New York City, New York: Outdoor Movies Every Thursday in an Open Air Cinema

Outdoor Movies in Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, New YorkEvery Thursday during the summer, outdoor movies are shown at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park. This impromptu open air cinema offers beautiful views and popular movies. Cost: $3 suggested donation. Program: Eclectic, with a dash of transgressive. If you missed "The Warriors'" screening and cast reunion that swamped Coney Island, you can always make it up here. Other outdoor movies this summer included: "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." View/Location: Pretty much the best out there. Plunked in the grassy expanse between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, you cannot really improve on a backdrop of Manhattan at dusk. You'll find the open air cinema about a 10-minute walk from the A/C stop at High St. station and the F stop at York St. Seating: Plenty of lawn space still remained when I dropped in at 8 p.m. A hill near the back of the lawn affords perhaps the best overall view of screen and skyline, but arrive early--it fills up fast. You can rent essentially legless lawn chairs for $5 (plus a $5 deposit) from the Park Conservancy. Tip: If you can, set up camp behind the Conservancy's reserved seating near the front of the lawn. It's right on an aisle, and in the frequent instances when BBPC officials don't show up, you have clear sightlines to the screen. Picture/Sound: Just OK, really. The screen is too small and the seating area too wide to get the nuance of a film like "July 20's Strangers on a Train." Light pollution from across the river is less than you might think, but the bridges' traffic (particularly the trains on the Manhattan Bridge) generates a stereophonic clamor that you never quite get used to. Restrooms: Disastrous--at least on the night I was there. A wall of porta-potties outside the screening area never opened up, leaving a line of frustrated filmgoers (sometimes 20 people deep) waiting for three restrooms out of viewing range of the screen. Food/Drink: Upscale, with Rice Restaurant offering a mix of dishes leaning Southwest by way of SoHo. BBQ dinners start at $8, with gazpacho, ginger lemonade and even smores rounding out the menu. Oh, and there is popcorn, soda and water across the way for the more conventionally minded. Excerpt from The Reeler's Screening Gotham Special Edition: The Reeler's Guide to Outdoor Cinema in NYC . Read full article at: http://www.mcnblogs.com/reeler/archives/screening_gotham/.

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