A horror movie called It’s Alive. I was 5 years old. My mom would rent horror movies without checking the ratings and I’d watch them. Even after this I always loved horror and never had nightmares or anything. But, I rewatched It’s Alive a few years ago and it is definitely not for kids…
But honestly the craziest thing my mom rented was The Toxic Avenger, when I was maybe 10. She never saw it herself it so still has no idea what she allowed me to watch at a young age!
Empire Strikes back. Han Solo being carbonised, Luke skywalker hanging from bottom of cloud city. Just wow. Probably earlier ones but that was stamped on my brain.
An American Tale is the first movie I remember watching in the movie theater. And I feel in love with it. But I don't think I've watched that movie in over 30 years. My kids and I will 100% be watching that this weekend.
Disney's Cinderella was re-released in theaters in 80s, I'm pretty sure that's the first one that formed a permanent memory. I'm not sure I've seen it from start to finish since then.
It might be a new hope, but I couldn't imagine when or where I saw it.
I still remember my dad renting a vcr to watch empire strikes back. It was well after the release of the Return of the Jedi, but it was the first time we used a VCR.
My family wasn't poor, but money was tight and so we turned it into a huge home theater experience with lots of special foods and unlimited soda. The last half was basically non-stop terror for me and I loved every minute of it.
I remember being more surprised that Luke lost his hand than Darth Vader being his father. My little kid brain just figured, yeah, that makes sense; not a lot of other potential dad figures lying around.
The first movie I can clearly remember watching in a movie theatre was Mio min Mio, with a very young Christian Bale, and I've never watched it again since then but now you got me curious about doing that:
Perhaps the Peter Cushing version of Dr Who and the Daleks when it was first shown on TV in the late '60s. It's pretty weak - toned down to get a 'U' cert - and not a patch on Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. from the following year. When I saw that one, I recall that I was drawing scenes from it for some time afterwards. I don't recall that from the first one though.
Something interesting I discovered recently, Bernard Cribbins was in Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. predating his role as Wilfred Mott by some 40 years.
The Empire Strikes Back, from the back seat of my parents' car, at a drive-in.
Apparently I kept asking "who's that? who's that?" whenever anyone new came on screen. To be fair, though, ① I hadn't seen Star Wars, and ② I was maybe three years old.
Gigi. Absolutely fucking horrified when I watched it as an adult. “Thank heavens for leetle girls.” Yikes. It’s all about a courtesan (high class prostitute) bringing up her daughter to also be a courtesan. Happy ending: she gets married!! Phew!
Actually my first movie might have been a Shirley Temple one. I remember her singing Good Ship Lollipop on a plane with a lot of grown men. At some point her mother got run over - they didn’t show the accident but she was carrying Shirley’s birthday cake, with a plane on it, and you saw the cake crashing to the ground and the plane smashed up. I haven’t seen it since so I have no idea what was going on.
I’m really old btw. All us kids used to go to the pictures every Saturday morning. First up were cartoons, then maybe a serial (Tarzan), then an interval, then the main feature.
Arizona Raiders, with Audy Murphy, probably at the age of 10. I thought it was the most sophisticated thing ever. I saw it again as an adult, and realized it's dreadful.
I remember a drive-in screening of Clint Eastwood’s Firefox and Megaforce. Megaforce seems to have found a cult audience in 2023, and I don’t know if I’ve ever heard Firefox mentioned.
I’ve avoided both as even though I have positive feels of that particular night, I doubt the films were good.
I’ve considered giving it a watch as I would have been around 8 that night, and I can imagine I was a bit young, especially if it was after my bedtime and following the high of Megaforce.
I think the first one I really remember is the Goonies. I remember thinking the Asian kid was cool because he had gadgets. And the skeletons were scary.
I watched it with my kids. The skeletons are still scary, and the depictions of fat kids, Asians, and people with disabilities wouldn't fly now. Also the casual fighting between the brothers was weird to watch.
Lady and the Tramp. Had to have been a re-release because I definitely wasn’t alive in the 50s. Don’t really think much because I don’t remember much except the spaghetti scene.
Some movies I saw so young I always knew them, like Star Wars ANH (I was a month old when it first released), but the first movie I remember watching was Cheech and Chong Up In Smoke.
Herbie Rides Again. I barely remember anything about it. My daughter and I watched The Love Bug when she was little. It was slow moving lol. I don't think I researched this one. But no doubt it was typical 1970s campy Disney kids movie fare.
I have a better memory of watching The Apple Dumpling Gang a year later. Now, Tim Conway and Don Knotts are comic geniuses, of course, but unless someone can vouch for this being some kind of cinematic masterpiece, I really don't see myself watching this one again lol.
I'm not a massive fan of that movie, never was. It's an ok movie in my books. In that regard, my opinion hasn't changed. But I appreciate better the Genie as a character and Robin Williams voice acting, which at the time I was so young I didn't even notice.
That was my favorite animated Disney movie and probably still is, just because there aren't a lot of representations of brown skin people in modern media and that was the first time I was like hey wait a second maybe I could be in a Disney movie somewhere.
Plus I was a huge fan of Robin Williams. Which makes it so that I can't watch any of his movies anymore because it makes me so sad, but at the time I basically idolized the man.
Cinderella
Before anyone makes the obvious joke, it was a re-release! I’m not that old :)
It’s still a beautiful movie and I now regularly watch it with my daughter. It has beautiful art, cute animals and catchy songs. 🎶bippity boppity boo🎶
And that stepmother has one of the evilest smirks I’ve ever seen. No magic or anything and still one of the best Disney villains.
I think the only downside is the bland prince. He has about the same personality as a boiled potato.
I don’t remember how old I was when I watched it, but I was young enough to still be allowed to run through the theater.
Thomas (the Tank Engine) and the Magical Railroad is the first movie I remember watching. I was a big Thomas-head as a wee kid lol and that claw train guy was terrifying to me
Ducktales Treasure of the Lost Lamp. And man its got powerful nostalgia, i had completely forgotten about it but rewatching it 30 years later i remembered all the dialogue.