Marshall and the Movies

Squeamish, stand back.  Today’s factoid will be sharing a particularly nasty moviegoing experience.

It was the night of June 12, 2009.  My friend and I were running into the theater (AMC Studio 30), hoping that we could still get good seats to the 7:20 showing “The Taking of Pelham 123” because it was, after all, opening night.  We sprinted in at about 7:15 only to find a line outside our theater that was looped several times.

This seemed a little suspect to me because lines are usually admitted 30 minutes or so before the movie starts, and we were waiting with less than five.  But from the looks of the line, we would be able to get pretty good seats, so I didn’t question it too much.

Minutes started to go by, and soon it was 7:20 and we were still waiting outside.  Some woman much bolder than I approached the manager and asked what the deal was.  The word spread quickly through the line.

Someone had urinated and defecated on the floor of the theater.

We were waiting outside because the custodial crew was still hard at work cleaning the excrement and purging the smell.  They let us in just in time to watch the last preview – which was for “Armored” – and get settled as the movie was starting.  No stench remained in the theater, but the perpetrator made sure that I remembered the night I saw “The Taking of Pelham 123.”