sapiens

I have lots of memories of movies from when I was a kid. Most of my memories are of watching westerns and war movies with my dad. Lately, I’ve been trying to think of the movies that I would like to show my kids that I enjoyed when I was a kid. There are many movies that I want to show my kids eventually, but here I’m interested in movies enjoyed as a kid. Here are a few of them with comments:

The Neverending Story: I watched this movie with my daughter about a year ago. She was 4 at the time. It was still good. It was slow in parts, but my daughter liked it.

The Dark Crystal: I fast-forwarded through most of this movie with my daughter. It was much, much darker than I remembered. It was also very slow in parts.

The Muppet Movie: A great movie with a fun kid’s soundtrack. My daughter liked it. I still like it.

D.A.R.Y.L.: A movie about a robot boy. I remember really liking it when I was a kid. I haven’t shown it too my daughter yet. I’m not sure that she would like it.

Cloak and Dagger: A boy who witnesses a murder and uncovers some kind of spy plot involving a video game cartridge. I haven’t seen it in a long, long time, but I remember enjoying it when I was a kid. Maybe it was because my parents refused to buy a video game system for the family.

E.T.: I remember seeing E.T. in the theater. My sister took off all of her clothes in the theater for some reason. Don’t ask me why. She was 3. I owned the soundtrack on one of those records with a different scene from the movie printed on each side.

That’s it for now. Do you recall any movies that you really enjoyed as a child?

Willravel

Robot Jox is the first that comes to mind. It was a rather interesting live action answer to giant robot cartoons coming from Japan. In the future, world wars have been replaced with gladiatorial battles between giant robots.

Back to the Future is another classic movie from my childhood. Growing up in the 80s wouldn't be complete without this lazy scifi/wonderfully entertaining movie.

Top Gun... "highway to the danger zone" was playing on my walkman about 10 hours a day, every day for maybe 6 weeks. It was probably the first adult action movie I saw in the theater (I was maybe 3 at the time. Yes, 3).

These next one will likely draw gasps from my fellow TFP members who forget how old I am:
Terminator 2 was absolutely perfect violent entertainment for a young (8 year old) boy.

Mostly, though, it was Star Trek, the Next Generation and it's movies. I grew up on Star Trek Generations (which is still one of my favorite movies).

Leto

- The Love Bug. - I remember counting VW Beetles all the way home, and agreeing with my brother that the 53rd one was Herbie.

- Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things - I saw this at a drive in with my parents. Scared me shitless, had my fingers sunk into the dashboard. What do you expect from a twelve year old?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068370/

- The Green Berets - scene of a Viet Cong spike trap is still with me.

- Battle of Britain - Love the fighter planes!

- 2001: A Space Odyssey : I was already a NASA junkie, and watched Star Trek on TV, but this movie put me over the top. Saw it for my 9th birthday. A year later, I could barely stay awake to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon.

Psycho Dad

Well this thread is definitely going to date some of us...

I always looked forward to the annual showing of The Wizard of Oz which I believe was around Memorial Day weekend.

I also remember an annual showing of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

And of course quite often The Wonderful World of Disney would show something that I'd enjoy watching.

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snowy

We couldn't watch any of the Herbie movies when I was a kid without interruption as my brother was deathly afraid of Herbie and would hide behind the couch crying when Herbie appeared. He would poke his head out, see Herbie, cry, poke his head out, see Herbie, and cry some more. We still tease him about it.

My favorite childhood movie would have to be Aladdin. Milo and Otis is also up there.

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fresnelly

Many that Sapiens mentioned were favourites of mine. I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers Cloak and Dagger. Surely it's due for a remake.

One of my favourite movies as a kid was The Goonies. In fact, I think my interest in urban and local history was germinated by it. Surely it's due for a remake or update as well.

The thing is, I find it almost unwatchable now because the cast is yelling at the top of their lungs for almost the entire movie. Stop screaming for Chri's sake, ya little punks!

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Leto

That's for sure (re dating us) At least I wasn't around for the initial release of Wizard of Oz. But I was for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. As for Disney, it was a Sunday ritual, preceded by Marlin Perkins and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.... (It was on some American network supposedly in living colour, but it was still black and white to our TV).


that's funny. But I think there was only one Herbie movie, until the remakes & sequels etc in the what? mid '80's?? But I guess you're a young'un yourself. Aladdin wasn't too long ago.

sapiens

I remember listening to that song on my walkman during take off on a plane trip with my parents. I thought I was really cool.

You are treading on thin ice. One more negative comment about The Goonies and I'll have to climb through the ether to where you are and kick your ass!

