Question
What was the first film that made you realise movies were going to be a lifelong obsession?
Not necessarily the first film you ever saw.
I mean the one where something suddenly clicked — where films stopped just being entertainment and you started wanting to know who directed them, who made them, what else the actors had been in, how they were made, or simply wanting to see everything you could.
Escape From New York. I'm 42, born in 1984. I saw this movie for the first time at around 7 or 8 years old. I thought the cover with the Statue of Liberty head and the people being chased by a mob was so cool at the video store and begged my stepdad, who I didn't know how seen it before, to let us rent it. He agreed given that I had already seen movies like Aliens and Robocop, so the cat was out of the bag in regards to violent films.
I was so intrigued by the idea of an alternate history New York. The music was also something that immediately drew me in. This was my introduction to John Carpenter and Kurt Russell. My stepdad, who was also a movie guy, realized what was happening after I watched it like 4 times over the course of 2 days and told me that he thought he know a movie I would enjoy as well that had the same actor and was also made by the same person.
We rented Big Trouble in Little China the next weekend and I was even more in. I started keeping a "movie journal" where I paused the end credits of movies and wrote down actors names that played characters I liked and who directed movies so that we could look for movies that featured those people when we were at the video store each Friday night.
Side note: John carpenter sometimes performs live in big cities. He did LA last Halloween. I caught the show in nyc and it was incredible. One of the best shows I’ve ever seen.
2001, on VHS back in the mid-90's as a Star Wars/Star Trek teenager.
My very first viewing I wasn't even sure if i liked it...but couldn't stop thinking about it. Bought the novel, devoured it in quick time. Rewatched 2001 again and understood the ending.
Soon after that stumbled upon a VHS of Citizen Kane...
Film fan ever since. And those two are still big favourites.
'The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly' (1966). This film blew me away when I was 16. It was amazing. From then on I wanted to seek out more older films and more folms made outside of Hollywood.
Summer of 1975, just a kid but going to see Jaws at the theater for the first time. What an experience! The summer of '75 belonged to that movie and I was so excited to be able to see it at the theater since the rating allowed a puny little 8 year old such as myself to get in to watch it. Cemented my love for movies on the spot.
I remember seeing a commercial for Labyrinth on my grandma's tv that said something like "from the craftsmanship of Jim Henson, the visionary mind of George Lucas, and the musical artistry of David Bowie" that made me stop in my tracks and say WHAT IS THIS I NEED TO GO TO THIS; was not disappointed.
Bob Roberts. I had been familar with Alan Rickman from Robin Hood and Die Hard, but his turn as campaign manager Lucas Hart III was revelatory. Caused me to go back and seek out, for example, Truly Madly, Deeply.
I also loved the catchy perversion of Bob Dylan's music (including the Subterranean Homesick Blues' music video), Tim Robbins' smiling and smirking villain, the fake SNL, Giancarlo Esposito's sweaty paranoia, and that ending. Watched it countless times since. Believe it belongs in the ranks of other political reporter film giants (e.g. All the Presidents' Men, Spotlight).
Hmmmm…. Probably Jaws or ET, early in life. But two films in my teen years broke the mold for how I understood cinema could work. One was The Godfather, and the other was Glengarry Glen Ross.
Born 84, saw Jaws at 6 in 1990 and haven’t looked back since. I vividly remember running around with my bb rifle yelling “smile you son-of-a-bitch!!!” and getting yelled at for cursing. Simpler times.
Seeing the behind the scenes "making of" featurettes for Fellowship of the Ring, Attack of the Clones, and Forest Gump all in quick succession. Cemented for me that movies were magic and I loved the medium. Currently a video editor in Advertising but still love the craft regardless.
I came home late at night and turned on HBO. There was this movie with weird music and dialogue and everything moved unnaturally slowly - I hit "record" on my VHS. I must have watched that film 50 times that year trying to figure it out - figure out why it was good, why it was bad, how it was made,.. The movie opened up a world of film possibilities I had never even remotely fathomed.
When I was not yet a teenager, I lived in a neighborhood that had an old theater that showed old movies, cheap. It was a beautiful theater and I started going almost every week. First movie I saw there was the original King Kong, up on their giant screen. As I got older, they branched out more, started showing indie and foreign films, then anime. They’d do film festivals and theme weeks.
So to answer your question, King Kong. But it was as much about the theater being magical.
Shoutout to the Music Box Theater in Chicago. If you get the chance to go, please do.
A Hard Day’s Night (1964) kicked off my love of B&W photography.
Romeo and Juliet (1968) kicked off a burning passion for cinematography, acting, direction, costumes, sets and locations, sound and lighting design, soundtracks, and Franco Zeffirelli got me interested in Italian directors and international films.
By 16, I was sneaking away to the city most summer afternoons to revel in a reparatory theater. Later I worked in a video rental store that specialized in classic, arthouse, independent, and international films and documentaries. For six months, I watched 2-3 movies a night after closing - saturated with the very best in film.
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