Best Free Entertainment

The best things about seeing movies at the drive-in are sprawling out on a lawn chair or truck bed, and the fact that you get to enjoy summer nights instead of spending them in over-air-conditioned multiplexes. This summer, that happened at numerous spots throughout the city as grassroots outdoor film events turned building walls into movie screens. Troost Movies, on Sunday evenings in June and July, pulled off the urban drive-in thing exceptionally well, probably because the man running the projector -- Steve Simpson -- was no amateur; he'd been projecting at Tivoli Cinemas since the days when woolly mammoths roamed the earth. Working with Charles Monroe's Troost Corridor Association, Simpson was able to put movies ranging from Casablanca to Bad Boyz II on the wall of a building at 45th Street and Troost. Most people brought blankets or chairs and lounged in the parking lot, strolled around to see friends, or offered acquaintances a taste of whatever food they had. It was a comforting reminder that Kansas City is really just a small town, only bigger. And if Simpson had any old trailers in his vast collection that corresponded with the night's presentation, he showed a couple to kick things off. His Casablanca-era previews were especially entertaining. And perhaps we forgot to mention the icing on the Troost Movies cake: Admission was free.