Let’s head back to childhood this week:
What’s your first memory of seeing a movie in a cinema?
Me, I vividly remembering seeing a rerelease of Fantasia in Radio City Music Hall, a majestic place to see a movie, when I was around six or seven years old. The “Night on Bald Mountain” sequence scared the bejeezus out of me.
Your turn…
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The original Star Wars. I was 5 years old. I don’t remember much, but it turned me into a fan.
I’m unsure, but I narrowed it down to three movies. 1) SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS 2) THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH [the train/car crash]
3) WAR OF THE WORLDS.
All in my dad’s hometown of Lock Haven.
I think, probably, The Empire Strikes Back. It was a special screening sponsored by the local fast food franchise, so I remember people in the fast food mascot costumes dancing in front of the screen before the movie began.
My brother and I were the only kids in our nursery school class who hadn’t seen Star Wars, and that was a huge problem, because it was the only thing thing the other kids ever talked about. Fortunately, we had a very kind aunt who took us to see the movie. We got to the theatre very late, so by the time we made it to our seats, the characters were already on the Death Star, which made the movie a strange and confusing experience, but I guess I must have liked it, because I can still hum the John Williams music to this day.
Were you able to stay in the theater for the next screening? When/where I was growing up, you could do that: pop into the theater halfway through the film, then sit through until the next screening and catch up on what you missed. (It was annoying having people come and go all throughout, though.)
Now you suggest it?
We might have been able to do that, but I was too young to think of it at the time, and the next showing may have been completely packed, because it was Star Wars.
Yeah, 2 kids and a grownup probably couldn’t hide well enough to escape the ushers/cleaners between shows, and you bet they were under orders to watch for that.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the drive-in. In a theater, hm. Dark Crystal, I think? I don’t really remember much before that, maybe a scene here or there. I remember that first Dark Crystal pretty well, though.
For me, it was either “The Rescuers” or “The Jungle book”, both from Disney. (I think it was the former)
I remember most things, still, from both movies, with the Jungle book most probably because I have seen it several times over the years. For the rescuers probably because I had the soundtrack as an audioplay on LP. :)
I actually never saw Star Wars till I was 25 or so, but I had some books based on the movies. 🙂
I haven’t got any idea either – could have been a 50s Bible movie like The Robe or something, or a WWII, like Caine Mutiny. Those sound pretty grownup but we’re talking back seat of car at the drive-in Saturday night. I would have slept through it.
I feel very young saying this but it was probably Madagascar 2. XD I remember it very vividly because it gave me nightmares for a week after. I also supposedly saw Finding Nemo as a toddler, which I don’t remember at all.
Oh my god, you’re so young. 😀
I was just a kid of 31 when I saw STAR WARS the first Saturday of its run in New York. It was scary but I enjoyed it.
I can’t put it in exact order, but one of Fantasia or Snow White. Back in the 1970s major films would “come round again” to the local cinemas every year or two. (I also saw Lady and the Tramp, and The Rescuers when it was quite new.)
I know this wasn’t the first film I saw in theaters, but the first one I have a distinct memory of was Tomorrow Never Dies; I remember becoming enamored of the James Bond mythology and maintain a nostalgia for the silliness of Pierce Brosnan’s era to this day. But what cements it most in my memory is my family leaving the multiplex-next-to-the-mall and seeing what appeared to be an armed robbery in front of the department store we were driving past. My father (displaying an impressive balance of safety and action) calmly drove as if he had not noticed anything until he was able to get back to the side of the store, where he had seen a cop idling, and tell him what was going on. Tense times!