Comments (0) Best Theater Marquee - 2006
Hi-Pointe Theatre
1005 McCausland Ave.
St Louis, MO 63117
314-995-6273
Back in 2001 Sony Pictures got caught putting rave quotes from a made-up movie critic on its posters for such films as A Knight's Tale and Hollow Man. The studio was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to duped moviegoers. Sony's money would've been better spent by hiring Paul Faur and Charles Evans, manager and assistant manager, respectively, at the Hi-Pointe Theatre. Weekend in and weekend out, this pair devises the cleverest cine-centric turns of phrase since the days of Pauline Kael, spelling out their witty bons mots across the Hi-Pointe's marquee. Last year's Syriana, starring Matt Damon, was advertised as "Good Oil Hunting." The biopic Capote received the tagline "Glory Defeats Truman." And what was the word on the indie comedy Thank You for Smoking? "Laugh Your Ash Off." Not just a testament to smart wordplay for smart wordplay's sake, the marquees also serve to remind us of the little things we lose when our movie theaters get dumbed down. The main reason the Hi-Pointe can marquee its marquee is the fact that they've never divvied up the single-screen space to show eleventy movies at once. To paraphrase that marquee's assessment of Brick, we "Joseph Gordon Love It."
