Your Most Memorable Movie Experience--In a Theater

It could have been worse. I thought you were gonna tell us that her water broke during the movie!

 

Hey, that's a good point, Ray

I thought I'd prepare her for that day, since it did happen soon thereafter (just not in the theater)

 

I went to see the restored A Hard Day's Night in the middle of the afternoon, a couple of years ago. I picked out a good seat dead center, it was one of those 'Stadium Seating' theaters, and enjoyed the movie. The best part was I was the only one there. So technically I could call it a private screening!!

Also in my college Film Aesthetics class the professor somehow got an original print of Citizen Kane to show us. I also remember enjoying Breakfast at Tiffany's in the same class.

 

A double-bill one Saturday at the Cornell in Burbank, CA when I was 15. "Ben Hur" paired with "The Odd Couple."

Really.

 

Another favorite moment for me was when I first saw "Star Wars: Phantom Menace". When the lights went down and the Star Wars logo flashed on the screen, I had a smile ear to ear and felt like I was 10 again seeing "Empire Strikes Back".

 

A few random experiences from over the years...

~ settling down in our seats in a theater on Wisconsin Ave in DC and realizing the older gentleman seated right in front of us was Jason Robards.

~ watching 'Goodfellas' while high on reefer, and having about half a dozen gang members sit at the front of theater and laugh at all the wrong moments (like the driveway scene w/ the neighbor, the trunk scene, etc)

~ stopping by a premiere of 'The Saint' at the Cinema in Friendship Heights, DC, and having Elisabeth Shue come over to our side and greet well wishers - absolutely stunning from two feet away!

~ watching 'To Kill a Mockingbird' at the Eastman Theater in Rochester NY, ca. 1984, with Gregory Peck in attendance and answering questions after the screening

~ at the age of nine, getting taken to movies like 'Butch Cassidy' and '2001' by my Mom's friend Lola, a gorgeous brunette who drove a hot Pontiac convertible and spoiled me rotten... indelible impressions that last to this day

Ere

 

"The Spy Who Loved Me"-my first big-screen Bond experience.

"Never Say Never Again"-walked over in a pouring December rain as a high-schooler to see this one in '83. The only Sean Connery Bond I have seen on the big screen, and well worth it.

"Star Wars"-the music still gives me chills to this day, and I saw both the original and the '97 re-issue. I also caught "The Godfather"'s reissue in '97 as well.

"Finding Nemo"-what a treat this was. Funny, touching, and a movie that had several indelible moments (my favorite was at the end when it looks like Nemo has died, and Marlin flashes back to when Nemo was the only survivor of the shark attack, and says (as he did then) "it's ok, Nemo. Daddy is here with you", or something like that). The absolute funniest part is at the very end of the credits when the trembling little fish swallows up the electric eel!

"Spy Kids"-all three of them were cool, but the best part of each was 1. the relationship between Carmen and Juni in the first one (she picks on him just like an older sibling does) 2. the backflips that Alexa Vega does during the fight scene, landing in a fighting pose. At the time, I thought "what seamless editing!", but it actually is Alexa herself, as you'll see if you get the DVD and look at the special features, and 3. Courtney Jines' performance as Demetra. This kid has got talent.

"Die Another Day"-the background music strings leading into the scene of Bond getting his head dunked under the icy water, as the opening credits begin. The look of shock and horror on Brosnan's face as he realizes what he has got in store for him during his captivity is astonishing.

"Pirates of the Caribbean"-a film of which no one expected much, til the trailers came out and looked pretty good. Went to see the 7 p.m. show on its opening day Wed., 7/9, and it was SOLD OUT! I bought my ticket earlier, but just was able to find a seat. Digitally projected too. The audience clapped at the end, and we all enjoyed it.

 

I remember a friend of mine telling me all about this trilogy called "STAR WARS" and that we were going to see the 4th part-- which didn't make sense-- But we went on opening day. Me, my friend, and 10 other people watched it. I was awestruck.

Then a few years later I was in Dayton, Oh and got to see "Return of the Jedi" in 70mm 6 track Dolby Stereo...and the film broke in the middle and we had to wait 10 minutes while they spliced it!

Back in the late 70s I remember going to see the famous Midnight Movies that the local radio station sponsored. It was a double feature of Monty Python-- "Holy Grail" and "Jabberwocky"...OK "Jabberwocky" is not a great Python film, but it was still cool to stay out so late on a Friday night.

