# Describe a movie you saw and liked as a kid but can't remember its title **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2014, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911 "2014-01-04T23:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 32
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/623 "2017-11-27T19:55:32Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > I have one: Early 80’s? Post apocalypse, one group of survivors in California? have a super RV/tank/train vehicle- I don’t remember if it had wheels or tracks, but I’m pretty sure it was multi-sectioned and I think it was green. Anyway, they hear on the radio from another group who were much further east. > > They head through Las Vegas and find a couple of people, but also a huge cockroach population. I have vivid memories of a carpet of roaches chasing the heroes. I think it was made for TV and someone like Jan Michael Vincent was the star. The roach scene really got me, because I had stepped in a yellow jacket nest not too long before. _Damnation Alley_ > **[Damnation Alley (1977) ⭐ 5.2 | Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075909/?ref_=nv_sr_2)** > > 1h 31m | PG ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/624 "2017-11-27T19:57:05Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Sounds a bit like “I Am the Cheese.” > > I have one: Early 80’s? Post apocalypse, one group of survivors in California? have a super RV/tank/train vehicle- I don’t remember if it had wheels or tracks, but I’m pretty sure it was multi-sectioned and I think it was green. Anyway, they hear on the radio from another group who were much further east. > > They head through Las Vegas and find a couple of people, but also a huge cockroach population. I have vivid memories of a carpet of roaches chasing the heroes. I think it was made for TV and someone like Jan Michael Vincent was the star. The roach scene really got me, because I had stepped in a yellow jacket nest not too long before. It _was_ JMV. And George Peppard. It was Damnation Alley. “The town is infested with killer cockroaches!” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/625 "2017-11-27T19:59:53Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > I think it was made for TV and someone like Jan Michael Vincent was the star. Jan Michael Vincent is much like Jan Michael Vincent, and [he was in _Damnation Alley_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075909/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_55) in 1977. (eta damn ninjas!) ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/626 "2017-11-27T20:23:23Z")
Thanks. That’s been bugging (hah!) me for years. ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/627 "2017-11-27T21:09:14Z")
I have two, a movie and a TV show. First, the movie: My dad is really into Westerns. I remember waking up one night and crossing the hall to the bathroom for a drink of water. I glanced into the living room and saw another one of dad’s dumb westerns playing. But this one was different. It was (in my memory) gratuitously violent. Like Tarantino-type violence. The part of the movie I saw was a typical cavalry-attacking-an-indian-village scene. I stayed in the hallway long enough to watch three brief shots. The first was shot from ground level, and showed a small Indian girl of maybe six standing among the melee holding something to her chest and crying. A cavalry soldier on horseback gallops up behind her and decapitates her with his sword and the horse runs past her. The next scene shows a cavalry soldier raping a native woman while cutting off her breasts. I seem to remember a third shot of a soldier stabbing a pregnant woman in the abdomen. I quit watching after that. This would have been at least 25 years ago. The movie had that 1960’s-1970’s “look” to it that today makes me think of spaghetti westerns. I have been reluctant to try to find the film because I’m not at all a fan of violent movies or westerns, but I am curious if my memory is accurate. The TV show is more difficult to describe. I likely would have watched this in 1987, 1988, or 1989, and it was likely broadcast on either the Disney Channel or network TV—it was very much a kids show. I remember the characters were some sort of Martians or aliens. The most distinctive thing I remember is sometime during the show it would show the entire alien planet floating in space with the little Martian houses comically huge—imagine holding up a baseball and placing a Monopoly house (from the board game) on the ball. That’s kinda what it looked like. It had a crude animation style, perhaps claymation. I really don’t know even how to start searching for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/628 "2017-11-27T21:18:51Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > I have two, a movie and a TV show. > > First, the movie: My dad is really into Westerns. I remember waking up one night and crossing the hall to the bathroom for a drink of water. I glanced into the living room and saw another one of dad’s dumb westerns playing. But this one was different. It was (in my memory) gratuitously violent. Like Tarantino-type violence. The part of the movie I saw was a typical cavalry-attacking-an-indian-village scene. I stayed in the hallway long enough to watch three brief shots. The first was shot from ground level, and showed a small Indian girl of maybe six standing among the melee holding something to her chest and crying. A cavalry soldier on horseback gallops up behind her and decapitates her with his sword and the horse runs