Childhood movie milestones (1 Viewer)

[Yee-Ming]

I'm 33. I'm sure you can figure out what I'm going to say...



STAR WARS


I was 8 at the time, first ever movie in a cinema I think. I was completely enthralled, and still am (TPM notwithstanding... )

 

[Paul_Scott]

great thread.

let's see.

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory this would be one of the earliest memories i have of seeing a movie at the theater.
i can't remember anything other than which theater it was and sitting close to the back, but i assume i loved it then as much as i do now.

Jaws my cool aunt took me to see this the day it opened when i was 8 years old.
MAY BE TOO INTENSE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN heh heh heh.
yeah under 7, cause i loved every intense minute of it.

King Kong got permission to stay up and see it on the 11:30 late movie one friday night when i was about 7. i'm sure my parents didn't really expect me to stay awake or be interested in an antique B&W movie, but i showed them.
for the longest time this was the film i placed above everything else. it left a monster sized impression on me.
the next time it was on, i made an audio tape of it and listened to it dozens and dozens of times.

The Phantom Of the Paradise the beauty/beast theme has always resonated strongly with me for some reason. i got to see this on HBO when i was 8 and i completely geeked out.
i made a phantoms mask out of square box that i painted silver and cut eyeholes out and then walked around the neighborhood like the biggest dork

Star Wars i remember my friend asking me if i wanted to go with him and his family to see this 'cause people were saying how good it was.
i'd seen the novelization of it in the mall and just reading the names on the back cover ( "Sky-walker?") it just sounded so gay. i pretended to call my grandmother and 'ask her' if i could go. i told my friend my grandmother had her heart set on seeing Island Of Dr Moreau instead.
since this is the olden days though, the hype for the movie actually got greater as the summer wore on, and after getting a few issues of the comic, i decided to give it a shot after all and predictably went nuts.
definitely unlike any fim i can remember, save maybe for Jaws, i remember in late fall it was still playing and there was a big family trip to the theater-aunt, uncle, grandparents, cousins, etc. i don't think the audlts appreciated it as much as the kids did, but it was rare in my family, that a movie would become a big family outing like that. very odd.

Superman the movie was huge for me. Like Matthew said, this was the film that seemed to supplant Star Wars in my imagination. The lone/alienated hero aspect probably had a lot to do with it as well as the subliminal Christ analogies which i didn't get until many years later- because at that age i was a very conscientious Catholic boy.
and it was a movie that seemed to be crafted with taste, quality, and affection. i always appreciated that.

 

[Joshua_Y]

Star Wars Trilogy - Saw Return of the Jedi first I believe and was hooked! Loved everything...played with all the toys...
Superman Movies
Goonies
Aliens
Exorcist
Jaws
E.T.
Monster Squad

 

[Paul_Scott]

just one more (can't believe i forgot this one)

The Amityville Horror this would be the first movie i asked a girl out to, although i tried to play it cool by saying i knew the guy at the theater and he would slip us some passes.
so i showed up about 20 minutes early and bought both tickets and a little while later she got dropped off with her friend, and we went in to sit down, but i sat behind them like an ass, (i think i always knew there was no way in hell she would ever really 'go out' with me so i had to keep a cool distance) and then i had to watch as an older boy she liked came in with his friends and both groups sat close and had a great time socializing and intermittently watching the movie, while i just slunk down in my chair, the tiny shards of my broken heart tinkling around my rib cage if i breathed too hard.

but the memory is bittersweet, because after a while i couldn't take it anymore and went to hang out in the lobby, where the projectionist was.
he turned out to be pretty cool and invited me up into the projection booth where i got to help him out rewinding some reels and even splicing some broken film.

 

[Joshua_Y]

Give up a girl...learn about movies...sounds like a good trade...

