Point 4 Movie Theatre – A Lost Gem
By Nick Leonetti
When I was a kid, there was nothing that got me more excited than a trip to the movies. Walking into that dimly lit building where fluorescent light bulbs tinkled, the salty smell of buttered popcorn permeated the air, the sound of arcade machines buzzed and droned like angry robots set loose on unsuspecting bystanders – it was the closest thing to real magic available to a child with an overactive imagination.
Atlantic County is an area fortunate enough to offer a plethora of movie theatres to choose from, especially on these sweltering summer days when it’s too hot be outside. There is Frank Theatres Tilton 9 in Northfield, Frank Theatres Towne Stadium 16 in Egg Harbor Township, and Regal Cinemas Hamilton Commons in Mays Landing, to name a few. There was one theatre, however, that bridged the gap between classic and modern style: a cinematic gem that I am still sorry to see go even after more than a decade since its demolition.
The Point 4 Theatre held residence on MacArthur Blvd. in Somers Point, just before the old circle that directed cars to the 9th St. Bridge. The whole area, in fact, was like a scene out of Happy Days or American Graffiti. It’s not hard to imagine souped-up muscle cars drag racing down MacArthur Blvd. as tweens sucked on chocolate malts at the Somers Point diner, boozers sipped on Schlitz at DiOrio’s, and just down the road, bands like Full House and SupaHeat blew the doors off Tony Mart’s Night Club. Point 4 sat right in the middle of all of this, the cherry on top of a shore town that already oozed nightlife full of vitality.
Originally a bowling alley, Point 4 was bought by the Franks and converted into a movie theatre around 1983. Before this, the Gateway Theatre on Bay Ave. actually showed movies, which supplied Point 4 with its first four screens. Technically, the theatre could have been Point 5, but the Franks decided to keep one of the large auditoriums as storage space.
The major draw of theatre was its front. A huge mural was painted on the exterior, apparently with the help of local youths in the area, including one of my old high school teachers. The mural was made up of scenes from classic movies. I remember specifically the iconic shot of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader tapping lightsabers from the epic end-battle in The Empire Strikes Back. There was also a giant Darth Vader mask, a scene from Gone With the Wind, and Indiana Jones striking his iconic whip. There was much more (E.T. maybe?), but I can’t remember, and there are absolutely no pictures of the theatre to be found online. (A trip over to the Somers Point Historical Society may be in order to see if they have anything of interest.)
I do remember the attendees at the ticket both being comically overzealous when it came to age restrictions. You practically needed a fake I.D. if you were underage, to get in to see an R rated movie. The mother of a friend of mine used to buy a ticket to go in with us, wait until it began, and then sneak into another theatre to watch something more her speed.
One of the most memorable experiences I have is going to see The Blair Witch Project in 1999. This was a film that received so much hype that there was a line from the ticket booth, all the way to the end of the parking lot. I had never seen anything quite like that kind of turnout, and still have not to this day. My buddy and I had already attempted to buy tickets to see the film earlier that day and were denied by a woman who merrily shooed us out of the theatre.
Desperately, we went up to couples old enough to be our parents and begged them to buy us tickets. It took a while, but we finally found a couple who would… with a five-dollar bribe. The experience has been the greatest I have ever had, so far, at a movie. People were screaming and throwing popcorn at the screen. I had never seen anything like it before. When the lights came on, a feeling of catharsis was in the air. It was like getting a off a roller coaster you finally decided to ride after a full day of torment and avoidance. It was like an exorcism.
When they tore the theatre down, it broke my heart. I still, to this day, don’t understand why the owners, or even the town couldn’t have tried to make it work. Now there are, I believe, office buildings in place of the theatre, which is fine, I guess. Places like Point 4 brought to Atlantic County a sense of wonder and mystique. Sometimes new isn’t always better. If they would have only waited a few more years, Point 4 may have even been able to find a place on the New Jersey, or even the National, Historic Register. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.
