[pocpocSubscriber]

For me, I was 7 when I first saw Jurassic Park in the cinema when it was released.
Since then I’ve seen plenty of good (sometimes great) films but none of them have had the same effect on me as seeing those dinosaurs brought to life did at an age when my imagination was full of wonder and awe. Everything my life was about dinosaurs for a while after.
I’m guessing it wouldn’t have been the same if I’d seen it for the first time as an adult.

So at what age did you first see what is now your favourite film? Am I resigned to the rest of my film-watching life being a constant disappointment?

[DezBSubscriber]

I was late teens when I saw most of my favourite films (I couldn’t name just one) – Warriors, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Godfather pt.2..
Just developing an appreciation of the type of art – music, film I liked without anyone else’s influence. Stuck with me really.
Then –
mid-20s when I saw Miami Blues
40s when I saw The Incredibles, The Departed
I still get the same thrill from stuff that hits me.

[fasthaggisMember]

I was 15 when I first saw the Graduate.
I made my plans to be seduced that Summer.

[fingerbangMember]

9

[fingerbangMember]

No, 26

[perchypantherMember]

6 years old.

Star Wars, 1978.

The first time I ever went to the cinema.

[P-JayMember]

Like DezB my favourite film changes so much, and if I’m honest I tend to watch the ones I love too much until I start to go off them.

Star Wars consumed my life as a kid, but Ghostbusters, the Back to the Future films were part of it. Later on I became quite obsessed with Ferris Bulers day off.

Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas and Forest Gump dominated by teenage years.

The Departed, No Country for Old Men and Gladiator my 20s.

Wolf of Wall Street, Django, 300, Training Day in my 30s.

My favourite film at the moment is Once upon a time in Hollywood, I was 42 when I saw it.

[darthpunkMember]

Empire Strikes Back (double bill with Star Wars), I was 5.

Now having a 5 year old it seems impossible to think that she’d sit through a whole paw patrol episode never mind two films

[mahaloMember]

my favorite films are not necessarily great films, i just saw them when i was young & impressionable and probably taped them and watched em to death!! Coming to America, Short Circuit, Teenwolf. i also saw and repeatedly watched American Werewolf in London well under age! Airplane too.

[bikebouySubscriber]

Hmmm.. I got to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind when I was 11.. It’s still one of my all time favourites. It had been out about 3 years and my Dad used to run  small film club with a projector and invite his mates around… and I got to watch it.. Brilliant.. a few weeks later I watched Jaws, which properly shit me up (considering I lived in the Everglades at the time)

[eddiebabyMember]

My favourite film changes weekly.
One last film to watch before I die would probably be Top Hat. Great songs, choreography and cinematography plus a great cast and entertaing plot. So probably when ias in my late teens.

Edit: Equally could be Some Like It Hot.

There are a million other movies hovering under there though.

FIFTH element, Fast&Furious present Calvin&Hobbs etc.

Edit edit: forgot Le Mans and The Italian Job wen the came out. And Kelly’s Heroes and Young Frankenstein.

[pondoSubscriber]

Mmm, hard to pick out a favourite but I think Jaws hits the mark for me – I remember properly hiding behind the sofa, sure I was at little school so <5 but >9.

[andypaulMember]

Aliens. I saw it on Sky Movies when i was 15 it was 1989

[easilyMember]

About 8 or 9. The Magnificent 7 on the telly. I still get upset when I think about Charles Bronson and James Coburn dying. I didn’t know that goodies could die until then.

The only thing that has come close is seeing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly when I was maybe 12 or 13. It’s a long and sometimes slow film, but I could not take my eyes away from the screen.

[EdukatorMember]

25ish, Subway.

[DezBSubscriber]

No Country for Old Men

Oh yeah, and that! So 40s again.

[jimmySubscriber]

A rather cultured and cute girl asked me what my favourite film was on a work Christmas night out some years ago. I said RoboCop, she looked horrified. But I watched it when I was 13 (that’s my answer btw) and have since realised why films have aged ratings. I was totally shocked at the sight of human cop getting shot to shit by a mob of gangsters. It left a huge impression on me, and the violence aside I loved it. For a point in time favourite film RoboCop always springs to mind. If I watched it now of course, well, it still has value…

Otherwise, Batman Begins I love and must have been 28/29?

[crikeyMember]

About 15, and I’ve still never been to Dallas.

