1966 Baghdad, Iraq

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Ali
1951
Baghdad
Interviewed on 9/15 and 9/24 (follow-up)
by Ahmed Allawi

Pure happiness – that’s the best way to describe my memories of trips to Baghdad’s الخيام (Al-Khayyam) Cinema.
Going to the movie theater then was nothing like it is today. My family would get very dressed up. I would wear my favorite suit – it was navy with thick pinstripes, probably outdated by now (but surely will be back in style soon.) Honestly, it felt like we were going to a gala. In Baghdad there were three different kinds of movies typically played – Arabic, Indian, and American. They all were great, but honestly the Hollywood movies were the favorites – everyone loved Charlie Chaplin and Clint Eastwood. In fact – to answer your original question – the first movie I remember watching was a Clint Eastwood film – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The movie brought to life stories of the American West that had trickled into my childhood through other forms of media. To be honest, I don’t completely remember the plot… 50-something years is a long time. Though, I do remember the cinematography being stunning. The wide-angle shots of desert plains were unlike anything I had ever seen; I still remember a scene of a duel in the middle of the plains. A testament to the quality of the film is how engaged everyone in the theater was throughout the entirety of the movie. While I don’t remember the plot, I do remember that the film did a great job at evoking emotion from me; it was hilarious, intense, and – in my opinion – beautiful.
I do have some extremely vivid memories of seemingly random parts of the movie-watching experience. Al-Khayyam is where my adoration for Wine Gums – arguably the world’s best candy – begun. My parents would buy me Wine Gums and buy my brothers boxed raisins; the snacks were enjoyed with iced Coke, which tasted amazing in the scorching heat of Baghdad. The chairs were a deep red if I remember correctly; Al-Khayyam was far cleaner than our local theater in DC – in fact, it looked quite regal. The closest comparison I could make to something near us is the Kennedy Center.
Theater etiquette was quite different than it is today… actually, almost the exact opposite. In theaters today, one poorly-timed quip to a friend during a movie might get you yelled at. In 1960s Baghdad, though, the crowd was speaking and cheering freely throughout the whole movie. The movie theater was full of people watching the film for the second, third, or even fourth time – some of them seemed to have the lines memorized by heart, and they even would say them along with the actors. This was because movies did not come and go as quickly as they do now – at least not in Baghdad. Movies sometimes stayed for years in the same theater, so people frequently watched the same film several times.
I realize that, to you, it might sound annoying to have people speaking throughout a film, but I honestly think you would like it if you could experience it. It was an exciting environment, and – although almost everyone in the theater was a stranger to me – it felt like we were all family in those moments.
Perhaps it’s just nostalgia, but The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, as well as other films from this era, are some of my best memories. I would give anything to be able to watch it for the first time again.