Movies My Dad Took Me To When I Was A Kid - The Poll!

Holy shit, best filmgoing dad ever.

totally!
half my childhood/teenage memories of hanging out with my dad involve seeing movies - but none of these ones!

quite a list

blade runner was my idea. i remember raving about it in school on monday and NOBODY had seen it!!! i felt so all alone. and i know i made him go with me to see the jerk cuz it was R and i HAD to see it.

out of curiosity, what age range were you during this list?

why is the Jerk rated R again...? are there boobs somewhere? I can't remember

he actually took me to a double feature of days of heaven/harold & maude. those movies blew my little mind.

atlantic city would've made me plungingly sad if i'd seen it as a kid

i made my Dad take me to see Slipstream and he's never forgiven me

fanny and alexander must have been weird from a kid's p.o.v.

um, i was born in 1968. and i'm 39 now. so....i was really young when i saw silent movie. (i actually had the photo paperback of silent movie. i was really into silent movie).

that richard pryor concert movie, the first one, totally messed with my head. the sex stuff was waaaaaaaaay beyond me.

that pryor movie came out in...1979? so, i was, like, 11 when i saw that. i didn't know what a vibrator was. it was shock and awe when i saw that.

My parents took me to an arthouse double feature of King of Hearts and Harold and Maude at the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis on Halloween when I was 9 or 10 and my mom thought that my older brother and I were too old to trick-or-treat. I remember a concession-stand dude squiring me with a water pistol he had for Rocky Horror at midnight.

squirting, not squiring

that was his penis

I took myself to The Hunter about five times and watched Hooper in a motel room in Brainerd, Minnesota, also about five times. The two seconds of a topless woman emerging from a cake remains etched in my memory.

Yeah, apparently your dad rules, scott.

My dad "made" me watch Manhattan, which I really am thankful for

really?

the only movies i remember seeing with my dad were poltergeist when i was 10 and texas chainsaw massacre when i was 6 or 7. both old coastal town movie theatres with no care about age restrictions.

i also saw poltergeist in the theatre with my dad!

wow thats a great list!

i saw a number of these movies w/ my dad too - although most were prob on video

my dad stopped letting me pick movies after I asked him to see the island when I was 9 and excalibur when I was 10.

I saw raging bull by myself when I was 10. my mom dropped me off to see some piece of dreck, but when I got to the box office I just said "one for raging bull". good thing employees at movie theatres in the 80s did not give a shit who they sold a ticket to.

ithere are some on there that i totally to this day associate w/my dad cause he loved them so much - particularly the road warrior and diva

sunny successor trumps us all by seeing texas chainsaw massacre at 6 or 7. good lord child.

Voted (with great difficulty) for 'Harold & Maude'. Awesome filmgoing dad, Scott.

ones i remember:

indiana jones & the last crusade
batman returns
star trek 6: the undiscovered country
jurassic park

we didnt go to the movies a lot

yeah I hardly ever went to the movies with my dad, the only ones I really remember him specifically taking me and my brother to are The Empire Strikes Back and what is still one of my all-time faves... Bugsy Malone.

really the two movies i my dad took me to that i appreciated most were when i was 6 or 7: flashdance and risky business

omg bonerz!

oh and the Dark Crystal. which I specifically remember because the film broke and melted right towards the end and someone shouted out "It's the Great Conjunction!" May be the only time I saw a film melt in the theater.

there are some on there that i totally to this day associate w/my dad cause he loved them so much - particularly the road warrior and diva

-- jhøshea, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 20:27

man that's two dads on this thread that are way cooler than mine

i'm voting big red one: lee marvin handling a wounded soldier's severed testicle for that extra-freudian moviegoing pleasure.

I lived miles away from a cinema as a kid but I do have a very distinct memory of my dad taking me down to Fresno (the 'big' town for people living where I did in the Sierras) to spend the day watching 'They Shoot Horses Don't They?' and 'Lawrence of Arabia'.

oh man 'wrath of khan' flashbacks

My dad took us to none of those movies :(.

My dad was a pretty nutso movie chaperone pop, taking me to lots of crazy b-movies, like "Re-Animator" (in the theater!), "April Fool's Day," "C.H.U.D.," "976-EVIL," and on and on... in fact, my poll would be the total lowbrow grindhouse version of Scott's.

haha, the last movie my parents left the house to see was Patton. It was at a drive-in and my brother and I weren't interested in it, so we watched Pufnstuf on the opposite screen out the back window, with the Patton soundtrack to go with the Pufnstuf visuals. Fucked up.

But I digress, sort of.

