Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: First film you saw at the cinema?

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Posted by Sally Ann Burgess (Member # 4746) on 09-12-2008, 11:10 PM:

I hope this is in the right forum...I was just remembering my first ever cinema movie that I can remember seeing-Abba the Movie in 1977, I was 4.
Does anyone else remember their first EVER cinema movie?

Posted by Matt Fields (Member # 3211) on 09-12-2008, 11:24 PM:

E.T.

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 09-13-2008, 12:23 AM:

For me it was Star Wars in 1977. I came out about 3 months after I turned 4. I don't actually remember the experience of watching the movie, but I have a faint recollection of standing in line more than a block from the theatre.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-13-2008, 12:51 AM:

Four yrs. of age seems to be the magic number. Geeze, I remember the first time I went to a drive-in, but I don't remember the bill. It wasn't my first movie, either, but it was my first drive-in and I was enthralled. We subsequently went to a lot of drive-ins. [Smile]

I DO, however, remember seeing the following at drive-ins, when I was 4 (in 1966):

Munster Go Home
The Navy vs. The Night Monsters
Fantastic Voyage
Three on a Couch

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 09-13-2008, 12:54 AM:

Star Wars: The Return on the Jedi, original release. Sadly, I don't remember it. I was probably one of those annoying brats that wouldn't sit still and quiet. First one I remember cleary was Back to the Future. I also saw E.T. in the theatres, but I'm thinking it was a re-release.

Posted by Jaime Tuzzio (Member # 4760) on 09-13-2008, 01:30 AM:

I was dragged kicking and screaming by my sisters to one of the many re-releases of Pinocchio while my parents went to see Ghostbusters. I still hate Pinocchio and still love Ghostbusters (which I didn't get to see until it hit the video rental stores). Next up was the re-release of E.T. (which I've also never liked). My first positive movie theatre experience was Back to the Future.

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 09-13-2008, 01:37 AM:

Damn right. High five!. LoL I still want a Delorean. I have a hot wheels sized Delorean time machine. [Big Grin]

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 09-13-2008, 02:38 AM:

Disney's 'Sword in the Stone', 1963. Managed to get taken up to the box after the show, and first ran a film projector that day. I remember being really impressed by the mercury rectifiers.

Posted by Anslem Rayburn (Member # 1267) on 09-13-2008, 02:44 AM:

In what probably explains much about me, the first films I can recall (though not vividly) are

Psycho II
Star Trek III
C.H.U.D.

I was about 5 or 6 during this period.

I remember throwing an entire bucket of popcorn in the air in terror during Psycho II.

I always thought it was Star Trek II, but it was a double feature with C.H.U.D. so it must have been III as they were released the same year. I don't remember anything about Star Trek, but have very clear memories of some scenes from C.H.U.D., even though I "watched" most of the movie with my eyes covered.

Psycho II was at the Plaza 5 theater in Yuma, and the double feature was at a drive-in here (maybe the Crest) located on 32nd Street.

Sadly, the drive-in location is now home to car lots, and has been for years. Thankfully, the Plaza 5 is closed. It was a converted store that was never taken care of, and was a really bad place to see a movie. I still miss it in that nostalgic sort of way, but it was so rundown and unloved by the end that it was sad to see it open in it's condition.

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 09-13-2008, 02:45 AM:

It would have been a reissue of Song Of The South, about 1956 or so, long before the P.C. police got to it. How I'd love to see a nice Blu-ray of this. Guess I'm stuck with my crappy bootleg!

Posted by Alan Plester (Member # 852) on 09-13-2008, 02:56 AM:

Waalt disney`s Bambi

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 09-13-2008, 03:21 AM:

1955 - "Lady and the Tramp" .. in glorious CinemaScope!

I was 4 .. sitting above the main floor in my home town's 900 seat theatre balcony with my parents catching a SAT matinee showing of this classic Disney.

Funny though, at that age, that I can still distinctly remember how wide that picture was and knew nothing of this widescreen process since used to seeing square images on our new "Monkey Wards" Airline TV set.

-Monte

Posted by Shane Cooper (Member # 2510) on 09-13-2008, 04:37 AM:

E.T. for me as well. Began my life long obsession with movies!

Posted by Don Furr (Member # 1469) on 09-13-2008, 06:43 AM:

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea....1954. I was 7.

