2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY had its world premiere April 2, 1968, at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.

I remember being taken to see it as a 7 year-old to the old Abbey Cinerama cinema in Liverpool.
I sat awestruck as the adults around me complained that nothing was happening and how boring it was.
I still remember the scene with the monolith on the moon...the ear-splitting signal rang through the astronauts helmets and suddenly cut to the word INTERMISSION...and I think half the audience left:rolleyes:

That's sad. What year was that? 1968 at the Seattle Cinerama was a fine place to see it. Almost like going to a church, and the audience acted that way too. I was too hypnotized to notice what the other theatergoers were up to, but I don't recall anyone leaving or complaining.

Century 21 in San Jose, with my Dad, sister and brother. I was 9, and LOVED that movie! I didn't get the story at all, but I remember being flabbergasted by the realistic spacecraft and the lightshow.

Like Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider and many other groundbreaking movies of the 1960s, critical opinions of 2001 were closely tied to the age of the reviewer. Critics under 35 or 40 generally raved about it; those over 40 generally didn't "get" it. The Zeitgeist and all that.I still remember the scene with the monolith on the moon...the ear-splitting signal rang through the astronauts helmets and suddenly cut to the word INTERMISSION...and I think half the audience left:rolleyes:When did 2001: A Space Odyssey have an intermission at that point in the story? After the monolith blasts out its radio signal, the movie cuts to the long tracking shot of the Discovery with the superimposed title "Jupiter Mission: 18 Months Later." The intermission comes right after the scene with astronauts Bowman and Poole in the pod discussing whether they should disconnect Hal.

"Mind-blowing" was an overused adjective in the Sixties, but it was the only way to describe my reaction on first seeing 2001 on the big curved screen at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome. It was the first sci-fi movie that made me feel I was really out in space. Of course, many of those folks who saw the picture multiple times WERE out in space, if you know what I mean . . .:freak:

When did 2001: A Space Odyssey have an intermission at that point in the story? After the monolith blasts out its radio signal, the movie cuts to the long tracking shot of the Discovery with the superimposed title "Jupiter Mission: 18 Months Later." The intermission comes right after the scene with astronauts Bowman and Poole in the pod discussing whether they should disconnect Hal.

Maybe my memory is playing tricks...it was 40 years ago and I was only 7:)

In Toronto it was shown at the Glendale Cinerama. I recall thinking (at the age of 8) that this movie was the "real thing", something with depth, something "mature". I was fascinated by the silence of space, the one-eyed pods, and the eerie coldness of the film.

I also thought that the monolith got pissed off by having its picture taken (hence the ear-splitting signal), the "dawn of man" sequence was boring, and the Hebrides shots were not that convincing. And of course, I and my poor Dad were clueless about the ending until I bought the book.

Still, it's one of my favourites, and the Gayane Adagio can still bring a tear to my eye.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY had its world premiere April 2, 1968, at the Uptown Theater in Washington, D.C.

uptown theater? Don't you mean the DuPont Theater? That's where I saw it. Front row balcony. Fantastic view.

^ I just Googled "2001 World Premier Washington D.C." and found a half dozen different sites listing the "Uptown Theater" as being correct location. Guess the film must've screened at more than one venue in D.C.

I guess so, as I saw it at the Dupont Theater across from Dupont Circle. Great time there. Old style theater with balconies. I wonder if it's still standing?

I guess so, as I saw it at the Dupont Theater across from Dupont Circle. Great time there. Old style theater with balconies. I wonder if it's still standing?

doesn't look like it...
(http://cinematreasures.org/theater/7121/)

seeing 2001 on the big curved screen at Hollywood's Cinerama Dome

Same!

I saw it when I was 7 or 8 at a drive-in on the Atlanta Highway in Montgomery, Alabama.

I should correct myself: I saw part of it. I was in the back seat. It was night. I made it through the walking up the curved floor of the space station before falling sound asleep.

I was impressed enough, however, to be sure to see it a few years later on TBS after having read the novelization and thoroughly enjoying it.

I saw it not long ago in HD on cable and got to enjoy it all over again.

