There was a time when there were but three, measly tv channels. BBC2 finished at about 11pm, the other 2 went on a little longer. We never thought: “oh, this is shit! We need 56 channels showing repeats of Top Gear, all night long and re-runs of old football matches, plus, we need channels where you watch what you want, when you want, any time of day or night. We need a world fit for proper stoners, with boxes of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes all around us!” We never thought that. We just thought: it is what it is. As you do. Put another record on.

So when a new film came out, there was excitement. And you went to see it… in a cinema. And the way it worked was, the film was released in America in January. By about June it was ready for British consumption, once we knew for sure than not too many Americans had died watching it and it was safe. But the ‘big’ films didn’t immediately go to all cinemas. No. They spent the first week or two only available to view in ‘Leicester Square’. Possibly in a few other poncey, grandiose movie theatres in other parts of the West End. And only then were plebs allowed to see the wonders, in the comfort of their own, local Odeons. Not sure if northerners got them even later, but they should have done. If at all.

We’d only go to Leicester Square if the movie was an absolute must-see which you simply couldn’t wait another 2 weeks to watch it round the corner. It cost more in the West End. So when a new Bruce Lee movie came out, we’d go. Lots of us. Kung fu-ing our way down Old Compton Street afterwards looking for food, Japanese baddies to fight, or both. (The Japanese were ALWAYS the baddies). Even though the storylines were appalling, predictable and rubbish, we’d pay our money to watch the worst dubbed films ever made.

And with my (very dear, now departed) mate, Stan, we had another rule. We’d go to Leicester Square for any movie with Gene Hackman. He was that good. Never typecast, always different and always with a wry humour. Except when he was Lex Luther in Superman when it was pantomime humour, obviously brilliantly executed.

He won one his Oscars for playing a tough guy cop. And yet he was truly amazing as a nerd in ‘The Conversation’, hilarious in ‘Heartbreakers’ and incredible in ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’.

In a way its quite fitting that the best actor of his generation, along with his mate Dustin Hoffman, died in a weird and suspicious way.

Keep ’em guessing til the very end, Gene. Or even beyond.

Happy Friday

A xxxx