Bear Cub

Goonies
Rescuers Down Under
The Wizard
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I and II, with the nod going to "Secret of the Ooze"

I'm sure there are plenty more, but these are the ones I vividly remember owning on VHS.

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ironman

Goonies,
Indiana Jones,
Karate Kid (God it was great, and the song, don't get me started with that song, The moment of truth has to be one of the greatest songs ever).
Rambo I
Rocky I
E.T.
Star Wars 4, 5, 6.

My God, so many great memories!!!

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ÐiGiRed

Well, some of them are...

The Neverending Story

Alice in Wonderland

Willow

Back to the Future (had a huge crush on michael j. fox as a kid)

Mac and Me

My Stepmother is and Alien

The Lost Boys

Ghost Busters

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sapiens

I saw Willow in the theater with my parents. It was one of the few Hollywood movies they took me to. Mostly, they took my sister and I too independent and foreign movies. I really enjoyed it at the time.

I saw Ghostbusters in the theater as well. I remember being slightly scared by the film. Someone gave me the soundtrack on vinyl as a gift. I listened to that Ray Parker Jr. song far too many times.

PonyPotato

The Neverending Story (made Crompsin watch it a few weeks ago, ha!)

Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast (one of my major favorites), The Fox and the Hound, Aladdin, The Lion King, etc... I watched a ton of Disney movies as a kid. And Disney-ish movies, like FernGully. Actually (and this surprised me), The Nightmare Before Christmas came out when I was 8 years old. And I saw it when it was released in theatres, because I won tickets to the movie from a bookstore. WOW. Makes me feel really, uh, young.

Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, and plenty of other movies with horses in them...I was horse crazy as a kid and I still am. About 50% of the books I can call mine are about horses that I acquired and read as a kid.

The Secret Garden and A Little Princess were favorites I recently re-added to my DVD collection.

And since I loved to watch movies with my dad, I watched and liked movies like Indiana Jones, Die Hard, Terminator, Predator, Batman Forever, Jurassic Park, and so on.

I don't remember the movie Willow very well, but I've met the guy who played him. I don't remember where or when, really, but I know there's a picture somewhere.

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Nikilidstrom

The problem with my childhood movie selections is that they are the same as the movies I watch now. My father was very liberal about what movies I watched from an early age, and many of my fondest memories are of watching movies like The Fly(remake), Rambo, Predator, Nightmare on Elm Street, and numerous direct to VHS action flics with my dad late at night on the weekends. I was never really exposed to too many kid's movies, except for maybe TMNT 1-3, and I was older by then.

The one I remember loving that was an annual event was the network broadcast of The Ten Commandments with Heston. It was often a 2 night event around easter, and I loved watching it with my parents, even though I wasn't, and still am not, religious.

Our personal favorites were any and all Bond flics, and I was allowed to stay up past my bedtime on school nights to finish watching them. They were pretty long on network tv.

I also had to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark everytime it came on, as well as the annual Halloween showing of Night of the Living Dead.

And the first movie I can remember seeing in a theater was Empire Strikes Back, and we waited in a very long line for it. I actually saw that before I saw the original Star Wars, but I still loved it.

Beyond this, I have always been a movie lover, so the list goes on and on.

ColonelSpecial

"Flight of the Navigator" was my favorite film as a child. I would watch it and then watch it again. My family never really understood why. They liked the movie too but not the the same extent.

"Jurassic Park" isn't really a kids movie but my parents took me to see it when I was ten and I spent most of the time with my face in my mom's shoulder, hiding my eyes. It wasn't until several years later that I was able to watch it without covering my eyes.

"Little Mermaid" encouraged all of my friends and I to 'sing' like Ariel. Of course, there can only be one Ariel at a time so we would have sing-offs to determine who was going to play her. Basically it was all of us singing in various pitches and at various volumes until someone was chosen.

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Grasshopper Green

I introduced my son to the joy of Milo and Otis about a year ago. It is now one of his most-watched movies, and I still enjoy watching it with him. Dudley Moore is fantastic as the narrator.

I never got into the more kid-centric shows like Goonies, Gremlins, E.T., etc when I was a kid. I watched and loved 70's and 80's "classics" like:

The first 3 Superman movies
Karate Kid
Back to the Future
Ghostbusters
Short Circuit
Clue
Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi

I think my favorite cartoon was Disney's The Sword In the Stone. I'm not sure when it actually came out, but I saw it on TV several times as a child.

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Charlatan

I am so feeling my age. Most of these so-called childhood films came out when I was a teenager.

The two films I most remember loving when I was very little were films I saw at the library (they had screenings on 16mm on the weekends). I was still in kindergarten.