I didn't go to many movies with my Dad. But I vividly remember Dad (and Mum) took me to "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" at the local drive-in when I was 5 or 6. I think they hoped I would fall asleep, but I stayed awake for the whole thing because I loved Dolly Parton.

I now wonder what Australian drive-ins are like.

the speakerbox is located on the right side of the parking space.

Slightly higher than in the US so that the dingos don't gnaw on it.

my parents took me along when they went to see 'boys from brazil'. i was seven. it was a mistake.

a couple years later i thought i had tricked my mom into taking me to see 'stripes', but i was confused and we ended up seeing 'taps', which is a very different film.

Back to topic at hand, I, like Michael White, went with my dad to see Lawrence of Arabia- I remember being confused about the "beginning with the ending" thing and having it explained to me. Also went with him to see The Andromeda Strain, which I voted for on one of the other polls. Later we were greatly disappointed when we tried to relive the L of A experience and went to see a boring French Foreign Legion movie with Gene Hackman called March Or Die. I don't see any movie I saw with my dad on this list- Rocky is not there either, nor Brannigan, so I'm not sure what to vote for- even if that kind of reasoning is not exactly what Skot meant for the poll.

As with most explanations from my dad, I pretty much had to get it the first time or I was never going to get it. Luckily this time, it was just a simple trick, a simple piece of movie business, and not something that required a patient explanation.

Slightly off topic, I once had the pleasure of taking to the cinema my father and his fetching but not terribly bright girlfriend. We saw Marquis. There was much uncomfortable squirming.

sunny successor trumps us all by seeing texas chainsaw massacre at 6 or 7. good lord child.

-- Edward III, Wednesday, March 26, 2008 3:29 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

poltergeist was the one that scarred me for years. robyn how old were you when you saw it?

too young, about 8 (my brother, younger, fell asleep early in, which was lucky)
i have no idea what my dad was thinking! maybe that b/c it had kids in it it couldn't have been that scary?? probably... can't really be mad at him tho. but yeah scarred for yeaars, like still have residual fears about closets

tho at the same time i'm kinda glad he took us to stuff like that and not just a bunch of movies about people talking

but then he also took us to things like 'the milagro beanfield war' which was basically super boring and weird to me. in early teens, we saw lot of movies at the discount theatre on rainy sundays (3 movies for the price of one! does not exist anymore) and for some weird reason i really remember Q&A (?? yeah the one with nick nolte) i guess b/c i had no idea what was going on but found it super intense/bizarre anyway. and i think it was paired with some kids movie that came before it. so yknow o_O

my dad took me to see the terminator when i was 2. i don't remember it though. because i was 2.

the movie that scarred me when i was little (besides willy wonka, naturally) was billy jack. i don't remember who took me to that. i must have been pretty little. anyway, i didn't know what rape was, and when someone explained to me that billy jack's girlfriend had been raped, i thought they said "raked" and i imagined someone actually raking his grilfriend with a, um, rake. i thought that was so horrible. and it scared me a bunch that someone would do that to someone. i was kind of an idiot.

but whoa i'm glad you didn't have to sort out what it really meant

I am going with Exacalibur b/c according to my brother 5 year old me yelled "They're naked!" during a love scene.

Also remember crawling under the seat in terror during Lifeforce.

Lifeforce, the Tobe Hooper movie? 5-year-old you would have had a field day with that one.

re: Poltergeist and i have no idea what my dad was thinking! maybe that b/c it had kids in it it couldn't have been that scary??... it WAS promoted heavily as a Steven Spielberg production...

My uncle took a bunch of young cousins all to see "The Blue Lagoon," mistakenly believing that it was a Disney movie, and then took everyone home after several of the youngsters kept yelling "what is he DOING?!" during the scene where Christopher Atkins is whacking off on the rocks.

We saw Marquis. There was much uncomfortable squirming.

-- Michael White, Thursday, 27 March 2008 14:22 (Yesterday) Link

sounds like wholesome family fare...

Plot keywords for
Marquis (1989)

18th Century
Talking Penis
Surreal
Costume
Metaphor
Imprisonment
Claymation
Coup D'état
Mask
Violence
Animal
France
Anthropomorphic
Marquis De Sade
Revolution
Puppet
Rape
Satire
French Revolution
Talking Genitals

My dad took me to see The Doors when I was 9. Nothing beats watching Kids (at home, not in a theater) with my mom though. I have no idea what we were thinking!

But I vividly remember Dad (and Mum) took me to "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" at the local drive-in when I was 5 or 6. I think they hoped I would fall asleep, but I stayed awake for the whole thing because I loved Dolly Parton.

