Formative Film-Going Experiences

As a lover of cinema, I often think back to my first experiences of going to the theater to watch movies, remembering my initial awe, fear, and enjoyment.

I recall going to see Return of the Jedi in 1983 with my father.  I was four or five years old at the time.  Perhaps there had been movie-going experiences before this, but this one stands out.  I distinctly remember being frightened and clutching to my father during the first half hour that takes place in Jabba the Hut's Palace.  The creatures were so bizarre and creepily-alive.  I don't think there would have been the same reaction had we been in the age of CGI special effects that George Lucas resorted to in Episodes 1-3.  The aliveness of the beings were punctuated by their actual presence in the pro-filmic world.  I don't remember much more about that initial experience of Return of the Jedi, but the memories of being in a state of fear in that first half hour later relaxed into an overall enjoyment and wonder during the remainder.

Although several years older at the time, another formative experience for me was seeing Major League in the theater in 1988.  As a ten year old, my main passion at the time was baseball - playing, watching, collecting cards, and dreaming about the sport.  Major League did a masterful job of capturing the reality of the game as few baseball films have done before or since.  The excitement of the games, the idiosyncratic characters, and the choreography of the on-field action combined to create a life-long fondness for my first experience of this movie.  I remember walking out of the theater with a feeling of glee having witnessed Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) strut onto the field to the sound of "Wild Thing" and pumping in strikes that exceeded 100 mph.

These formative experiences with movies are just two examples of how I came to appreciate and love cinema - wanted to study it in all its aspects.  These films aren't even considered all that great critically but to a young, impressionable mind, they seemed like masterpieces.  We all have memories of going to the cinema and being changed, for better or worse, in our youth.  The memories I have provided are two in an ever-developing accumulation of films that shape and determine our destinies.