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

Cafe Society
61

Born in 1970.

The earliest movie I have a memory of going to see is Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings. But here’s the thing - that movie came out in 1978 and I know for certain I was going to movies, at the theater, on the regular well before that. I grew up in an urban area with plenty of movie theaters, and at the time they had kids’ matinees for a trivial price (like 25 cents or something). I know Mom took me to them as often as she could. I have vague memories of going to see The Jungle Book with an uncle while I was young enough to still have to hold an adult’s hand. And of course, ours was one of the first families to get this new thing called HBO, way back in the day, and I certainly watched movies at home.

62

This is why I hang out here. I always feel so young. I have no idea what half of these films are.

63

That early I only remember the scars, like Mad Marge in Pee Wee Herman. No way was that my first film, but it’s my first easily recalled memory of watching a film.

Maybe some anxiety over Mickey as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice or sorrow for Bambi.

64

Why would anyone think that a movie directed by Terrry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys) was a kids’ movie?

65

It was released before both Brazil and Twelve Monkeys. It was marketed as a family movie I think. I’m pretty sure it was in the family section of the local video store.

66

Born in 1955. Some of the first movies I remember seeing as a child are:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on television. I must have been three or four, and the Evil Queen scared the hell out of me!

The Wizard of Oz, also on TV. Probably when I was six. It was the Flying Monkeys that terrified me that time.

Some Like It Hot. My mother dragged me with her to see it when I was four because she hated going to the movies alone. I thought the cross-dressing was hilarious, but the best part was when Marilyn Monroe gave me an incredible stiffy. I was afraid my mother would notice me squirming uncomfortably in my seat.

The Dam Busters, when I was maybe four. I wondered why the hell someone would take a “torch” into a Lancaster bomber. What was he gonna do, cut a hole in it? (I know now, of course, that “torch” is what Brits call a flashlight.)

The Apartment, with my dad when I was five or six. Most of it went over my head, but I liked how Jack Lemmon strained his spaghetti with a tennis racket.

A Hundred and One Dalmatians when I was five. My dad took me to see it five nights in a row the last week of December, 1960, we both liked it that much. One of my most cherished childhood memories.

Taras Bulba, with my dad during Christmas break when I was six or seven. I didn’t know what the hell a “Cossack” was, but I dug how they threw wild parties and fought the Poles. I liked Christine Kaufman’s bountiful bustline, too.

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, in 1960 or ‘61. This was during my Sea Hunt period, so I had lots of scuba gear I could use to pretend I was attaching warheads to nuclear missiles and other such nonsense underwater. I never realized until much later how hokey the whole movie was, probably because I fixated too much on Barbara Eden in a naval uniform.

The Sad Sack, with my older brother in 1960 or ‘61. Mike was a huge Jerry Lewis fan, and I must have seen every movie he made up to his break with Dean Martin. We also saw every Ma & Pa Kettle and Francis, The Talking Mule movie together at Saturday matinees.

The Time Machine in 1960. I left the cinema terrified that the world was going to end in a nuclear holocaust in another six years.

67

I was born just on the edge of the home video explosion, which meant I watched the same movies over and over throughout my childhood, making it hard to pinpoint which are the earliest memories.

I know, from my parents, that I saw Star Wars in the theaters when I was two, and that was the first movie I ever saw. Likewise, I know my dad took me to see Alien in the theaters, when I would have been ~4 or so. Those two films, in particular, I’ve effectively “always” seen - I don’t really have any memories of a time before I’d seen them.

As you may have guessed by now, my parents weren’t strict about enforcing age ratings on the movies I saw. We got a VCR pretty soon after they became affordable to a middle class family, so early 80s I’d guess, and watched just a ton of films that I really probably shouldn’t have been watching. My friends and I would rent Friday the 13th movies, and keep lists of how many teenagers got murdered. I got into Troma films before I was a teenager. Stuff like that. I remember going to my uncles for Thanksgiving, and finding a tape at the local video store that was just a super-cut of the goriest killings from a bunch of different movies, and watching that and recognizing a good half of the scenes from films I’d already watched.

Why would someone think a PG rated fantasy movie wouldn’t be for kids?

68

Born in 1963.

When I was little, there was a theater nearby that showed kid’s movies every Saturday afternoon; they must have been cheap because we went a lot. In those days, mom could just drop us off and be free of the kids for a couple of hours. I honestly don’t recall any problems with a big auditorium full of unattented kiddos. I think we all knew that if we got in trouble at the theater, we’d be in real trouble at home.

The fare was varied: live-action Disney films (which all seemed to star Kurt Russell), nature documentaries, old Jerry Lewis movies, and the like.

I don’t know that any of the movies themselves had much of a lasting impact. But I think normalizing the experience of going to the movies at such a young age was ultimately an important part of my childhood which helped shape me in years to come.

69

I was also born in 1963 and I and a neighbor girl (also six-years-old) were dropped off at the Fox Theater in Fullerton, CA unattended every Saturday during the summer. The films I remember seeing that summer were Voyage to the Seventh Planet, Who’s Minding the Mint, The Family Jewels (Jerry Lewis), and the snooze fest, Gidget Goes to Rome.

70

Yessss! I saw it on TV when I was younger than ten, and it scared the crap out of me. I went to a Baptist school and totally believed in hell and the Devil. The scariest part to me was a psychedelic moment where the Devil’s features crawled all around his face.

71

GLAD to be of service !!! :laughing:

72

Voyage to the Seventh Planet

Sorry, I think that’s Journey to the Seventh Planet, a true classic indeed with hot Swedish babes in space!

73

Oh, I just remembered another one. I was very young when The Birds was first shown on television, and it might have been one of the first “grown-up” movies I was allowed to stay up and see. I don’t know if my parents thought it was just a film about little birdies or something, but they let me watch it.

It scared the ever-lovin’ pee out of me. The sight of that guy with his eyes picked out traumatized me. Funnily enough, it didn’t make me afraid of birds.

74

It made me afraid of gas stations.

75

I once found “Midnight Cowboy” in the “Westerns” section at Blockbuster, undoubtedly put there by some clueless two-dollar-an-hour pimply-faced teenage employee.

76

And phone booths.

77

Earliest film I can remember was Jaws in 1975 at the drive-in. I would have been 6. So glad times were different then. I couldn’t imagine taking a 6 year old these days. I’m pretty sure my first exposure to monsters and horror was the Hilarious House of Frightenstein. I literally went from Mickey Mouse to Dracula and Frankenstein in my kindergarten year. I was primed for Jaws. Surprisingly, I didn’t have any Jaws nightmares and was hooked.

78

I also remember being freaked out (to a lesser degree) by the Nelvana cartoon Romie-O and Julie-8.

79

Like you, we got dropped off at the local theater. I’d gone to movies with my dad, but my mom didn’t have time for such nonsense. I still remember the first time a friend and I got dropped off!* We felt so mature, walking in with a dollar for two tickets and popcorn.

*Hey, Bill from Platteville! Remember Emil and the Detectives?

Seeing any movie by ourselves felt exciting, but I rewatched it, and it’s slow (but that’s true of so much mid-60s fare)…

80

Born 1955. Swiss Family Robinson, wherein I learned that if you look around, you will find what you need to do damn near everything for yourself. Turned out to be mostly true….