I remember going to see Return of the Jedi when I had just turned 4. I kinda remember not being able to read the subtitles and having to have my mother explain.
Yup, this is the one I came in here to mention. I remember the part at the beginning, when all the sisters were singing, and my sister crying when the boat kills Ursula, and my sis spilling her popcorn all over the floor. She would have been two years old, I’d have been three or four. Oh, and I remember asking my dad if he’d seen any mermaids while scuba diving, and he said he had, and I refused to go in boats for a long time after because I thought we’d run over a mermaid. I was an odd child, yes.
First film I have a recollection of seeing in a movie house was the Japanese monster film Mothra, which was double-billed with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at either the State or Embassy Theater in downtown Johnstown, PA, sometime in the early '60s. My memory of these two being shown together is clear, despite the fact that I’ve never since seen a Disney flick doubled with a non-Disney production.
Anyway, liked 'em both, but Mothra weirded me right out. I mean, a gigantic caterpiller spinning a cocoon on a radio tower is one thing, but those tiny little singing women? Eraserhead had nothing on that.
shudder
My first movie and first movie memory is…
Jonathan. Livingston. Seagull.
All I remember are freakin seagulls and a monotous voice. I have never revisited the movie or novel.
Maybe not my earliest, but one will I always remember:
The local drive-in where I grew up in Milwaukee had double features. The first was a kiddie or family flick, while the second feature was more adult fare. So one summer evening my folks loaded up the back of the green, psuedo-woodpaneled station wagon with sleeping bags and pillows.
The way it normally worked was this: After the kiddie flick, my sister and I would have to go to the back of the wagon and go to sleep. This night would be different. After the first film (The Black Hole or Last Flight of Noah’s Ark or some such Disney banality), my sister and I dutifully crawled to the back of the car and lied down. I pretended to sleep until the second feature, when I stealthily lifted my head over the edge of the seat to watch the forbidden fruit that is…
Specifically, I remember the scene where the one caveman smashes the giant, evil looking bug that lands one the other caveman’s face while he is sleeping. Gobs of gooey bug guts ooze all over the guy’s face. Permanently etched into my memory…Good times.
Going to the cinema on an incredibly hot day some time in the summer of 1969-70 to see The Sound of Music.
Beauty and the Beast when I was five: Belle in the Beast’s library, which was full of more books than I’d ever seen (and I wanted them all!), and beautifully flooded with sunlight. My parents tell me I tried to stand on my seat as the Beast was opening the curtains to let the light in.
(My first movie memory is Star Wars – not in the theaters, but watching it on the somewhat-big-screen-TV in my parents’ bedroom when I was four or so. It’s not what the OP asked, but I thought it was worth mentioning. The Star-Destroyer-versus-Alderaanian-ship fight is definitely etched into my memory.)
Earliest I can remember was really not wanting to go see the Agatha Christie flick “The Mirror Crack’d” when I was 6. (1980) I planned to be bored the entire time, and so I was.
I’m guessing it must have been either a “collected” movie from the old (1949) Batman Serials or The incredible Mr. Limpett, which I actually remember liking (I remember liking The Ghost and Mr. Chicken too and I was older then.
I thought it might be Lady and The Tramp as I love this movie to this day – I think it is one of Disney’s best. But I would have seen it in 63 or 64 and I don’t think it would’ve been re-released that soon. I have a distinct memory of going to the only indoor theatre in town for all of these films and a strong memory of walking past the poster for “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” which I also remember going to see. (In spite of the fact that I didn’t get most of the film, I loved it and it is one of my favorite movies to this day as well).
Strongest memory comes at around age 11 when Lee Marvin buys his wife (Jean Seberg) and rips her top off revealing massive cleavege and some bustier thing – I fear it scarred me for life – while not as endearing as Lady and the Tramp, it affected me in ways only an 11 year old boy can be.
Rodan, the Flying Monster. I must have been about 5. Giant jet propelled pterodactyls and giant catepillars, oh my!