 

[Andy Sheets]

Bachelor Party was the first R-rated movie I ever saw in the theater. I was visiting my mom for the summer and we were planning to see Conan the Destroyer, I think, but we missed that show and the next thing starting was Bachelor Party, so we went to see that one and we had a wonderful time. If I ever meet Tom Hanks, I'm going to remind him of that movie

 

[Robin Warren]

My earliest memory of seeing a movie on it's first run would have to be Star Wars. I was 5 and my mom tells me I would force my dad to take me every weekend to the drive in in Owen Sound. My father would fall asleep and snore heavily which freaked me out as I thought it was Vader coming after me.
I also remember seeing "The Fox and the Hound" with my young cousin and we both convinced his mom to let us stay in the auditorium and watch it twice in a row.
My parents owned a Selectavision Videodisc system in the early 80's and they had a collection of around 200 titles (I still have them in my basement) I burned out my copy of Raiders, Star Wars, Superman I and II. They got The Exorcist when it first came available and I must have been around 9 years old, I played that movie about a dozen times.
I also remember spending a lot of time with Tron, Apple Dumpling Gang (with Don Knotts), Jaws III, Candleshoe (with Jodie Foster), and others. Jaws III was a great flick when I was a kid. I loved the undersea passages and when I finally got to Sea World in Florida in the early 90's I was floored with nostalgia.

Great thread BTW

 

[Simon_Lepine]

I have the usual ones, mentioned already in this thread;

Star Wars, E.T., Raiders of The Lost Ark, Jaws

Some new ones:

One Upon a Time in the West : my dad made me watch this. At the time I thought westerns were pretty boring stuff and started to watch without much interest. Needless to say, I was blown away and became a huge fan of
Sergio Leone and westerns. I watched this ovie a lot in my teens.

Halloween : my uncle made me watch this on tape when I was around 7. Guess what, I was scared to death, it was almost a traumatic experience for me I was sacred of this movie until my 20s. Now I own it and I've seen it something like 30 times, and I can really appreciate the craft involved in making this horror masterpiece. It turned me into a huge horror fan also.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Well, I was born in 1978, so I missed the first run of Star Wars (however, now that I think about it, it's very likely that I was conceived around the time of its release ). However, I did see Empire when I was 2; I have a very faint memory of seeing C-3PO and recognizing him from an episode of Sesame Street. Then I saw Star Wars itself on its 1982 re-release. That made a pretty big impression. Then I distinctly remember seeing Return of the Jedi when I was 5.

Then of course, all this was cemented by seeing all three countless times on TV and video.

Other landmark cinematic experiences:

Star Trek III (1984) The first Trek film I saw in a theater. I'd seen Wrath of Khan on TV, so I was ready to have them find Spock.

E.T. (1985) I believe my parents took me to this on it's first release in '82, but it wasn't until the '85 re-issue that it really made an impression on me. And then seeing it again on video in '88 (even though my friends thought it was for "babies") really ingrained it in me. It's still an affecting film.

Star Trek IV (1986) Even though I'd been watching the original series for a while, and I'd seen the other 3 movies, this is what really confirmed my admiration for Trek. It was just the right one and I was at the right age (8). In retrospect, Wrath of Khan is my favorite now.

Willow (1988) I don't know why, but this just really made an impression on me. I was already a Star Wars fan, and George Lucas's name meant something to me. There was just something really special about it for some reason, and it continues to hold that magic for me.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) This was a big one for me. This is the film I usually credit with kickstarting my interest in the filmmaking process. I was awestruck at how everything worked in the film. It was the ultimate "How did they do that?" movie. Fifteen years later, I am still amazed at what they were able to do with what they had to work with at the time.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) This was my first cinematic experience with Indy. I'd seen and loved the first 2 on TV and video, but again, there's just something about the cinematic experience. I also saw it with my dad, so we had a good time with the Ford/Connery interplay.

Jurassic Park (1993) Another year, another Spielberg film. Even though now, I'm aware of it's flaws, this still ranks as one of the all-time great popcorn flicks. And in '93, it was one of the most amazing things I'd seen on a movie screen. It was also the first film I saw in a THX theater, so that helped, too.

Schindler's List (1993) Yet another. This was the first R-rated movie I saw in a theater. It was also the most realistic movie, period, on any subject I had seen up to that point. I was floored by every minute of it.

There have been a lot of others that I grew up with on TV and video: Close Encounters, 2001, Tron, The Dark Crystal, The Neverending Story, Hoosiers, Back to the Future, and Glory.

This is a good topic; it's great to read everyone else's responses.