[chewkwMember]

No idea as I cannot remember I have any favourite film …

However, I always like watching LOTR and can watch it over and over again … (coz it’s free on telly)

[perchypantherMember]

About 15, and I’ve still never been to Dallas.

DezB has though.

[pondoSubscriber]

DezB done Dallas? Did anyone film it?

[slowoldmanSubscriber]

45

[willardMember]

Not sure, 15, maybe 16 when I first saw Apocalypse Now. The helicopter scene. Loved it from then on.

[DezBSubscriber]

About 15, and I’ve still never been to Dallas.

Saw that at 17 with my girlfriend – her creepy landlord had a VHS copy stored under his telly, which we found when he was away. Quite an eye-opener. An enjoyable one. Not sure it ranks as one of my favourites though 😉

[johndohMember]

6 years old.

Star Wars, 1978.

^^^^^ But 11 years old. Queued around the block at our local Odeon cinema watched it, then went back out to join the queue to watch it a second time.

[Harry_the_SpiderSubscriber]

Possbly not my favourite now that I’m older, but seeing Star Wars at the age of 9 had a massive influence on me.

Everything about it… The queue round the block, the second row of the balcony seats – couldn’t get front row, the cigarette smoke caught in the light of the projector (nostalgia eh? It must have stunk in there and the cinema had at least two major fires during it’s life) but mostly the sight, size and sound of the opening shot!

[johndohMember]

but mostly the sight, size and sound of the opening shot

It still sends a shiver down my spine every time I see and hear it.

[tnrbillyMember]

Again Star Wars when I was 7.

No other film will ever have the same impact, not even when The Empire Strikes Back came out, which as an adult I can appreciate is in many ways a better film.

Would have loved to have been that sort of age when Harry Potter or LOTR came out just to see the effect they would have had – think that may have blown my tiny mind!!

[edhornbySubscriber]

most of my favourite films would have been watched from teens to early 20s with a smattering from about 10yrs ago when I lived in a shared house and used to watch as a gang and also going on my own to watch stuff that no-one else was that bothered about. I’d agree with Martin Scorcese’s recent opinion on films at the moment, the marvel fims and the like are not great cinematic storytelling content but I’m sure that the fashion for superhero films will fade soon.

Return of the Jedi would have been one of the first, as would Where Eagles Dare : )

[johndohMember]

Would have loved to have been that sort of age when Harry Potter or LOTR came out just to see the effect they would have had – think that may have blown my tiny mind!!

I am not sure they would – at the time Star Wars was really pushing the boundaries of what was possible – I remember watching various programmes in the lead up to it coming out (which admittedly may have all just been great PR) about the special effects etc. It was on another level to anything that had come before it. Potter and LOTR (the latter of which, IMO, hasn’t stood the test of time well) just use widely available and fully expected special effects.

[slowoldmanSubscriber]

but mostly the sight, size and sound of the opening shot

Yesterday I went to see a film called “Making Waves” about the development of sound in movies. A really good watch and it featured THAT scene. It possibly is the best opening scene ever – but that’s for another thread.

[cheers_driveSubscriber]

Cool Hand Luke. I was 21, it was on TV

[easilyMember]

It possibly is the best opening scene ever – but that’s for another thread.

Oh, I like that thread already.
I know what you mean about Star Wars, but I’m sticking with The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
I’d also mention Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. seriously, the opening is great.

[funkmasterpSubscriber]

Ooh this is too tough and way too many to choose from. I’m not actually that keen now on a lot of the films I liked as a kid. Star Wars being a case in point. I guess becoming old and cynical has that effect.

The Big Lebowski & Pulp Fiction in my 20’s and Enter the Dragon / Jackie Chan’s amazing 1980’s output (Police Story, Meals on Wheels, Armour of God etc) and Apocalypse Now in my teens. Ong Bak and The Raid in my 30’s.

[NorthwindSubscriber]

Dunno, probably some I don’t remember. First I remember was Raiders of the Lost Ark, and then Transformers: The Movie, which I could still rattle off pretty much every line of the script… I definitely saw Return of the Jedi in the cinema but I’ve no memory at all of that, we played the video til it wore out though.

Jurassic Park blew my mind though, that first scene with the longnecks is still amazing. I saw it 3 times in the cinema when it first came out

[senor jSubscriber]

Loads of fave films but…About 9 , off school sick and I watched Some Like It Hot with my mother . We both laughed loads. Loved it ever since.Probably seen it 100+ times.
“running wild , lost control”
🙂