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Author Topic: Arrested for asking for quiet in cinema Ron Keillor Expert Film Handler Posts: 166 From: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Registered: Jul 2003 posted 02-15-2006 01:54 PM                     maybe more a rant on stupid customers.... February 11, 2006 AN Australian tourist has been charged with assault after telling a Texas woman to stop talking on her mobile phone at the movies. Pauline Clayton was enjoying a matinee screening of Brokeback Mountain in a Texas cinema when her day suddenly turned ugly. The former Sunshine Coast councillor said about halfway through the movie, a mobile phone started ringing nearby, a woman answered it and started talking. "I put one finger up to my mouth to shoosh her," Ms Clayton said. "She ignored me - I then leaned across and touched her with three or four fingers on the top of her arm." When the "very large" woman failed to end her call, Ms Clayton again touched her on the shoulder and that was when the woman exploded. Ms Clayton said the woman stood up over her, started shouting expletives at her and then stormed out of the cinema, in the town of Webster, just outside Houston. A short time later two Texas police officers walked into the cinema and escorted Ms Clayton out. She said the police took her to the food bar and explained that the woman had accused Ms Clayton of "invading her private space". The woman had made a complaint of assault because Ms Clayton had touched her. "They were very apologetic," Ms Clayton said. "They were very uncomfortable." Ms Clayton said the officers had tried to dissuade the woman from making a complaint and had even told the woman that if she did make the complaint, police would charge the woman with disorderly conduct and using a profanity for her outburst in the cinema. The woman refused to back down and not only was Ms Clayton charged, but the woman is now also due in court after being charged over her behaviour. Ms Clayton was issued a citation and will appear in a Texas court next week to answer the charge. With the help of an off-duty police officer who saw the fracas, she is hoping to escape with only a fine. In the meantime Ms Clayton said she was hoping to get back to see the second half of Brokeback Mountain. If convicted, Ms Clayton who grew up in Victoria and once worked as a journalist for The Sun newspaper in Brisbane, faces a fine of up to $675. She said she had been told a conviction would not affect her chances of re-entering the US. Police said it was a "little matter" and they would not be notifying US immigration authorities about any conviction. edit to repair link http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18104683-5001022,00.html [ 02-15-2006, 09:31 PM: Message edited by: Ron Keillor ]  |  IP: Logged Dave Williams Wet nipple scene Posts: 1836 From: Salt Lake City, UT, USA Registered: Jan 2000 posted 02-15-2006 02:09 PM                        Where was the theater manager in all this? He should have summarily kicked that large woman out and banned her forever for talking on her cell phone during the movie! He should be awarding the Australian woman with a years worth of passes for daring to stand up for those that want it quiet. What is with today's world? I just do not understand where people get off thinking they are owed something just because they were born. Ciao  |  IP: Logged Dominic Espinosa Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1172 From: California, U.S.A. Registered: Jan 2004 posted 02-15-2006 02:34 PM                     I agree. Matters as small as this don't need to be litigated. What a waste of the tax payers money.  |  IP: Logged James R. Hammonds, Jr Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 931 From: Houston, TX, USA Registered: Nov 2000 posted 02-15-2006 02:52 PM                     Do you have a direct link to that story? The link you provided is for the home page of the Daily Telegraph and I'm having trouble finding the story.  |  IP: Logged Steve Scott Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1300 From: Minneapolis, MN Registered: Sep 2000 posted 02-15-2006 03:24 PM                     She was hoping to get away with just a fine? If there's a sliver of justice still hanging around, she ought to be let off scot free & receive congratulatory passes for being such a martyr for this unfortunate trend in frivilous American lawsuits! Does this "large woman" also have a case pending against Focus & Ang Lee for invading her "personal space" with Brokeback's storyline?  |  IP: Logged David Buckley Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 525 From: Oxford, N. Canterbury, New Zealand Registered: Aug 2004 posted 02-16-2006 06:26 AM                        On our news report of this a representative of whatever justice depart this was under the juristiction of sais that in cases like this that appeared 50/50 and someone wanted to press charges they arrest and process both parties, so maybe the cellphone user got a ticking off too...?  |  IP: Logged Joshua Waaland Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 800 From: Cleveland, Ohio Registered: Dec 1999 posted 02-16-2006 10:35 PM                     Went to see Final Destination 3 tonight at a cinema in Columbus Indiana and the other patrons were so friggin loud that thay were totally distracting. I absolutely hate when people think it is alright to talk out loud in a theater. Come to think of it, I went to see a film with my wife last weekend and some idiot was talking to the actors during the movie. Once is annoying enough yet sometimes funny but then they think that since people laughed that they can keep doing it. It seems to be happening a lot more than it used to.  |  IP: Logged John Koutsoumis Master Film Handler Posts: 261 From: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Registered: Aug 2003 posted 02-17-2006 09:20 AM                     Bleh, according to the report she barely touched her on the shoulder but during one screening at last years Melbourne Film Festival, one patron dosed off to sleep and began snoring quite loudly. A man sitting behind him had had enough after failed attempts to wake the snoring man and so he rolled up his festival program guide(which are quite large), clocked him one hard over the head and hissed " Get out!! "  |  IP: Logged Brad Allen Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 688 From: Evansville, IN, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 02-17-2006 04:05 PM                     quote: Joshua Waaland Went to see Final Destination 3 tonight at a cinema in Columbus Indiana and the other patrons were so friggin loud that thay were totally distracting. I absolutely hate when people think it is alright to talk out loud in a theater. Come to think of it, I went to see a film with my wife last weekend and some idiot was talking to the actors during the movie. Hope in both case's you promptly went to complain to management.  |  IP: Logged Frank Dubrois Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 896 From: Cleveland, OH Registered: Mar 2005 posted 02-19-2006 01:22 AM                    If the lady would have gone to find an usher or manager, she could have avoided the whole incident. Why take matters into your own hands..thats just dumb. As far as missing a small portion of the movie, well, she most likely would have been issued a pass and apologized to.  |  IP: Logged Jon Miller Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 973 From: San Diego, CA, USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 02-19-2006 09:56 AM                     Let me see...the appalling lack of manners on the part of the cell-phone-using moviegoer is being rewarded because a harmless tap or two on the shoulder is considered assault? Something is definitely wrong with society these days!  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 02-19-2006 12:59 PM                        Actually, the taps can constitute battery. The shush by itself was considered the assault in this case. It's nothing new - the case law on this goes back many years. The cellphone user should have been taken out (and IMHO shot, this was in Texas after all). Hopefully her fine will be at least double whatever the Oz woman pays. The Oz woman should have just informed the theatre staff to deal with the problem. But being a politician and probably used to being treated with some deference, she didn't do that and thus got fined for her efforts. The fat cell user is probably a member of that part of American society that do not like being told what to do by anyone, especially uppity types, especially foreigners, and especially when on home turf. Such people are very common, and loudly prominent, these days.  |  IP: Logged Jim Ziegler Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 753 From: West Hollywood, CA Registered: Jul 99 posted 02-19-2006 07:37 PM                     I am reminded of an incident several years ago at one of the theatres I was at. A guy came up to me and the off-duty police officer the theatre had on hand for security and said "I know I was talking and all, but the guy behind me said that if I didn't shut up he was going to kick my ass." To which, the officer replied, "well, if I were you, I would stop talking and maybe find a different place to sit." The guy responded, "Oh" and went back to his theare..  |  IP: Logged Michael Brown Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1522 From: Bradford, England Registered: May 2001 posted 02-20-2006 06:34 AM                     You tend to imagine that keeping quiet while in a movie theatre would fall under common sense -not so for one of our customers last night. A family with a few small children had gone in the watch Chicken Little. About half way through they are given a warning by an usher because the kids are screaming and several other customers came out to complain. Anyway the family leave and come to box office to complain to a manager. It seems that they didn’t actually figure out that they had to keep quiet. The mother complains that we “don’t have signs up anywhere” saying that we expect customers to “sit in silence” while watching the movie and that they’ve “paid good money” so they can do what they like while sitting in the theatre basically.  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 02-20-2006 04:53 PM                     There is a show on TV called "Texas Justice" with Judge Larry Joe. This seems like perfect fodder for that venue. Things like this often have a way of backfiring and the plaintiff has to make amends; not to mention the possibility of answering to civil action thereafter. Let's hope that sanity prevails. quote: Daily Telegraph She said she had been told a conviction would not affect her chances of re-entering the US. And speaking of sanity, why would she want to re-enter the US after running into this craziness? Just wondering.  |  IP: Logged

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