The Independent at Lowe Mill screens Sergio Leone western in Huntsville

The Independent at Lowe Mill turned a Sergio Leone western into more than a one-off movie night, using its Studio 150 slot to give Huntsville a repertory gathering point. For $10, fans packed into the boutique cinema on May 16 for For a Few Dollars More, a 1965 title that still has the pull of a midnight staple when it is booked in the right room.

That room matters. The Independent is inside Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment at 2211 Seminole Dr SW, Huntsville, and the theater has been building its identity around exactly this kind of programming since opening there on October 31, 2025. Its mission is straightforward and niche in the best way: indie and foreign films, art house, classics, and cult favorites, plus interactive events like double features and movie marathons. Add the lounge with beer and wine, theater snacks, and gourmet hot dogs, and the pitch is not just a ticket stub. It is an evening.

That is why a Leone western fit so naturally. For a Few Dollars More is the second film in the Dollars Trilogy, and Leone is the filmmaker most closely associated with popularizing the spaghetti western. The film’s built-in draw, Clint Eastwood as Monco and Lee Van Cleef as Colonel Douglas Mortimer chasing El Indio, gave the screening a familiar headline for genre fans without making the night feel museum-like. In a market where first-run multiplexes dominate, The Independent is carving out something different: a place where older films can still feel current because the presentation is deliberate and the audience is in the same room for the same reason.

The setting reinforces that mission. Lowe Mill describes itself as the largest privately owned arts facility in the United States, spread across a 190,000-square-foot former textile mill on 12 acres, with 153 working studios, more than 200 artists, seven galleries, multiple performance venues, a theater, and eateries. That means a screening at The Independent lands inside a wider arts district, not a sealed-off cinema box. It helps explain why the theater first built a following with pop-up screenings before settling into its permanent home. The Leone night was another reminder that repertory cinema in North Alabama is not an echo of the past. At Studio 150, it is becoming part of Huntsville’s regular filmgoing habit.