Conjuring a ‘Spirit of ‘76’

At the Nuart, the 1970s have come alive in the early morning hours. The Westside theater began showing “The Spirit of ‘76” at midnight every Friday six weeks ago, and a couple of hundred people are showing up for the event cum film, a campy low-budget 1991 sendup of the Disco Decade.

While not yet in the cult league of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” (which plays at the Nuart Saturdays in the same time slot to legions of outrageously dressed fans), there is a burgeoning core of 1970s admirers--mostly in their 20s and 30s--who dress for “Spirit” as well.

The film’s premise is that in the year 2176 the United States has lost its Constitution. The Ministers of Knowledge, played by the band Devo, send three time travelers back to 1776 to secure another copy. They land in ‘76, but in the wrong century. The search for the Constitution (eventually found printed on a shirt) gives reason to pick up, pass by or be hit with the bad-taste icons of 1970s culture.

This is a past littered with lava lamps, AMC Pacers, Evel Knievel, pet rocks, est seminars, Tang, platform shoes, eight-track players and bell-bottoms.

“It was not a classical aesthetic,” is the understated analysis of the decade’s collective taste offered by the film’s producer, Susan Landau.

The midnight screening is the sort of event where a fleeting image of a “Partridge Family” lunch box on the screen gets a big laugh; with the appearance of a Pinto, the audience knows it’s in for an explosion.

These showings may mean a second life for the movie. In its original release, it disappeared from theaters faster than a Mood Ring changes color.

Landau said she hopes to attract a crowd who find “it’s fun to get made-up, go out and make fun of the way your parents dressed in the past.”

“We started dressing ‘70s for Halloween,” said P. J. Hernandez of Fountain Valley, who came wearing a leisure suit, myriad astrological medallions and a formidable dose of Stetson cologne. “When the movie came out, it was perfect.”

He was joined by friend Emmett Seltzer who was once a singer in a disco band, the Funky Love Party. Seltzer said he came to the Nuart in search of “a Virgo who loves hot-tub parties and won’t mess with my karma.”

“Any time you’ve got a film with both Leif Garrett and David Cassidy,” said Ints Luters of Los Angeles, “it’s going to be a humdinger.”

Some in the audience led cheering whenever one especially nerdy character appeared on screen; others seemed to know at least some of the dialogue, which they spoke along with the characters. A handful got up and danced the Hustle every time actors on screen did.

For some, the film dredged up memories of youth. “My mom dressed me in the most godawful striped bell-bottoms when I was 8 or 9,” said Ernie Esparza of Orange County. “It made me a better person.”

The fact that the 1970s induce cultural amnesia was mentioned as an attraction by fans. “When the ‘80s hit, it was like everybody disowned (the ‘70s). Like it never happened,” said Danny Flores of Huntington Beach, who has seen the film five times. He came wearing a puka-shell necklace and green star-shaped glasses.

“There’s a reason this is the lost decade,” said Atis Blakis of Santa Monica.

What: “The Spirit of ‘76”

Where: Nuart Theater, 11272 Santa Monica Blvd.

When: Midnight Fridays

Call: (310) 478-6379

Cost: $7

Dress: Anything polyester