The [First] Last Picture Show

On, August 8, 2010, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema "Rolling Roadshow", rolled into Las Vegas, New Mexico. One of the neat things about the "Rolling Roadshow" is that they were screening movies in the same town/ or location that key scenes occurred in. Examples include "The Blues Brothers" at Old Joliet Prison, "Rocky I, II, & III" on the same steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art that Stallone ran. The Las Vegas, NM screening was no different, and was a double feature of "Convoy" and "Red Dawn". Both of these films were no exception to this rule, "Convoy" was filmed throughout the state of New Mexico, including a brief scene in Las Vegas. " "Red Dawn", the film that drew me here, was filmed almost entirely in the Las Vegas area, becoming the town of Calumet, Colorado. Even better was the fact, that two key scenes of this movie were filmed at the Ft. Union Drive In. The "Avenge Me!" scene, and another which involves the films protagonist group, the "Wolverines" attacking the theater to free the prisoners. Thanks to John, the projectionist at the Ft. Union, I was allowed to enter the projection booth, which still uses the original carbon-arc projectors that were installed here in the 1940's with the opening of the theater.