# The First Film You Remember Seeing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2008, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653 "2008-04-02T08:24:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bibby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@Bibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bibby)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/61 "2008-04-02T18:28:41Z")
I’m really amazed at the movies Dopers’ parents apparently allowed their very young children to see. _The Omega Man_ at 5? _Billy Jack_ at 6??? How could a kid that young even follow the story, much less realize what s/he is seeing isn’t real? What about the scenes that are disturbing even to adults? Wow. Bibby ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/62 "2008-04-02T18:31:22Z")
I think it was Mary Poppins. Maybe Sound of Music. It was around 1965… ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/63 "2008-04-02T18:33:38Z")
[QUOTE=Bibby] I’m really amazed at the movies Dopers’ parents apparently allowed their very young children to see. _The Omega Man_ at 5? _Billy Jack_ at 6??? How could a kid that young even follow the story, much less realize what s/he is seeing isn’t real? What about the scenes that are disturbing even to adults? Wow. Bibby [/QUOTE] Well, it wasn’t my parents - it was my stepbrother. It wouldn’t surprise me if he said we were going to _Herbie_ or something, then took me to the movie he wanted to see. OTOH, my little girl loves the Tom Cruise _War of the Worlds_, which isn’t really age appropriate. Same thing with _Titanic_ which we watched last week (but I did chapter-skip over the nude Kate Winslet and the doin’-it-in-the-car scenes). ---
**Author:** ![Walpurgis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Walpurgis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walpurgis)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/64 "2008-04-02T18:39:25Z")
[QUOTE=Bibby] I’m really amazed at the movies Dopers’ parents apparently allowed their very young children to see. _The Omega Man_ at 5? _Billy Jack_ at 6??? How could a kid that young even follow the story, much less realize what s/he is seeing isn’t real? What about the scenes that are disturbing even to adults? Wow. Bibby [/QUOTE] My parents had made a decision to let me see anything I wanted on TV (provided they were present and it wasn’t past bedtime), just like they let me read anything I could get my hands on. Let’s just say I wouldn’t be as liberal as a parent. It screwed me up pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/65 "2008-04-02T18:39:38Z")
Bambi at about age 4. They killed Bambi’s dad and I started crying. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/66 "2008-04-02T18:41:02Z")
> [@](#): > > They killed Bambi’s dad and I started crying. They killed Bambi’s mom. Then he goes off with his Dad, The Great Prince of the Forest. They even made an entire for-home video of that time, **Bambi II** , a few years ago, with Captain Picard as his dad. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/67 "2008-04-02T19:18:40Z")
[QUOTE=Bibby] I’m really amazed at the movies Dopers’ parents apparently allowed their very young children to see. _The Omega Man_ at 5? _Billy Jack_ at 6??? How could a kid that young even follow the story, much less realize what s/he is seeing isn’t real? What about the scenes that are disturbing even to adults? Wow. Bibby [/QUOTE] My parents took me to _One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest_ at 11. Not only did I love it, but I was the envy of my classmates for having gotten to see an R-rated movie. Not sure exactly why they took me–they weren’t particularly liberal, though they did let me read pretty much whatever I wanted (and watch, too, but only if it wasn’t on past bedtime. Mom was a stickler for bedtime). ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/68 "2008-04-02T19:40:38Z")
I seem to remember **The Absent Minded Professor** , though it could’ve been one of the old Disney films already mentioned. …and **JohnT**? I think there’s probably redress in law. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/69 "2008-04-02T19:44:06Z")
The one I recall for sure seeing in the theater (and LOVING it): **Home Alone** 1990, when I was 5 years old. God, I still love that movie and its sequel to this day. Edited to add Bolding to the title ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/70 "2008-04-02T19:44:30Z")
It was **The Jungle Book** for me, too. I think **Munster Go Home** was the first movie I saw at a drive-in. We were staying with my grandmother in her tiny hometown and my Dad was bored out of his skull, so he piled us into the car in our PJ’s and drove to the first town big enough to have a drive-in theater. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/71 "2008-04-02T19:46:27Z")
I’m surprised I still remember this… [One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing](http://imdb.com/title/tt0075016/) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/72 "2008-04-02T19:51:00Z")
_Batman Returns_ when I was about six or seven. I think I’d seen movies in theatres before, but I honestly can’t remember it. No, wait. I’m pretty sure I remember seeing _Milo and Otis_ before that. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/73 "2008-04-02T20:07:59Z")
Bambi, apparently when I was eleven months old. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure if I saw Bambi, Peter Pan, or Star Wars first. I had to check, but I do remember seeing it in the theater, and that’s the only showing that matches. … this explains much mental scarring. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/74 "2008-04-03T04:07:16Z")
[QUOTE=Baker] The first film I remember seeing was in the theater, in the ancient days before videos. It was a Disney live action film called _Toby Tyler_, about a boy who ran away to join the circus. [/QUOTE] Are you me? I was going to post exactly this! January 1960. I had turned 4 three months earlier. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/75 "2008-04-03T04:40:23Z")
I can’t pinpoint the first movie I saw at a drive-in or a theater but one of my earliest theatrical experiences was being taken by my parents to see **2001: A Space Odyssey** when it came out in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/76 "2008-04-03T04:57:22Z")
In 1971 my parents could have taken me to see either Billy Jack, A Clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry, or the French Connection as my first movie. Instead, I was treated to Bedknobs and Broomsticks, an Angela Lansbury flick. Freakin’ Angela Lansbury, that movie sucked. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/77 "2008-04-03T05:33:05Z")
I think it must have been **Swiss Family Robinson**. And then sometime in the next few months we went to see **The Absent Minded Professor**. That had to be in the summer, as we went for my brother’s birthday. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/78 "2008-04-03T06:42:41Z")
Let’s see. I don’t know which was first, but I can remember **Escape To Witch Mountain** , **Benji** , **Bambi** (a re-release), and **Herbie Rides Again**. Movies were always released in New Zealand about 8 months to as much as a year after the US, and not necessarily in the same order of release, so this will be 1975 I’m remembering, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/79 "2008-04-03T06:48:09Z")
E.T. It was at a drive-in (hey, that dates me as well), so it may have been well past its Summer `82 release date. I turned 5 that year. ---
**Author:** ![chocolatefrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/41988e/32.png) [@chocolatefrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chocolatefrog)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653/80 "2008-04-03T07:08:20Z")
Sadly, I think the first film I remember seeing in the theatre was The Lion King. I might have seen some before that but my memory isn’t too good. Otherwise it might have been Snow White, or one of a slew of old James Bond flicks which my dad used to watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-film-you-remember-seeing/443653.md?page=5)