# What's the earliest movie that you liked that you still like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817 "2014-01-03T17:43:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![peptastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@peptastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peptastic)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/41 "2014-01-04T03:19:31Z")
Labryinth is by far the earliest movie I can remember loving. I’ve seen it more than any other movie. It still holds up unlike Dark Crystal. The Princess Bride and The Wizard of Oz have also all held up. Those were my earliest childhood favourites. I wish I could say the Star Wars films but they put me to sleep as a kid. I didn’t appreciate them until I was older [I still fall asleep during the battle scenes]. My older siblings loved Star Wars more than I did. The 'Burbs is just as funny today as it was when I was a kid. Tom Hanks really nailed that scene where he says “I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen someone drive their trash to the curb and beat the hell out of it with a stick. I’ve never seen that before.” I’ve seen The 'Burbs almost as many times as Labryinth. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/42 "2014-01-04T04:18:35Z")
The two huge movies I loved in my childhood were Ghostbusters (seen on VHS, I was too young to see it in the theater) and Cinderella (I got the VHS for my birthday). I still absolutely love both movies (I hate Cinderella, she annoys me. I love the mice and the step-sisters\*). Ghostbusters never stops being funny, no matter how many times I see it. \*When I went to Disney for my 30th birthday, I got completely giddy when I saw Anastasia, Drizella, and Lady Tremaine heading to their little nook for signing autographs. I was first in a line filled with little kids and getting my picture taken with them was one of the best parts of my birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/43 "2014-01-04T04:28:45Z")
**Forbidden Planet.** I was maybe 5 years old. I didn’t know what “monsters from the id” were, but I knew they were scary. And Robby was - and still is - cool. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/44 "2014-01-04T04:46:39Z")
My first thought is Empire Strikes Back. I think was six at the time. Now, I know that I saw A New Hope first and I’m sure I must have liked it, but I’ll go back to ESB for this thread simply because that’s the first movie I actually remember watching. We had to take a nap because it was going to run late and we saw it on HBO - I still remember the little HBO lead-in they were playing at the time. I don’t specifically remember seeing ANH in the same way. A very close chronological runner-up would be Jason and the Argonauts. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/45 "2014-01-04T05:24:45Z")
I saw Flight of the Navigator as my first theater experience. Still love it today. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/46 "2014-01-04T08:00:57Z")
The movie that first popped into my head was _Bye-Bye Birdie!_, which I watched circa 1963 with my grandmother. (It shouldn’t qualify since I’ve only watched it about once again in the recent half-century 😃 but it’s a fun movie of which I still have fond memories.) In those days, movies had only a tiny fraction of the “sex” that today’s movies have, yet there were some movies (e.g. [_Blue Denim_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Denim)), that my grandmother took me to that might not have ben appropriate for a young boy. (Checking the date in Wikipedia, it looks like she took me to that film when I was 9 or 10. :dubious: ) Maybe _Bye-Bye Birdie!_ is a silly choice, but imagine the effect voluptuous Ann-Margret might have on a 13-year old boy! (Checking Wikipedia to see how early in her career that movie was, I see she made _State Fair_ the year before, another movie that impressed me.) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/47 "2014-01-04T08:10:07Z")
The Wizard of Oz. Hands down. An incredibly wonderful movie. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/48 "2014-01-04T08:23:40Z")
I barely remember going I was about 5. My sister took me to see Willie Wonka. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/49 "2014-01-04T08:26:03Z")
_The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari_ (1919) ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/50 "2014-01-04T08:31:19Z")
The earliest memories I have of watching good movies are James Bond films on the telly at Christmas. The one movie that came to mind first, though, was the original Death Race 2000 - I found the video and put it on out of curiosity, probably in the late 70s. I thought it was hilarious and bone-chilling at the same time, and have enjoyed black comedies and satire ever since. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/51 "2014-01-04T12:12:47Z")
