Chuck, a movie theater projectionist bored with his life, fantasizes that he is one of the superheroes in the movies he shows in the theater. He envisions himself as "Captain Flash," and daydreams into the world of movies, where he summons the help of screen heroes such as Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn and Humphrey Bogart in his fight against The Bat, his evil nemesis. Chuck McCann, as Chuck/Captain Flash, is superb as he mixes physical comedy and surprising tenderness. Rodney Dangerfield, making his film debut, is the slimy, miserly, mean Theater Manager/The Bat. Written and directed by Harry Hurwitz, "The Projectionist" has been carefully preserved and newly restored by the New York Museum of Modern Art. |
| Actors:
| Ina Balin, Rodney Dangerfield, Mike Gentry, Jacqueline Glenn, David Holliday | | Format:
| Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Image Entertainment | | Run Time:
| 88 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| April 09, 2002 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 9 reviews |
|
Average Customer Review:
 ( 9 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 a must see for movie buffsOct 14, 2002
a wonderful fantasy that shows a pure love of film. an interesting artistic journey that holds up after all these years.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 The projections of the mindSep 22, 2008
By Annie Van Auken
THE PROJECTIONIST is hard to categorize-- not exactly a comedy, although there are some amusing things in it, and not a drama as the story deals with the undramatic ordinariness of every day life and what one man does to cope. Perhaps this movie is most accurately described as a comic/fantasy/non-drama.
Chuck McCann stars as an employee of a run-down theater owned by the somewhat tyrannical Rodney Dangerfield (in his screen debut). McCann (the unnamed projectionist) invents a superhero alter-ego named Captain Flash, whom he calls upon whenever the blues, boredom or the boss nag at him. In McCann's daydreams, Dangerfield appears as "The Bat," a villainous Nazi who can only be defeated by the heroics of "Flash," and theater ushers are Bat's henchmen. These b&w 'B' grade movie serial phantasms seem far more colorful than real life. It's little wonder the projectionist indulges in them as often as he does.
McCann was a supporting player to Alan Arkin in THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (1968). (VHS version) (DVD version)
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.
(5.4) The Projectionist (1971) - Chuck McCann/Ina Balin/Rodney Dangerfield/Jára Kohout/Harry Hurvitz/Mike Gentry/Lucky Kargo/David Holliday/Sam Stewart/Robert Lee
7 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Film sampling starts hereDec 18, 2002
By Stephen M. Amy
There are a couple of film arteests located somewwhere in Calif. who have produced entire epics out of having assembled clips of extant films- dialogue dubbed over. "The Projectionist" seems to have been the genesis of the idea (don't know who of people I've discussed obtained legal rights, but who cares? We're only interested in art, correct?). There are wonderfully inventive sequences of clips in "The Projectionist" that are a hoot in their making sense as part of a sequence, but also can't overcome their familiarity to movie fans, so they work on two dimensions. Also, there is some interesting juxtaposition of clips forming sequences of feelings of standard Mom-Apple Pie-Chevrolet U.S.A. flag-waving, but they are counterparted by sequences of clips showing the dark side and hypocrisy of the American Dream (myth?). There is the voice of JFK, delivering his most famous line: "Ask not...(etc.)", with that audio timed perfectly to sync with Hitler exhorting and gesticulating (No particular disrespect to JFK, I'm sure- just to make the point that Hitler demanded sacrifice to further the dreams of the State, also, and the misguided adventure in Vietnam was very topical at the time of this film's production. At least I think that's what the point is). This movie also has the wildest use of split-screen, ever. And the finale harkens to "The Stunt Man", i.e., where does the movie begin and where does the part not in the movie end? Richard Rush, the director of "The Stunt Man", says he's excited by pushing the envelope of film syntax. That is really accomplished in "The Projectionist".
Funny FlickMar 08, 2009
By Charles Mymit
Chuck McCann is a multi-talented performer.His zany character in this film
is played to a tee by Mccann.They are not making films today like the
Projectionist!Its a silly but funny movie.Rodney Dangerfield is also in this pic.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
The projections of the mindMar 10, 2010
By Annie Van Auken
THE PROJECTIONIST is hard to categorize-- not exactly a comedy, although there are some amusing things in it, and not a drama as the story deals with the undramatic ordinariness of every day life and what one man does to cope. Perhaps this movie is most accurately described as a comic/fantasy/non-drama.
Chuck McCann stars as an employee of a run-down theater owned by the somewhat tyrannical Rodney Dangerfield (in his screen debut). McCann (the unnamed projectionist) invents a superhero alter-ego named Captain Flash, whom he calls upon whenever the blues, boredom or the boss nag at him. In McCann's daydreams, Dangerfield appears as "The Bat," a villainous Nazi who can only be defeated by the heroics of "Flash," and theater ushers are Bat's henchmen. These b&w 'B' grade movie serial phantasms seem far more colorful than real life. It's little wonder the projectionist indulges in them as often as he does.
McCann was a supporting player to Alan Arkin in THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER.
Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.
(5.6) The Projectionist (1971) - Chuck McCann/Ina Balin/Rodney Dangerfield/Jára Kohout/Harry Hurvitz/Mike Gentry/Lucky Kargo/David Holliday/Sam Stewart/Robert Lee
See all 9 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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