Your memorable movie-going experiences

Making out during Schindler’s List.

 

In 1987, I scored a date with girl I'd had a crush on for nearly year. She suggested a movie. I said "How about Eddie Murphy Raw?" She agreed.

Friends, I didn't know she was a goody-goody who abhorred cursing. She sat, silently, the entire movie. We did not have a second date.

 

That is fantastic. That reminds me of two stories from around that same time. One was going to see Raw with a girl I had a crush on and she knew it. We both enjoyed the movie and when she hugged me while I dropped her off, I tried to lean in for a kiss. She smiled, but made her intentions clear by saying, "You don't own me" in her best imitation of Murphy's line from Raw. I managed to get by my embarrassment to laugh with her at her perfect timing and delivery.

The second was an actual date with a different girl. I let her choose the movie and she selected Pretty Woman. It was not a good date at all. She was attractive, but I quickly discovered that she was far more of an arrogant snob than I had realized. Part of our pre-movie discussion revolved around her telling me she hated two things I love, baseball and Pittsburgh. She also gave me a hard time about dropping out of an AP class we had been in together. (Long story short, I took some academic pressure off myself as my family was dealing with my parents getting divorced). Before the movie even started, it was clear neither of us would want a second date. I spent most of the time thinking at least the movie was good, so I could just ignore her presence.

Then we got to the opera scene. I glanced in her direction, knowing that opera was something she enjoyed. Richard Gere had a line in the scene: "People's reaction to opera the first time they see it is very dramatic. They either love it or they hate it. If they love it, they will always love it. If they don't, they may learn to appreciate it, but it will never become part of their soul." At that point I leaned over a little and whispered to my date,"Like baseball." At this point in the story, I suggest the reader picture the wall of ice built by Iceman to cover Wolverine's escape during X2. The difference being that wall not only moved with us to my car and all the way back to her place, it also remained in place the remainder of that school year.

 

That’s like how some respond to your posts!

 

For true memorable theater experiences, me and two buddies went to see the Star Wars Clone Wars movie (the cartoon that got turned into an animated series). One of my buddies was (still is) the biggest Star Wars nerd you'll ever meet. While the Clone Wars series is actually very good, the movie was trash. We went after my paper's deadline and it was just the three of us in the theater. We went full Mystery Science Theater 3000. About the only thing that made the experience enjoyable.

If we're talking movie date stories, took one girl I had a massive crush on out to see The Perfect Storm. Great movie for a date. Got emotional enough that as the theater let out, she just buried herself in me for a good little while. We left and she kissed me good-bye. Now I should mention this was a summer between my sophomore and junior years of high school. I should also mention I didn't have my license at this point (for reasons) but lived close enough to walk to the theater. Between the burying and good-bye kiss, I needed a good long moment of sitting down before I could make my way home. That didn't get a second because not having been on many dates by that point, I said a few things that I thought were interesting but were kind of turn offs.

Different girl different movie (and I won't remember which movie it was for the life of me) and, hey, I had a car (not relevant to the story, but thought it interesting). We were walking into the theater and heard a shout from a car driving by. Looked up to get greeted with a full moon. First real BA I'd received (and come to think of it, the only mooning I've received) Probably the best part of the date. Took the girl out as friends, which I thought was clear, but I was 18 and a dumbass and I spent the entire time talking about her friend who I would eventually see for four years. Word got back to me how pissed she was because apparently she had a complex over her friend because guys tended to gravitate toward her friend. She forgave me quick enough.

 

Two more:
1) whatever Star Wars movie on Christmas Day with my kids and my parents all on the same row.

2) "42" with the Bethune-Cookman baseball team when "Daytona Beach' came on the screen and everyone cheered, even though we knew it was filmed in Macon....then when Jackie's first spring training game came on and it really sunk when we all thought "My God, we play our home games there"....(and that Jackie didn't draw a walk in his first AB like in the movie)

 

Random memories:

— first time I took my daughter to see a Star Wars film in the theater. She was about 11 and watching her head fly back in the chair when the music/logo kicked in was something I didn’t expect, but cherish.
— junior high and my friends and I get to go a Saturday matinee with no adults for the first time. I wanted to see Parenthood, but my best friend was dead set on the Abyss. He talked our other two friends into it. Now, the abyss is a great film, but it starts off real damn slow. My best friend got up to use the bathroom, and we never noticed he didn’t return. End of the film, we walk out and realize he was gone. Freaked out, we run outside and find him. He said the abyss was boring so he snuck into parenthood instead.
— not in theatre, but when I was about nine m cousins and I got our hands on a tape of another kitten natividad film. We watched several times with no adults around, but got cocky and watched one afternoon when my dad was sleeping upstairs. He surprised us when he came down the steps. Time sort of stood still. He made us go stay in the basement while he watched the rest of the movie. We thought we were dead meat, but surprisingly nothing happened.

 

That’s called potential blackmail material.

 

Rocky Horror at the Key Theater in Georgetown 1977 & 1978 Midnight showings with Earserhead as the first movie of the double feature. A few hundred tripping stoned HS and College kids.

Took a girl to see Risky Business. We were both as horny as young people can be leaving the theater. Her first words out of the theater were, let’s take a train ride. Referring to the The climactic sex scene on the train. We Both lived at home. Drove to a construction site for a new home development, no one was in sight. In the back seat, as we approached denouement there was a rapping of a flashlight on the car door window. Police. Sent us on our way. Bluest balls in history.

 

Was working the desk at a former newspaper life, so I had days off to be Dad to my 2 kids.

One afternoon, took them to matinee of some animated movie, I believe it was "Up," and there were a few dozen parents with kids in there.

Before the previews, I noticed who I assume was the theater manager come down and start talking to a guy who was sitting a few rows down and over from us, he was with his wife and a couple of small kids.

They were talking back and forth, and then it got a little more loud and heated. I soon realized the guy was packing, with a holster on his belt. The manager finally said, "There are signs outside the ticket booth that firearms are not allowed. I don't care if you have a permit to carry - the gun cannot be in here. You are welcome to stay without the gun, or leave with it. Your choice."

The guy makes a big production of standing up and stomping out in disgust to take the guy to his car. As he's walking out, he turns to everyone watching the scene and says, "You're all going to regret me not carrying when the shit goes down in here!"

I guess I'm fortunate a gunfight didn't break out during a Wednesday afternoon matinee of "Up"

 

Summer of 1988. My best friend and I went on a double date with our girlfriends. Still too young to drive, a parent dropped us at the cineplex.

We were supposed to see “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” Great flick that I saw later. At great risk of losing young loves, my buddy and I went to “Die Hard” starting close to the same time. Girls went to Roger Rabbit.

Just blown away by Die Hard. The Everyman hero. Bad guy being smarter than the good guy. Huge impression and such a great time. The girls forgave us.

Close second is seeing Pulp Fiction in college, midnight show, with a raucous packed house.