 

March 28, 1985. One-time-only screening of the original Star Wars trilogy, in only 6 or 7 cities in North America. I'm not gonna miss that, so I take the day off from work and go by myself. Wait on line for hours--this was before you could order tix online, or even over the phone! The theater security people are wearing these huge pins that read something like "Star Wars Empire Jedi One Time Only 3/28/85." The hardcore collectors on line start buying the badges from the guards for $25 and more. When we finally get inside, everybody gets a free badge!

Nothing like sitting through 7+ hours of Star Wars with a bunch of like-minded fans!

 

Went to see 2001 at the Cinerama in Seattle with some friends. Was so impressed that I went and saw it a couple of weeks later with my parents.

Saw Easy Rider with a couple of friends and we stayed over and watched it again (didn't have to buy another ticket). I think that's the only time I've done that.

Went to see Jaws opening week with my relatively new wife. Long lines, and the only seats left together were third row center. The shark was right there in the seats with us!

Bummer experience I mentioned here before - My wife and I went to see Frances, a movie about actress (and Seattle native) Frances Farmer with a storyline that includes her being put in a mental institution by her mother and eventually having a lobotomy. On our way to our car we noticed that the theater across the street had a movie starting in a few minutes. We weren't familiar with the plot of the movie, but with Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline it was bound to raise our spirits, right? Sophie's Choice. 'Nuff said.

 

3 "interesting" ones:

Going to see "Winterhawk" (Dawn Wells) with my dad and sister on Thanksgiving day 1979? 198O? It was a lame attempt at spending divorce-time with us, and it was just really odd---the only other people in the theater were high-school wrestlers trying to make their weight.

"Airplane" at the Rogers theater in Decatur Illinois on a lazy saturday afternoon in 1979 with my friend Staley. We hadn't heard anything about it and were just bored and thought the movie-poster looked stupid enough, so we went in . . . and LAUGHED OUR BUTTS OFF! Literally, at one point, we were both half on the sticky floor gasping for air.


Finally, seeing the "STones at the Max" at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, circa 1990. First time I'd seen the rock and roll concert experience come through on screen with a similar energy to the real thing. Also remember how weird it felt to be sitting in a museum IMAX theater on a saturday night drinking a beer, the smell of weed in the air, watching the stones.

 

A very similiar thing happened at the screening I went to. Some *$%&**$ jumped up and cheered. However, instead of continued silence, it nearly caused a riot in the theater - a dozen people screaming at him, and him screeming back.

Strangly, it didn't ruin the movie - instead it upped the intensity for the rest of the film, reminding us all how personal and emotional the war was for everyone. It was quite an experience.

 

Mine would include:

The original "Star Wars" movie, "Close Ecounters of the Third Kind" and more recently "Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers" and "Solaris"

 

Like when I was 16 and it took me 15 minutes to slide my hand down her blouse within 1/2 an inch of heaven only to have her move it back up to first base?

Seen the 50th anniversary showing of Fantasia at the Cinerama dome several years ago in 8 track stereophonic Fantasound .

 

HOW THE WEST WAS WON in Cinerama, on June 21, 1998 at the New Neon theater in Dayton, Ohio. Unfortunately, I think they have since taken out the Cinerama screen, and show standard films. If you ever get a chance to see this film in Cinerama, I recommend it.

 

FRANCES is one of the great "lost" films of the eighties, a sort of real-life ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST without the comic relief. It makes GIRL, INTERRUPTED look like summer camp. And Jessica Lange is a stunning wreck of a beauty in this film, although she got more attention (and an Oscar) for just being pretty in TOOTSIE, a do-nothing role she accepted to recover from the maelstrom of FRANCES.

How many people thought SOPHIE'S CHOICE would be between her lovers? When you find out what it actually was, it's one of the most harrowing scenes in film. William Styron's SOPHIE'S CHOICE is also a great novel, one of the best I've ever read.

 

Psycho.

I was 14 and snuck in to a showing for the 15 year olds at my school.

I have never gripped the edge of my seat so tightly,

I could never re-create the moment. Perhaps it was the fact that I wasn't supposed to be there. Mostly, it was Hitchcock's ability to grip his audience. He got me!

 

The first Alien movie. My God, I have never witnessed a film so full of suspense and tension. When the alien bursts out of John Hurt's chest....YUUUCCHHH!

Evan