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What is your favorite movie going memory? (1 Viewer)

Alf S

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Thanks to TravisR for this topic idea :)

So what movie going moment stands out in your mind as being one of the most memorable?

For me, I will never forget going to see Raider of the Lost Ark at the grand "Continental Theater" in Denver and watching the crowd jump to their feet and start cheering for Indy during the scene at the opening of the movie where he is being chased by the natives and escapes successfully to the awaiting plane. Sent chills down my spine. I knew then the movie was gonna be huge.
 
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TJPC

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One of my most memorable movie experience was my first. At that point my mom was a stay at home mom, and I was about 4 years old. We were downtown shopping in Windsor Ontario, and mom decided to try to take me to a movie.
"Carmen Jones" of all things was playing at the huge Capitol theatre. It was near my nap time, and she really wanted to see the movie, so she took a chance.
Apparently I drove her nuts! All I remember is the gigantic screen, people singing loudly as some lady was strangled, and me running up the aisles and sitting in every seat in the theatre. Thank goodness it was a matinee and we were probably the only ones in the theatre!
 

Mike Frezon

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There are two that always come to my mind. One (when I was 15 years old) was taking my mother to see That's Entertainment at the Palace Theater in Albany--just before the grand old theater got "twinned" in the mid-70s. HUGE screen, curtain opening, bliss.

The other was a few years later. When a student at Syracuse University in the late 70s, I went to see a late night showing of Anchors Aweigh at a small auditorium on campus. Typical of a college crowd it was rather raucous, but truly appreciative of the talent on screen. This enthusiastic group laughed, cheered and applauded at all the great moments during that film--Sinatra's crooning, Kelly's dancing, Tom the Mouse, etc. A great shared experience that I wasn't expecting. I figured I might be one of the only people in the theater. What a fun night.
 

Rob_Ray

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I've had several and it's hard to pick just one:

The first time I was in a real movie palace, either the Houston Loews State or the neighboring Metropolitan at the age of seven, where the feature was WHO'S MINDING THE STORE? I had never seen such luxury close up before and was amazed at the grandeur inside, after walking past it countless times.

Seeing THE SOUND OF MUSIC in 70mm at Houston's Alabama Theatre, with all the roadshow trappings a year or two later made me acutely aware of the power of film and how film can hypnotize you.

And seeing any number of films at the Windsor Cinerama, particularly THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT! The luxurious rocking-chair velvetly seats that you sank into were the most comfortable I've ever experienced and the screen, with its enveloping curtain, lent an air of magic that's sorely missing in today's multiplexes.

I've had numerous similar experiences as an adult, with such things as the re-releases of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, SPARTACUS, BEN-HUR, and my first trip to Grauman's Chinese in the 1980s, but nothing has the impact that those viewings in my impressionable years had.
 
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Sam Favate

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Off the top of my head, the smell of popcorn as I sat and listened to John Williams' music, watching Superman and Lois Lane fly over Metropolis. And the same smell and sound as I watched Yoda lift that X-Wing from that swamp.

All was right with the world in those moments.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Easy, easy, easy!

It was the screening at the Fox Studios executive theater during the 2004 HTF meet, when I appeared on the screen and told Lucy to meet me down front (I'd snuck away from the group with a couple of Fox guys earlier to film it), where I asked her to marry me in front of dozens of people she had just met!

They demoed the restoration of Star Wars for DVD and a few other things, but all was secondary. :)
 

KPmusmag

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I treasure the memory of seeing The Sound of Music as a kid. The Lonely Goatherd marionettes were on display in the lobby, and there were life-size cardboard cutouts of Julie et al. I remember the screen was huge, I thought the curtain would keep opening forever. All in all a magical and memorable experience.

It was funny; my parents didn't want to tell me what we were seeing because they weren't sure they could get tickets and didn't want me to be disappointed if we couldn't go, but it wasn't hard to guess because there was an enormous billboard depicting Julie Andrews soaring into the sky above the theater. I am not sure what theater it was, but I do know it was somewhere in the Bay Area.
 

KPmusmag

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Off the top of my head, the smell of popcorn as I sat and listened to John Williams' music, watching Superman and Lois Lane fly over Metropolis. And the same smell and sound as I watched Yoda lift that X-Wing from that swamp.

All was right with the world in those moments.

I saw Superman so many times just to see that flying scene again and again. Magic.
 

Suzanne.S

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What a great topic! So many wonderful experiences that people have had.

I have a few that stand out but I think that the one that has had the most lasting impact on my life has to be seeing That's Entertainment! when I was seven. I'm not sure which theater it was at, probably the Mark Twain. We got dressed up and went to dinner before the show. It was an event.

My favorite movie had always been The Wizard of Oz. To see all the marvelous clips in That's Entertainment! and to see that Judy Garland had done so many other movies just blew me away. I wanted, no HAD, to see more. I was a movie buff and film scholar from that moment on. I read every book in the library that I could about the golden age of movies.

At the time, I also watched a lot of TV re-runs as well. Even with less than ten channels there was always something good to watch back then. My parents were very good about letting me stay up late on the weekends and during the summer to watch the movies that I'd read about.

My fondest wish in 1974 was to be able to watch any movie I wanted, whenever I wanted. To not have to miss things just because they were showing on a school night or maybe never shown at all.

