The Exorcist when I was probably 15. Somebody asked me if I got carded and I didn’t know what that meant.
Blazing Saddles when I was 12.
I thought it was The Graduate, until I just looked it up and was surprised to find that it was rated PG.
So then I thought it had to be Midnight Cowboy, but that was rated X when I saw it right after it was released. It was later re-rated to an R rating, however.
So, as others have mentioned, it was Summer of '42.
National Lampoon’s Animal House when I was 12, at the house of a neighbor kid who had cable.
In a theatre: 10. I was 13, same neighbor kid who was then 16 bought the tickets.
Buying my own ticket at the box office: Excalibur. I was 15.
First one in the theater was Die Hard when I was 12 or 13. Somewhere around that time, I’m pretty sure I saw some slasher movies (e.e. Friday the Thirteenth part n) in friends’ basements, but I couldn’t say what happened first.
My first was Under Siege. I would have been about 15, and I went with a cousin of mine who was one year older (and neither of us remotely looked 18). Nobody raised any fuss, neither among our parents nor at the theater (though I wasn’t surprised that his mom didn’t raise a fuss; she was pretty free-range). I was expecting that when we got back, I was going to get a Talk from my mom about what happened in the movie, and why that resulted in it getting the rating it did, and in what ways real life is similar to and different from the movie, and so on. But all I actually got was a “How was the movie?” and a polite nod.
Some kung-fu flick, early 1970s. We were at a drive-in theater. Somehow, my mother arranged for us to make a trip to the popcorn stand during the nude scene, so we mostly missed it.
Nightmare on Elm Street. I think.
Looking through the films of the time, I think the first R rated one I saw in the theaters was The French Connection (1971). I saw some ones that were released earlier (like Carnal Knowledge ans A Clockwork Orange), but not until some time later.
You went your entire childhood without seeing one?
Fifth grade. What do you say to a naked lady?
I should rent it and watch it again.
I was going to say Ådalen 31 (1969).
But it was rated X (and apparently never re-rated). What the bleep? There were some kids “exploring” stuff but very mild.
Now, I’m not so sure. Possibly MASH* (1970).
Angels Hard As They Come, a 1971 bikesploitation film. It had gratuitous nudity. :eek: The neighbors took me along to a drive-in theater double feature. But I don’t remember what the other one was. Don’t know if my parents knew it was R, because I was about 10-13* at the time.
*I don’t think we went in 1971. I think it was added as the B-movie in the double feature. Could have been as late as 1975 when it got to our theater.
I really can’t say. R ratings started in 1968 restricting those under 16. I was already 19. I’m pretty sure I movies that would have been R-rated before then if they’d had the ratings system. They were much tighter in applying the ratings then. I know I saw The Graduate when it came out in 1967. That certainly would have been R rated, at least.
I remember watching Helter Skelter at home, on my little B&W television some time before I was 12. I also remember not sleeping much that night.
When I was 13, a bunch of girls and I went to see Halloween III (in 3-D!) at the theater. Another night of no sleep.
I kind of gave up scary movies for a little bit.
I think it was Revenge of the Nerds. I was 11 and my sister 13 and I remember my mom just dropped us off at the theater to see it. I have no idea how we got in the door but I guess the theater just didn’t really care. No idea if my mom knew what the movie contained or was just feeling jaded that evening.
“Clockwork Orange” freshman year of college. (Also first time seeing a movie really stoned.)
Mine was Hawaii (1966). While technically not rated, I had just hit puberty and the sight of topless Hawaiian girls doing the hula in one brief scene is all that remains in my memory.
This might have been mine. Like I said I don’t remember with any certainty which movie was the first, but I do remember watching National Lampoon’s Vacation on video at a friend’s house.
I’m not counting seeing, but not hearing, movies at the drive-in near the church where my scout troop met. Often I didn’t get picked up until after everyone else had left, so I could sometimes see a few nekkid women while I waited. First one I actually went to the theater to see was Animal House, a couple of months before I turned 14. I was 5’9" or so, with facial hair, so nobody questioned me.