Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

Robert Joyner The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Zandra The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Tad Pole . . . THE PROJECTIONIST is the sort of hit-and-miss, brilliant-one-minute\mediocre-the-next, "all over the map" mash-up that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is doing on the internet nowadays. Chunky Chuck McCann as the title character has an (on-screen) imagination filled with Nazis, war, Ku Kluxers, riots, science fiction horror, lynchings, assassinations, machine-gun fire, Busby Berkeley female kaleidoscopic formations, gang fights, dinosaurs, explosions, cavalry charges, burning dirigibles, concentration camp carnage, super heroes, arch villains, crackpot evangelists, and nude chicks on bearskin rugs. Adolph Hitler features most prominently. References to actual movies are everywhere--on projectionist Fred C. Dobbs' big screen at the Palace Theater, on his film poster-papered apartment walls, and on the marquees of the sidewalks he haunts while off-duty. His brain is filled with snippets from dozens of movies sampled here (director Harry Hurwitz sometimes needs to split the screen five ways to cram everything in). McCann as Dobbs "does" Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne, and James Stewart, among others. Did this obscure flick "inspire" Monty Python, Benny Hill, Laugh-In, That was the Week That Was, Mystery Science Theater 3000, and BE KIND, REWIND? Who is to know?

tavm When I played this movie on VHS and the first thing that appeared was the cartoon Gerald McBoing Boing's Symphony (which I reviewed here last year), I actually thought this short was going to be played in full before the feature. Instead, it turns out the title character whose name is the same as the person playing him, Chuck McCann, is playing it at the New York theatre he works at and has to fix it when it tears on the projector it's on. And so begins this fascinating film as we follow Chuck as he talks to one of the ushers, Harry (writer/director Harry Hurwitz), who gets shooed away by manager Renaldi (Rodney Dangerfield in his film debut) who warns Chuck not to communicate with his other employees on company time of which another one of those Chuck's friendly with is the candy man played by Jara Kohout. During some downtime, Chuck imagines-in silent black and white-he's superhero Captain Flash who has to defeat Dangerfield's The Bat from Kohout's Scientist and his daughter who's played by 60's leading lady Ina Balin. These sequences are quite hilarious what with the sound effects and physical movements. Ms. Balin is also in another dream sequence-also in silent black and white-with Chuck whenever he tells Harry about his dates with her. Since we never see her in the real-life color sequences, we don't know if she really exists here. Oh, and the Captain Flash music sounds like stock melodies from the '30s-'40s serials while the ones with just Chuck and Ina have the more Easy Listening '60s vibe. There's also some creatively amusing mix of various newsreel/classic feature/new footage meant to convey just how immersed in movie lore Chuck really is that provide some bizarre juxtapositions like when JFK's "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" seems to come out of Adolf Hitler's mouth! There's also a touching moment between Kohout and McCann when the latter asks about the former's experience in silent movies in his home country of Czechoslovakia as well as his escape from the Communist country during the intermission of a theatrical revue he performed in. McCann himself has one good scene by himself when he impersonates some of the famous movie stars like his idols Laurel & Hardy not to mention Rodney himself on another occasion! Oh, and while Dangerfield provides some lines that could have been funny if he delivered them in his stand-up voice, here they're just said in a solemn tone that only brought a slight smile on my face. When he's in the bw footage, however, his bug eyes can still highly amuse. And one more thing: if you're familiar with movie names from a certain era, then you could tell what year this movie was filmed in when titles like Barbarella and Star! appear on marquees though one more that's displayed is the one you're reading about right now...

Zontar-2 When not goofing off, the titular yutz daydreams of being a silent film superhero. Parts of the score are cribbed from old serials, and scenes are lifted from features of the 20's thru 50's. One wonders how John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart would react to seeing their work intermingled with clips of war atrocities and grindhouse dancers. Chuck McCann's character is immensely likeable when he dwells in the present, but his superhero mugs like the class clown you always despised. Released on VHS in 1986 to capitalize on Rodney Dangerfield's (straight) supporting role.

petelush There have been movies before and after The Projectionist that tear down film's equivalent of Theatre's fourth wall by lifting the barrier between the movie and the real world. Buster Keaton did it most brilliantly in Sherlock Jr. (1924, 44 mins., also featuring a projectionist), and Woody Allen pulled off a reversal (character steps out of the screen) in The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Steve Martin duked it out with Cagney and others in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982). The Projectionist is an amusing and annoying combination of a sweet schlub played by Chuck McCann, very reminiscent of John Candy, Rodney Dangerfield's film debut as a dictatorial movie theatre manager given to delivering incredible dressing-down speeches at his hapless ushers (shades of Full Metal Jacket), a nostalgic look at Times Square before it became "Times Square", and a melding of our hero with his screen idols, including his eye-popping drop-in at Rick's Cafe Americain. So what's to be annoyed at? A running super-hero theme is weak, and once you realize it will return again and again it's stomach tightening time while you anticipate the enjoyable sequences being interrupted by this underwritten motif. But without question The Projectionist is not to be missed in a time when imagination has been sucked out of Hollywood. And so I appreciated this film last night even more than when I saw it in a theatre 31 years ago, not excluding a hilarious trailer for a faux end-of-the-world flick that's a little too predictive of 9/11 for comfort.