Robin Hood. In two different versions! The 1938 Errol Flynn flick The Adventures of Robin Hood was probably my favorite. It was re-run a lot in the early-mid 1970’s TV and I watched it endlessly on a little black and white portable television and thus thought was a black and white film well into adulthood.
But also Disney’s 1973 Robin Hood. Widely considered a lesser Disney flick, but I ate it up. It was the first soundtrack I ever owned :D.
After that the Planet of the Apes franchise was way up there. I had some of the action figures, including the treehouse.
When I was a kid I loved Flight of the Navigator myself, though it’s been years since I’ve seen it. I’m not sure it would hold up to a current viewing based on what I remember of it.
For movies that still hold up today, anything with Spielberg/Lucas involved. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, E.T., and the Goonies all saw many viewings. I also loved the “Secret of Nimh”, and the Dark Crystal. Both of those seemed so dark and mysterious at the time. Ghostbusters still remains one of my favorite movies of all time.
I also, for some odd reason, absolutely loved Disney’s “Robin Hood”. The one from the 70’s where Robin and Marian were foxes and Little John was the bear from the Jungle Book. I was never a “Disney Kid” as for the most part I’ve never been all that interested in their movies, but for some reason this film really appealed to me.
Return of the Jedi, though I was a teenager by then.
I can’t recall a favourite when I was under ten. I didn’t go to see too many movies when I was that age, as I lived in a tiny fishing village in the middle of nowhere, and saw maybe three movies a year, and never got to see any twice.
I am at the threshold of the age of home video. My kids definitely equate “favorite movie” with “a movie I pick off the shelf and watch over and over again at will”. But to me while growing up, my “favorite movie” would have been something that dominated my imagination, like the Star Wars movies did… But I would only have seen it maybe once or twice in my life until that point, plus the occasional movie clip on a TV show about movies like the Oscars or somesuch (my parents not being the sort to take me to see the same movie again and again).
On the other hand, there were other movies I also liked but got to see many, many, many times, enough to recite the dialogue and recall key scenes vividly even unto today. Obvious examples would be The Sound of Music and The Wizard of Oz, which were televised every year on network TV, and most especially Jason and the Argonauts. I went to the same day camp every summer for something like 5 years running, and every time a scheduled outdoor activity was canceled they’d herd us into the auditorium of the high school building they were using over the summer and run a reel-to-reel projector for us onto a big screen. But all they had were a few reels of Popeye cartoons, and Jason and the Argonauts. I can still remember the skeletons coming out of the ground and the fight scene that followed. That was the only scene where the entire auditorium stopped farting around and watched the movie, often mimicking swordfighting in the seats (since we’d all see the movie up to 10 times a summer).
YouTube shows this clip which matches my recollection, which means it was the 1963 film adaptation.
My family didn’t get a VCR until at least 1985 (by which time I was 14), and mostly used it to tape TV shows rather than buy home movies.
Charlotte’s Web (Still like it, for different reasons nowadays)
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (I hate remakes, BTW, and yes, I actually did read the book. And the glass elevator sequel.)
Gus (A doper flicked me some shit on this one, once, but he’s banned now so, karma right? I mean how could a young football fan not like a movie about a field goal kicking mule?)
My daughter, Sophia, her favorite movies are War of the Worlds (the “Scary Monster Alien Robot Movie”, or SMARM for short) and The Lord of the Rings, especially any scene with Legolove.
I was 12 twelve years old in May of 1977. I ony saw Star Wars three times during its first run, but I knew kids from richer families who went to the theater every weekend that summer.
Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine, Charade, Wait Until Dark, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Attack of the Killer Shrews, Pollyanna, Lady and the Tramp, The Parent Trap, The Trouble With Angels, Peter Pan (Mary Martin), Vertigo, The Birds, and assorted zombie movies.
Didn’t have a VCR growing up, but there were yearly showings of movies on television that were as big a carrot held over us kids, regarding homework and being ‘good’, as any holiday was.
Sound of Music…Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang…Wizard of Oz…West Side Story…and my personal favorite, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. I do believe Gene Wilder was my first crush! <3
Oddly enough, as an adult, I confess I don’t care for musicals.
But the ones I grew up with, I still absolutely adore.