Well here we are 40+ years later and I have my dream come true. I own hundreds of my favorite movies and TV series and I can watch them whenever I want. Wishes DO come true. Sometimes it just takes a while. :)
 

TJPC

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When Star Wars first opened, I knew that I had to see it the first night, but I also knew it would be too crowded. Drive ins were still around, but not very popular, so I knew I would have a better chance to see it in my car.
I drove to unknown territory on the out skirts of my city. I remember thinking "Where the hell am I?" and "what a desolate place!"
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie all by myself in the car and beeped my horn loudly with the other cars when the Death Star was exploded.
Incidently, the drive in is no longer there, but the city has grow, and I can see the spot where it was from the window of our house where we moved about 10 years later.
 

jcroy

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So what movie going moment stands out in your mind as being one of the most memorable?

(Very memorable, but not directly movie related).


A giant soda landing next to me and exploding on impact.

A bunch of teenagers were having a food fight that night.
 

cinemiracle

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I have too many favourite movie going moments. First one, as an 8 years old watching cinemascope being installed for the ROBE at the cinema where my parents worked.Later saw TODD-AO being installed at the same cinema where I also worked. Seeing Cinerama being installed at another cinema where I also worked. Much as I loved THE SOUND OF MUSIC, having to endure seeing it every day for 41 weeks was not the best movie going experience.
 

Edwin-S

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No particular movie. I think the most memorable thing about going to a movie at one time was the feeling of going to an event. A single, large, auditorium with red curtained walls. A curtain across the screen that, as it opened, signaled that for a couple of hours a person was stepping into another world, and the taste of decent popcorn with actual butter on it. Even the coming attractions were anticipated. The picture always filled the screen, because adjustments were made to ensure that it did. And you never had to sit and watch insipid commercials.

The whole experience was different than now. Now, a person spends 13.00 dollars and sits in a blacked out box with a curtainless screen. You get assaulted by the same ads you see on TV. The picture just gets splashed up on the screen. If it fills it then it fills it and if doesn't....well...get used to it. Going to a movie now is just watching TV on a bigger screen. No wonder people talk and act like they are in their living room because, for all intents and purposes, they are. Nothing, today, differentiates watching a movie from watching TV.
 

sidburyjr

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A couple stand out. Probably #1 was when the curtains rolled completely back and Lowell Thomas said "This is Cinerama" . I was sitting near the center of the second row of the balcony of the Carolina theater in downtown Charlotte, NC and my stomach jumped as the roller coaster went down the rails (at Coney Island??). It. Was. Real.

Number #2 was when my wife, daughter, and I went to a midnight showing of Harry Potter (something or other, maybe 5). Since the movie was at 12:01 am it qualified as the first matinée of the day so our tickets were unexpectedly cheap. [They didn't do that for subsequent midnight movies that I saw at Cinemark in Scranton, PA). The good memory was walking into the theater at about 11:15 having bought the tickets several weeks earlier and finding the entire theater packed. On about the third row above the cross aisle, there were three seats, but they were unfortunately separated. I asked people if they would mind moving together so that we could sit together and they were happy to do so. There was lots of talking before the film started with total strangers and anticipating things to come. My daughter was texting with a friend at another midnight show (maybe in Chicago). At the Chicago theater there were four screenings -- Gryffendor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff, which I thought was a wonderful idea. The previews, etc were relatively short (probably less than 10 minutes) and as soon as the movie started, everybody shut up and enjoyed the film. There was no talking that I could hear, no cell phones I could see. A good time was probably had by all.
 

TJPC

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No particular movie. I think the most memorable thing about going to a movie at one time was the feeling of going to an event. A single, large, auditorium with red curtained walls. A curtain across the screen that, as it opened, signaled that for a couple of hours a person was stepping into another world, and the taste of decent popcorn with actual butter on it. Even the coming attractions were anticipated. The picture always filled the screen, because adjustments were made to ensure that it did. And you never had to sit and watch insipid commercials.

The whole experience was different than now. Now, a person spends 13.00 dollars and sits in a blacked out box with a curtainless screen. You get assaulted by the same ads you see on TV. The picture just gets splashed up on the screen. If it fills it then it fills it and if doesn't....well...get used to it. Going to a movie now is just watching TV on a bigger screen. No wonder people talk and act like they are in their living room because, for all intents and purposes, they are. Nothing, today, differentiates watching a movie from watching TV.

How about the fact that people today are sheep? When commercials were first introduced here, people booed so much, and threw so much food at the screen, that they had to stop showing them for a while.
 

Ryanlion

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The Smurfs and the Magic Flute my first cinema experience in the 1970s.
 

ChristopherG

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Similar to Kevin...

The year was 1965 and our family was living in El Paso, TX. The whole family on a Sunday after church standing in line to a grand old theater where the Sound of Music was playing. I was 6 and recall vividly the long line and holding my mom's hand as we waited patiently to gain entrance. At that age everything about going to the movies seemed magical.
 

Garysb

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Seeing 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Loew's Capital in NYC. This was the last film shown at the theater before it was torn down for an office building. Went with the whole family. Giant screen. First movie I ever went to at night.
 

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