"Phantom" turns 50?!!

Not THAT Phantom (of the Opera, the hit Broadway musical from the late 1980s -- which is getting to be almost 40 years ago itself...!)(gulp!).  

I'm talking about Brian De Palma's 1974 movie, "Phantom of the Paradise." I was reminded of "Phantom" -- and the fact that it is turning 50 (!!!) years old -- when I saw an event flagged in one of my Manitoba friends' Facebook feeds -- a 50th anniversary celebration at the Burton Cummings Theatre in Winnipeg on Nov. 2nd (tomorrow night, and there's a related event on tonight too).  (The American online magazine Mental Floss has taken note!) 

"Phantom of the Paradise" was a flop everywhere when it was released (appropriately, on Halloween). EXCEPT in Winnipeg (and, by extension, southern Manitoba), where it debuted on Dec. 26, 1974, and developed a huge cult following that has flourished for 50 (!!) years now. (And also, apparently, Paris, France!)  Apparently there's even a 2019 documentary about the city's devotion to the movie, called "Phantom of Winnipeg" (lol).  

I was 13 years old in the fall of 1974 (and turned 14 in January 1975), in Grade 8 at a new school. We'd recently moved to a new town, about an hour outside of Winnipeg.  "Phantom of the Paradise" was HUGE that year. HUGE. It's hard to explain to people who weren't there, who didn't grow up in Manitoba during that pre-online, pre-cable TV era, just how huge it was. (I think we got something like 5 or 6 channels with the rotary antenna on the rooftop -- and not that many more when we got cable! -- and that was it -- which was still a lot more than we'd ever had to that point in the other places we'd lived -- i.e., ONE -- the CBC...) Today we'd probably say the movie went viral.  

I didn't own a copy of the soundtrack album (a bestseller in Winnipeg, of course...), but thanks to other kids at school who did, plus heavy advertising of the movie on TV, I knew just about every song on it before I ever actually got to see the movie, I think!  ("We'll remember you foreeeeeeever, Eddie...")  

The movie ran for 18 weeks straight at the Garrick Theatre in Winnipeg (and then on & off at other theatres in the city, well into 1976 = about two years). It's "a weird blend of horror, comedy and rock music, inspired by sources like Phantom of the Opera and the legend of Faust."  (Tagline:  "He sold his soul for rock 'n roll.")  You can still sometimes find it, late at night on TV -- often around Halloween (along with another beloved cult classic of the era, the better-known "Rocky Horror Picture Show," which came out a few years later). (I imagine you can find it streaming on some service or other too!)

I posted about this on Facebook, and my fellow Manitobans of a certain vintage were all responding "I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!" Others, of course, had never heard of it, lol. 

Have you ever seen "Phantom of the Paradise"?  

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Related links: 

• "Fans of Phantom find paradise" (Winnipeg Free Press) 
• "Why Winnipeg?" (about how the Phantom conquered the Peg, in 4 parts) 
• "Go on. Ask. Everyone does."   
• "An overnight sensation." 
• "Paul Williams: Beatle" 
• "Dream it Never Ends" 
• "This Cult Musical Film Was 'Rocky Horror' Before 'Rocky Horror'"
• "Did Phantom of the Paradise Walk So That The Rocky Horror Picture Show Could Run?"