past her. The next scene shows a cavalry soldier raping a native woman while cutting off her breasts. I seem to remember a third shot of a soldier stabbing a pregnant woman in the abdomen. I quit watching after that. > > This would have been at least 25 years ago. The movie had that 1960’s-1970’s “look” to it that today makes me think of spaghetti westerns. I have been reluctant to try to find the film because I’m not at all a fan of violent movies or westerns, but I am curious if my memory is accurate. _Soldier Blue_ > **[Soldier Blue (1970) ⭐ 6.9 | Drama, War, Western](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066390/)** > > 1h 52m | PG ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/629 "2017-11-27T21:51:34Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > The TV show is more difficult to describe. I likely would have watched this in 1987, 1988, or 1989, and it was likely broadcast on either the Disney Channel or network TV—it was very much a kids show. I remember the characters were some sort of Martians or aliens. The most distinctive thing I remember is sometime during the show it would show the entire alien planet floating in space with the little Martian houses comically huge—imagine holding up a baseball and placing a Monopoly house (from the board game) on the ball. That’s kinda what it looked like. It had a crude animation style, perhaps claymation. I really don’t know even how to start searching for this one. [Clangers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfsMZKwqw3w)? ---
**Author:** ![Lancia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lancia/32/17174_2.png) [@Lancia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lancia)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/630 "2017-11-27T23:11:03Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _Soldier Blue_ > > [Soldier Blue (1970) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066390/) Hell… 25 years I’ve wondered if that movie really exists and it takes a Doper less than 10 minutes to find it. Good god I love this place. Yes, I’m sure that’s it—or at least, it sounds like it is. > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > [Clangers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfsMZKwqw3w)? Almost everything is right except for the shot of the planet… I distinctly remember houses being visible. It may very well be the right show and I’m simply remembering a specific one-off episode. My memory of it is less than clear, although I seem to recall there being human-like creatures in it. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/631 "2017-11-27T23:38:32Z")
> [@FearlessDave](#): > > When did it come out? not a clue > Who was in it? no idea > What plot if any do you remember? > I’m hoping this thread is still active…and some miracle happens: > I was about 5 years old - in 1982 and watched a movie that I’ve been trying to find for years! > I recall a guy riding a motorbike beheaded when they strung fishing-gut along the road… > BUT - the most memorable memory I have of the movie is that, in the end, the island is swallowed by a giant glass/plastic bubble and swallowed into the ocean… > ☹ Closest match I could come up with was an episode of the 1975 t.v. series _Kolchak: The Night Stalker_, featuring a headless motorcycle rider avenging his death at the hands of the people who strung a cable across the road as a “prank”. > **[Kolchak: The Night Stalker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kolchak:_The_Night_Stalker_episodes)** > > Kolchak: The Night Stalker is an American television series that aired on ABC during the 1974–1975 season. The series followed wire service reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) who investigates mysterious crimes with unlikely causes, particularly those involving the supernatural or science fiction, including fantastic creatures. The series was preceded by the two television movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Strangler (1973). Although the series lasted only a single season, it dev... ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/632 "2017-11-28T01:00:51Z")
The first part sounds like an episode of _Kolchak: The Night Stalker_ and the end something out of _The Prisoner._ Yes, The Night Stalker had an episode about a headless motorcyclist, _The Chopper_, which aired in 1975. > [@FearlessDave](#): > > When did it come out? not a clue > Who was in it? no idea > What plot if any do you remember? > I’m hoping this thread is still active…and some miracle happens: > I was about 5 years old - in 1982 and watched a movie that I’ve been trying to find for years! > I recall a guy riding a motorbike beheaded when they strung fishing-gut along the road… > BUT - the most memorable memory I have of the movie is that, in the end, the island is swallowed by a giant glass/plastic bubble and swallowed into the ocean… > ☹ Damn it. ---
**Author:** ![bemerick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bemerick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bemerick)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/633 "2018-01-30T15:10:48Z")
There was a movie I watched as a kid, may have been a TV movie. I always picture it, but in a very fuzzy way. It felt like it was probably shot in the 50’s or 60’s, had the visual feel of a western but it wasn’t a western. Maybe kind of like Little House on the Prairie. It was a movie about a kid or kids who found treasure buried near their house somewhere. Makes me think of The Goonies, but it’s not that movie. It’s not much to go on, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/634 "2018-01-30T15:56:48Z")
