Movies in My Life

Almost every weekend from age 12 until 18, I went to the Indiana Theater one night and the Manos Theater the other.

During those years, I laughed at Auntie Mame (1958), gasped during North by Northwest (1959), hummed tunes from West Side Story (1961), and marveled at Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

There were teen flicks: Gidget (1959) and Where the Boys Are (1960); romances: Pillow Talk (1959) and Charade (1963); westerns: The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Guns of Navarone (1961); dramas: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) and The Pawnbroker (1964); and epics: Ben Hur (1959) and Spartacus (1960). In a category by themselves were the Bond flicks: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964).

The only horror movies we saw were a double feature: The Blob (1958) and one that involved aliens who liquefied American brains. My best buddy and I could not face cranberry sauce or applesauce for weeks after. The Blob also holds the distinction of being Steve McQueen’s first role. At 27, he played a teenager. Boyish good looks I guess.

Two movies hold special memories for me: Gone with the Wind that was reissued in 1961 for the Civil War Centennial and El Cid (1961) which I saw in Pittsburgh sitting in the balcony at the Stanley Theater. The Stanley cost $3M in 1927 and opened in 1928. I remember acres of red velvet curtains and seats. I had never seen chandeliers like those before. And the screen was enormous. It was definitely a different kind of movie going experience.

I no longer go to movies regularly, preferring to wait for them on DVD. But tonight we are enjoying watching the Oscars which will celebrate movies that, for the most part, we haven’t seen.