PORT TOWNSEND — Twenty years ago, Rex Long of Port Hadlock went to see a quirky little film called “Trouble in Mind.”
It was filmed in Seattle, he was a Kris Kristofferson fan and he was intrigued by the idea of seeing the actor Divine in the role of the heavy.
On Sunday, he went to see the movie again, but this time because one of his tai chi students, John Considine, is also in it.
“It’s always fun when you can pick people out,” Long said. “I see him in more and more things now that I’m looking for him.”
Originally from Seattle, Long is an inspector at the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill in Port Townsend and teaches tai chi out of his home in Port Hadlock.
Four years ago, Considine joined the exercise group.
Personal film festival
After Considine got to know the group — which also meets in Port Townsend at Michael Gilman’s studio or at Chetzemoka Park — he instituted his own film festival and invited them.
“It’s become an annual thing now,” Long said.
“We go over to his house, have dinner — he does the cooking –and see one of his movies.
“John calls it the Baru Film Festival because that’s the name of his character in ‘The Thirsty Dead,’ the first one he showed.”
The next year, the group saw another “Dr. Death,” which Long described as “a cult film you might see on ‘Mystery Science Theater 2000.”‘
And on Sunday, Long, his wife, Sam, and about 10 members of the tai chi class were in the audience to see Considine in “Trouble in Mind,” a film the follows the slightly bizarre lives of small-time crooks in Seattle.
20-year looking glass
A fund-raiser for the Port Townsend Film Festival, the screening was followed by a chance to ask Considine about life in Hollywood and the making of the movie, in which he appears in the last half.
“It’s very odd to watch a film you did 20 years ago and haven’t seen for 20 years,” Considine told the audience after the showing.
“My first thought was, ‘How long before I come into this thing?’
“I thought I had a much bigger part.”
Considine also told stories about his grandfathers, John W. Considine I and Alexander Pantages, who were rival theater owners in Seattle.
Then he described his childhood in Hollywood as the son of MGM producer John W. Considine II.
“I really thought for a long time that everyone in the world was the movie business or a servant,” Considine said.