Legend Loses Lengthy Lines

When the marquee in front of the Brattle announces To Have and Have Not and the line doesn't stretch twice around the block by 8:30 for the 9:30 show, there's something very wrong. The lines have been rather short this summer.

A traditional tension-buster during January and June reading and exam periods, the Bogey festival was introduced to work its same magic at the Summer School about three years ago. But it just didn't seem to catch on.

The films are popular with the summer crowd; practically every one has been a sell-out. But that's been true of just about all the pictures shown this summer in the Film Festival. The problem is more than that; a certain spark, a certain communal sense of identity is sorely lacking.

The malaise is most evident inside the theater. A new true fans sit amusedly waiting for the classic : "Hey, there, got a match?" "Hey, there, got cigarette?" But the smiles of anticipatory pleasure are sparsely scattered in the theater. It is difficult to imagine a summer outburst of the same kind of indignation that exploded last year when the famous "round up the usual suspects" line Casablanca was omitted.

Cyrus Harvey, owner of the Brattle, offered a par explanation last night when he compared the Bogart films to Greek tragedies. "The audience is a kind of chorus," he pointed out. "The dialogue is way ahead of its time: it doesn't age." Consequently, people keep returning to see the same films and "chant the lines along with the actors," Harvey said.

But in the summer, this special response to the Bogart flicks is nonexistent. The audience is passive, reacting to the funny lines, but as watchers rather than participants.

Some random Harvard students attempted to analyze the difference last night. "Bogey is pure escapism," one said. "But in the summer, there's really nothing to escape from. The people who have to go to Summer School have been working; the people who want to go to Summer School haven't worked, but don't care. There just isn't the same kind of tension."

Another explanation revolved around the repetitive appeal of the Bogart movies. During the regular school year, three-fourths of the audience has seen the movie before. In the summer, most people are first-time viewers.

Two recent Harvard graduates heard about the summer Bogey festival and drove in from New York to see The Maltese Falcon last night. "It's just not the same," one remarked sadly. "Maybe I'm just getting old."

The malaise is most evident inside the theater. A new true fans sit amusedly waiting for the classic : "Hey, there, got a match?" "Hey, there, got cigarette?" But the smiles of anticipatory pleasure are sparsely scattered in the theater. It is difficult to imagine a summer outburst of the same kind of indignation that exploded last year when the famous "round up the usual suspects" line Casablanca was omitted.

Cyrus Harvey, owner of the Brattle, offered a par explanation last night when he compared the Bogart films to Greek tragedies. "The audience is a kind of chorus," he pointed out. "The dialogue is way ahead of its time: it doesn't age." Consequently, people keep returning to see the same films and "chant the lines along with the actors," Harvey said.

But in the summer, this special response to the Bogart flicks is nonexistent. The audience is passive, reacting to the funny lines, but as watchers rather than participants.

Some random Harvard students attempted to analyze the difference last night. "Bogey is pure escapism," one said. "But in the summer, there's really nothing to escape from. The people who have to go to Summer School have been working; the people who want to go to Summer School haven't worked, but don't care. There just isn't the same kind of tension."

Another explanation revolved around the repetitive appeal of the Bogart movies. During the regular school year, three-fourths of the audience has seen the movie before. In the summer, most people are first-time viewers.

Two recent Harvard graduates heard about the summer Bogey festival and drove in from New York to see The Maltese Falcon last night. "It's just not the same," one remarked sadly. "Maybe I'm just getting old."

Cyrus Harvey, owner of the Brattle, offered a par explanation last night when he compared the Bogart films to Greek tragedies. "The audience is a kind of chorus," he pointed out. "The dialogue is way ahead of its time: it doesn't age." Consequently, people keep returning to see the same films and "chant the lines along with the actors," Harvey said.

But in the summer, this special response to the Bogart flicks is nonexistent. The audience is passive, reacting to the funny lines, but as watchers rather than participants.

Some random Harvard students attempted to analyze the difference last night. "Bogey is pure escapism," one said. "But in the summer, there's really nothing to escape from. The people who have to go to Summer School have been working; the people who want to go to Summer School haven't worked, but don't care. There just isn't the same kind of tension."

Another explanation revolved around the repetitive appeal of the Bogart movies. During the regular school year, three-fourths of the audience has seen the movie before. In the summer, most people are first-time viewers.

Two recent Harvard graduates heard about the summer Bogey festival and drove in from New York to see The Maltese Falcon last night. "It's just not the same," one remarked sadly. "Maybe I'm just getting old."

But in the summer, this special response to the Bogart flicks is nonexistent. The audience is passive, reacting to the funny lines, but as watchers rather than participants.

Some random Harvard students attempted to analyze the difference last night. "Bogey is pure escapism," one said. "But in the summer, there's really nothing to escape from. The people who have to go to Summer School have been working; the people who want to go to Summer School haven't worked, but don't care. There just isn't the same kind of tension."

Another explanation revolved around the repetitive appeal of the Bogart movies. During the regular school year, three-fourths of the audience has seen the movie before. In the summer, most people are first-time viewers.

Two recent Harvard graduates heard about the summer Bogey festival and drove in from New York to see The Maltese Falcon last night. "It's just not the same," one remarked sadly. "Maybe I'm just getting old."