When the remastered 3D holographic-surround, grid-downloaded version of it comes out, I'll get to enjoy it all over yet again.

Isn't there an existing cinerama somewhere where this could be seen? Probably no usable prints remain.

Actually the Uptown and KB Cinema BOTH had top end projectors, screens and sound systems (I put a new KB Cinema sound system in back around 1980-1) Both places had superb insides. I still miss the Biograph.

SoCal area residents may be interested to know that a newly struck 70MM print of 2001 will screen at the Academy's Linwood Dunn theater in Hollywood on April 21. Douglas Trumbull, Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood are scheduled to appear at the post-screening discussion.

I saw the then-new 70mm print in New York one Christmas Eve ten or fifteen years ago, it's definately worth catching. As impressive as the blu-ray DVD is, the 70mm print is even better.

Isn't there an existing cinerama somewhere where this could be seen? Probably no usable prints remain.Any theater with 70mm projection equipment, a good sound system, and a suitably large screen can give a decent presentation of 2001, assuming they have a good quality 70mm print.

The original Cinerama process used 3 cameras to cover an extremely wide viewing angle (almost 1/3 of a circle) and 3 projectors throwing the image onto a correspondingly curved screen. The effect was not just a big or wide picture, but a picture that partially enveloped the viewer, especially those sitting in the front rows. Only a handful of films were made in true Cinerama because the process was so expensive and technically complex. Starting in the early 1960s, movies made in 70mm widescreen formats were shown in Cinerama theaters by using a special projection lens to throw a wide FLAT image onto the wide CURVED Cinerama screen and keep it all in focus. But it's not the same as true Cinerama.

BTW, there's a theater in Akron, Ohio that regularly shows the old "real" Cinerama films in their original format.

I remember seeing it in Philadelphia. I was 14. My mom drove us up from Dover for the occasion. I remember she left at the intermission because she didn't understand it, but I was blown away. Later, of course, I got it on tape and the DVD and now, who knows, Blu-Ray!

It also was on this trip I found a model shop where I bought my Aurora LIS Robot. For me, the trip was doubly worth it!

Jeff

and 40 years later.................i still dont get it!!!!!!!

Want to understand it, check this out:

http://www.kubrick2001.com/

Naturally it's not Kubrick's view (he never explained it) but it's surely a good one...

Steph

and 40 years later.................i still dont get it!!!!!!!Maybe that's because you've never seen it while under the influence of certain mind-altering substances.

DISCLAIMER: No endorsement of any unlawful activity is intended or implied. ;) ;)

If anyone is in the Twin Cities area, there is a week long screening 2001 in 70mm next month.

http://www.heightstheater.com/movies.cfm?id=507

I can't sit still for more than a couple of hours, let alone a week. ;)

I first saw 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 in a Cinerama theater in Manhattan. I was 12 years old and Dad had taken me on a "surprise" trip to New York City. It was the right place at the right time and I was the right age. To say that the movie had a profound effect on me is an understatement. No film-going experience, before or since, has ever come close. It truly was a "religious" experience.

Being too young to see the original release, I saw 2001 at a repertory cinema in the late 80s in London, which has now closed down along with most of the others. It was on a double-bill with Dark Star. Great shows those repertory places used to put on.

Saw it again on dvd recently but was shocked to see how the digital medium could not deal with some of the tonal gradations, particularly the glow from the lights at the lunar excavation site. The flares were all broken into bands. Never a problem with video!

Being too young to see the original release, I saw 2001 at a repertory cinema in the late 80s in London, which has now closed down along with most of the others. It was on a double-bill with Dark Star. Great shows those repertory places used to put on.

Saw it again on dvd recently but was shocked to see how the digital medium could not deal with some of the tonal gradations, particularly the glow from the lights at the lunar excavation site. The flares were all broken into bands. Never a problem with video!

Yes, the SD DVDs introduced some digital distortion. Not a problem with the HD version - which looks incredible.

Not a problem with the HD version - which looks incredible.

Tru dat. Kubrick's reflection in the visor of that survey party member is clear as a bell (still my favorite 2001 gaffe).