{"id":34,"date":"2023-07-26T16:55:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-26T16:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/?page_id=34"},"modified":"2023-08-22T17:51:44","modified_gmt":"2023-08-22T17:51:44","slug":"testimonials","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/testimonials\/","title":{"rendered":"Testimonials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Save Me a Seat!<\/em> is a chronicle of a lifetime love affair with cinema. Rick Winston carries his enthusiasm for the NYC independent theaters\u2019 fare of the 50s and 60s to the Green Mountains of Vermont, where it takes root in virgin cinematic soil. He describes the origins and growth of a\u00a0community\u00a0of film lovers far from the traditional centers of popular culture. Every page throbs with Winston\u2019s passion for movies. If you love movies, you will love this book.
\u2014 Paul Hirsch, Oscar-winning film editor and author of A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away . . .<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pop some corn, pour a drink and find a comfy chair. You\u2019ll want to settle in for this autobiography framed by the author\u2019s consuming love for film. Save Me a Seat! <\/em>is part romp and part documentary, culled from Rick Winston\u2019s earliest moments as a fanboy in the 1950s to his years as an encyclopedic cinema owner and teacher decades later. Serious cinephiles and casual moviegoers alike will enjoy the show.
\u2014Pamela Polston, Cofounder and art editor, Seven Days<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This memoir by one of the early heroes of film culture brings back the adventure of moviegoing in the glorious heyday of that phenomenon.\u00a0 Establishing a beachhead in Vermont, Rick has done it all as teacher, programmer, and finally running a theater and opening a video store.\u00a0 The bumps and joys of his journey, the portraits of the films and people he encounters along the way, make for a buoyant read.\u00a0 This is an irresistible feast for serious moviegoers.
\u2014 Molly Haskell, author of From Reverence to Rape<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1981 Program Flyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Author and film scholar Rick Winston tells us the genesis story of Vermont\u2019s landmark Savoy Theater which for decades has satisfied the cinematic hunger of Vermonters. But beyond starting the Lightning Ridge Film Society in 1973 that evolved into the Savoy, for so many of us Rick was the scholar and educator about a broader film culture.\u00a0This outstanding memoir and history encompasses both the origins of the Savoy and the naissance of a film culture in Vermont that understood\u00a0film both\u00a0as art and entertainment.
\u2014 Bill Schubart, author of *Lila & Theron<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n*
As huge film lovers, whose independent distribution company we started from \u2019scratch\u2019 34 years ago, we identified mightily with both Rick Winston\u2019s great satisfaction as well as the tribulations he experienced in starting his wonderful Savoy Theatre. And as tremendous fans of Rick we couldn\u2019t be happier that he put this fascinating account down on paper for others to read and be inspired by. It\u2019s a vivid personal history of a world that is relevant to everyone who loves movies, from audiences of a \u2018certain age\u2019 to twenty-somethings who have just discovered the marvelous world of repertory and specialized cinema.
\u2014 Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, Zeitgeist Films<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rick Winston\u2019s book is an immensely engaging personal history that any passionate filmgoer will instantly relate to. By reliving his lifelong love of movies, he also allows us to relive our own.
\u2014Peter Rainer, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Criticism, author of *Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in Turbulent and Transformative Era.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
\u201cAnyone who opens an art or repertory cinema, especially one in a small town, should have their head examined.\u00a0\u00a0 But we should all be grateful to dreamers like Rick Winston, who\u2019ve managed to turn their young passions into, not just careers, but into cultural touchstones that enrich everyone.\u00a0 Add Rick\u2019s charming book to the rarefied few that explain how.\u201d
\u2014 Bruce Goldstein, Founder of Rialto Pictures and Repertory Artistic Director, Film Forum (New York)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rick Winston\u2019s passion for movies led to a lifetime devoted to advocacy\u2014and to bringing contemporary and classic films to new audiences. He writes with verve and joy about great movies (Children\u00a0of Paradise, Sullivan\u2019s Travels<\/em>) as well as can\u2019t-miss films that are less well known, such as the British anthology picture Dead of Night<\/em>. What Rick has written is, in effect, a charming autobiography\u00a0in the form of a chronicle of a love affair with an art form.
