What are the first movies you remember seeing as a child and how did they affect you?

Cafe Society
1

Born in 1962. Not a lot of money, so movie theaters weren’t a regular stop on the family train.
That said, a few things happened early on that I remember clearly.
We lived in Philly in an area called Mt. Airy. Close to Germantown and therefore close to what was at that time a revival house theater. VERY cheap tickets. The Bandbox was my first exposure to films such as “Duck Soup”, “Walkabout”, “Silent Running” and other second-run movies or older films. Mom was a pacifist and so did not take us to see action-oriented movies. Dad was on the road a lot so it was mostly my Mom and brother and I.

That said, here goes:

Walkabout. Pretty traumatizing when we saw it about a year after its release. Lyrical, cinematically stunning. It had a beautiful rhythm to it. Sounds, images, not a ton of dialogue. Ultimately sad. I never forgot it. Not sure Mom knew what we were all in for when we were taken, but we did not walk out. (Pun intended).

Song of the South. We were taken to see it in 1972. Disney re-released it for the 50th anniversary year of Disney Studios. Mom, a Quaker and immensely strong advocate of equality on all levels, took us to see it SO that we’d be horrified. I remember how entertaining AND disgusting it was. At age 10, I was disgusted because we were being taught that Slavery and the ongoing mistreatment of Africans on this continent was worthy of awareness. When I got to film school and started seeing other animated films with adult/ socially aware themes, I know I had this film in my back pocket. I went from 1981-1985. 16mm prints were unavailable. There were VHS copies to be seen, near as I remember. It was completely absent. We saw “Fritz The Cat” and “Yellow Submarine” and so on. But this? This was horrific to watch. Still would be, I suspect.

2001: A Space Odyssey. Fortunately for us, there was a movie theater less than 10 minutes from our house called The Cheltenham Theater. It was the ONLY theater in the greater Philadelphia area that saw the value to paying the considerable cost of installing the Cinerama curved screen necessary to show this film as intended. Most theaters showed it as a flat 35mm print. I was 6. My brother was 8 1/2. Dad’s entire professional world was writing science articles for the local newspaper. He spent half his time in Houston and half his time in Cocoa Beach, down the coast from the Cape. He knew this film would be well beyond us in some ways- and yet utterly accessible to us in other ways. Fair to say that my little mind was blown and it would be from 1968 till 1981 before I saw this film again on a screen. I was enthralled, I was filled with questions. I knew what “Star Trek” was but that existed on our t.v. sets, as did cheeseball sci-fi material from the 1950s. This was a game-changer in cinema. I remember so very little about it but I DO remember gasping at the million-year edit and thinking that the time-travel sequence near the end, the infamous slit-scan footage, was exciting and beautiful and made me feel like I was flying. In part this drove me to love of cinema and wanting to make movies. After 45 years as a working Cinematographer and Camera Operator, well…thanks Stanley.

Jason And The Argonauts and Creature From The Black Lagoon were both Bandbox Theater revivals. Mind-boggling to a small child. Skeletons with swords?? A huge lizard creature with the hots for a gal in a swimsuit? Utter fun. Also my first 3D movie experience.

Yellow Submarine. In revival a few years after general release, I probably saw it around the age of 8 or 9. Who knew from subversive social commentary OR drug references?? What grabbed me immediately was the Peter Max look of the thing. My Aunt and Uncle owned a Peter Max signed lithograph. That movie started and my little mind was blown by the identical looks. We had a radio, I recognized the music. Utter fun.

Bless The Beasts And Children. I think Mom knew enough about what was going to happen that she wanted us to see something with misfits, something about being mistreated and marginalized. A social commentary film. I never should have seen it at the age of 10 or 11 at the revival house. Pretty frightening movie, now that I think of it.

What are your childhood movie memories?

2

As soon as I read the title “Bless the Beasts and the Children” popped in my head.

My older sister dragged me to it. It was 2nd or 3rd run by then.

Scared the living crap out of me. Bad dreams for awhile.

I was watching a Nat’l Geographic thing about Buffalo the other day and got all antsy about it. Had to turn it off.

3

Born in 1977. I remember watching certain Disney movies as a kid that creeped me out. Apparently Dumbo, Pinnochio, and Alice in Wonderland are supposed to be kid friendly movies. So are non-Disney movies like Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. All I have to say about those is that adults (or at least the particular adults responsible for those movies) have bizarre ideas of what children might enjoy. Those movies all have freaky scenes, especially the psychedelic parts, that still freak me out to this day. I personally would likely have been a lot less freaked out by the normal adult movies of the day, say the stuff that was rated PG-13 or even a lot of the rated R stuff.

4

I was born in 1963 and we had a B&W TV until I was 13. Until about age 6, I thought only Disney animated movies came in color because that’s all I ever saw at the (usually drive-in) theater. I think the first live action movie I ever saw in color was Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang, which to this day is one of my favorite films. The first movie I probably watched on TV from start to finish was King Kong which fed into my life-long love of Japanese giant monster movies. When I was about 8, my parents decided that my innocence wasn’t worth the price of a babysitter and started taking me to grown-up films. The double bill of Westworld and Soylent Green is one of my fondest movie going memories.