Holes > **[Holes (2003) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0311289/)** > > Holes: Directed by Andrew Davis. With Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Shia LaBeouf. A wrongfully convicted boy is sent to a brutal desert detention camp where he joins the job of digging holes for some mysterious reason. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/635 "2018-01-30T16:01:50Z")
Reminds me of [a _Night Gallery_ episode–“Big Surprise,”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660790/?ref_=ttep_ep8) starring John Carradine–although it was only ten minutes long. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/636 "2018-01-30T16:06:24Z")
Could it have been a version of Tom Sawyer? > **[The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (TV Series 1960) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403722/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_25)** > > The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: With Fred Smith, Mike Strotheide, Betty Hardy, Lorna Henderson. > **[Tom Sawyer (TV Movie 1973) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070815/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_9)** > > Tom Sawyer: Directed by James Neilson. With Josh Albee, Jane Wyatt, Buddy Ebsen, John McGiver. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, two friends in a Mississippi River town, have one adventure after another - including attending their own funeral and... When were you a kid, exactly? About what year did you see it? ---
**Author:** ![bemerick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bemerick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bemerick)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/637 "2018-01-30T16:13:34Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Reminds me of [a _Night Gallery_ episode–“Big Surprise,”](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0660790/?ref_=ttep_ep8) starring John Carradine–although it was only ten minutes long. oohhhh… this might be something. I’ll look into it thanks! Good find! “An eccentric farmer promises a big surprise to a group of boys- if they dig for it” Not Holes, not Tom Sawyer. I was born in 1981 and I think I probably watched it in 1987ish? ---
**Author:** ![bemerick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bemerick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bemerick)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/638 "2018-01-30T17:22:55Z")
> [@bemerick](#): > > oohhhh… this might be something. I’ll look into it thanks! Good find! > > “An eccentric farmer promises a big surprise to a group of boys- if they dig for it” > Not Holes, not Tom Sawyer. I was born in 1981 and I think I probably watched it in 1987ish? I really think this is it! Watching it on Hulu right now. Thanks so much! ---
**Author:** ![bemerick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@bemerick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bemerick)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/639 "2018-01-30T17:29:57Z")
then again, maybe not…i swore they found actual treasure. though I could be mis-remembering. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/640 "2018-01-30T19:31:22Z")
^ I did a quick check–Wikipedia has a list of ABC Movie of the Week titles (I don’t think CBS did made-for-TV movies and NBC was Mystery Movie packages [McCloud, Hec Ramsey, Snoop Sisters]), so this is probably a good place to look if you think it was MFTV of that era. I recognized more than a few just by the title :o! BTW, that _Night Gallery_ epi scared the living crap out of me at age 11; saw it last year and all I could do was admire the style and photography and Carradine’s performance. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/641 "2018-07-10T03:18:39Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > Late 60s-early 70s film quality. > Tough guy displays his prowess by sticking two fingers in a shot glass and shattering the glass by “scissor-kicking” his fingers apart. I found it. Black Samson scene at time index 10:45 How 'bout that epic afro?🆒 ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911/642 "2018-07-10T12:40:16Z")
Somehow, this thread didn’t come up on my radar until it was just revived yesterday. Maybe one of you can help with this one: I think it was a TV movie, some time in the 90s. The plot was that this married businessman seemed to be having an affair with his hot secretary. He was constantly denying it and his wife was getting more and more paranoid, until she ended up committing suicide. The twist was that they really weren’t having an affair, the secretary was a lesbian, and the two of them were actually trying to drive the wife to suicide because the businessman wanted to be rid of her but not have the financial consequences of divorce. The final scene (that I remember, at least) has the businessman and secretary and some other woman who’s all over the secretary are in the back seat of a limo, the secretary says she’s going to take a vacation to the Greek island of Lesbos, they stop at an ATM for the businessman to withdraw money to pay off the secretary for her part in the plot, and the secretary shoots the businessman, saying that people will think he’s the victim of a random ATM mugging. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911.md?page=31) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/describe-a-movie-you-saw-and-liked-as-a-kid-but-cant-remember-its-title/677911.md?page=33)