In North Dakota, which has the highest rate of binge drinking in the country, one antidote is small-town movie houses, like the Roxy in Langdon, reports Patricia Leigh Brown in the New York Times (7/5/10). Langdon's population is just 2,000, but 200 of its residents volunteer to keep the movies running. Steve Hart, a farmer, was among those who helped revive the Roxy, says just about nothing keeps people from finding community at the theater.

When a blizzard hit on Christmas several years ago, Steve says his phone started ringing. Within an hour, he says, "there were 90 people on Main Street, even though there was only one path through the drifts and the movie was 'Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel'." Clearly, folks were there for something other than the movie. "It's the see-and-be-seen, bring everyone and sit together kind of place," says Cecile Wehrman, who helped revive another North Dakota theater, in Crosby.

Tim Kennedy, who is writing a book about small-town movie houses like the Roxy, says the theaters are "buildings as social capital" that flourish "outside the franchise cinemas and their ubiquitous presence at the malls." Tom Isern of North Dakota State University Fargo, says the theaters signal a "bounce back from the bottom" in the state, and credits baby boomers with the trend. "They are the last picture show generation on the plains ... who can remember that movie theater experience and want to transmit it to their kids."