Flick Cinema

The operators of the Chaparral Twin Cinema in the Town & Country Shopping Center decided the time was right for a completely automated mini-cinema on heavily travelled 19th Street. That diminutive venue was The Flick Cinema opening on July 19, 1970 with Ron Moody in “Oliver!” Likely hoping that Texas Tech students would walk to the venue, The Flick waited for the students to return for the Fall semester and gave up its original policy early in the Spring semester on February 2, 1971 with Warren Beatty in “Bonnie and Clyde” as well as a grade of “incomplete”.

The venue was rebranded as an adult movie house playing unrated, XXX content known as The Flick. That lasted for about a month when the venue was charged with obscenity. The Flick decided to become an underground club requiring memberships to enter the door. It was a way to screen customers to ensure that they weren’t clergy, cops, kids, or crybabies.

The local newspaper wouldn’t accept advertisements for adult film clubs - though would for rated X-rated films (everyone has standards). So The Flick and its competitor on Main Street, the Cinema 16 turned Cinema X, and the original adult theater in town, Cinne-R Theater, had to advertise in the African American and Hispanic press of Lubbock, if at all. The Flick took the prize of the three, however, of making the best booking with operator Curtis Castro scheduling “Deep Throat” in 1974.

The film ended up impounded by the local police with Castro given a court date trying to stave off a 40-day jail term, fine, and to try to retrieve the print of “Deep Throat,” as well as the also-impounded “Wanton Nymph,” “Week at a Country Jail”, “Prostitution Pornography USA”, and an unidentified title. The films received a grade of “F” by the local law.

DA Tom Sawyer made the news by checking the film, “Deep Throat”, out on February 25 to show to Texas Tech students for “educational purposes”. He didn’t explain why he was unable to return it until March 3. But it freed the film up thereafter for one police officer who checked it out three times, another two times, and the police captain just one time.

And then as the weeks went by, the film wasn’t returned by another borrower in time for the March 20 trial of Castro. (Must have been a very educational film.) The jury couldn’t reach a verdict in the first trial - resulting in a mistrial.

Ultimately, Castro’s conviction on “Deep Throat” was ultimately upheld on June 29, 1976 (you read that correctly, btw). By that time, the film was probably too scratchy to be projected so it was time to move on. The Flick appears to have, as well. The venue probably transferred to another University town.

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