Interview with Joe Bob Briggs

This is taken from an email interview I did with Joe Bob Briggs about a drive-in story I was going to do, but got killed for various reasons (including the fact that Joe Bob, bless his heart, sent me the answers three months after I sent him the questions). So, rather than letting it go to waste, here it is, in all its unedited glory.


1. What is the allure of the drive-in? What makes it so different from other movie venues?

It's outside! Like God intended. I'm surprised I have to explain this to you. You watch the movie in the privacy of your own vehicle, where you can do any disgusting thing you want without intervention from the professional scolds who run this country. It's no accident that the decline of the drive-in coincides with the rise of Victorian morality.

2. What accounted for the drive-in’s post WWII rise in popularity and its subsequent decline in the 1960’s and 1970’s?

After World War II, everything in America was about the car. There weren't just drive-in movies, there were drive-in banks, drive-in restaurants, drive-in everything. People started spending more and more time in their car, and at that time it wasn't considered a burden. To some extent, using the car was still thought of as a lark. The cars were also much larger. One reason the drive-in declined in the seventies is that people started buying little Japanese rice rockets, cars so tiny that you couldn't really sit through a two-hour movie when you were folded into one. Then there was the rise of the multi-plex, which really took off in the early seventies. But the main reason for the decline was rising real estate values. The drive-in was always built on the edge of the city, where the urban and the rural meet. That made it prime land for expansion. Most of the drive-ins in the eighties were closed and sold to Wal-Marts.

3. How did drive-in’s come to be associated with Roger Corman type films?

The major studios discriminated against drive-ins and for many years refused to give them major releases. So the independent producers like Corman rushed in to supply them. Also, even when the drive-in *did* score a major release, they would need a second or a third feature. Many of the Corman-type films were sold as "flat fee" second features. You would pay $50 a night for the film.

4. Can you name a couple of what you believe are the all-time great drive-movies and a couple of recent ones that might fit into that mold?

Probably the two greatest ones of all time are Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Recent titles would include The Grudge, the Saw series, etc.

5. What is the difference between “A” movies and “B” movies? What makes a “B” movie great?

The three essentials are the three B's: Blood, Breasts and Beasts. Everything else is gravy.

6. How did the advent of direct-to-video movies affect the drive-in?

There's no question that the old audience for the drive-in second feature is the same audience that went for direct-to-video exploitation fare big time. There was about a five-year period when you could put out anything on video and people would rent it.

7. Any favorite snack stand food, or do you bring your own? Also, what’s your take smuggling beer or other alcohol in with you to drink while you watch the movie?

Alcohol is essential! Hot dogs are standard. Nachos are that added amenity that shows the drive-in owner is a purist.

8. How does the drive-in rank as a dating venue?

If you have a big car, no place better. Tinted windows are essential, however.

9. Is there any chance that you’ll have a new show anytime soon?

Yes, an excellent chance. I'm involved with the new Redrum network, devoted to horror, thriller and suspense movies and tv shows, and I'll definitely have a show on there.

10. Interviewee’s choice…anything on the subject you feel is important that I haven’t asked about.

The drive-in will never die!