guyy

My mother took me to see "Snow White" when i was 3 or 4. It's one of my earliest memories. At that age, i don't think i had the same processing apparatuses that i do now, and "like" or "dislike" were probably secondary to being next to Mommy and being in the theatre and soaking in the fact that there were moving images on the wall.

I saw "Yellow Submarine" when it came out in Japan, again, with my mother. I remember enjoying it. That's significant. I remember not enjoying others: Finian's rainbow (over my head) and "The valley of Gwangi" (too scary). By the age of 4-5, i was capable of processing films and sorting them into ones i liked and ones i didn't.

My dad used to send us to the movies on Saturdays. The theatre was full of kids and probably only kids. The ratty old theatre we used to go to -- I can't believe it's still there! http://www.huntsvillecommunitytheatre.org/Main.html -- showed absolutely anything: '50s John Wayne flicks, Italian action films, Disney, animated kiddy stuff. I have fond memories of the place, but i think we all had the sense that we were being dumped there. The only film i remember really liking more than the experience of 4th grade anarchy was "Fantastic planet."

The feeling of being fobbed off with a triple-feature must be part of the reason we liked grown-up movies most of all. The Godfather was a big hit on the schoolyard. (Yeah, we all saw it -- with our parents. part II, too. Imagine that!) I also liked the Marx bros. movies that we saw at the student film society screenings with my father.

I was only 6, and i couldn't handle the Ligeti music. I ran out into the lobby, maybe into Ghiardelli Sq. (We were in San Francisco visiting relatives). My family still teases me about this.