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For me, at about 14 years old, I saw Get Carter with Michael Caine.
It was the first film that made me think about film; the story, the shots, the music.
The only one to have done it since was Whiplash.
What's yours?
Don't want to say as it would give away my age :o)
OK then, "Freebie & The Bean"
Carry on up the Khyber....
---wink emoji-----
The only one to have done it since was Whiplash
Which is quite funny, because i watched whiplash and came away thinking it was a boring pretentious pile of shite ?.
I would say probably Wings of Desire, silent slow panning, colour and lack of colour. And columbo obviously.
It probably wasn't the first film that made me think that but it definitely sticks out.
The Third Man. Or maybe Psycho or North by Northwest.
I saw them all on tv as a child, I wouldn’t swear what order I saw them in.
Probably North by North West - I think because just before it started my Dad told me about the fact that Alfred Hitchcock appeared in it for a brief moment (don't think that counts as a spoiler, does it?). So, as a, I dunno, eleven year old (? - a long time ago), I was now aware that someone actually directed a film, and I was fully engaged looking out for that moment.
It would have been in black and white on a tv between 50 and 55 years ago. I remember quite liking British noir (if that was a thing), the Len Deighton/ Michael Caine stuff, various TV series eg Callan, Budgie and stuff I can't remember the name of now.
Still haven't seen Bambi. I don't recall ever being taken to the cinema to see a non grown up film, which looking back on it is a bit odd.
Bladerunner +1
The 1st film that kept me sat down, glued to the screen - and still love it now!
Either BMX bandits or Dark Crystal...
I think it was Children of Men which I watched when I was in uni. I liked things like Lord of the Rings which are obviously epic spectacles but I liked them because of the story and battles etc.
Children of Men was the first one that made me appreciate the direction, cinematography etc even if I didn't realise it at the time. That one long shot is breath-taking.
Robin Hood... I think it must've been the one with Errol Flynn. My great Aunt took me to see it at the cinema, was like another world!!
A day in the death of Joe egg on TV in the 70's really struck me at the time & have always liked gritty films & black comedy ever since.
My first thought was also Blade runner, I think Excalibur and whiskey galore are also great shouts.
I would add mentions for Lawrence of Arabia, which was visually stunning when I first watched it as a kid, maybe won't hold up to modern cinematography standards now. Flight of the phoenix (old version not the 2000's remake) which was probably the first film I felt an emotional bond to the characters.
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and Willow.
Less about the art of cinema, more the sense of being totally transported to another world. Which is still how I value film today.
Rocky 2.
Also because it was the first time I was allowed to go the cinema just with friends. None of those pesky parents around. 🙂
Apocalypse Now. I think I was 15 and we watched the helicopter attack scene during a history lesson. It stunned me. Then I watched the rest of the film when I could and was amazed at it. I still think it is excellent, certainly one of the top 5 films I have.
Probably a bit of a common choice but in the context of what the OP was talking about its Pulp fiction for me.
The way it's chopped into a set of out of sequence episodes, the characterisation, the dialogue, the framing of shots. It jumps between filming styles in places to suit the scene. The audience get to watch certain scenes knowing more than the characters in it, and the fact that several plot events happen completely off-screen but the exposition is handled without being clunky... It's a master class in keeping an audience engaged.
It's all very deliberate and you can see much of the intention on first viewing, but other things click after the second or third viewing. It's peak Tarantino.
I'm also a weirdo though and like Wes Anderson films (most people seem not to), I re-watched the Royal Tenenbaums the other day and after seeing the French Dispatch, Anderson is a very consistent director, his style appeals to me, I can understand why others might not like him though.
Rear window - Hitchcock - when I was a teenager.
And a +1 for Pulp Fiction - was very different to other films of the time
The Godfather
EDIT: or To Kill a Mocking Bird
The Big Blue.
Seven Samurai
My dad was a film and music buff. Incredibly lucky to be exposed to so much great stuff from a very early age, but a very late night showing of Seven Samurai on the BBC sometime in the early 80s resonated with me and stood with me through the rest of my life so far
Sergio Leone's spaghetti western trilogy (think I saw The good, the bad and the ugly first), for the minimal dialogue, use of Ennio Morricone's score and the lingering close ups and cutting between characters all for dramatic effect.
There's probably loads more, but the opening Omaha beach scene of Saving Private Ryan stands out as managing to pull you in and give a visceral unflinching glimpse into what happened that day.
Flight of the navigator
For me it would have been the early 70's watching films on tv, there was a run of classic sci fi and the 3 that I still recall are Them, The Village of The Damned and The Day the Earth Stood Still.
a very late night showing of Seven Samurai on the BBC sometime in the early 80s resonated with me and stood with me through the rest of my life so far
I remember taping it off the telly in the early 90s and being blown away by how fresh and exciting it felt,
Should really watch it again.
Dunno what my answer is TBH. Possibly Sullivan's Travels, a 40s comedy by Preston Sturges that satirises and validates the film industry at the same time.
Platoon. Or Mississippi Burning.
There’s probably loads more, but the opening Omaha beach scene of Saving Private Ryan stands out as managing to pull you in and give a visceral unflinching glimpse into what happened that day.
It is good, similarly some bits of band of brothers.
Charlie Mopic for kind of breaking the fourth wall.
And les mans for Silence, crash, silence.
The Graduate
(which would have been on telly -->> video rental<<--
On the big screen,probably one of these...hard to choose though
Leon
True Romance
Run Lola Run
Pulp Fiction
ET as I know it wasn't real, so was there for the spectacle of a film telling a story.
I think because just before it started my Dad told me about the fact that Alfred Hitchcock appeared in it for a brief moment (don’t think that counts as a spoiler, does it?).
i remember my parents telling me that he appeared briefly in ALL of his films, dont know how true that is. theyd point him out to me, 'man getting off a train with viola case' or something like.
Dog Soldiers
As in, 'this is a film?'
Fun game. Not all of his films though.
can cheat here
ahhhh thanks @kelvin. pretty sure its 'strangers on the train', where hes carrying the cello case off the train that i can remember the clearest.
cheers
It's jaws for me as well,when the dead fishermans head fell out of the hole in the side of the boat and his eye fell out!!!
Kes is a film I watched as a kid - watched it several times since and read the book. Part of our school curriculum - obvs very dated now but still great IMO.
@willard - was it because the main character was your namesake? 😉
I’m with you though. Apocalypse Now was the first film I watched that absolutely blew me away. War up to that point was meant to be black and white, goodies and baddies, then you watch something that blows that simplicity out of the water with the horrible messy reality, where it’s all grey areas.
Still one of my all time top 3 films. God knows how many times I’ve watched it. I watched it yet again a few weeks ago
The Killing Fields. It planted the seed in my head that I wanted to work in film. I work in telly now, so nearly, but not quite.
Subway - Luc Besson
Just ineffably cool - starts with one of the best car chases you'll ever see, plunges into an underworld at once almost mythical but also believable.
You feel the style and substance oozing through it - the soundtrack is as much of the 'movie' as the pictures.
Christophe Lambert in a beat-up tuxedo - Isabelle Adjani almost impossibly glamorous
Cops v. Robbers Parisian style - about a million miles from, yet almost right next door to, keystone cops.
Not quite what you'd expect at the end, but what you deserve.
Perfection.
Then The Big Blue.
Which is different but the same.