Quite simply, the Alamo Drafthouse is the greatest cinema chain on the planet. If you ever have a chance to get out to Austin, TX to check it out, I definitely recommend. Alcoholic beverages brought to you at your seat? Check.  Extensive dinner menu prepared by top rank chefs? Check.  Cinephile events such as “I Love the 80′s” night (The Goonies is next up), Napoleon Dynamite screening with talent show, and other events make this a unique experience  at the movie theater. The best thing they have is a Rolling Road Show. Which brings me to the point of this post.

In 2004, The Alamo Drafthouse had its first special rolling roadshow screening. Ticket holders had to venture down the Guadalupe River in canoes to the eerie music of banjos to find their seats in front of a portable screen on the riverbank. Awesome? Yes. They have had screenings at locations made famous by the films over the years that would be surreal to any fan of film. Close Encounters of the Third Kind near Devil’s Tower, The Shining outside of Stanley Hotel in Colorado, and Field of Dreams on the Iowa baseball diamond.

The best one is coming at the end of this month…

Jaws screening at the end of July. Not only are you on innertubes, not only are you eating shark gazpacho, but hired scuba divers are underwater to give you timely bumps from the depths of the water. According to their website:

The most legendary Rolling Roadshow event in history is BACK!

We’ve been doing Rolling Roadshows for years now, showcasing the finest films under the night sky in glorious 35mm, and Austin has been home to many of our very greatest events. But when people reminisce about Roadshow history, one show comes up without fail: The Ultimate JAWS Experience!

Well, we’re fearlessly returning to the depths with a full-scale white-knuckle no-babies FLOATING JAWS SCREENING where YOU can watch the most terrifying aquatic horror film in history while adrift on an inner tube (supplied by us) in beautiful, deep, dark Lake Travis. We hereby guarantee the most heart-stopping screening on Earth, with a few added surprises to make sure you’re awake and alert. Plus, every ticket includes a bowl of shark gazpacho, just like mom used to make.

Here is the summer 2010 schedule. How amazing would this Godfather II or On the Waterfront screening be?

Aug. 6 Jackie Brown, at Los Angeles’ Del Amo Fashion Mall

Aug. 7 Dirty Harry, at San Francisco’s Washington Square Park

Aug. 8 There Will Be Blood, at California’s Kern County Museum

Aug. 8 Convoy, at the Ft. Davis drive-in in Las Vegas, N.M.

Aug. 13 The Blues Brothers, at Chicago’s Joliet Prison

Aug. 14 RoboCop, at Detroit’s Russell Industrial Center

Aug. 19 Rocky I-III, at the Philadelphia Art Museum

Aug. 20 On the Waterfront, at Hoboken’s Pier A

Aug. 27 The Godfather Part II, on a Manhattan rooftop near Little Italy

Can a film experience get any better than this?!

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