-- VegemiteGrrrl, Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:00 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

this was probably my uncle's theory when he took 9-year-old me to see the drive-in triple feature of amityville horror / dawn of the dead / last house on the left. I was fine with the first two movies since ghosts and gore never bothered me, but the real life sadism of last house on the left totally freaked me out.

I guess that's why I imagine TCM would be a lot scarier than poltergeist to a kid - ghosts aren't real, but psychopathic sadists are.

Lifeforce, the Tobe Hooper movie? 5-year-old you would have had a field day with that one.

she's naked! she's naked again! still naked!

tho at the same time i'm kinda glad he took us to stuff like that and not just a bunch of movies about people talking

-- rrrobyn, Friday, March 28, 2008 11:55 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

guess you're not voting for my dinner with andre

Guess I should clear up some speculation....

I now wonder what Australian drive-ins are like.
-- Ned Raggett, Thursday, 27 March 2008 03:04 (2 days ago)
the speakerbox is located on the right side of the parking space.
-- Pleasant Plains, Thursday, 27 March 2008 03:30 (2 days ago) Link
Slightly higher than in the US so that the dingos don't gnaw on it.
-- James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 27 March 2008 03:31 (2 days ago)

Well it's upside down, of course! And the whole shebang's powered by a dynamo generator hooked to a bicycle - we all take turns pedaling. It's great fun!

And the abstract motes and globules on the pre-show screensaver spin in the opposite direction.

so yer dad took u to see the road warrior when you were 11? wow.

Oh man. I like the idea of parents taking their kids to good movies instead of kiddie crap, but some of these really are inappropriate. voted for a richard pryor one. And sunny successor seeing TCM at age 7!, you must have had nightmares for years.

(My father didn't go to the movies. He went to the Flintstones movie with the family and fell asleep (don't blame him).)

my dad and I watched The Matrix on hotel PPV, we both agreed it was totally small-dick compensatory bullshit purpose-built for making complete assholes feel special

oh and the Dark Crystal.

weirdly this is one of the few movies I saw with my dad too. my dad never went to the movies (even on his own, or with my mom)...but he did take me to this, as well as one star trek movie. and a police academy movie. and that's about it.

my dad took me to a Tarzan double-features at the old Hollywood Theatre on Hamilton Ave in Cincinnati. otherwise he was always business-tripping when I was a kid. he & my mom weren't so into movies. I can remember grudgingly going to see The Sting on a family outing as a teenager, thought it was corny.

Nice to see the Internet Hardman doesn't fall far from the tree.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

peripherally relevant

@dadlinehwood
EXCLUSIVE: I saw the original Blade Runner in theaters with your Mother in 1983 when Reagan was in office

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Jaws 3 (aged 5) and Ghostbusters (age 6), both terrifying

He died fairly recently, but I think the last film we saw together at the cinema was... Shrek? Oy.

Never went to the cinema with my dad, I don't remember going with my mum either, we just went on our own iirc. There was a cinema more or less at the end of our street where we first lived and then one over the railway tracks and a short walk where we moved, both gone. What I mostly remember is watching films from the 30s/40s/50s on television with my mum.

movies I went to with my dad without my mom: Hunt For Red October, Field of Dreams, Tombstone, The Three Musketeers, Saving Private Ryan, Gettysburg, Braveheart, Dances with Wolves, Quigley Down Under

my grandfather got a weirder lineup when I was trying to get him out of the house when my grandma had an aneurysm and was in a vegetative state: Payback w/ Mel Gibson, Soldier w/ Kurt Russell, the Bond movie w/ Denise Richards (I fell asleep during that, absolute shit) and The Siege w/ Bruce Willis & Denzel Washington

My dad took me to see Alien and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was 13-14 for the first, probably 15 for the second--I may have been 16, but I can't imagine wanting to go to the movies with my dad once I had my license. Those are two of the best memories with him that I have in what is admittedly a sparsely populated field.

However, nothing beats my mom taking me to see Jaws for my 10th birthday.

My earliest memory is seeing Star Wars with my dad, probably the re-release around 1978, maybe? I would have been three and a half or so. The first time Darth Vader appeared on the screen I cried and had to be taken out, but after I promised my dad I could be chill we went to the next screening and it was cool. We were also into seeing 3D revival films, like It Came from Outer Space or House of Wax.

I know there were a bunch of other great movie going experiences, the usual Spielberg stuff, but the best probably came a little later, when he took me to see stuff like Aliens and Robocop. Those movies/memories rule.

