Your First Movie at a Theater or Drive-In

What was the first movie you can recall seeing in theaters as a kid. Who were you with and what do you remember about the occasion?

 

My first movie I saw was a reissue of Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, probably around 1959-1960. The first movie I can remember seeing at a drive in was Captain Sindbad [sic], from June 1963.

 

"Batman" (1966), drive-in, pajama-clad, driven there by my parents.

 

I really don't recall, but my parents told me the first movie they took me to was Daddy Long Legs with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. I was apparently frightened by the experience.

 

Star Trek II

 

Sleeping Beauty in '59, with my parents in a theater in Linden, NJ. The dragon scared the $%#% out of me, I remember hiding in the lobby for a while. (We also went to a LOT of drive-ins down the shore in New Jersey, great memories.)

 

I don't know for sure but I think it might have been Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

 

Goldeneye when it came out which I thought was 1996.

 

Earliest one I remember:

 

Captain Sindbad [sic] starring Guy Williams of Lost in Space fame!

I watched this myself a while back.

 

I honestly have no idea what my first movie at a theater was. There are several Disney and films like Star Wars that I saw and should have been old enough to remember, but I've totally blanked.

I do remember this one. Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975).

 

When I was a kid my Dad took me to movies like Shaggy Dog and Pollyanna..that was 1959-1960.
My first movie as a 15 year old teenager with my friends was Goodbye Columbus and my family felt the content was a little mature for a boy my age.
I realize there's a good chance that anyone who reads this would never have heard of these movies.

 

I don't recommend it for a 4 year old but my parents took me to Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford at the same age. Scared the c**p out of me and affected me deeply mentally. I can still remember the headless groom at the top of the stairs (or at least that is how I remember the scene). Bambi was nothing in comparison.

 

Yeah, I saw Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte when I was a little older, about 10, and I gotta say some scenes scared the crap outta me, too. 4 years old is way, way too young for a movie like this.

 

My first movie at a theater was probably The Music Man when I was around 4 (maybe even earlier). I listened to the soundtrack obsessively until I discovered the Beatles a few years later. I saw Midnight Cowboy at a drive-in with my parents when I was around ten, but didn't really understand it. I liked the music though.

 

So it might be a shocker that reveals my age but this was my first movie I remember seeing in theaters, summer 1993. Went with my brother, sister and dad. I remember we had to go to a couple different theaters because the showings were sold out everywhere. Finally found one. Great memory. I loved playing with toys that Kenner put out. Also looking forward to Jurassic World.

 

Oddly enough, I watched SOUTHERN COMFORT in the rain, which was perfect, as the film was set in the Bayou.

 

I'm pretty sure I saw most of the Disney animated and live-action reissues that came out in the early to mid-70s. It's hard for me to separate in my head what we watched on TV and what we saw in the theater.

I do remember my parents watching this classic on TV, which, needless to say, gave me nightmares:

 

Earliest one I can remember. I was about 4 years old and my parents took me. I recently revisited it via the Blu-ray and was not too surprised to discover that I understood a lot more of it this time around.

The theater I saw it in was a General Cinema twin that opened in 1965. I saw many more movies there after ISZ, and the old GCC feature presentation bumper used in the 60s and 70s remains imprinted on my brain.

 

The first time I went to a drive in was with the neighbors across the street in their VW van. I don't remember what we saw. 6th gradeish. After that it was with dates (in the old mans Pontiac Catalina - before I totaled it). I don't remember what movies I saw as a kid in theaters. When I was 13 my dad took me with him to see The Godfather Part 2.

 

Apparently I insisted on seeing That Darn Cat at the drive-in when I was about four and then slept through almost all of it..

 

Run, Cougar, Run (1972) - The little town we lived in (population 300) had a small movie theater that would tend to get movies about 6 months to a year after they had played everywhere else. I have a vague recollection of seeing this film in that theater, probably sometime in 1973 which means I was about 2 years old at the time.

 

First theatre film I remember was the original release of Disney's Peter Pan ('52). I thought they were real people! The same year at a drive-in I saw Disney's Snow White. The forest scene where the trees were grabbing her scared the crap out of me. I was five.

 

I have no idea what my very first movie was, I have a pretty poor memory. We had a small theater called the Majestic a short walk away so we went to the theater pretty often back then starting around 1967 I would guess when I was about 8 years old.

One of the first ones I really remember seeing was Lover's And Other Strangers, from 1970. My older brother took me. I love that flick to this day.

 

It was either Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986) when I was 5:



or Masters Of The Universe (1987) when I was 6.



I'm almost positive I saw Care Bears II in the theater as opposed to on video (I think I saw the first Care Bears movie on video ahead of time) but I can't recall for sure...

I know I saw Masters Of The Universe in the theater and even as a 6 year old I remember thinking it sucked and wondering why it was nothing like the cartoon He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe.

I liked the music in both Care Bears movies. Okay, I still do.

I can't remember seeing anything before those two movies in the theater.

The first (and so far only) movie I saw in a Drive-In Theater was Batman (1989)



I remember the scene where The Joker fries the guy with the lethal Joy Buzzer really disturbed me because I wasn't expecting something like that in a Batman movie! I loved it and was thrilled when we got it on VHS that Christmas. I watched it until the tape wore out. It was the first movie where I noticed how terrific the score was and how it made the movie even better.