I rarely watch a film or read a book more than once, let alone 100 times.
Two exceptions: Wizard of Oz - probably because as a kid, it was sort of mandatory to watch it every year when it was just an annual even on television - and then later, when it started to show up on TCM and other stations, would watch it in the background while puttering around the house - so yeah, easily over 100 times in the course of the years.
Casablanca - it is my “comfort food” film. Whenever I am home alone sick, or it is a rainy night and nothing else to watch, I can pull out this DVD and just get lost in it again and again.
If I were younger, LOTR trilogy might make the cut as well. Used to read it about every other year or so - and now watch the entire 3 films at least once a year if not more often.
I’ve never kept track of anything enough to know if I’ve read it over 100 times.
From childhood, the Narnia books come close, I used to read Dawn Treader in particular over and over. I would say a conservative estimate is 75 times, but it could be closer to 100.
Between the book and the movie, The Outsiders probably tops 100.
I do reread a lot as an adult, but I reread a lot of books a lot, and I would guess that those are more in the 30 - 40 range. I generally rotate through my favorites about once a year, and I’m not that old.
I have no idea as to whether or not I’ve read a book or watched a movie over 100 times. I do tend to re-read and re-watch books and movies that I particularly like. Sometimes I do this because I’m quite sick, and even the effort to keep up with a new work would consume too much energy, but I need something to take my mind off how horrid I feel. In that case, I turn to my old favorites.
The movie I have seen the most is The Wizard of Oz. As DMark says, it was a yearly staple on TV, and then my kids watched it on VHS an awful lot. 100 times? No, probably closer to 50.
I once read a book twice. Why anyone would read a book more than once is confusing to me.
It’s confusing to me why anyone wouldn’t read a good book more than once.
To me it’s like somebody saying they listened to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band back in 1967 and they thought it was great but they don’t see any point in hearing it a second time.
On the face of it 100+ any movie is obsessive compulsive territory. What are you really getting out of it on the 100th+ viewing other than some deeps seated psychological fetish need being met?
Not even close. If I had to guess, I’d imagine I’ve seen **The Princess Bride **something like two-dozen times over, but that’s a loose estimate, as I’ve been watching it since childhood. Looking through my shelves, though, the winner might be Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. That’s one of my main go-to movies if I’m a)busy, but want something on b)drunk or c)depressed, and in need of distraction. Over the last two years, I’d guess I’ve seen it about thirty times.
Some MST episodes might also qualify. God, what if my most often watched movie is Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders?
No freaking way. I definitely reread books I enjoy and have since I was a kid, but there is nothing I have read or seen more than a hundred times, or anywhere near that. I’ve definitely seen both The Wizard of Oz and Star Wars a shitload of times (we had them both on Beta when I was a kid!), but still nowhere near a hundred.
Although it is possible that when I was very young, I had my parents read books to me more than a hundred times. My dad tells the story of how one night, they couldn’t find Goodnight, Moon, so he just recited it to me from memory.
Please don’t stop rocking. Well, maybe you can rein it in just a little; 400 times is a bit much. Still, I have seen The Terminator roughly one jillion times (which is less than 400) and own it on DVD. That scene where Reese was convincing Conner that Terminator was not effing around (“Listen and understand…”) I have memorized and will recite it at random times. I get some serious flak for reasons unknown when I say that was one of my favorite movies. Really? The Terminator? Yes, The Terminator. What’s it to you?
Also, as a kid, I watched many of those Disney movies over and over. No telling how many times I’ve seen Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty or Aladdin. Maybe a hundred times combined, but I don’t think I’ve seen any one movie that many times. I think my final count for Cinderella is around 25.
If a book is worth reading, it’s worth re-reading. If I enjoyed a book the first time around, I’ll probably enjoy it even more the second time.
Granted, I usually don’t read things like Harry Potter, Janet Evanovich’s numbers series, Twilight, etc. I read books that are meant to be re-read. I feel cheated if I buy a book and it’s only worth one reading.
The Sound of Music was another one of those annual traditional broadcasts before the days of VCR’s and DVD’s. My family always got excited about it when it was scheduled and I’ve seen it a bunch of times but not nearly 100.
Also, all of the Christmas specials they played every year. I guess most of those don’t qualify as movies except maybe Rudolph…
Back when I had three babies in five years, we wore out 3 VCRs with Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin and Lion King. The movies would just finish, and the kids would say, “Again!”. Got so that I would leave the room to go do some laundry or something, just to keep my sanity.
When I was a freshman in high school, my brother and I had a friend our age living with us, and we all constantly had friends over. We put on The Stoned Age almost literally every single night. It was like a ritual. We often walked in and out of the room or passed out while it was still playing, though. So I’ve seen it probably over 200 times easily, but I’ve probably only sat down and watched it from beginning to end maybe 8 - 10 times. I’m completely pulling that 8 - 10 figure out of my ass, by the way; it never occurred to me to count. I’m pretty sure I could still recite the entire movie by heart.
I’ve seen Spaceballs some completely ridiculous number of times, with similar caveats.
Ditto the South Park movie.
Ditto Aladdin.
I almost never rewatch movies anymore, though. There are just too many movies I already don’t have time to watch to waste time re-watching ones I’ve already seen. Ditto with books except I was never really big on re-reading books anyway. The only books that immediately come to mind that I’ve read multiple times are The Hitchhiker’s Guide series and The Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan. I’m sure there are a couple others but it’s out of character for me to re-read a book.
Now, music . . . I shudder to think how many times I’ve listened to some of my favorite albums. Grassroots by 311 and 40oz to Freedom by Sublime probably top the list.
I’ve seen Collateral in excess of 400 times. Second would probably be Fight club with around a hundred viewings. After that… um… Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Miller’s Crossing both coming in around 30-50 times each.
I worked at a video store for 7 years, only two of those years we were forced to watch trailers instead of movies :(. So we watched Clue, Princess Bride, and Better off Dead at least twice a week for over 3 or 4 years. Never got old, we’d just be working and quoting them at each other.
I’ve seen parts of Trainspotting over 100 times, I like to fall asleep to the dialogue. I’ve lost count on The Godfather but it’s at least 60 or so times. Basically, if it’s on tv, I can’t resist turning to it.
There are movies I will gladly watch in their entirety any time they show up on cable–Kelly’s Heroes, A League of Their Own, A Few Good Men–but I doubt I’ve seen any of them as much as 20 times. Even holiday favorites like It’s a Wonderful Life or The Wizard of Oz get skipped some years.
And I can’t think of any book I’ve read more than three or four times.
There are tons of movies I’ve seen multiple times on video, but I saw the original Star Wars over 100 times in the theater. The closest since then was The Matrix, which I saw around 30 times in the theater. My most recent 5+ viewings were The Fall, which I saw 9 times in the theater and There Will Be Blood, which I saw 8 times in the theater. My 4 times for Kick-Ass is a bit paltry in comparison. I can see myself seeing Winter’s Bone in the theater over 5 times. I’ve already seen it twice and can’t wait to see it again.
No kidding, right? What makes movies and books different from music? Or food. It’s like saying, I had a steak once, and man, was it good. I don’t ever need to eat another steak though, since I already know how it tastes. And steaks aren’t even intellectually satisfying/fun/interesting like movies and books.
