Movies You Wished You Had Waited 'Til You Were Older To See (2 Viewers)

This thread comes from two recent discussions I had

1. With my kids about the ongoing discussion about waiting until they are older to watch a specific film. My opinion is that it is not that they are necessarily too young to see a film but that it would be a shame for them to see a film they won't truly appreciate.

2. At work I mentioned that, as teenagers, a buddy and I snuck into a showing of A Clockwork Orange. Upon leaving, we both agreed that we weren't ready for it. If I were to answer the question of why, it's a bit more difficult. I guess that I remember dwelling on the language of the film (particularly the lingo "righty right") and didn't really get the issues at play within the film.

So the question is what film did you see that you wished you had waited until you were older to see? And Why?

The Exorcist. I saw this when I was really too young and it bothered me for awhile....still unsettling to me now.

Casablanca - I saw it several times on the TV when I was a kid and for the next twenty years dismissed it as a silly soppy film. The nuances of it totally escaped me. In fact, I was deterred for a good many years by nearly all the classic black and white movies of the Golden Age after seeing them as a kid on wet Sunday afternoons when there was nothing else on the TV (in the UK). I was in my thirties before I really began to appreciate them properly.

On the other hand, there are films I saw when younger and loved that I can't abide now:

*Anything* by Ken Russell (other than his early work for TV)
Almost all the work of Mel Brookes or Woody Allen
Last Tango in Paris

"Alien"

I'm sure I've ever seen the whole thing since that aborted attempted when I was a kid...

I was traumatized by one of the first horror flicks I ever saw, possibly the first: Demonoid, Messenger of Death. Yes ,traumatized is not too strong a word: I was deeply depressed for weeks, unable to get the gothic feel of the movie and the music out of my mind and was afraid of the dark for years after. The fact that I never saw the ending and got some closure might have been part of it. I must've been 9-10. No ever ever knew.

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H

I saw this at 12 and loved it - never upset me. For reasons unknown, my stepmother brought my four-year-old brother with us! Didn't seem to traumatize him, but boy does that appear like an odd choice to me...

I almost saw Casino at a time when I didn't understand movies, and am very glad I waited. I wouldn't even have begun to comprehend the film's quality.

2001 A Space Odessy.

I saw this really young on TV, around when I was into Empire Strikes back (back in 80's people when I was 6-8 years old). I thought COOL!! A new space movie. It bored the hell out of me, and I still can't appreciate the film, despite everyone telling me it's awesome.

I'm with Russell, I saw 2001 at a relatively young age and found it boring. And I still think it's boring.

2001 is one I've given many viewings to. I've always found the dawn of man fascinating, and originally got bored with the rest of the movie.

first viewing - TCM, gave up in the middle of the extremely dull Hal section
second viewing, DVD - gave up on the film during the hour long acid trip 'transistion' but watched it through
third viewing Projected DVD (8 foot wide screen) - liked the Hal section and last section for the first time
fourth viewing 35mm - liked the whole movie, still think the acid trip 'transition' is about two hours too long and monumentally silly (it did make more sense on film though).

Jaws- Saw it at 5 years old.


It was kind of traumatic actually. I still feel uneasy swimming in the ocean.

Jaws - Wanted to see it and then wished I hadn't. Never went swimming in the sea until I was older and I am still not that keen now.

Alien - saw Aliens first at age 13 which was great and then found the first one pretty boring. Appreciated much more when I got older.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - similar to Jaws this film gave me nightmares, especially the sacrifice sequences. Loved Raiders so begged my mum to take me to this. I was 8 years old.

Most Woody Allen films - I could never get into them when I was younger and now whilst I can appreciate some of his films, they are never high on my To-Watch list nor do I own any.

I quite enjoyed that film." He was astonished to realise it was the same film he walked out of. I think it was just because he only saw the HAL sequence, and avoided the Dawn of Man, the Moon, and the Infinity sequence, that he remembered enjoying it.]

Anyway, I was too young to see 2001. I enjoyed the film - right until the Infinity sequence started. Then it lost me. Fortunately, I was intrigued enough by it to go and read the novel, which allowed my young self to reconcile what was happening, and develop an enjoyment for the film. But I wish I could see it today for the first time, just to know how I would respond to it as a more mature film viewer.

I always thought the Dawn of Man section was awesome, and the moon section was at least intriguing with a ton of cool effects, but by the time you get past the opening shot Dave running around the spaceship the cool has worn off and it's an extremely slow and deliberate progression while Hal goes crazy, and by that time I'm so far into the movie I really start to notice how incredibly slowly the pace progresses. I didn't find out he read their lips until the third viewing because I kept falling asleep in the Hal section.fwiw the ending made just as much sense and I was more interested in the obelisk anyway.

I guess I have to jump on the bandwagon with this one, but I too found 2001: A Space Odessy very boring. The same goes for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

I saw both of these of films at an early age (probably 8 or 9) when HBO was the only game in town. I just couldn't get into either one of these films, as a matter of fact I found the entire Star Trek television series to be quite boring. Of course the reason was because I was spoiled by the all the derring-do of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica.

Now today, I love Star Trek (Voyager, The Next Gen movies, and Enterprise excluded) and I definitely have a much greater appreciation for 2001.

Also, I must mention Blade Runner as well.

The one I really wished I waited to see was Hitchcock's "The Birds" Saw it when I was about 10 and was paranoid about - what I think now is the stupidest thing - sleeping upstairs. Wasn't scared of going outside but the birds could peck their way through the roof. :rolleyes

"2001" I saw when I was about 12 or so and I enjoyed the music from the dawn of man and some of the Hal bits but overall, I thought there was too much going on that I didn't understand. To this day, I find it kinda "dry" but I understand a lot more of it.

Hmm, I used to watch 2001 all the time as a kid, but just the Dawn of Man sequence. For some reason, those crazy apes just entertained the hell out of me. When I was about 10 I watched the rest of the movie and loved it. Like most kids, I was a huge nut about all things related to space and it was cool to see a movie that attempted a realistic portrayal of space travel.

I really can't think of any movies that I wish I had been older before I had seen them the first time. There's lot of great movies I wish I could experience for the first time again.

I always say that I wished that I could erase parts of my brain so I could re-experience seeing movies for the first time. How much fun would it be to learn that Darth Vader is Luke's father every time that you watch The Empire Strikes Back?

I was probably 8 or 9 when I first saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The whole "It's just a flesh wound" scene freaked me out for a long time. I didn't know this was supposed to be comedy. For years I would not want to watch movies that had sword fighting in them.

The Excorcist scared the heck out of me when I was younger. Believe it or not Mandigo was a bit much for me with the fight scenes and the sex scenes. I was about 8 or 9 when I saw it in the movies. Finally Trilogy of Terror had me climbing the wall with fear back then.