\u2014David Lehman, author of *The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
Graham Greene\u00a0said, \u201cI\u2019d like to write the biography of an inimitable movie house.\u201d Rick Winston has done just that! In this splendid memoir, he exhibits the most generous writing ethic:\u00a0sustaining an intimate tone while at the same time providing a behind-the-scenes\u00a0education. Also, with just his second book, Rick has become an indispensable historian of Vermont, who can bring the political and emotional dimensions of a given decade to us with vivid immediacy.\u00a0Late last night, reading certain passages aloud as if to ghosts, it felt as if decades of Savoy evenings knocked on our farmhouse door, and we had a joyful reunion.
\u2014Howard Norman, author of *Come To the Window<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
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Save Me a Seat! is a chronicle of a lifetime love affair with cinema. Rick Winston carries his enthusiasm for the NYC independent theaters\u2019 fare of the 50s and 60s to the Green Mountains of Vermont, where it takes root in virgin cinematic soil. He describes the origins and growth of a\u00a0community\u00a0of film lovers far […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137,"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34\/revisions\/137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickwinston.org\/movies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

1981 Program Flyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Author and film scholar Rick Winston tells us the genesis story of Vermont\u2019s landmark Savoy Theater which for decades has satisfied the cinematic hunger of Vermonters. But beyond starting the Lightning Ridge Film Society in 1973 that evolved into the Savoy, for so many of us Rick was the scholar and educator about a broader film culture.\u00a0This outstanding memoir and history encompasses both the origins of the Savoy and the naissance of a film culture in Vermont that understood\u00a0film both\u00a0as art and entertainment.
\u2014 Bill Schubart, author of *Lila & Theron<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n*
As huge film lovers, whose independent distribution company we started from \u2019scratch\u2019 34 years ago, we identified mightily with both Rick Winston\u2019s great satisfaction as well as the tribulations he experienced in starting his wonderful Savoy Theatre. And as tremendous fans of Rick we couldn\u2019t be happier that he put this fascinating account down on paper for others to read and be inspired by. It\u2019s a vivid personal history of a world that is relevant to everyone who loves movies, from audiences of a \u2018certain age\u2019 to twenty-somethings who have just discovered the marvelous world of repertory and specialized cinema.
\u2014 Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo, Zeitgeist Films<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rick Winston\u2019s book is an immensely engaging personal history that any passionate filmgoer will instantly relate to. By reliving his lifelong love of movies, he also allows us to relive our own.
\u2014Peter Rainer, a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Criticism, author of *Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in Turbulent and Transformative Era.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
\u201cAnyone who opens an art or repertory cinema, especially one in a small town, should have their head examined.\u00a0\u00a0 But we should all be grateful to dreamers like Rick Winston, who\u2019ve managed to turn their young passions into, not just careers, but into cultural touchstones that enrich everyone.\u00a0 Add Rick\u2019s charming book to the rarefied few that explain how.\u201d
\u2014 Bruce Goldstein, Founder of Rialto Pictures and Repertory Artistic Director, Film Forum (New York)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rick Winston\u2019s passion for movies led to a lifetime devoted to advocacy\u2014and to bringing contemporary and classic films to new audiences. He writes with verve and joy about great movies (Children\u00a0of Paradise, Sullivan\u2019s Travels<\/em>) as well as can\u2019t-miss films that are less well known, such as the British anthology picture Dead of Night<\/em>. What Rick has written is, in effect, a charming autobiography\u00a0in the form of a chronicle of a love affair with an art form.
\u2014David Lehman, author of *The Mysterious Romance of Murder: Crime, Detection, and the Spirit of Noir<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
Graham Greene\u00a0said, \u201cI\u2019d like to write the biography of an inimitable movie house.\u201d Rick Winston has done just that! In this splendid memoir, he exhibits the most generous writing ethic:\u00a0sustaining an intimate tone while at the same time providing a behind-the-scenes\u00a0education. Also, with just his second book, Rick has become an indispensable historian of Vermont, who can bring the political and emotional dimensions of a given decade to us with vivid immediacy.\u00a0Late last night, reading certain passages aloud as if to ghosts, it felt as if decades of Savoy evenings knocked on our farmhouse door, and we had a joyful reunion.
\u2014Howard Norman, author of *Come To the Window<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n*
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