5

Born 1975. The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was TRON (1982); we saw it at the Drive-In. I may have seen The Empire Strikes Back in the theater, but I’m not entirely sure. It was released in 1980, and I was only 5 years old.

6

The first movie I remember seeing was “Mad Monster Party,” and I don’t remember much of it from that viewing, but do recall my mom was miffed at my dad, concerned I’d be scared by it (I was around 5).

At some point my folks took me to see “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and I was terrified by the child snatchers.

My first drive-in movie was “The Love Bug,” for which we left Manhattan, and drove - in our white Beetle” - out to NJ to see it. Also the first time I recall having tater tots, as part of the dinner before we left.

My dad also took me and my brother to see “Papillon” for some reason, and we actually walked out as the violence was too much.

7

First movie I remember seeing in a theatre was Yellow Submarine. It made me think, correctly, that rock music and drugs were cool.

8

King Kong 1976 was the first movie I remember seeing, but it wasn’t in a traditional theatre. My family didn’t really do movie nights like that, but this was being shown in some kind of local community center as a family activity, so my dad took us to see it, which was kind of out of the ordinary for him.

The first movie I remember seeing in a proper movie theater was Star Wars. My aunt and uncle took us kids to see it, and of course, it blew me away. Instant R2-D2 fan, and still am. I was the youngest in the family, and really connected with R2. He was always the only one who knew what was going on, and why he was doing anything, but everyone else just ignored him.

9

The 1965 TV movie version of Cinderella, with 18 year old Leslie Ann Warren in the title role. I was four, maybe 5 and I fell in love with her. That imprinted on me “my type”, which lasts to this day.

10

Ahhh yes, thank you !! We were a Bug family. Dad had a 1958 Beetle. It was originally a nice snappy blue. By the time I was aware of the thing, the clearcoat was ENTIRELY worn away. I could press my index finger against the car and pull away a white dusty line. In 1968, Mom got a SuperBeetle in their first year of availability in the US. It was “bigger”. Ha, I say. Perhaps 18" bigger.

Anyway you betcha. The Love Bug was a hit with us !!

11

1,001 Dalmations.
It made me realize I wasn’t a dog person.

12

When I was a kid in the 50’s, movies were a family thing, parents and kids. I don’t remember many movies from that time, but I do remember seeing Forbidden Planet in the theater, and it ewas released a couple of years before anything else I remember.

The scene where the monster attacks the ship and kills the #2 officer was scary. And cool.

13

The first movie I recall seeing was ZORRO, THE GAY BLADE, which I later realized taught me a number of valuable lessons about the human condition.

No, really.

14

My first movie in a theater was at the Palms Theater (in the Palms area of L.A.), and it was Lady and the Tramp. I have a very clear memory of the opening shot – a pan from above down on the town at night. It was winter.

15

Born in 1959. Our family never did go out to the movies very often, so early childhood movie experiences were rare, few, and far between.

The earliest one I remember seeing was Mary Poppins. I remember liking the music but being very perplexed about the story being told. In retrospect, that makes sense, because it just barely has a plot structure, just enough of a coat-hanger plot to attach a bunch of musical numbers to it.

16

I’m a geezer, so my early movies were pretty much all westerns with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Lash LaRue and others, interspersed with Disney projects like Alice in Wonderland and Fantasia. Back then the matinees also had weekly serials which ended in cliffhangers.

Preferred toys were pretty much limited to six-shooters. I don’t know as I was affected in any way by early movies. It was just fun.

17

Yes, we were relatively poor, too and rarely went to an actual theater. The vast majority of the movies I saw as a kid were on TV. But the Meralta in Culver City was an old rundown theater (which used to be really fancy and special in the 20s with movie premieres done there) so it was cheap. If we collected enough coin from redeeming bottles, we’d go there occasionally.

18

It’s difficult to remember what movies I watched when I was so young. I remember seeing Clint Eastwood’s Firefox in a movie theater in San Antonio with my father in 1982 and we saw Disney’s Robin Hood that same year. I don’t think we got a VCR until we moved to Germany the following year, and we didn’t have cable, so any movie I might have seen at such a tender age would have been on regular television or in a theater.

And now I realize all roads lead to 1982. I remember there was a broadcast of Revenge of the Creature, sequel to The Creature from the Black Lagoon, that was broadcast in glorious 3-D. My parents had to pick up 3-D glasses for me at 7-11 I think.

I can’t vouch for the accuracy of any of this, only that these are the earliest movies I can remember seeing.

19

I saw some scenes from Time Bandits (1981) a few years back and couldn’t help but think, “This is a kid’s movie?” I loved that movie when I was a wee lad, especially the song by George Harrison in the closing credits. Personally I think it’s good for kids to see movies that are scary, even if characters die. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want tons of blood & guts, but I do think it’s a good, safe way for kids to learn how to deal with fear and anxieties.

20

The three movies I remember seeing when I was very young were:

The Love Bug, The Sound of Music, and Mary Poppins. I loved them all.

It’s not a coincidence that two of them are musicals. When I was a toddler (so the family story goes) I had already indicated that I loved music, so my parents decided to try taking me to some movie musicals. I’ve loved musicals to this day.