Bond over movies

To the editor:
I really appreciated Collin Kelley’s Garden Hills Requiem Commentary, which I just read in the April 17-30 Sandy Springs Reporter.  I really identified with your recognition of George Lefont’s film footprint on Atlanta, and like you, that has been very important to me throughout much of my life along with theaters he has been associated with at one time or another.
I attended a lot of movies at The Silver Screen (including “Rocky Horror,” which I think had a long run at Garden Hills when George Ellis ran it); The Screening Room (Wow, about the darkest theater ever; I think I saw “Diva” there and definitely “La Femme Nikita.”
I went so often I enjoyed getting to know a staff that would share peculiar peccadilloes of notorious patrons. Ansley Cinema (my first exposure to “La Cage Aux Folles” – my girlfriend and I laughed our heads off) and some more films at The Plaza. Garden Hills movies that come to mind immediately are “Das Boot,” “Au Revoir Les Enfants,” “Amelie” and “A Hard Days Night.”

The Chinese movie about the life and subsequent funeral procession of a schoolteacher influenced me to become one.  Garden Hills also had the manager with the beret.
Tara is my favorite because I’ve been going there since perhaps ‘78 and still depend on it for better fare. I will be devastated if it ever closes. Most memorable for me have been “The Wall,” after which my friends and I could not speak during the entire 20 minute ride home, “Platoon,” which also dazed me, and “About Schmidt,” my first date in January 2003 with my now wife.
I was upset when Madstone closed and correspondingly grateful to LeFont for resurrecting LeFont Sandy Springs, although oddly it remains unremarkable for me aside from a place that I can walk to and count on a mature audience.  I guess I neglect it, but with kids ages 7 and 10, I don’t see many movies out now.
George did not always own the theaters when I saw the movies cited above, but it seems his thread of ownership created and held intact a decent film scene in Atlanta that I’m not sure is available now.
For that I shook his hand and thanked him when he greeted patrons soon after he opened Sandy Springs.
If you have read this far, then I guess we have some kind of bond over shared locations and experiences, so thanks for letting me express my sentiments.

–Ben Hendry

A lovely requiem

To the editor:
I share your love of the Garden Hills, and all the wonderful, divine old cinemas that you mentioned.  I shall consider your essay a lovely requiem for that palace of delights.

–Manning Harris

We miss the indie theaters

To the editor:
I really appreciated this article, because I also loved Garden Hills Cinema. My husband and I looked for what was playing there before even thinking of looking at the main theaters. The popcorn was fresh too! Indie theaters for showing the indie productions are missed in Atlanta.

–Pam