I can't remember the last movie we saw together before he got sick. Possibility something like Life of Pi? I did get to take him to see Tool once, though. That was fun.

my grandfather got a weirder lineup

yes, same, i remember seeing two movies with my grandad: schindler's list and... spaceballs, which latterly strikes me as a very "tell me you're jewish without telling me" pairing

My brothers slag my dad because he took us to Watership Down when I was seven, but I'm sure I asked to go.

The corollary to this is "VHSs your mum and dad let you rent when you were a kid", mine including Watership Down and Robocop, really both as disturbing as each other.

Pretty much the only memorable thing about the Disney Star Wars sequels was seeing them in the theatre with my family while home for the holidays. Which is the first time we'd all done that together since...I dunno, Beetlejuice? We really should make a point of doing it again with something that isn't shit.

My most impactful moviegoing experience of this ilk was when my mom took me to see Exorcist III for my thirteenth birthday. I'm sure she had some second thoughts about the decision but it totally ruled.

My grandfather and I went to see Star Wars in 1977. It was the second time for me (I had seen it the week it premiered), the first for hum. His reaction was utterly characteristic: the story was literally nothing new, relying on nearly timeless elements of the heroic quest, but it was very well done.

*for him

I did get to take him to see Tool once, though. That was fun.

I've never got to see a concert with my dad. Too bad, too; he saw some shows--Hendrix and Ike and Tina in the late 60s, Pink Floyd in the early 70s, the Stones several times, Dylan at the actual "Hard Rain" show--that I would seriously consider giving my right arm to see. The first show I ever saw was Van Halen in 1979. I think he actually would have really appreciated it, but for some reason it didn't occur to either of us to go together. Now he's 81, and his concert going days are behind him.

I've tried to make up for that by taking my kids who are interested to as many shows as I can.

I was lucky to have a dad who loved going to the movies - more than anyone else in the family. Once I moved in with him in 1974 (I was nine), we were seeing movies weekly for almost seven years. He liked good writing, science fiction, satire, laughing, any plot where the little guy defeats the enemy asshole with pluck and style while looking good on a big screen. He was enough of a film fan to tell you that Kubrick, Ashby, Peckinpah, and Truffaut were his favorite directors and that next to Sunday NFL football, Siskel & Ebert's original PBS Sneak Previews was the only television show he regularly watched. Counterintuitively he sided with Siskel. I was Ebert all the way.

This is just a partial list of what we saw in the theaters together: Escape From New York, The Thing, Alien, Poltergeist, E.T., 2001: A Space Odyssey, Smokey And The Bandit, Wargames, Superman, Blade Runner, Star Wars, Tron, The Final Countdown, Earthquake, The Towering Inferno, Firefox, The Day Of The Dolphin, The Big Red One, Airplane!, Das Boot, Blue Thunder, Wargames, Taps, Time Bandits, The Shining, Midway, The Star Chamber, Star Trek-TMP, Star Trek II-Wrath Of Kahn, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (the first remake), Close Encounters, All The President's Men, The Bad News Bears, Day For Night, Small Change, Network, King Kong (the 70s one), Tommy, The Conversation, Rollerball, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Heaven Can Wait, Being There, The Terminator. I could keep on going...

Of all the science fiction, it was Alien that he related to the most: "Everyone wants to live in Star Trek where no one needs money - hell I want to live there, but you know it's going to be like Alien where it's all just corporations screwing you." He liked the Richard Dreyfus character in Close Encounters - a blue-collar worker who doesn't think twice about escaping the bullshit in life, even if it means a UFO ride. I remember his one sentence reaction to The Big Red One as we were walking back to his truck: "that was made by someone who was there." We saw Das Boot three times - there's a reason for that. He loved The Road Warrior as much Network.

Before I wrote all that out, two things come to mind w.r.t. my dad and the movies. One was the last movie we saw together: Aliens - his eyesight had mostly gone by then but I convinced him that even at 40% he would have a great time. He did, the hardest I'd ever heard him laugh was when Ripley shows up with exoskeleton at the end. The second was Blade Runner - sure, we make fun of the voice overs in the original theatrical cut, but my dad was old enough to see all that noir the first time around and experienced Blade Runner in a way that was like a personal vision of the future. Burned a pack of Pall Malls on the truck ride back on how he now knows how Nostradamus felt and if he's lucky he won't be around to see it happen.

There's only one time when my mom, my dad, and me went to the movies together. It worked out great - we had a terrific time and never did it again. Why mess it up? That movie was Raiders Of The Lost Ark

Great post Elvis. Wish I could say your dad was wrong about his prognostications but here we are.