For reasons upon which I am unclear, Quentin Tarantino was well aware he had a particularly vocal fanbase in Austin. I suspect screenings of Reservoir Dogs at either The Dobie (a small "art house" theater on the edge of campus) or the Village (a larger, equally dumpy art house theater a few miles north of downtown) might have gone well for the director, but I was living in North Houston from 90-93, and missed that window.
Anyway, Tarantino booked a screening of his new film, Pulp Fiction (1994), on campus at UT Austin about two months before the film's broad release. I've written before about the experience*, but it was pretty amazing. Hogg Auditorium, an old-style movie and performance house, was filled to capacity. The place was rowdy as hell. People were dressed in black suits and ties. In sports parlance, this was a hometown crowd.
So, it should come as no surprise that when Amanda Plummer's character took the screen, shouted spittle our direction and then the credits appeared, the crowd went monkey-shit. Standing en masse, cheering, clapping, roaring really. And not for the last time. The adrenaline shot didn't just get the crowd on its feet, if there'd been a police cruiser to turn over and set ablaze, it would have happened. We were up and down in our seats throughout the screening, and I guess at that point Mr. Tarantino had a good idea there was an audience for his movie.