Perhaps _Jaws_ (on TV, circa 1978, age eight) or _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ (in theater, same year). _Watership Down_ is a possibility (in theater, same year, I think) – I’m not sure how well it holds up, but I plan to rent it soon to find out. ---
**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/52 "2014-01-04T13:29:51Z")
Cinderella, cost 14 cents to see it at the theater across the street from Mom’s restaurant, ca 1950. Went three nights in a row. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/53 "2014-01-04T14:08:27Z")
The Pink Panther Strikes Again. I was about 8 when it came out. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and the other Harryhausen movies I saw on TV or at the theater. ---
**Author:** ![Roundabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dec6dc/32.png) [@Roundabout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roundabout)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/54 "2014-01-04T15:41:17Z")
Terminator 2: Judgement Day. One my earliest theater experiences, and still my favorite action film to this day. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/55 "2014-01-04T18:22:07Z")
As a 50’s kid I saw a metric bunch of movies, many of them already mentioned upthread. There are only two that I still enjoy watching every so often: \*King Kong (1933) \*and distant runner-up _Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)_ ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/56 "2014-01-04T20:41:26Z")
_Paint Your Wagon_. A tragi-comedic western and musical on a grand scale. It ran a solid 3 hours, the only movie I’d seen that actually had an intermission period. An astonishingly young Clint Eastwood, who did not really shine in this movie, and a whiskey-soaked Lee Marvin who did. A fabulous ending song - Lee Marvin’s ragged _basso profundo_ singing “[Wand’rin’ Star](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTymtAbaG08)”, AFAIK the only song he ever recorded, a short time later it shot to the top of the UK charts bumping The Beatles’ “Let it Be” to second place. Takes a pretty good one-hit wonder to do that. _Paint Your Wagon_ was filmed near where I grew up and I knew a couple of people who played a part in making it. One was a retired schoolteacher from my town who is clearly identifiable as an extra in the opening scenes. Another was a carpenter on the set; he explained to me how they built the boomtown mock-up and how they filmed the final scenes wherein the whole town collapses and is swallowed up by the earth. He also told me that Lee Marvin was not acting the role of a drunk. Said the man did not draw a sober breath during his time on the set. Truely a classic movie, it remains one of my all-time favorites. SS ---
**Author:** ![TaoPilot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TaoPilot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaoPilot)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/57 "2014-01-04T21:13:00Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Even when I saw Star Wars in 76’ (when I was 6) I just wasn’t that wowed by it. That’s too bad, since you got to see it before everybody else did. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/58 "2014-01-04T21:34:23Z")
Harvey (Jimmy Stewart) Destry Rides Again (Stewart again) Dodge City (Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland) John Wayne’s war movies from the 1940’s. Red River (J Wayne, Walter Brennan) There used to be a late night movie every Sat from 10:30 to 12:30 sponsored by a used car lot. I remember vividly wtching these movies with my mamaw. I still watch these movies once in awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/59 "2014-01-04T21:51:10Z")
SeldomSeen writes: \> . . . Paint Your Wagon . . . \> . . . An astonishingly young Clint Eastwood . . . Clint Eastwood sings “I Talk to the Trees” in that film: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nn8YubD01sk/hqdefault.jpg "Clint Eastwood. "I Talk To the Trees"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn8YubD01sk) We should have known that eventually he’s be talking to a chair, which was probably made from those trees: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/933hKyKNPFQ/hqdefault.jpg "Clint Eastwood RNC Speech (COMPLETE): Actor Assails Obama Through Empty Chair") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=933hKyKNPFQ) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2014, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817/60 "2014-01-04T21:56:59Z")
This is the earliest film I remember being enthusiastic about (and I still like it in some ways, despite its faults): _Invaders from Mars_ (1953, U.S., dir. William Cameron Menzies) [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GB-EFyUUXgM) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-earliest-movie-that-you-liked-that-you-still-like/677817.md?page=4)