Either **Jungle Book ** at a drive-in wearing pajamas in the back seat
or 101 Dalmations. I loved that.
Both in about 1968.
Good to see some others first movie was also that one. I guess many of us on this board are getting pretty old.
The first movie I remember seeing was Mary Poppins when I was a kid. We saw it at the Riverdale Drive-In, in West Springfield MA. My parents had an enormous Country Squire station wagon, and Dad backed it into the space.
The back of the car had been spread with sleeping bags and pillows. Dad put the tailgate down and my sibs and I stretched out to watch the movie, and he and Mom watched it from lawn chairs just off to the side.
I remember that it was a triple feature, but I couldn’t tell you what the other movies were. We fell asleep during the “intermission” shorts that ran after Mary Poppins.
The drive-in’s long gone now. It’s a shopping plaza.
Atta boy, Luther!
The movie that I consider my first theater experience(though I must have seen Kiddie movies before it)is “The Poseidon Adventure”. It was definitely the first one I saw with my parents. Holy cow, what an impression it made on me! I was six at the time, and looking back, I’m a little surprised they would take me to see a picture like that. That scene when Leslie Nielson sees the giant wave coming an utters “oh MY GOD” was dramatic gold to me then, and still gives me the chills when I watch it today. I could have lived without the closeup of the burned up dude in the engine room. By today’s standards it probably isn’t that gory, but I wouldn’t know because I always turn my head when that part comes on.
Hmm. Not exactly sure. It may be watching The Little Mermaid on VHS, but I can’t remember how old I was then.
I remember seeing Aladdin in theatres though when I was five. I even vividly remember the theatre itself. Weird the things that get etched in memory.
Seeing ET as a kid and being more interested in the intricate designs on the theater ceiling.
Second and most important…
Getting to ROTJ late… my dad woke me up to go which in hindsight is weird…And the first thing is Lando pulling down the mask on his helmet in Jabba’s palace.
Just stuck with me.
The first movie I ever went to was The Jungle Book - at a drivein. I remember the drivein. I don’t remember the movie.
The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Three Men and a Little Baby (1987, I was 7 or 8). I remember really liking the movie and it was one of the only times that my father actually took my sisters and me out when he has visitation.
The next year, my mom too us to see The Land Before Time. She went to see Scrooged, the next screen over. I remember that I wasn’t too impressed with TLBT so I snuck over to Scrooged and watched that with my mom. I was much more impressed with Scrooged. It’s still one of my favorites. I was 8 at the time.
The next movie I saw was Dick Tracy in 1990 (I was 10). For some reason, the summer camp I went to thought this movie was appropriate for 8-11 year olds. We saw it because it was raining so we couldn’t go swimming. I didn’t like the movie because Madonna was in it and camp counselors (who were 15-17) started making fun of me (my middle name is Madonna). They weren’t the best counselors.
My mom tells me I “saw” 2001 in utero but the strongest earliest memory was of Barry Lyndon. I remember the sick feeling when his son is mortally injured falling off a horse, and later when he and his stepson have to duel. Barry Lyndon loses a leg and apparently I asked my parents how much they had to pay Ryan O’Neal to have his leg cut off
In a cinema in the british Air Force base in Akrotiri, Cyprus - I must have been about four or five years old; the film was a Bugs Bunny-type of cartoon featuring a walking, talking bomb (unless I’m just completely misremembering it).
I can’t remember the title, but it was some Disney-ish thing about a St. Bernard. Think it was called Clifford, but could very well be wrong.
I also remember going to a small theatre in downtown Shawnee KS to see something wherein James Garner thought that a kid was an Indian (Native American) only to find out that he just had one helluva tan.
And the big one: The Godfather at the Drive In. The whole horse head scene freaked me right the hell out. But I thought Moe Green getting it in th eeye was pretty cool. Still wonder what my mother was thinking when she took me.