Well put, Monsterpal. Also, in those days theaters were like five times the size of the ones today, so "up on the screen" was really up there, way on high, and there was usually an orchestra pit or some kind of space between the front row and the screen itself. They'd dim the lights before the first feature (or cartoon or trailer) would come on, bring them back up when the show was over. It was an experience!

We analyze films today from a totally different perspective, often in our homes, on DVD players or computers or "giant" television screens, but it ain't the same. Viewed that way those sword and sandal epics look cheap, mostly because we're too close to them. I mean literally, physically. We can pick out all the goofs, the inserts, the stock footage, the miniatures, the papier mache rocks or whatever.

I also agree on the real heroes and real villains business. We had somewhat of a revival of that with the Indy Jones-Stallone-Scharzenegger flicks of the 80s-90s, but they were too self-conscious for my tastes; and there was a darkness to them. The good guys were a bit scary looking, eh? It wasn't like before, when the bad dudes ran over old ladies in their chariots, surrounded themselves with fiends who ate babies and kittens, while back with the good guys, it was like a band of brothers, warm and hearty, wholesome, singing songs, laughing, joking, some fighting but in good fun. We really came to like the good guys,--they did good things--and despise the bad guys, who reminded us of the worst schoolyard bullies. By the time the showdown, or battle, whatever it was, we couldn't wait for the villains to get their just desserts, as Hercules, Atlas or whomever, tossed them off the cliff or into a boiling cauldron. There was an innocence back then, even in the violence, which could be extreme; and there was no ambiguity whatsoever. That's what missing today.Everything's ambiguous nowadays. We're not even sure what "good" is. Everyone's a doubter. We live in the shadows.