST BOYS, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, and THE SHINING (1980) on the big screen than what had come before. We can only flash back to the disappointment we originally felt with this inevitability.
p.s.2 It is not lost on us that many vintage genre films, including a few of the Octopus selections named below, might be deemed tasteless or offensive in 2017 even if seen as merely amusements or curiosities in 1997. We wonder how many community members’ minds would spontaneously combust if, say, a gutsy impresario spoke up tomorrow morning and announced that a Russ Meyer retrospect would soon play the C-U. Does the prospect sound inconceivable, dearest prude or progressive? It actually happened on the UIUC campus in March 1971 with Meyer in attendance! (The Daily Illini, 4/2/71, p.21)
p.s.3 Yes, they screened BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS. And VIXEN. And CHERRY, HARRY & RAQUEL. And FINDERS KEEPERS, LOVERS WEEPERS! Bless you, Cinemaguild. “Fly the ‘X’!”
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The Octopus Film Festival chronology
@ The Brew & View at the Thunderbird, Urbana, IL
June 1996 – March 1997
“The 1st Annual Octopus Sci Fi Film Festival.” 6/14/96-6/27/96: ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951), DR. STRANGELOVE, INVADERS FROM MARS (1953), THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, THE ROAD WARRIOR, THE SHADOW (1940), THE TERMINATOR, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953); co-sponsored by Garcia’s Pizza in a Pan, News Channel 15, That’s Rentertainment, and The Web 93.5; program in The Octopus, Vol. 2, No. 6, 6/96, p.3-4; notes and original artwork by Jason Pankoke; programmed by Paul Young and Jason Pankoke: series consultant: Melissa Starker
“Beyond Jackie Chan: Hong Kong Action Cinema Festival.” 9/8/96, 9/15/96, 9/22/96: A BETTER TOMORROW, A CHINESE GHOST STORY (1987), CITY ON FIRE, HARD BOILED, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA V; co-sponsored by That’s Rentertainment and The Web 93.5; program schedule in The Octopus, Vol. 2, No. 10, 9/6/96, p.3-4; introduction by David Desser; notes by Paul Young and Trey Campbell; programmed by Paul Young
“Anime-nia!” 11/3/96, 11/10/96, 11/17/96: GHOST IN THE SHELL (1995), PATLABOR 2: MOBILE POLICE, ROUJIN-Z, THE WINGS OF HONNEAMISE; co-sponsored by Japanese Animation Club of UIUC, Kamakura, That’s Rentertainment, Toontown, and The Web 93.5; program in The Octopus, Vol. 2, No. 18, 11/1/96, p.3-4; introduction by Craig Fischer; notes by Ryan Bell, Craig Fischer, and Kevin Gifford; programmed by Scott Durfor
“Sean Connery as James Bond 007.” 12/20/96-1/9/97: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, GOLDFINGER, DR. NO, THUNDERBALL, YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE; co-sponsored by Bank Illinois, Jon’s Pipe Shop, That’s Rentertainment, and The Web 93.5; program in The Octopus, Vol. 2, No. 25, 12/20/96, p.3-4; notes by Jason Pankoke
“Son of Hong Kong Action Cinema Festival.” 1/19/97, 1/26/97, 2/2/97: THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR (1993), DRAGON INN (1993), GOD OF GAMBLERS, TAI CHI MASTER; co-sponsored by That’s Rentertainment and The Web 93.5; program schedule in The Octopus, Vol. 2, No. 28, 1/7/97, p.3-4; introduction by Paul Young; notes by Lisa Peabody; programmed by Scott Durfor
“Splatterfest.” 2/9/97, 2/16/97, 2/23/97: DEAD ALIVE, EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972), RE-ANIMATOR; co-sponsored by That’s Rentertainment and The Web 93.5; program in The Octopus, Vol. 3, No. 5, 2/7/97, p.3-4; introduction and notes by Jason Pankoke; programmed by Paul Young and Jason Pankoke
“Psychotronic Film Festival.” 3/2/97, 3/9/97, 3/16/97: BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, CAGED HEAT, CLEOPATRA JONES AND THE CASINO OF GOLD, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS; co-sponsored by That’s Rentertainment and The Web 93.5; program in The Octopus, Vol. 3, No. 8, 2/28/97, p.3-4; introduction and notes by Jared Kaufman; programmed by Paul Young and Craig Fischer
“Blaxploitation, Baby!”* 4/6/97, 4/13/97, 4/20/97: BLACULA, FOXY BROWN, SUPER FLY, SWEET SWEETBACK’S BAADASSSSS SONG; co-sponsored by That’s Rentertainment and The Web 93.5; program in The Octopus, Vol. 3, No. 13, 4/4/97, p.3-4; introduction and notes by Jared Kaufman; programmed by Paul Young and Craig Fischer… fin.
*Due to the Brew & View’s abrupt closure that spring, “Blaxploitation” was rescheduled as midnight-only shows between 4/18/97 and 4/26/97 at the Goodrich Savoy 14, according to a promotional advertisement in The Octopus, Vol. 3, No. 15, 4/18/97, p.21.
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Tear sheets © 1996-1997 The Octopus, Inc.
Collection of the author.