Posted by David Zylstra (Member # 4230) on 09-13-2008, 07:08 AM:

Bambi . . . . . to continue the common theme I'm pretty sure I was 4 . . . .

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 09-13-2008, 07:58 AM:

The Wild One with Marlon Brando (1953)....Oklahoma in Todd AO 70mm (1955)....

Posted by Hillary Charles (Member # 769) on 09-13-2008, 08:24 AM:

Yup, pretty sure it was Bambi for me as well. But I do have a strong recollection of seeing "Hellfighters" (1968) in the theater. My dad is a big John Wayne fan, and I suppose there were no babysitters available.

I was 4 at the time, and that must have ignited my appreciation for Elmer Bernstein's music.

Posted by Jeff Stricker (Member # 224) on 09-13-2008, 08:52 AM:

Don, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was one of my earlier recollections. I was 7 in 1954, too. But I can remember going to films with my parents in the early 1950's. Some of the cartoons made an impression on me including Disney's "Willie The Operatic Whale". That cartoon scared the daylights out of me! [Eek!]

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 09-13-2008, 09:01 AM:

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

at age 2

This was back when Disney was still swearing they would never release it on [dlp]

[edit] The theater I saw this, and many other Disney re-releases at, burned down several years ago and wouldn't you know it, the former management of that theater runs one of the two I frequent now!

[ 09-16-2008, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: John Lasher ]

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 09-13-2008, 09:45 AM:

At the ripe old age of 3....Walt Disney's The Jungle Book

Steve

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 09-13-2008, 09:58 AM:

For me it was "Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm" at the Glen Theater. That began my obsession with the Cinerama join lines and why things bent when they whent through them... I was to find out what they actually were and why much later in life. I was probably about 5 at the time I saw it.

Mark

Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 09-13-2008, 10:06 AM:

Although I probably went to the movies before, KING KONG's re-release in Nyack, NY in 1952 was my first indelible movie memory. I was 7 and my grandparents let me go by myself. I don't think they had a clue. Changed the way I saw the world.

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 09-13-2008, 10:29 AM:

"Bambi" I was 4 or 5 and remember sitting in a balcony near a door, which must have been the booth. I have no idea which theater, but the long dormant Tivoli in DC has that kind of layout. It is also close to where I lived at the time.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-13-2008, 10:44 AM:

quote: Stephen Furley
I remember being really impressed by the mercury rectifiers.

That was a major attraction for me, too, in my early booth visits. [Smile]

Posted by Jennifer Pan (Member # 2035) on 09-13-2008, 10:49 AM:

Titanic (1997)

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 09-13-2008, 11:38 AM:

At the now-gone STARLITE DRIVE-IN in Asheville, NC:

Inside Daisy Clover

Horror of Dracula

I was about 4 at the time, also.

From then on, I went to the hard-top movies every saturday morning until around 1971, when I discovered cars, and a renewed interest in the drive-in theatres

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 09-13-2008, 11:55 AM:

My parents took my brother and I along to drive-in theaters when we were just infants. I didn't start actually paying attention to the movies until about Kindergarten age.

One of the earliest ones I remember: Fritz the Cat.
I'm not kidding.

My father was stationed at the Camp LeJune, North Carolina Marine Corps base. A couple drive-in theaters in the Jacksonville area showed a lot of objectionable content. When we first moved to Jacksonville we had to stay and wait for a base housing opening in a small hotel next door to a drive-in that showed porn. My father and one of his Marine buddies, artist John Hull, enjoyed drinking a few beers and watching the show from the hotel's back yard.

One of the first movies I remember watching from beginning to end was Westworld. I saw the movie at a little indoor theater in Burkburnett, TX. That must have been around 1974. I think I was in first grade at the time.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 09-13-2008, 12:14 PM:

This is Cinerama at the Capitol(?) but for sure in Chicago. (
all of the later ones in Cincinnati and Louisville.) Louis

Posted by Benny Walters (Member # 4894) on 09-13-2008, 12:55 PM:

Carebears: The Movie

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 09-13-2008, 01:59 PM:

"Monkeys Go Home", 1966, Walt Disney, Corral Drive-in, Lubbock, age 4.

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-13-2008, 06:58 PM:

I've got vivid memories of my first theatre experiences.

