Your First Motion Picture Seen

[GAD]

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.

That is an awesome story! I love Smokey and the Bandit.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Bambi. Another tear-jerker.

The second was Darby O'Gill and the Little People. What a great name for a band! The banshee scared the sweet bejeezus out of me.

 

[bobouz]

I can’t recall the first, but an early one that sticks in my mind was the original ‘50s movie, Invaders From Mars. Absolutely scared the living hell out of me. I can still conger up visions of the all-controlling brain-on-a-plate in a nano second!

 

[MartyG]

The movie memory that remains most vivid is the one I didn't get to see. I was six in 1963 when it came to town. I'm one of five kids, and my parents needed a night out, so in came a sitter. As they left, my dad said he would take us to see Son of Flubber the next day if they got a good report from the sitter. When they got home, the sitter gave it to them straight and there would be no movie the next day. I honestly can't think of what we might have done other than being a bunch of sugared-up kids with no parents around. I was horrified when I realized that movie was leaving town after tomorrow, and would never come back. No amount of apologies, promises or begging would change his mind. To this day I have never seen it, and I plan to keep it that way on principle.

Marty

 

[Stuball48]

The movie memory that remains most vivid is the one I didn't get to see. I was six in 1963 when it came to town. I'm one of five kids, and my parents needed a night out, so in came a sitter. As they left, my dad said he would take us to see Son of Flubber the next day if they got a good report from the sitter. When they got home, the sitter gave it to them straight and there would be no movie the next day. I honestly can't think of what we might have done other than being a bunch of sugared-up kids with no parents around. I was horrified when I realized that movie was leaving town after tomorrow, and would never come back. No amount of apologies, promises or begging would change his mind. To this day I have never seen it, and I plan to keep it that way on principle.

Marty

Great story and life lesson.

 

[beecee]

With six kids in the early 60's drive ins were the thing.

Saw Cleopatra and some version of King Kong were he swims away at the end.

First movie I saw wthout the 'rents was Mark of the Devil.

Gory for the time...pretty bad from what I remember....the Poseidon Adventure was next Haven't seen too many since. I fall asleep in theaters but I was pretty disturbed by the Shelly Winter swim scene

 

[MLBob]

Think it might have been in the mid to late 50's when the1930's version of "KING KONG" aired on WOR's (NYC) great old show: Million Dollar Movie. Anyone who grew up in NY remember watching movies on Million Dollar Movie?
I also remember loading up on candy from the corner store before going to 50-cent Saturday matinees with a gang of kids from the neighborhood at both the Marine and the Brook theaters, The Marine was on on Flatlands Ave. & The Brook right around the corner on Flatbush.

 

[ReevesRd]

This post has brought back a lot of memories. If I remember correctly, my first motion picture would have been either Old Yeller or Songs of the South. My Dad took me to several movies as a boy. Herbie The Love Bug, Escape from Witch Mountain, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and others.

Thanks for posting this, Shelby

 

[GAD]

With six kids in the early 60's drive ins were the thing.

Oh! Mentioning drive-ins spurred a memory of seeing Conquest of the Battle of the Apes in a drive-in, so that's 1972 and I would have been eight.

I'm sure I saw the previous ones, but I don't remember the experience.

 

[GGJaguar]

drive ins were the thing.

Ah yes. My first drive-in movie was "Animal House".

 

[WaltW]

The first movie I remember seeing by myself was the American version of the original Godzilla with Raymond Burr narrating. There was an old movie theater about 8 blocks from my house and it was $.25 to get in and the candy was another $.05. It was 1958 and I was five.
The first movie that I remember seen was Bambi. My sister took me and it was the same movie theater, she is more than nine years older than me. I remember crying when Bambi's mother got shot by a hunter and I also remember laughing a lot at Thumper Bambi's little rabbit friend.

