Have any of you had problems with audience members becoming so angry at other people in the theatres that they became violent? I could see it happening these days with people leaving their cell phones on.

I've never witnessed anything like the article talks about, and other than theatres being robbed around closing time, haven't heard any stories about violence among theatregoers. I suppose someday we'll hear one about someone killing someone whose cell phone went off in a theatre, which seems to be the current thing that generates the most anger from other attendees.

I could see the robbery and sexual harrassment being a problem in bad areas of large cities.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Info Site

I know of at least three people being shot and killed two in the auditorium and one on a concession line within the past year. These theatres were first run and the theatres were crowded.

There is one theatre in our area where you have to walk through metal detector's, same as when you go on an airplane, before you can get into the lobby. This is the exception not the rule.

Violence seems to be on the increase although there have been pictures that have incited people over the years.

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That's not to say that things don't happen. Read about the recently closed Southfield City 12 in metro Detroit.

I recently ran a theater in another state where it seemed like every weekend half the customers were psychos. And yes, I've called out the sheriff and the K9 units for the occasional stupid people.

Another thing to consider about Detroit is that there is only one movie theater in the city limits, and it's a sub-run. Every other theater in the metro area is in a suburb.

Back to the journalism gripe, there seems to be a competition here between the major TV stations. Each station has a nightly report to completely trash someone or something. The "Problem Solvers" on Fox 2 and the "Defenders" on WDIV are the best examples of local TV stations trying to do the news for the Jerry Springer/Jenny Jones crowd.

The problem is ... It's the news, so viewers are taking it at face value.

The two I remember the most within the last year:

1.) Two men (30's or 40's) got into a fight because one was talking to his girlfriend. They started punching each other and flipping over seats right in the middle of the auditorium while the movie was running. I went in, yelled at them to get out of the theater and called the police. Me and one of my supervisors had to hold them back...I almost got punched in the face holding one of the men. The police let them go with a warning (without even consulting me!!!)

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Once I got in, the younger guy was cussing up a storm because the older guy ripped his shirt before coming out to get me. I asked the young man to see me outside of the aud to see if I should approach this differently. If the older guy did "attack" him, this would have to be dealt with the mall security (cop wannabees).

I try not to get involved in any confrontations since a fight broke out at a theatre outside of DC. It was my night off, but I went in to help out. All the shows have gone in and we were all taking a quick breather by the conc stand until a whole bunch of teenage kids were yelling and screaming "FIGHT!" right inside our entrance. I ran over and found two guys on the floor. The one on the bottom was holding the other one close to him, which is a familiar defensive tactic (if you know a bit about *grappling*). I just yelled at them to stop when this kid in a big jacket bent down and tried to seperate them. I stepped back thinking it was over, BUT the big jacket kid took a swing at the guy on the bottom. On the next swing, I picked up this kid and threw him aside like a broken split reel and seperated the other two myself. I got up and turned to make sure I was not going to be attacked and noticed the kid I just tossed. He had to be twice my size and weight and I put him aside about 5 feet. He didn't attack me, but he and his friend were soon apprehended by the local police in the parking lot. SIX squad cars showed at our front door just for this. I told the cops what I did, and they told me to just let them kill each other if they have to. Even though they were from rival gangs, I didn't want the theatre to have a bad persona put upon it if someone did die from STUPID violence like this.

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Yes I have seen and heard of this type of behavior happening. At one of the theatres that I worked at in Corpus, we had two seperate incidents happen. In one a patron sitting in front of another was asked to politely quit talking during the movie. That patron proceeded to stand up turn around and punch the guy who asked him to shut up, square in the nose. When I was first notified of the incident and started towards the auditorium the assult happened in, I was meet half way by a gentleman with a Bleeding nose. In another incident at the same theatre a simialr situation happened between a group of people and a Mother Daughter. It ended up with an older gentleman pushing the Daughter and injurying her knee. In both these cases I was on duty, was notified of the problem in advance of seeing any of the participants and was able to get Mall security up there in time to apprehend the assualters. In both cases the attackers were arrested and banned from the Mall. In San Antonio, Tx a man was shot to death in a parking lot close to the Central Park 4 after getting into it with a group of 3 teenage gang bangers. According to the victims fiance, the group of teenagers were asked to stop cuttingup during the movie, but kept it going so teh couple decided to leave. Teh group followed them out of the theatre. She was left sitting on the step of the theatre while her fiance walked to a nearby parking lot to get the car. The group of teenagers followed shortly behind him. Moments later she heard the 4 gunshots that killed her fiance. This is just living proof of how out of control the world is becoming. It is truly a sad situation.

As to Jim's statement that if you injure a combantant during a fight they can sue you. This happened at another thetare in the same chain that I worked for. It started out as kid's in the concession area making fun of a heavy set couple as they approached the conceesion stand. The kids did not know that the patrons had heard them, nor did the patrons let on that they heard what was said. Apparently after sitting in the movie for sometime, the man got really upset with the remarks and decided to go say something to the concession group, butthey had already left for the night. So he cornered to ushers in the hallway and started letting them have it ushers, who was a minor, had a hokie in his hand. While the guy was beating up on his co-worker, he took the handle of teh hokie and proceeded to smack the guy across the ribs with it several times. In the end, 7 people went to the hospital, the man was charged with assault to a minor, and assualt. He pressed chrges aginst the minor for assualt with a deadly weapon, but never could get an arrest on him. The minor lost his job for the incident, and th guy sued the company and won. Go figure, he was the won that started with the brutallity and got away with it except for a fine, a few broken ribs and ended up with a large settlement form the company.

There have always been fights at theatres. Each one has to be handled on an individual basis. If Grandma Jones is being beat silly by her daughter, it only makes sense to seperate them. When two large adolescents are going at it, different tactics are in order. Sometimes it can be as simple as saying in a casual sounding loud voice "Uh, guys? The police should be here in about 30 seconds. Just suggesting, but it might be a good idea to leave, or at least wait until after they've left to fight, especially if either of you have any warrants outstanding or are on probation." Other times, that won't work, but strange distractions or noises might. You have to be a little creative.

I did get a nice crash course in butterfly bandaging one fight, when one guy pushed another through a plate glass window before I could get to the scene. Good samaratin laws will generally protect you if you intervene in a measured manner, with good intent and a desire to prevent harm. (Cold cocking the aggressor doesn't count.)