Short Cuts

Oh, Scott, say it ain't so. Scott Dinger, the owner, manager, booker, concessions worker, and all-around man behind the curtain at the Dobie Theatre, called this week with the sad news that he has sold the Dobie Theatre. Effective January 15, the Dobie Theatre will become the lone Austin outpost of the Landmark Theatres exhibition chain. The good news is that Landmark should be a welcome player in this market. Landmark has a good reputation as an arthouse chain, with more than 50 theatres, and more than 150 screens, in 11 states. (Their other theatres in Texas include the Inwood in Dallas and the River Oaks and Greenway in Houston.) According to Dinger, the decision was just "the right offer, by the right people, at the right time." His confidence in Landmark as the appropriate company to take over his beloved operation is contagious. Dinger has poured so much of his heart, soul, and sweat into turning the Dobie into a venerable local institution and nationally recognized independent venue that it is impossible to think that he would leave this legacy in anything other than capable hands. And judging from what's on the screens at Landmark's other theatres, their Austin programming should be in keeping with what we've become accustomed to seeing at the Dobie. And in fact, as far as bookings are concerned, the chain may be capable of exerting a little more sway within the industry than a solitary independent can. Yet, the loss of another "independent" is always worrisome. Landmark has already spoken up as being on board for such schedule-disrupting,intensive events as South by Southwest andaGLIFF (Austin Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival). We have to hope that they will also be there for all the smaller events that have counted on the Dobie for safe harbor over the years. And we also have to wonder whether the next time a goofy kid like Rick Linklater wanders in with some unknown project like Slacker, if Landmark will have the freedom and foresight to take a chance on an uncredentialed film and give it and its filmmakers an equally fair shake. Above all, this commitmentto the filmmakers, the films, and the community they are a part of is what has distinguished Scott Dinger's tenure at the Dobie. Dinger will continue on at the theatre for another few months while it's in the process of changeover. His passion will be sorely missed...

Speaking of the Dobie, that theatre has been notable of late for is exceptional runs of two of the year's most interesting documentaries: Hands on a Hard Body and The Cruise. Ever since it debuted in Austin in July at a Texas Documentary Tourscreening,Hands on a Hard Body has been playing nonstop at the Dobie. It is yet to be released in most of the rest of the country, but Austin has taken the film to heart in a way that has brought it to the attention of national promoters. It seems the picture has even come to the attention of Governor George Bush and his staff, who jumped at the chance to book the entire theatre for a private screening. The Cruise has taken off at the Dobie as well, where its box-office numbers most nights are better than those for Elizabeth (currently the number-one arthouse grosser and also showing on another Dobie screen). Those who encountered the star of the movie, Speed Levitch, when he was in town a couple of weeks ago with director Bennett Miller, are unlikely to forget him anytime soon. The same could be said for anyone who has seenthe movie. Another opportunity to catch Levitch's extraordinary spiel will come this Tuesday, December 22,10:30pm, when he appears on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The evening's other scheduled guest is Robin Williams.