Nowadays, it seems like there's so much out there that it's hard to have those experiences anymore, for anything to wow us anymore. Maybe we're just getting old. One of the few recent examples of a true "cinematic experience" I can think of is The Lord of the Rings. I sort of envy the kids in the 10-13 range who are getting to see those movies through those eyes. Of course, I'm also glad that I, an adult in his mid-20s, am feeling a similar sense of wonder with them as I felt with some of the movies I mentioned above. I hope we can have more like this, but not too many, of course, or they won't be as special.

 

[Chris Atkins]

Great thread.

I was born in November, 1974, so the films I will mention will be similar to many others here.

Star Wars My first movie memory. Just blew me away...I remember hunching down behind the seat in front of my when the Tusken Raiders attacked Luke, and my Dad telling me they weren't real. I have never had a movie impact me like this one did...and at such an impressionable age.

The one thing I will never forget about Star Wars is how people INTERACTED with the film. They booed when Vader appeared on screen, even though many of them had no idea who Vader was. They clapped...they cheered. It was the most remarkable theaterical experience.

Superman This came out not long after Star Wars. I can still see how well the crowd received this movie. Lots of laughs and lots of applause. Superman is probably the most well known and iconic of all comic book heroes, and to a little kid Christopher Reeve WAS a hero to you.

The Empire Strikes Back All the joy you had experienced with the characters in Star Wars is ripped right out of your heart as Han is frozen and taken to Jabba, Luke loses his hand and finds out that the character you have grown to HATE for three years is his father! I actually remember liking ESB, but not necessarily being all that thrilled at the trauma inflicted on my favorite characters. I definitely preferred the first film for many years, until I went to college probably.

Still, sitting in that theater and hearing Vader tell Luke "I am your father"....I think those days are past when we can experience something like that where NO ONE in the theater has any clue about a plot point like that.

Raiders of the Lost Ark While I enjoyed the Star Wars movies more overall, I wanted to BE Indiana Jones more than any other character I had ever seen on the screen. I personally wanted to grow up and find the real Ark of the Covenant. The movie really scarred me, though, and I remember closing my eyes a lot. But it was just so fun. Crowd loved it too.

E.T. My aunt took my cousin and I to see this. We cried. And cried. And cried some more. I never really put this on top of my favorite movies...and I was ticked when it beat the B.O. record of Star Wars...but it was a unique cinematic experience from my youth.

Return of the Jedi I liked it...thing I remember is the long line and how our family could not sit together. Biggest laugh of the movie: Chewie's tarzan yell... I was so incredibly sad when it was over. It's like I had to leave home! The feeling I had at the end of ROTJ is the personal reason why I was so looking forward to the PT.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom This movie created a contest between me and all of my friends: who can keep their eyes open for the entire movie? I remember just loving this movie...even though it was creepy. Still do.

Goonies This movie means a lot to me. Came out when I was 10 or 11. I was starting to grow up. I wanted to throw off my "childhood innocence". I wanted to leave home, unlike the Goonies themselves who wanted to stay home. This movie really rekindled my love for my home, my family, and my friends. It just becomes more special to me as the years go on because of how perfectly the characters mirrored the decisions and thoughts I had in my life at the time. It also recaptures the 1980s quite well.

Great thread!

 

[mark alan]

Here is an oddball one, The Posidien Adventure. I was 9, and it was the first PG movie I had seen. I totally freaked out during a scene showing a dead body floating in the water. Considering what 9 year olds see nowdays, it is pretty funny how that affected me.

Jaws also had a big impact seeing that at the age of 10. I was in California at the time, and had a dream that the shark was coming out of the ocean and walking up to get me in my room. I really wanted to be in the center of the country, away from all oceans.

And of couse, there is Star Wars, which I saw at least 12 times the summer it came out. The first and only movie I saw multiple times until LOTR.

 

[Matt Pasant]

A few movies come to mind:

Top Gun May 9th, 1986. 9 years of age. My brother reluctantly dragged me to sneak preview while he was on a date. I did not see the big deal at the time.

Well, from the 1st minute with the cool music, to the prologe about Top Gun to the jets on the aircraft carrier, I was hooked. I was so amazed by the dogfights, the action, the characters, everything. That at that up until that point in my life, it was the most powerful cinematic experiences of my life. In fact it still might be. It was when I fell in love with movies and the experience.