The Red Balloon
and
Winter of the Witch

The first was the story of a boy and a balloon that follows him around the streets of Paris. The other is the story of a boy and his mom who move into a house that has a witch. The witch makes them magic blueberry pancakes that make them happy. We used to act this out in my friend's basement.

Other films that I remember loving as a kid were ones that would appear on The Wonderful World of Disney (VHS wasn't available yet so it was TV that allowed the possibility of seeing things more than once). The original Freaky Friday (with Jodi Foster), the Kurt Russell teen films -- The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, Now You See Him, Now You Don't and The Strongest Man in the World (these were the stories of Dexter Reily, a science geek, and his science mishaps).

I'd also have to include the three original Star Wars films (though I was a teen by the time the last one came out) and most definitely...

Raiders of the Lost Ark

This film, more than any other made me want to get involved in the film and television industry.

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sapiens

My father was too I suppose. I think that it was mostly due to him wanting to watch a particular movie himself and I was allowed to watch with him. I saw Hang 'Em High, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, all the spaghetti westerns, Johnny Guitar, and all sorts of other westerns and war movies as a kid. Unless it starred John Wayne. My dad did not like John Wayne. He especially hated The Green Berets. Occasionally, my wife will record a western or war movie off of TCM. About half way through, I often remember the entire plot, though I have no specific memory of seeing the film.
I remember watching The Red Balloon during the school day in elementary school. I guess my teacher was feeling lazy that day.

I remember seeing Empire and Return of the Jedi in the theaters. Empire may have been the first movie I saw in a theater. I showed my daughter Star Wars when she was 4 years old. My wife and I didn't sleep very well for the next few nights - Darth Vader was a prominent figure in my daughter's dreams.

I really liked Raiders as a kid. I remember reenacting the scene with the bald guy getting chopped up by the airplane using star wars figures or G.I. Joes. It will be awhile before I'll be able to show that movie to my kids.

thespian86

Goofy Movie
Ninja Turtles 1 and 2

Several others. But most importantly, Goofy Movie.

Goofy Movie
Ninja Turtles 1 and 2

Several others. But most importantly, Goofy Movie.

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Tully Mars

Movies I remember as a kid:

Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Swiss Family Robinson
The World's Greatest Athlete
The Absent-Minded Professor
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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Grancey

The Trial of Billy Jack

I was a weird kid and way to young to see this movie when I saw it, but it had a profound effect upon me.

As a kid, I hated all of the sad Disney "animal" films. To this day I still cannot watch them.

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Psycho Dad

Wild Kingdom seemed to go with Disney like peanut butter and jelly.

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Tully Mars

I used to love Wild Kingdom as a kid. I can see Perkins standing in the door of his Land Rover telling the camera "I'll be in the vehicle as Jim wrestles the rhino. And a now a message from Mutual of Omaha."

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m0rpheus

The Princess Bride no question at all.

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Leto

I remember the Red Balloon. It was shown to us in school.

But I agree, most of the movies in this thread came out in my teen/university years - Like going on a date to see An Officer and a Gentleman, and wishing that I had a uniform (not the dorky RMC pillbox hat & cape uniforms, but real smart white ones) or going to see Amadeaus or The Year of Living Dangerously.

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.

Fremen

I remember seeing Pete's Dragon in the mid 70's in the theatre by myself.
I must've been about 5 or 6.
Nowadays, you daren't let your children go to the movies by their selves that young.

After my father died in '80, my mom let us go to the movies more often with her, and we got to see some R-rated movies at an early age.
Conan the Barbarian, The Road Warrior, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, etc.
Not movies you should let children see.

I also remember seeing Popeye, Condorman, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, Poltergeist, The Beastmaster, and just about all of them mentioned above.
Even The Red Balloon.
But not Dune.

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Hain

Neverending Story - let's not mention the others. Labyrinth - I am really surprised this one hasn't been mentioned yet. I still love this movie. "I move the stars for no one!" The Dark Crystal. Willow. Princess Bride.

Back to the Future- I, II, & III - come on- when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit. Star Wars- the original 3. Indiana Jones- all of 'em. Ghostbusters- I & II.

Robot Jox. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Short Circuit - come on- who doesn't love Johnny 5? Flight of the Navigator. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Real Genius - a favorite movie that I can only appreciate more as I am currently in college.

Predator. Poltergeist - not gonna lie, this one still scares me.


Mostly I was raised on a strict media diet of science shows and Doctor Who.

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CinnamonGirl

Labyrinth, for sure. Milo & Otis... Bedknobs & Broomsticks! That was a great one.

I watched the Parent Trap (old version, with Hayley Mills) so many times, that my parents made a new video-rental rule: we could only rent movies we hadn't seen before. I was convinced that I had a secret twin sister, and I wasn't allowed to go to camp because my parents were afraid I'd meet her.

