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Q: The Godfather original release ( No Answer,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: The Godfather original release
Category: Arts and Entertainment
Asked by: bonnyk-ga
List Price: $2.00
Posted: 28 Mar 2006 15:30 PST
Expires: 27 Apr 2006 16:30 PDT
Question ID: 712920
When in 1972 did the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis show "The Godfather"?
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: The Godfather original release
From: jmoncriefj-ga on 31 Mar 2006 08:58 PST
 
"The Godfather" was released for the first time outside of New York
and Los Angeles on March 24, 1972, so it's a wise bet to assume, even
with the widespread practice of "platforming" (staggering release
dates) at the time, that the movie was released in Minneapolis, a
relatively major city, on or very shortly after March 24, 1972.

HOWEVER, according to the link at:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/837/  , the Orpheum was no longer a
movie theater in 1972.  According to that link, the Orpheum was a
movie theater from the early 1920s to the late 1960s, but has been a
stage theater since the late 1960s.
Subject: Re: The Godfather original release
From: jmoncriefj-ga on 31 Mar 2006 09:20 PST
 
It looks like I spoke too soon perhaps, as a few users of that Cinema
Treasures that site ( http://cinematreasures.org/theater/837/ ) have
countered that the Orpheum showed movies until the late 1970s, such
as:

>>>> I regret to say that the photo you have up of the Minneapolis
Orpheum is actually the Minneapolis Orpheum which opened in 1904 and
closed in the 1930s as the 7th Street Theatre. The restored
Minneapolis Orphuem which is open today is a larger house, several
blocks away from where this earlier Orpheum stood. By the way today's
Orpheum played movies until 1978.

My apologies for my first comment if that's the case, as I imagine it
probably is (a local user clarifying a national database that is
attempting to chronicle theaters across the country).  I then refer
you to the first part of my first comment: that "The Godfather" was
widely released in the U.S. on March 24, 1972 (see, for example, its
IMDB page and many other sources).  If the Orpheum was a first-run
cinema in 1972, it's likely the movie opened there on that date.  The
film was based on a very popular book by Mario Puzo so, while people
didn't realize that the film would become a modern classic before it
opened, it also wasn't in any way obscure at its opening.  If the
Orpheum, in its downtown location in an era of malls, was insted a
"second-run" cinema, however, showing films at a discounted price well
after the release (similar to the Riverview in Minneapolis today),
then it's possible that "The Godfather" opened at the Orpheum well
after March.

For absolute confirmation (and note that this a comment, not an answer
I expect to be paid for!), I'd suggest, if you're in Minneapolis,
going to a public library and requesting microfilm of the Star or
Tribune from 1972.  Start with the editions of late March and look at
the movie ads until you see when the film opened at the Orpheum.  In
this way, you can also keep going until you see that it no longer
played there, if you need an end date.

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