Film Review: ‘Back to the Drive-In’: A Hearty Slice of Americana

NR | 1h 51min | Documentary, Film | 14 March 2023 (USA)

In March 2020, multiple businesses and entire industries all over the globe were shuttered or put under severe operational restrictions due to COVID. These included but were not limited to airlines, automobile factories, restaurants, retail stores of all sorts, fitness clubs, salons, travel agencies, stage theaters, and brick-and-mortar movie theaters.

For other entities, the pandemic resulted in a marked uptick in new or previously barely used services, including liquor and food delivery. The online retail business also skyrocketed (due mostly to brick-and-mortar retail being partially or totally shut down).

The manufacturers of largely toothless protective and sanitation products (paper facial coverings, hand sanitizers, and “stay six feet apart” floor decals) also reaped heavy profits.

There was also another unexpected beneficiary: drive-in movie theaters.

Older Than You Might Expect

Almost as old as the medium itself (the first venue opened in 1915 in Las Cruces, New Mexico), drive-ins had their heyday in the 1940s through the ‘60s, and have seen a slow drip in box office receipts over the following six decades. These entities were on life support during this time, yet never quite bought the farm.

Although drive-ins have popped up here and there in Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, they are regarded by most industry historians as a distinctly U.S. experience. Watching movies in cars with piped-in sound while dining on greasy, carb-heavy convenience foods is the utter definition of nostalgic Americana.

As with the nearly dozen profiles of drive-in theater operations in eight states, “Back to the Drive-In” (“Drive-In”) writer-director-producer-cinematographer-editor April Wright is as clearly head over heels in love with the drive-in experience and its unique place in American film history.

Director April Wright is an enthusiastic supporter of drive-ins, as she shows in "Back to the Drive-In." (Going Attractions)

Unlike most of the chain brick-and-mortar exhibitors, drive-ins generally try to include something more than snacks and new titles to attract patrons. One of the more inventive examples of this is practiced in the Catskills, New York-based Greenville drive-in. Choosing to screen older, mostly cult-favorite titles, the Greenville offers concessions based on the content of the film. For instance, for the Coen brothers’ comedy “The Big Lebowski,” the owners (married couple Dwight Grimm and Leigh Van Swall) sold White Russian cocktails (the preferred drink of the Dude character played by Jeff Bridges) and cookies with “Dude” icing.

Life Imitates Art

In Liberty Center, Ohio (near Toledo), owners Rod and Donna Saunders took a novel, “life imitates art” approach to their Field of Dreams venue, which opened in 2007. As Kevin Costner’s character did with a baseball field in the film bearing the same name, the Rod and Donna’s family transformed nearly their entire sizable backyard into a drive-in.

Neighboring cornfields are visible from their facility which, of course, adds a certain level of Midwest ambience to the “being there” experience. Business was great from the start and became so good that Rod and Donna added a second screen.

The various success stories in “Drive-In” are paired alongside those where merely staying open and remaining in the black is a daily challenge. Over half of the profiled venues were built in the 1950s, and most of them are in perpetual states of disrepair. Something or other needs to be fixed or replaced—more often than anyone would like—and replacement parts are either no longer available or are simply cost prohibitive.

And Then, There’s the Weather

The only remaining drive-in on Cape Cod, the Wellfleet, is still using the original screen (from 1957) and is one of the few operations still using window-mounted speaker boxes. Most theaters now broadcast the movie’s audio signal on dedicated FM channels.

On the night of filming, the Wellfleet’s ex-Marine owner John Vincent Jr., also president of the United Drive-in Theaters Association, is counting on 300 cars showing up, but as is frequently the case near any body of water, a thick fog has set in. This wouldn’t be so bad if there were some wind to clear everything up, but this never materializes.

Based on titles of movies seen on multiple marquees—“The Boss Baby: Family Business” and “Space Jam: A New Legacy”—the bulk of the filming for “Drive-In” took place during the summer of 2021, which was about the same time (most) studios were making ends meet with on-demand or streaming services.

Despite this unforeseen and unexpected competition, all of the profiled facilities enjoyed a boom (however brief) in business, mostly due to patrons simply wanting to get out of their houses.

One has to admire the tenacity and dedication required to stick with a business model that has been in decline for over a half-century. The marked spike in 2021 could be viewed by pessimists as merely a result of COVID, but the optimistic owners and their employees profiled here refuse to give up.

Their collective “never throw in the towel” mindset is truly inspirational.

Drive-ins had their heyday in the 1940s through the '60s, as seen in the documentary "Back to the Drive-In." (VOD)

‘Back to the Drive-In’ Documentary Director: April Wright Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes MPAA Rating: PG-13 Release Date: March 14, 2023 Rating: 3.5 out of 5