Condorman: Remembering the movie party

"Condorman" came out in 1981, starring Michael Crawford and Barbara Carrera.

Source: https://www.intofilm.org/films/13192

(May be subject to copyright)

You ever wonder what it would be like to be a spy and use incredible inventions to save a damsel in distress? I have, back in 1981.

It was the first time I ever had the chance to go out to a movie without my parents or any member of my family for that matter. Although just a baby step, it was another step towards independence.

It was Grade 7, and the junior high students at St. Joseph’s School in Coaldale were going to a movie in Lethbridge as a group.

The movie was called “Condorman”, and it was playing at College Cinema in the Woolco Mall.

Grade change
It’s a funny thing going to a Kindergarten to Grade 9 school. When you finish elementary school in Grade 6, it marks the end of one thing and the beginning of something bigger – junior high. Yet, in a K to 9 school, you stay in the same building, and just move to a different part of the school. It didn’t seem like much of a change.

That was until I actually started Grade 7. Not only were classes different, with things like options, but there were more activities like school sports and students’ council.

It was students’ council who planned all kinds of interesting things from school dances to theme days, and something I got really excited about – the theatre party.

Going to the movies
I don’t recall all the logistics of that first theatre party. Unlike later ones that I remember well, where we voted on one of two choices for the movie we were going to see, in this case the movie was chosen for us.

It makes sense, because it was a Disney movie.

We all met at the school, piled into a school bus and drove the fifteen minutes to Lethbridge and the Wololco Mall. We kind of all went in a bunch through the doors of the mall down the concourse and to the theatre. We all paid individually if memory serves, although teachers may have either paid in bulk or got us coupons we redeemed.

In any event, once we were through the ticket counter, we could sit wherever we wanted.

That was important, because everyone preferred different places in the theatre.

I sat with my dear friend David Perlich and we settled in. I remember him putting his feet up and between two empty seats in front of us, only to have the usher to tell him to take them down. It has been the only time in my life an usher has given heck to me or anyone I have been with in the theatre.

Show time
The movie was called “Condorman”. It tells the story of cartoonist Woody Wilkins who draws the character “Condorman”. He is approached by government officials to help Natalia Rambova, a Soviet spy, to defect to the West. In the process, he uses all these gadgets and gimmicks he dreamed up. In the end, they even left the door open for a sequel. Woody is sitting with Natalia when he gets a call, that looks to be another potential assignment.

I always remember the theme song simply called “Condorman”. In fact, that’s the only lyric I can remember, yet I find myself humming it to myself every time I think of this movie.

Michael Crawford starred as Woody Wilkins who draws Condorman, and Barbara Carrera was Natalia Rambova, the Soviet defector.

Parting thoughts
When I started seeing commercials on TV for “The Phantom of the Opera”, in concert and recording, the singer looked familiar. His name was Michael Crawford and I was sure I had seen him before . I thought he was “Condorman”, but I just could not reconcile the fact the award-winning operatic singer could also be the lead actor in a cheesey Disney movie.

Yet, in fact it is the same Michael Crawford. In fact, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for “Phantom of the Opera”.

Seeing that commercial reminded me of that theatre party so long ago, and the first time I went to the theatre by myself.

It really was a baby step to independence.