I was also a big fan of the Journey of Natty Gann, Back to the Future, and Splash (none of those were particularly "kiddie," but I loved them all).

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jewels

I knew someone else had to have been hooked. That and Mary Poppins stand out in my mind, along with 4:30 movies on ABC-NY where I learned the classic B&W flicks. I won't even go into my numerous favorites.

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ShaniFaye

This was a sunday nite ritual for us lol I LOVED both these shows

I think the first movie I saw in the theater was a double feature of 101 Dalmations and Swiss Family Robinson

I remember seeing 2001 Space Odyssey in the theater, as well as Star Wars

like Charlatan, most of the other movies people are mentioning came out when I was in high school

Do you older people remember when Rikki Tikki Tavi (sp?) used to come on every year!! That was an "event" along with Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind...Wizard of Oz showings were the only time I was allowed to eat dinner in the living room lol

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Oh yeah, I totally forgot: Hook. I never got tired of Robin Williams being flung out of a giant sling shot to be taught how to fly.

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CinnamonGirl

How did I forget Swiss Family Robinson? That was another frequent rental... I tried to convince my mom that living in a tree was way cooler than a boring ol' house.

hmmm...I still think that, to be honest.

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sapiens

I don't recall watching Mary Poppins as a child, but my daughter was obsessed with Mary Poppins for about a year. She used to look up in the clouds for her, waiting for her to float down on her umbrella. I enjoy that movie, but I've seen it too many times.

Another movie that I don't recall seeing as a kid, but must be on someone's list is The Sound of Music . Lots of good songs for kids to sing. My daughter liked it a lot too. Doe a deer, a female deer. Ray, a drop of golden sun....

Why not?

My daughter liked this one as well. I think it contributed to her current obsession with fairies, fairy princesses, and "fairy princess mermaids." Other than Princess Tiger Lily, the native american representations in that film make me cringe.

One more I recently thought of:

The Secret of NIMH: I remember watching it on television in a hotel room in Jacksonville. It spiked my interest in the The Borrowers, The Littles, and other books about little creatures in a big world. I read the book, The Secret of NIMH, to my daughter. I think that I was more interested in it than she was.

abaya

Labyrinth scarred me for life in terms of seeing David Bowie's package in those purple spandex. Ktspktsp loves Bowie's music, but every time he puts on a CD, all I can see are purple spandex and that nasty bulge... and that hair!!! GAG.

Anyway, strangely enough, I really can't recall any childhood-favorite movies. I did like the Wonderful World of Disney, when they showed it (especially around the holidays, like Halloween). I guess I had to watch a lot of horror flicks with my dad when I was young, which also scarred me for life.

I think I was really MUCH more of a reader (and playing-outside type) than a movie-watcher, or my parents just didn't want to take me to the movies (we rented a lot of videos). I also played a lot of the first Nintendo... and before that, Atari!! Yes, I AM that freaking old!!!

Neverending Story might make the list. And I do remember Willow, though I liked playing the Nintendo game more than watching the movie (I also rented a lot of Nintendo games).

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Leto

Puh-Lease!

When those games came out, as well as Intellivision, I was finishing up my university career. Don't talk about age missy!

jewels

Sound of Music for me, too. How could I forget? Waiting on a line, the likes of which one never sees anymore, to see it. I wanted to be Leslie, Liesel -- Which one sang in the gazebo? I am sixteen, going on seventeen ...

Old B&W's that I loved? Let me think of what comes to mind that I saw more than twice as a kid. Here are a few that pop into my head at the moment.

The Snake Pit - Olivia and James Caan, WOW!
Sorry, Wrong Number - scared the hell outta me
Gaslight - I was feelin' for her ..
From Here To Eternity - gooey love story
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte - scary Bette!
any Thin Man movie - I wanted to be Nora and marry Nick, too
every Bogart movie
anything Natalie Wood
Psycho
Touch of Evil
The Illustrated Man
The Boston Strangler
Charlie Chan movies
every Hitchcock film

God, I could go on and on ... I see a pattern here, though.

Pul-lease, child. I was a young adult playing on a TI and a Commodore 64.

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Thanks Jewels.
Nick and Nora I idolized.

highthief

The earliest movies I remember seeing include in the early 70s:

- The Jungle Book (the 60s version)

- An animated Disney Robin Hood (early 70s version)

- The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (Ray Harryhausen).

- The Three Musketeers (the one with Michael York, Raquel Welch, Oliver Reed, etc)

Would have seen others, but these are the ones that I have strong memories of 35 years later.

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