The ABC 4:30 Movie

 The ABC 4:30 Movie

Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David, and today I’m going to get all wistful and nostalgic as I tell you everything I possibly can about The ABC 4:30 Movie which happens to be one of my all-time favorite movie memories.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, bear with me. 

You’d need to be close to my age and have lived in a handful of metropolitan areas whose ABC affiliates carried it to even recognize what I'm talking about.

Chances are there aren’t that many people watching right now that remember it at all, so please allow me to attempt to explain the magic that was The ABC 4:30 Movie.

“My” version of the 4:30 Movie aired on WABC-TV (Ch. 7) in New York from 1968 to 1981.

1968-1981 happened to be the same exact time that I started watching a lot of television and began to develop my almost unhealthy obsession with movies.

Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and San Francisco also had their own versions of The 4:30 Movie, and I’m hoping all of those cities were treated to the same ass-kicking opening that I got to see every day complete with a theme song that still gives me goosebumps to hear. 

The opening featured silhouetted images of a crew setting up a scene to shoot, ending on the director presumably shouting action through a megaphone while sitting in his chair. 

It was amazing. It’s still amazing. 

That song is titled “Big Show Theme” written by Walter Raim in case you’d like to give it a listen.

Better yet, go to YouTube and look up “The 4:30 Movie,” and you can see the entire opening AND hear the song for yourself!

On a typical school day, I’d get home and try to get my homework done before 4:30 rolled around to be totally "ready."

There were many days that the homework was done in front of the TV while viewing the “movie of the day,” which I’m sure resulted in me producing some quality work for my teachers. 

The 4:30 Movie ran from 4:30-6:00 leading into “Ch. 7: Eyewitness News” from NYC with Roger Grimsby and Bill Beutel anchoring, which I also ended up watching since “it was on.”

Watching the news at such a young age kept me informed and led to my Watergate obsession in 1973.

Anchorman Roger Grimsby was actually in Plan 9 From Outer Space before he became a journalist!

I remember the first time I saw Plan 9; I was blown away.

“Hey, that’s Roger Grimsby!”

Some of The 4:30 Movie’s most memorable weeks for me were “Monster Week” (responsible for my love for Gojira), “Planet of the Apes Week,” and “Vincent Price Week.”

Vincent Price wasn’t the only star to be given their own week on The 4:30 Movie.

 I also remember tuning into movie weeks devoted to; Raquel Welch, Ann-Margaret, Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, Susan Hayward, Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Friend of Cinema Wellman Jack Lemmon.

Even though “Monster Week” was a favorite of mine, you didn’t have to be into Kaiju to be into The 4:30 Movie.

Other genres given their own “Weeks” included; Fantasy, Western, Epic, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Suspense, Romance, and War.

The producers also put together several other special “Weeks” including; Beach Party Week, Laugh-A-Thon, Skeleton Week, Strange Worlds Week, Secret Agent Week, Swingers Week, Supernatural Week, A Fistful of Heroes, International Women’s Week, Bad Girls Week, Presidential Week, Love & Marriage Week, Edgar Allan Poe Week, and Caper Week!

Taking into account all of those stars and genres being featured on a daily basis and the fact that I was screening all of these movies between 1968 and 1981, I was exposed to a treasure chest of classic cinema, especially films from the 40s and 50s.

I was being exposed to films that there was no other way to see at the time. No cable movie channels, no VCRs, just the television.

Remember, I really only had three channels growing up.

I was watching, on a daily basis, amazing movies and, in a way, attending a master class in film I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else.

There are literally hundreds of films that I saw for the first time on The 4:30 Movie.

Some films featured on the 4:30 Movie were so long, that they got the entire week to THEMSELVES!

Examples of this phenomenon included Ben Hur, QB VII, How the West Was Won, and Bridge on the River Kwai.

In addition to running movies, The 4:30 Movie also ran ABC mini-series’ such as Roots and Rich Man, Poor Man.

After the autumn of 1972, it was pre-empted one Wednesday a month for the “ABC Afterschool Special,” which ALSO became a major part of my teenage viewing habit boasting such titles as My Dad Lives in a Downtown Motel, It Must Be Love ‘Cause I Feel So Dumb, Schoolboy Father, The Hero Who Couldn’t Read, High School Narc, Stoned, She Drinks a Little, and Divorced Kids’ Blues.

The ABC 4:30 Movie was cancelled in November of 1981 when I was a freshman at Boston University.

It was replaced by “The People’s Court,” which still makes me sick.

Leading to the demise of my dear friend was a combination of the VCR and the rise of cable channels like HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.

I have to admit that the older I get the more nostalgic I become, so things like this stroll down memory lane recalling a special time from my youth gives me great joy.

Thanks for joining me on this little ride in the Cinema Wellman Wayback Machine.

Well, that is a wrap for today’s nostalgia fest from Cinema Wellman.

We hope you’re back with us next time when we go “9 Innings with Cinema Wellman,” and look at our favorite baseball movies to celebrate the opening of the World Series. 

Until then, take care.

This is where I first saw the OG Ocean's Eleven!