The first time I can remember was the 1986 re issue of Song of the South. It was at a Plitt somewhere in the Salt Lake City area. They had red velvet ropes, and the auditorium had yellow and red on the walls.

Other early movie theatre memories:
Land Before Time (Edwards San Marcos)
Honey I shrunk the Kids (Edwards San Marcos)
All Dogs go to Heaven (Edwards Vineyard Twin)
Big (Edwards Vineyard Twin)
Roger Rabbit (SLC area Mann on Redwood near the Letherby's)

I remember the Vineyard Twin had two front speakers suspended from the ceiling on the left and right of the screen.

Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 09-13-2008, 07:03 PM:

There seem to be somewhat of a generation gap here. I saw my first movie at the Campus Theatre in Berkeley Ca. I was six and the movie was "The Singing Fool" with Al Jolson.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 09-13-2008, 09:55 PM:

quote: Mike Olpin
It was at a Plitt somewhere in the Salt Lake City area.

Regency..up on the hill overlooking SLC, or any of the Trolleys - Carriage, North, Corners..?

quote: Mike Olpin
Roger Rabbit (SLC area Mann on Redwood near the Letherby's)

at MANN 6 at 5400 S. and Redwood Road. Opened in 1980 as one of the new MANN's in the SLC area. Had Drive-In platters with Indian Centurys hanging on the front of Xetron X-35 consoles .. still there, now a discount house ran by Red Carpet Cinemas.

-Monte

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 09-13-2008, 10:57 PM:

Good grief Sally! That was back in the '30s for me and these days I'm having trouble remembering last week. One of the earliest films I DO remember was "A Tree Grows In Brooklyn" with Peggy Ann Garner. I had a crush on her when I was a young teen. [Big Grin]

Posted by Mike Olpin (Member # 1115) on 09-13-2008, 11:02 PM:

Based on the pictures at Cinema Tour, I don't think it was any of the trolleys. I do remember driving by the trolley corners regularly since it was on the way to the doctors office where my Mom worked at the time. At that young age I thought their marquee was really strange looking.

The Plitt I remember seeing Song of the South at was a freestanding all brick building. We were living in West Jordan at the time. I'm sure it was a plitt because their sunburst logo was very identifiable.

Since the Mann on Redwood is still open, Someone needs to go take pictures! Quick, Hurry! [Big Grin]

(And please report on whether Leatherby's is still there!)

Posted by Wayne Keyser (Member # 2420) on 09-14-2008, 02:05 AM:

Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, at a movie palace in downtown Washington DC. I was 5 years old.

It fired my imagination ever since, I've never lost the sense of amazement and awe.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 09-14-2008, 02:16 AM:

"Deep Throat" when I was 19 confirmed my interest in film. [beer]

I really don't remember the 1st films I saw as a youngin'.

My parents used to take my sisters and me to the Walake drive-in on weekends for "family" films. When I got older, (about 10) I went to the Lake (a hardtop) theater in Walled Lake MI (long now demolished after converted to a bowling alley and then a church) with my buddy-pals and vividly remember being scared sh!tless from many films such as "Invaders From Mars", "Earth vs. The Flying Saucers", and many others.

I wouldn't trade those precious times for anything.

Posted by Christian Appelt (Member # 1067) on 09-14-2008, 09:57 AM:

I remember two films but cannot say which one came first:

Walt Disney's ROBIN HOOD (1973)

IL CORSARIO NERO (1971, aka BLACKIE THE PIRATE aka FREIBEUTER DER MEERE, dir. Lorenzo Gicca Palli)

an Italian pirate movie starring Terence Hill and Bud Spencer - not to be confused with IL CORSARIO NERO (1976) starring Mel Ferrer and Kabir Bedi.

Both seen at the Frankfurt MGM Theatre on the 64 ft. curved screen installed for single film Cinerama in 1968. Once the projectionist opened the masking to show me the original Ultra Panavision width - unfortunately I never saw an UP movie in that theatre. Theatre closed in 2003, was torn down this year.

