Your First Motion Picture Seen

[Stuball48]

Growing up on a rural farm in middle Tennessee, I didn't see many movies. But the small town nearest me, Erin, had a small theater. My older brother who was married and had two children knew about such "worldly" things and informed me they were going to see a movie after church on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go. Of course I did so I asked momma and daddy at the Sunday dinner table and they said "yes." Daddy gave me a half dollar coin and said I could have a quarter and to bring a quarter back to him after the show. I thought I was rich because it only cost a dime to get in. We went and I was 8 years old and I cried at the end of "Old Yeller" in 1957.

 

[GGJaguar]

"Old Yeller" in 1957.

Funny, my first movie was Old Yeller, too! My godmother took me to see it, but it was a few years later than when you saw it. I don't remember crying, though.

 

[Midnight Toker]

I’m not 100% if it was my first as there may have been one earlier I don’t remember, but my oldest brother would sneak me and my middle brother onto the US military base in Heidelberg Germany to their monthly movie night in a small auditorium. It was The Beatles’ Hard Day’s Night. I think I was maybe 6 yrs old. (This was in the very early 70’s)

 

[RBSinTo]

My first motion picture was the Disney 1940 classic "Fantasia" which my father took me to see in the early 1950's when I was five or six.
To this day I still watch it, and all really well done animated films whenever I can.
RBSinTo

 

[davismanLV]

Wow, this made me really think back. I think my actual first was Mutiny on the Bounty which came out in 1962, so I was 9. My mom had a knitting club meeting at our house and my dad and I had to disappear for a while. Odd choice for a kid, but it was impressive!! I enjoyed it. The first movie I saw without an adult was same as @Midnight Toker , A Hard Day's Night!! Went with my best friend Tony Randall. My mom dropped us off at the theater and picked us up after. That came out in 1964, so I was about 11. Those two specifically stick in my mind.

 

[lungimsam]

I can’t remember my first movie but it was probably either a cartoon in a local theater or one of my grandfather’s reel to reel cartoons he had at his house.

 

[spoox]

Not sure of the first film inside a theater, but the first drive-in picture I saw was THE NAKED JUNGLE. I think I was around 5. Spurred a lifelong interest in ants...

 

[Brad Little]

Probably a Disney cartoon, but don't remember which one. The first live action film was "Them!" Really strange, my father took me, even though he did not like Sci-Fi or monster movies, or even movies in general! This was when it was released, so probably '54, I was six. I was in high school before we went to another movie, then I remember going to see "To Hell and Back" and "The Longest Day," both movies right in his wheel house! In between there were a few family trips to the Drive-in, but nothing memorable.

 

[GAD]

I don’t remember. Probably some Disney thing. I had seen every ‘50s and ‘60s sci movie on TV by the time I was 10, though. I loved Them and every movie like it. The only movie that ever scared me was The Blob.

I do remember that my dad would take me with him to go to the movies. I saw Death Wish (1974) with him at the age of 9 and I haven’t been right since. Saw the next couple of sequels with him, too. He and I would go see movies my mother had no interest in seeing.

Other movies I remember seeing with him:

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Actually my mother was there for that one because I remember the non-stop use of the f-word and her leaning over and whispering “Do you know what that word means?”

Star Wars (1977)
Invasion of the body snatchers (1978)
Dressed to Kill (1980)

I love movies and my daughter (now 24) and I go to the movies whenever something interesting is out.

 

[walrus]

No clue. +1 for probably a Disney movie...

 

[spoox]

Probably a Disney cartoon, but don't remember which one. The first live action film was "Them!"

ANTS!

 

[geoguy]

Not sure if it was the first movie I ever saw, but I do recall my family seeing a film adaptation of Jules Verne's book 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (probably in the early '60s).

At a drive-in.

In a torrential downpour.

 

[mushroom]

First non TV movie was Star Wars.

First TV movie could have been any of the 60’s / 70’s westerns.

 

[Midnight Toker]

I don’t remember. Probably some Disney thing. I had seen every ‘50s and ‘60s sci movie on TV by the time I was 10, though. I loved Them and every movie like it. The only movie that ever scared me was The Blob.

I do remember that my dad would take me with him to go to the movies. I saw Death Wish (1974) with him at the age of 9 and I haven’t been right since. Saw the next couple of sequels with him, too. He and I would go see movies my mother had no interest in seeing.

Other movies I remember seeing with him:

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Actually my mother was there for that one because I remember the non-stop use of the f-word and her leaning over and whispering “Do you know what that word means?”

Star Wars (1977)
Invasion of the body snatchers (1978)
Dressed to Kill (1980)

I love movies and my daughter (now 24) and I go to the movies whenever something interesting is out.

Nice!
At my dad’s funeral, I got up to tell a few stories about the old man. One was back when my dad would get my middle brother and I ready to go to church. Then my brother and I would both see the church pass us by as my dad took us straight to the Sunday matinee of Smokey and the Bandit (unbeknownst to my mother!) He did that for 4-5 weeks in a row! He was a major Gleason fan and felt the teachings of Buford T Justice were far more important than what our sleepy pastor could ever provide.

 

[davidbeinct]

I’m not sure what my first movie was, probably something like Herbie the Love Bug. My first “grown up” movie was American Graffiti, and my aunt went and watched it first before me and my cousins got the okay to go.

 

[gjmalcyon]

I remember falling asleep in the back of the station wagon at the drive-in movie near our house in Rancho Cordova, CA. That was date night for my folks raising 4 very young children. This was the early '60's and cannot remember any of the movies. First movie in a theater I recall was The Sound Of Music during its initial run in '65. The 'rents thought we should see it, and took the whole family, a brave undertaking when you're herding 4 kids ranging in age from 8 to 4.

 

[Minnesota Flats]

Disney's "Snow White" (1937) in 1952.

We were living in Denver at the time. We had a 1949 Ford, but for some reason the whole family rode the bus to the movie theater that evening. There was a loud, nasty drunk sitting in the rearmost seat when we rode the bus home after the movie. He was cursing and spitting tobacco juice onto the floor. That impressed 3-year-old me as much as anything in the movie.

 

[DougH]

1933 KING KONG with Fay Wray....Great...didn't sleep for a week. Probably saw it around '58

 

[Westerly Wood]

The earlies one I remember, which does not necessarily mean the first motion picture show I saw, is Grease. 1978. I would have been 11.
But I am sure my folks took me to others before this, like I remember a Drive In movie with my folks when I was really little, but I have no clue what they were watching. I was eating popcorn.

 

[GardMan]

The first movie I vaguely recall seeing was Cinderfella with Jerry Lewis. It came out in '60, so I would have been about 5 yo when my parents took us to see it. After that, Flipper in '63 and Island of the Blue Dolphin in '64. I'm pretty sure Cinderfella was in a Theater... the other two likely at a drive-in.