I have an uncle that would rather be caught dead, than noticed paying for a movie…

That’s who took me to see my first “Star Wars Saga” film on the big screen.

Even my uncle likes the “Star Wars” movies.

When I was little, my best friends were my cousins who lived about 20 minutes away from us in Firth, ID. I used to go over to their house out in the country to spend the night and play G.I. Joes. I know that it was at the end of May after school was out as my uncle had come home from work and we were there all day playing together. That alone was fun for me, then my uncle gave us the biggest surprise ever…but he was a practical joker so he didn’t just come out and tell us what the plan was.

“Get your shoes on. We’re leaving.”

“Where are we going,” my cousin asked.

“You’ll see. Make sure you have your shoes on, we’re heading out.”

Now you never knew with my uncle. Sometimes this meant ice cream at the park. Sometimes it meant we needed to go move pipe, dig holes, pull weeds, etc. He liked to keep us lively and ready for anything. It was annoying at the time, now I appreciate it.

So, we got into the car. One of the quietest car rides the four of us have ever been on. Once we pulled into town, he couldn’t hold it in anymore and he said, “We’re going to the new Star Wars movie.”

We all yelled, “Yes!”

I couldn’t believe it. I got to play with my cousins all day (which I loved) and then I got to go see Luke Skywalker deflect bullets with a light saber after he was jettison from his speeder. It was better than unwrapping a present.

I was too young to see the original on the big screen, but I was able to see it in bits-and-pieces through it’s release on television. We went to the drive-in to see “Empire” (which later became my favorite of the three–there are not enough Han Solo and Princess Organa scenes in that movie; #thebest). I remember being spoiled by “our-cousin-we-didn’t-like” about Darth Vader being Luke’s pops, so that kind of ruined the experience (that and the drive-in speakers weren’t very good back then and the Scout that we were all laying in became uncomfortable in 15 minutes).

I remember being captivated and getting all of my questions answered throughout the viewing: “What happened to Han Solo?” “Where’s Chewy?” “Did Luke go back and see Yoda?” “How are they going to kill Darth Vader?” “THEY’RE MAKING THE DEATHSTAR AGAIN?!” “WTF?”

There is really only one thing to say–Speeders are AWESOME and I want one.

I feel that “Return” delivered to its audience on a lot of levels. Light saber fights early and often, monsters crushed by doors, the resolution of the father-son dilemma, Han and Leia gonna get married, The Deathstar got destroyed a-bigger-and-better second time and yes, Lando lived!

It was a year after “E. T.” and I already had my second largest big screen impact.

More to come…imagine that.

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“My ‘Wizard of Oz’.”

That is what I tell Baby Boomers when I talk about “E. T.”

I don’t think it is possible to duplicate that experience. There was nothing like it (I know–movies peaked at 5 years old for me–what?!).

I remember I went with my mom and my best friend at the time, and we all were sobbing like two-year-olds after a tantrum when we were walking out of the theater. I can still feel my warm, caked skin where my tears were drying on my face. I know I’m not painting a very appealing picture here, but the film utterly touched me.

So that was the crying. The range of emotions that I went through when I watched the film is what I remember most about it. “E.T.” starts out with many suspenseful moments like they are preparing us for a horror film. The mother ship landing, the chase in the woods, the baseball in the shed, and the first time we see E.T. face-to-face.

Then the film becomes a buddy movie/coming of age story that is one of the best ever captured on film.

Fear, joy, sorrow, despair, loss…just to name a few emotions that drip from the screen.

I didn’t get to see “E.T.” again for a very long time. There was the occasional television premiere, but my bedtime never allowed for a finish living in the Mountain Time Zone. The film premiered in 1982, we didn’t get a VCR until 1986 and Amblin Entertainment didn’t release “E.T.” on VHS until 1988. That doesn’t seem like a long time now, but when I was a child in the 80s, six years was a long time to wait to see your favorite movie again in it’s entirety.

I had moved on at that point to other films that did not wait so long to be released on VHS.

I’m excited to talk about those movies…but in a different way. I feel that “E.T.” has set up my interest for every next film for the rest of my life, and for that, I am grateful.

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“The Jungle Book” was the first movie I went to…and I do not remember seeing it.  That experience is only remembered by my mother as I was 4 years old at the time.

“Why are you writing about this?”

Technically, this is my first experience at the theater with film.  My mother’s verbal history on it is all I have to go on; and I did eventually see “The Jungle Book” later at a point in which I could recollect the story and images which will be used to make this a little better (don’t hold your breath).

According to my mother:

My mom and I went with a friend from our local church who brought their two children that were my age.  My mother’s big recollection is that her little angel (me) watched the entire film from beginning to end credits, while the other “children” (sometimes she refers to them as “monsters”) would not sit and watch it and ran up and down the aisles, asking for pop corn, soda, the bathroom, etc.

Now, whether I was a perfect child or not, I feel that the engagement of the film itself had to do with my ability to sit and watch it.

After hearing this story a number of times throughout my life, I always wanted to see “The Jungle Book” again because I was curious about those images I could not remember that would keep me so focused.  Years later when I was in elementary school and the VCR was invented, I was able to view it.

It delivered.

I have talked to a number of people that have viewed the movie and watched it when they were younger and we all agree on the best scenes: “Bear Necessities” and “I Want to be Like You”

I prefer the latter.  King Louie made me laugh, hard.  Not only was he funny, I think he had the best song/montage in the film.  So, he’s funny and I enjoyed the song.

Hearing what my mother said about how I reacted, I want to believe that I couldn’t look away from “I Want to be Like You” even if I wanted to.  This is the power that film can have on someone and I enjoy the escape that it provides.  I started at a young age, and to this day, have not gotten enough.

Next up will be a film that I do remember seeing in the theater at a very young age, and one that will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart…

Now that’s a damn tease! 😉

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When I think about movies in general, I think about the VHS, the VCR (no beta thankfully), and the rows and rows of copied tapes that my parents and I created when I was in elementary school.  We purchased a VCR in 1986.  Every Labor Day weekend we would go purchase a rather large amount of blank VHS tapes, rent another VCR and about 20-30 movies for under a dollar each.  Marathon is not a fitting term for what we did.  I loved it.

The kids  were in charge of the G/PG films during the day.  My mom and dad would take care of R at night after my siblings and I went to bed.  We would fit three, two-hour movies on each tape (not understanding that this would make those VHS wear out way faster–and the picture was not as crisp).

My dad would always take care of the “setup” (hooking up a VCR to another VCR that is attached to a television is tedious).  We made ourselves scarce for that part of the process.  For the watching, we were present.  I was also allowed to load the movies and cue them up.  It was always fun hitting play/record.  We had a VCR with buttons that would light up red for whichever action was in use.  The only time there were two red lights were when you were recording (Play/Rec). I always enjoyed looking at that.  It seemed like we were accomplishing something.

I love movies.

So much so that I feel the stories I write about are envisioned as films in my head first; naturally.

As I continue blogging my intent is to write and share my experience with specific movies starting as early as I can remember.  I am not planning on reviewing films so this won’t be a critical blog.  My intent  is to convey how those movies made me feel growing up and sharing the chronology of my movie viewing experience.

I hope it will be enjoyable and I am excited to get started.

First up: Disney’s “The Jungle Book”

Stay tuned.

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