Filmgoers Need a Break During Very Long Fare

Patrick Goldstein had a point when he wrote about the number of current movies that have become endurance tests (“Doctor Zzzhivago,” Calendar, Dec. 3). However, I believe there is a logical solution: Return to the practice in the 1950s and ‘60s of adding intermissions to films of three-hours-plus running time.

When some of the great filmmakers--John Huston (“The Bible”), George Stevens (“Giant”), Stanley Kubrick (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) William Wyler (“Ben-Hur”), David Lean (“Lawrence of Arabia”)--made pictures on an epic scale, they gave the audience, both literally and figuratively, a much appreciated break so that moviegoers could visit the bathroom, buy popcorn, smoke a cigarette or, most important, just stretch. Thanks to intermissions, long movies were not physically taxing, at least not any more so than were double features (which was the standard at the time for most theaters).

One of the first long movies that needed an intermission--and apparently was originally intended to have one--was “The Godfather Part II,” which clocked in at an intermission-less three hours and 20 minutes. The intermission was to have been placed just after the scene when young Vito Corleone (Robert De Niro) returns to his family after killing Don Fanucci and tells his infant son, Michael, how much he loves him. The camera pulls back, the music swells to a climax, the screen fades to black, but . . . no intermission.

Apparently it was decided just a few days before the picture’s release that including an intermission would detract from the film’s intensity. In my opinion, that was a mistake. “The Godfather Part II” is one of the great motion pictures of all time. It’s an epic, much more so than the first “Godfather” film, and--as it is an epic length--it needs an intermission, the same as an opera or a multimillion-dollar Broadway musical.

James Cameron (“Titanic”), Steven Spielberg (“Schindler’s List”), Mel Gibson (“Braveheart”) and other directors have made epic films as brilliant as their counterparts of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Including intermissions in their films would not only be a courtesy to their audiences but also a sign of respect to the epic format in which they have chosen to create motion pictures that deserve to and will stand the test of time.

On a more practical note, inasmuch as so much of the exhibitor’s revenue derives from selling popcorn, soft drinks and candy at inflated prices, it would seem that adding an intermission would be good business. Since a movie with a three- or 3 1/2-hour running time is going to decrease the number of performances a day in any case, increasing the running time by another 10 to 15 minutes isn’t going to affect ticket sales but will certainly give a boost to the concession stand.