MOVIES

The man behind the notes at the Paramount

Austin film buff has anonymously shared his knowledge with summer audiences for 14 years.

By Patrick Caldwell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, August 24, 2009

To step into the "man cave" of film buff Frank Campbell is to peer directly into the heart of a pop culture enthusiast. Comic books are shelved from floor to ceiling. Vintage one-sheet movie posters and handbills bring a touch of old-school charm to the room. And James Bond film soundtracks, their original vinyl pressings immaculately preserved in glass frames, adorn the walls.

Just one glimpse into this cavernous collection of memorabilia reveals Campbell's deepest passions and goes a long way toward revealing why the friendly, energetic community relations manager for the Round Rock Barnes & Noble store might be one of Austin's most widely read entertainment writers you've never heard of.

If you're one of the thousands of Austinites who make the annual pilgrimage to the Paramount Theatre for the Summer Film Series — now in its 34th year — then you've probably read Campbell's words. He's the author of the series' film notes, those ubiquitous essays supplying information on any given night's movie selection.

The notes have become something of a tradition themselves. And at the completion of this season in September, Campbell, 53, will have written them exclusively for the Paramount for 14 years.

"The ushers in particular tell me how much people enjoy them and ask for them and are disappointed if (ushers) don't have them right there to hand to them when they walk in the door," says Campbell. "They expect that. It's not a one-time thing; it's part of the tradition of the Paramount now."

Campbell's connection with Austin runs every bit as deep as his connection with film. Born here in 1956, he's a lifelong resident with a deep knowledge of the city's motion picture history and a fountain of local film trivia. A framed page from a 1952 Austin American accentuates the stairwell of the Manor home he shares with his wife, whom he met in 1999 and married in 2005. Campbell takes obvious delight in running down its list of theaters and show times, with impeccable command of the addresses and histories of theaters more than a half-century old.

Movies consumed his childhood. He saw John Wayne's "The Alamo" as a boy of 5 at the Paramount, then a first-run theater. It was an interest that became a full-blown passion as Campbell went to the University of Texas to pursue a major in broadcast journalism. He enrolled in a film history class and began to sample the vast array of movies offered on the campus.

"Almost every night of the week there was a movie to see, and as part of our class we had to see one film each week," says Campbell. "Well, I was so eaten up with it I bought a pass, so I would just see as many of them as I could."

Conveniently, he came of age alongside a bumper crop of talented filmmakers, as a wave of influential young voices, from Martin Scorsese to George Lucas, revolutionized moviemaking in the 1970s. Though he worked as a reporter and later a producer for Channel 36 before starting with Barnes & Noble in 1991, movies remained a passion. He worked as a freelance journalist, often writing about film, and had pieces published in Texas Highways magazine, the American-Statesman and the Austin Chronicle. He programmed a festival of classic science fiction and horror films at the Dobie in 1994.

And when Campbell began attending the Paramount's Summer Film Series, he saw an immediate opening for notes like those he had read with interest at University of Texas screenings years before. Contacting the series' programmer, Paul Beutel, he pitched his idea. Beutel was impressed by Campbell's knowledge, enthusiasm and — perhaps most importantly — willingness to work on the cheap.

"I had always felt the same way, and it was something I personally wanted to do but had never had the time," says Beutel, who continues to program the series today and is now managing director for the Long Center for the Performing Arts. "And he agreed to do it for very little money and some passes for the movies, so that was definitely a deal-clincher. If I'm recalling it right, at the time I was paying him, like, $10 a throw, and he was doing it for the love of movies as much as anything else."

Campbell's first season on the job was 1996. As the years have ticked by, the notes have grown longer and more in-depth, ballooning alongside the series itself. He constantly retools the notes for films that rerun annually, such as "Casablanca" or "Lawrence of Arabia." But his overall style hasn't changed. Like Robert Osborne's erudite introductions on Turner Classic Movies, Campbell has developed an ethos that avoids injecting personal opinions in lieu of packing his essays with facts, helping place the films in a historical context.

"It's not my job to say, 'I hate this movie!' My job is to say, 'Here's some information about this movie.' What I think about it personally shouldn't come through. I should be invisible," says Campbell. "I think the best education you can get is sitting your butt down and watching those movies. The movies will teach you a lot about themselves. I'm just there to supplement them."

It's difficult to know exactly how much Campbell has written in his 14 years penning notes for the Paramount. Campbell's archives are stored across digital and hard copy formats, and the theater doesn't keep a complete set. But estimating conservatively, with dozens of notes per summer averaging more than 500 words each, it's safe to figure that Campbell has written more than 140,000 words in his career. Without much fuss — nor much compensation or recognition — Campbell has quietly written reams of material for Austin film fans.

"It's a real gratifying experience to be able to sit there and look around and see all these people holding pieces of paper and knowing they're reading something you wrote. And you hope they're enjoying it," says Campbell. "That kind of feedback is really good, but that's not why I do it. The satisfaction is just to be able to do the work and see these films. My wife will tell you I'm always happiest when I'm writing."

Just as importantly, the Paramount represents an opportunity to connect to the past. For Campbell, that connection is particularly personal. His viewing of "The Alamo" at the Paramount is among his very first memories. And his father took him to see "Goldfinger" there in the spring of 1965, about one month before his death.

"I think you go into that building and you're just automatically ushered back to a different era. It's got a curtain, for crying out loud!" says Campbell. "There's no theater in town with that anymore. That red curtain up there says 'This is special.' When those lights go down and that curtain opens up, it's just magic. We've got great theaters with surround sound and stadium seating, but none of them are the Paramount. You can see a movie anywhere, but you can only see the Paramount at the Paramount."

pcaldwell@statesman.com