Die Hard, I actully missed it in the theaters, rented it on tape. And was hooked from the 1 minute again. I was so amazed and had such a rush when Lt. John McLane is joking with Hans Gruber and the shot pans down to reveal a .9mm Berreta taped to his back. Still a top ten for me.

 

[Neil Joseph]

The only two that would classify for me were both from 1977... Close Encounters and Star Wars. They are what got me into movies. Jurassic Park is what got me into home theatre years later.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

Most of mine have been mentioned, but they bear further props.

I am a also a 1974 child, so my first memory is of Star Wars. And the Star Wars films were very special to me. I enjoyed rekindling that love of the OT in High School.

My first R film in theaters was a good 'un: Beverly Hills Cop Language, nudity, adult humor, and real violence. Loved it, and I still enjoy it.

Top Gun was a huge favorite of mine, being a Navy brat. Saw this quite a few times in the theater, and it remains a guilty pleasure even now.

But the film that dug in and would not let go, was Aliens. That film was my whole life for a while. I still consider it one of my very favorites, and it's the one film I truly look back on in awe.

Die Hard is another film that just floored me.

And the film that started my adult love of filmgoing, my opening weekend trips. Finishing my freshman year of HS, my mom still allowed me to see a film on a school night opening day (or it was a sneak, I don't remember). The film was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Not the greatest IJ film, but a nice bridge between the films of my youth and the films of my future. So, it's special to me.

And lastly, Terminator 2. I was never so excited for a film as I was this one. And I wasn't disappointed. Future summers would lead to plenty of letdowns and lame-o's, but T2 delivered. Just a juggernaut of a film.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[EdR]

I've seen a few more in this thread that I'd add to my list:

Terminator was definitely a real mind-bender, especially for a 13 year old. Loved it.

Close Encounters was another one that freaked me out.

 

[David Norman]

Wow, what an idea.

I'm older than Tim so I was 17 when STAR WARS came out. Close Encounters was out at the same time and I honestly thought it was a superior movie and probably still do. I guess these are the newest movies I can include.

GONE WITH THE WIND -- high school field trip

Romeo and Juliet -- same. First Shakespeare I'd seen in any form.


SOUND OF MUSIC -- The first movie I can remember seeing in the ALABAMA THEATER in Birmingham. One of those 1920's style 2000 seat theaters with a real balcony, orchestra pit, and mezzanine with the red velvet curtains and a real organ they would play prior to movie and used to be used live during silents.

The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes

Bambi and The Lover Bug

Benji -- at the local drive in.

The Birds -- on TV late night Saturday when about 7 or 8 and remember having nightmares for years about the birds pecking through the roof and getting into the upper bedroom.

The Monolith Monsters for some reason I remember seeing this on TV during a Saturday Morning matinee series. I think The Mole People either was a double bill or I saw it the next week. I had begun to wonder if I had dreamed this movie for years until I found it on Lasedisc.

I was told I saw Wizard of Oz in the ALABAMA, but I only remember it from TV.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Still, sitting in that theater and hearing Vader tell Luke "I am your father"....I think those days are past when we can experience something like that where NO ONE in the theater has any clue about a plot point like that.

The internet has to answer for a lot of things. This is one of them.

 

[David Owens]

Hmm....let's see here...

Well,my earliest movie memory was seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey at the grand old Saenger Theatre here in New Orleans. I must have been 2 or 3 at the time (was on a re-release, as it was first released the year I was born.) Can you imagine what the stargate sequence did to a kid that age??

Star Wars. My first impression of the movie came from Time magazine, and a pic of Kenny Baker with his head sticking out of the R2 body and I thought, what the hell is this? My dad dragged us through the crowds to see it opening night, and mother of god was I hooked. I don't ever remember feeling like that leaving a theater since. The movie still gives me goosebumps at the end, 1000 times later.

Close Encounters. What a great cinematic bookend to 1977. I had never seen Jaws at that point, so Spielberg was new to me, but I still rank this personally as his best film. Sheer exhilarating magic.

