Two for One: The Tradition of the Double Feature

In April, TCM will introduce a new franchise, Two for One, with prominent filmmakers co-hosting a double-feature of their choice each Saturday night. Special guests will include Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Lee, Patty Jenkins, Olivia Wilde, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Ethan Hawke, Todd Haynes, Maggie Gyllenhaal and more.

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[mikelgibson]

Please TCM do not take the love stories and unknown movies away. Love the musicals and everything this channel represents.

[ArpiChatvideos]

Nobody talks abouts the Drive in Theatre legacy, where they played double features.
I remember going to the Studio Drive in in Culver City, where they played the last film before its demolition. The Los Angeles Conservancy hosted the event, where they playedThe Girl Cant Help it. The movie was great,
however, the imminent demolition gave it an air of sadness.
I grew up in West Los Angeles, where I frequently went to the theater with my parents.

[VEGASWINGZ]

Please, TCM; Closed Captioning for everything shown on your channel, not just movies!

[elichilton]

Here in Canada, I used to go to a movie theatre called Mayfair Theatre in our nation's capitol Ottawa, which still holds double features to this day. And they had triple features on the weekend sometimes. It was quite a find for a young cinephile like me at the time. One of the memorable ones I went to was Blade Runner and The Fifth Element for a mere seven dollar ticket.

[infonut]

Those poor theater owners were struggling with the ever increasing rental fees.
The easiest way to make up for it was the concession stand.
The longer you're there, the more you consume. They cut the cost of the rental fee by getting a cheaper/older film to rent but made twice as much in their already overpriced food/drinks.

[RetNemmoc]

I happily sat with my older brothers to see the cartoons and newsreels, eat my popcorn and a dill pickle from a big glass jar at the concession counter, and watch two films that I was too young to understand.

[lynnturman]

I was a kid in the 70s. I remember the double feature at the Drive-Inn.

[IvorPresents]

Grew up and came of age with the Double Feature. Memorable even toady, ; "Dr No". with "The Manturian Candidate". At the Deluxe, "The Fly" playing with "Space Master X7". Did not have the courage to catch, The Crawling Eye.. with The Abominable Snowman.

[ArpiChatalian]

We would go to Art Museums. They are a great source to See Classic Films.
LACMA is a wonderful place to visit when one is in LA.
Moreover, We have The La Brea Tar Pits to go
Pliestecine fossils of extinct animals are displayed there in Hancock Park in the La Brea neighborhood.
😂

[imaginationworkshopstudio]

Great choice of pictures! Especially THE LONGEST DAY! MIGHTY JOE YOUNG! INVADERS FROM MARS! My very first Double Feature was PETE'S DRAGON (1977) and STAR WARS (1977), I was 1 year old.

[billybolex]

Martin Scorsese references the Thalia, the legendary New York repertory theater, but it should be pointed out that Bruce Goldstein, also featured here, used to be the programmer for the Thalia in its final glory years before he moved his talents over to the Film Forum.

[davidwilliams]

Wow, hadn’t thought about any of that in years. Did a lot of “ending first/beginning second” viewing- quite normal. One double bill was some kids movie and Pillow Talk, which I wasn’t allowed to stay for. Great clips, thanks.

[billybolex]

Superbly edited piece, with great film clips of such high quality--esp. INVADERS FROM MARS!
Oh, and for the record, the film Scorsese refers to, 1000 YEARS FROM NOW, is much better known by its original release title, CAPTIVE WOMEN (1952). It's a film that Bruce Goldstein programmed for a Sci-Fi festival at the Film Forum some years ago, which is where I saw it.

[Galacticpurveyor]

The double features I saw were at a second run theater in the the late 70s into the 80s. It was great.

[bryedtan]

As a kid when my parents would rent videos (Laser Disc which was prevalent to rent where I was in Metropolitan Manila in the Phillippines) they would select a number of films and sometimes on some nights we watched two films in one night sometimes no connection to one another at times a theme I guess that was for me my exposure to the double feature. With some audiences last year watching both Oppenheimer and Barbie I think theaters should try to offer double features again.

[roderickfemm]

I was growing up in the late 50's, and my parents took my older sister and me to double features at neighborhood theaters, on Friday nights after dinner. We would walk in when we got to the theater, sit through the two movies and the short subjects, and at some point "this is where we came in" happened, and we left. My parents took us to the movies they wanted to see, not kids' movies, so I saw a lot of films for grown-ups. The one I remember best was Not As A Stranger, paired with Rear Window (both revivals, I think). I was maybe 10 or 11 at the time. I remember nothing about the love story, but the thriller had me on the edge of my seat. I'm sure I saw a lot of good movies, but I think most of them were over my head.

[ChrisWolff]

This is gonna be a really fun year for TCM.

[PaytonSamuels]

A fantastic part of the #TCM30 celebration.

[atax]

ah yes, taking me back to the second- and third-run houses that ran double (and triple, and sometimes more) features of, often, movies that had no apparent connection. "Flash Gordon" and "The Stunt Man, " anyone?

[edcampion]

i saw grease and convoy hated convoy loved grease mostly cause of my first love olivia newton john