The third film must have been a mid-seventies rerelease of FANTASIA in the 1969 (?) 4-track mag sound version.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 09-14-2008, 10:23 AM:

quote: Richard Fowler
The Wild One with Marlon Brando

quote: Phil Hill
"Earth vs. The Flying Saucers"

Ahh, that's why you guys are so cool! [Wink]

Posted by Dick Prather (Member # 1136) on 09-14-2008, 03:01 PM:

Sometime in 1951 my mom took me with some of her friends to the St. Johns theatre in Portland. We sat in the cry room.

The movie was "St. Benny the Dip". I didn't remember a thing about the movie but I kept asking her why the the bright light came out of one hole and later another when I looked to the back of the theater.

I was 5 years old and must have told myself to find out someday. That happened in high school 10 years later when I became a full time projectionist at my local theatre.

The light doesn't switch holes much anymore but it sure was magic when it did.
Dick

Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 09-14-2008, 03:55 PM:

Ghostbusters II for me, would have been three or just four. I only really remember the Bobby Brown soundtrack and the bit with the Statue of Liberty! Was at the then-Cannon Ealing, was pretty nasty back in the 80's until they refurbed. It shut last week, they let it turn into a pit again and we're supposedly getting a 12-screener on the same site.

The comments about noticing the light/projectors are interesting, sparked a memory of my next cinema visit which would have been The Little Mermaid. When Ursula turns massive for the final battle I was seriously scared and ended up turning around from the screen and remember seeing the light.

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 09-14-2008, 05:16 PM:

My earliest memory of a trip to the cinema is "Picnic at Hanging Rock" at the original Cremorne Orpheum and then "Jaws" @ Hoyts entertainment centre when I was about 5, ( I was the youngest by 5 years of 3 brothers ) I also remember the nightmares!
My strongest movie memories are of James Bond double features ect at the Drive In, playing in the playground under the screen at Frenches Forest.

Posted by Joshua Waaland (Member # 287) on 09-14-2008, 09:33 PM:

For me it was when I was probably close to ten years old. I went with my brother to see one of the Police Academy movies. My parents were ultra religious and legalistic and they believed that Hollywood stood for all that was wrong with the world. For a while we didn't even have a tv!

The theater was a three screen in the Sandusky mall and later the same company built an eight screen behind the mall. The funny thing is that I ended up as a projectionist at that eight screen just a few short years later after my parents divorced. Go figure. Must have been my rebelliousness coming through in a passive aggressive sort of way. [Wink]

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 09-14-2008, 09:59 PM:

My earliest movie memory is vaguely recalling my parents taking us to see one of the late-50s Hollywood biblical epics. Not sure now which one. Most like it was a roadshow engagement in LA or Hollywood, which would have been quite a long trek for us at the time. I remember being very impressed by the "show", if not the movie itself.

Posted by Robert Crabtree (Member # 4795) on 09-14-2008, 10:22 PM:

My earliest memories at a theatre are for Hook, and some Sesame Street movie that was part of old Cobb's summer kid shows.

But earliest CLEAR memory is The Lion King- my family had shown up well before the previous show got out, and I remember waiting for what seemed forever to get in for our matinee show.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 09-15-2008, 01:07 PM:

Alice in wonderland 1972 re-release

Posted by Richard P. May (Member # 3598) on 09-15-2008, 01:18 PM:

Probably SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS first time around. Seeing it many years later, when the Queen became the witch it struck a familiar chord in the back of my head, like "I've seen this somewhere".
Same thing with THE WIZARD OF OZ. When I saw it on a reissue, the witch melting was familiar.
I must have had a thing for witches!

RPM

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 09-16-2008, 05:16 AM:

Old people and their old movies. [Eek!]

Well, maybe not the first movie, but the oldest I've seen was one of the silent Wizard of Oz movies. We're talking long before the famous technicolor one that plays on turner stations every year. Incidentally, it's on the Ultimate edition of the said Technicolor one as one of the bonus features. Can't say I could watch it every day, but I enjoyed it. [thumbsup]

Posted by Tim Rectanus (Member # 3282) on 09-16-2008, 02:11 PM:

Not the first one I saw but Ghandi was the first movie in a theatre I stayed awake through the entire show. Pretty impressive for a 4 or 5 year old with ADD to make it through the over 3 hour screening. To this day, if it is on a movie channel when I am flipping through, I can't take my eyes off of it.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 09-16-2008, 07:52 PM:

Ben Kingsley rightfully deserved that award for "Gandhi" that year...