 

[tildeslash]

Came to the USA from India at age 13 in 1978. Only movie concept was Bollywood musicals. Never seen an American Movie in theaters or an actual Hollywood movie. So I wanted to go see a movie by myself one day and back then a 13 year old can just do that. The billboard outside the theater had two choices. Heaven Can Wait and Grease. I opted for Grease because the poster had Sandy (Olivia Newton-John) and being a 13 year old, I was mesmerized. Greatest movie of all time and still today I love the music and story. I was like American Movies are just like Bollywood Musicals, this is a great country. Can't wait to see the next one.

Then next month I saw Star Wars and I was disappointed. No musical numbers. I am sure Princess Leia can sing. Darth Vader no but I was waiting for a musical number to break out with the Storm Troopers doing some dancing and singing while shooting. Oh well.

 

[jp]

I can't remember the first, I had seen, since as kids we consumed massive amounts of tube time. I do clearly remember my folks taking me and my two siblings to see Mary Poppins at the local drive-in. We were dressed in our pajamas in the family station wagon, a Ford Country Squire edition with the fancy faux wood paneling. We had pillows and blankets and were allowed to lay on the hood to watch. The drive-in also had a playground on the lawn right in front of the screen.

I also distinctly remember my father rustling us together to see the premiere of Star Wars. He prefaced the trip saying, "People are saying this is one of the greatest movies of all time."

 

[wileypickett]

The first flick I can recall seeing is *Son of Paleface* with Bob Hope. My dad took me when I was six. He was in the Air Force, and we saw it at the enlisted men's theater on the AF base in Prestwick, Scotland.

They stopped the movie in the middle, turned up the house lights and some officer brought Elvis Presley onstage -- he had just touched down in Scotland while en route to Germany. He was introduced, smiled, waved, and left. They resumed the movie.

This was in March, 1960 -- according to the internet. Of course, I hadn't a clue who Elvis was at the time.

I had a dim recollection of all this years later and asked my mom about it, probably around the time Elvis died. (This was all pre-internet, so I had no place to look it up.) My dad was dead by then, but my mom remembered him telling her about it.

The only scene in the film I can recall is Bob Hope spinning around in a barber's chair, firing his shotgun (blunderbuss?) at random, accidentally hitting a stuffed moose-head on the wall and dislodging a shower of coins, which poured out of its mouth.

Not exactly *Citizen Kane*!

 

[RBSinTo]

The first flick I can recall seeing is *Son of Paleface* with Bob Hope. My dad took me when I was six. He was in the Air Force, and we saw it at the enlisted men's theater on the AFB base in Prestwick, Scotland.

They stopped the movie in the middle, turned up the house lights and some officer brought Elvis Presley onstage -- he had just touched down in Scotland while en route to Germany. He was introduced, smiled, waved, and left. They resumed the movie.

This was in March, 1960 -- according to the internet. Of course, I hadn't a clue who Elvis was.

I had a dim recollection of all this years later and asked my mom about it, probably around the time Elvis died. (This was all pre-internet, so I had no place to look it up.)

My dad was dead by then, but my mom remembered him telling her about it.

The only scene in the film I can recall is Bob Hope spinning around in a barber's chair, firing his shotgun (?) at random, accidentally hitting a stuffed moose head on the wall and dislodging a shower of coins, which poured out of its mouth.

Not exactly *Citizen Kane*!

wileypickett,
If Bob Hope had had a role in "Citizen Kane", it probably would have been called "Road to Rosebud".
RBSinTo

 

[Maguchi]

Debbie Does Dallas

 

[dwasifar]

A visit to my baby book answered this question. "Mary Poppins," August 30, 1965, at the age of three and a half.

 

[wileypickett]

wileypickett,
If Bob Hope had had a role in "Citizen Kane", it probably would have been called "Road to Rosebud".
RBSinTo

Or "Road to Xanadu*. . . .

 

[Papajerry]

I’m so old I can’t remember.

 

[RBSinTo]

Or "Road to Xanadu*. . . .

Papajerry,
Your suggestion is definitely more exotic sounding, but I like the alliteration of mine better.
RBSinTo