Empire Strikes Back. Even at 12, I still had "the inside scoop" on all the behind the scenes changes with the sequel. Lucas not directing??? A new guy handling the effects instead of Dykstra??? This had the makings of a disaster. The opening shot of the Star Destroyer looked great, and as soon as we got to Echo Base, I was hooked. Even back then, I could tell that this was a very special case of a sequel surpassing its original. Kershner's a god in my book for getting this movie made the way it is IN SPITE of Lucas.

Raiders of the Lost Ark. Again, a case of "what the??" before its release. The commercials didn't look great, the most memorable scene I remember from the trailer was the guys hat blowing off on top of the truck. I didn't see it for a quite a while after release, but once I did, I never looked back. Harrison nailed his status as an icon with the role.

The summer of 1982. Possibly the greatest film summer in history, and quite possibly my greatest summer ever, just prior to high school, a significant turning point in my life.
E.T. I still cry like a baby at the end everytime. I can well up just listening to the score. I was pissed when it beat Star Wars as well, but it was Spielberg, so it was ok.
Star Trek II. Kirk. Khan. Spock's Death...best Trek of all time.
Blade Runner. (which admittedly I didn't pick up on till a year later on cable) Ridley Scott's best film.
The Thing, Tron, Poltergeist, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, so many classics.

Back to the Future. I had heard rumblings about the movie for a while in Starlog, knew Michael J was in it, etc. But this was a summer filled with "teen genius" movies, and BTTF was supposed to be no different than the others. Saw it in a sneak preview with a full house and it was electric! I ran out after and told everyone I could to see the movie. (I think it worked)

Aliens. I had seen the original quite a few times, loved it, but this was a sequel that took forever to come, so I assumed it would be a quickie, gone from the theaters fast. Opening day, I did not MOVE from my seat, even during a power outage halfway through. Hands down the best sci-fi action film ever made, and tied with Empire as textbook example of how to make a sequel. Until Episode 1 came out, my record holder for times seen in a theater. (6)

Die Hard. David Addison as an action hero?? The trailer was laughed off the screen before "Sunset" (only movie I've evr fallen asleep on in the theater). No one seemed to be buying it. I went on opening day, prepared for the worst, yet my local paper gave it a good review. Like the ads said, I was blown through the back wall of the theater. Probably the first time I was aware of the skill used in making a movie look and feel just right. Often imitated, but never topped.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I'm 53, born in 1950, so mine are a bit older.

I have memories of driving 45 miles into San Francisco to see Cinerama movies and "road show" productions like Around the World in 80 Days. You had to buy tickets in advance and the seating was assigned.

In the smallish town we lived in (Fairfield CA, then pop. 16,000) there was one single screen theater downtown as multiplexes didn't exist yet.

I went to lots of matinees there, 35 cents got you in for a double feature unless a Disney movie was playing in which case it was 50 cents. Popcorn was 15 cents, 35 cents with butter.

I especially loved movies that took you completely out of the real world, such as the Ray Harryhausen Sinbad movies and most Disney animated films, as well as the Hammer Frankenstein and Dracula movies.



The movies really were sorta magical to me when I was a kid, before the cynicism of adolescence set in, in that I was completely engrossed and the 3 or 4 hours it took to sit through a double feature passed like no time at all.

The first time I really appreciated a movie as a film, an important thing to see rather than just entertainment or escape was in 1961.

My mom had died a couple of years earlier and my dad was raising us alone at the time. One night he took my little brother and I to see Judgement at Nuremberg, an excellent film about the war crimes trials in Germany following WII directed I think by Otto Preminger.
This was the first film that really made me think and I wish it were out on dvd.

Since that adolescent cynicism or whatever kicked in there are fewer movies that can really make me feel that timeless fascination anymore, during which time stands still.

They are for the most part the same ones most of you younger people have mentionned:

Jaws, The Star Wars movies, Alien, LOTR, of course, but most of all in recent years Titanic.

In addition I've gotten the same feeling from many "films" rather than "movies"--Boogie Nights, Amelie, Fight Club, 7even, Chocolat, and films way before even my time like Lost Horizon, Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, and
Mildred Pierce.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

I'm like Steve: I'm not a whippersnapper.

My film moment as a child was seeing a brand new film in a wonderful roadshow theater at the age of eight. The film is called [rant]Lawrence of Arabia[/rant] . I certainly didn't understand the politics of the great powers in WWI but was fascinated none the less.