The FIRST film that made a HUGE impression on you

[Evil Herbivore]

Whether it was the film itself or the experience around it....
Let us know what made you go "wow!" for the first time and really wonder what this movie thing was all about, besides entertainment.....

Mine was:
I always went to movies w/ my father as a child. I never remember being asked what I wanted to see, but we rarely saw children's movies.
One day he took me to see a movie I hadn't heard of: The Right Stuff
From the graphic depictions of testing to each carefully crafted character - I was hooked.
This was something different.
I fell in love with the maverick in Yeager (Sam Shephard), the golden boy pressure of Glenn (Ed Harris); and the neglected Grissom (Fred Ward).
And it had an intermission! (This is when movies still did & you could smoke in a movie theater)
I came out of that theatre full of wonder and still weeping over the loss of the men in the fire featured only as a mere mention at the end.
This was no "Apple Dumpling Gang"

[RJP]

The year is 1954. I'm 10 years old living in San Juan Puerto Rico. I've never even seen a TV and seldom go to the movies, however, my father has access to all the first run movie film reels and a projector and screen to play them in the Living room. Most of the films are adult stuff - people kissing and other things 10 year olds could care less about. So usually I go do something else. Wasn't exactly a Movie Buff back then.

One day Dad brings home film reels of this airplane movie. I'm fascinated with planes at that age - actually I ended up getting an Aerospace Engineering degree 12 years later - so I stick around for a change. The movie, if you haven't guessed by now, was The High and The Mighty. You could say it had a lasting impression on me...

[Couchtomato]

the original Dawn of the dead and the exorcist cause they scared the beejeebees out of me

[Pihk]

It all began with Raiders of the Lost Ark!

I became completely engaged and forgot my surroundings.

[Whatchawatchin]

There were alot of movies that I saw that really got me hooked on certain genres and just entranced me, but the one that sticks out for me came when I was older. My dad's a Vietnam vet and while his friends would tell war stories, my dad never said much or only told the funny ones about stuff they got up to when they were on leave. When Full Metal Jacket came out I had rented it and was watching it with my dad (a huge war movie buff, but most before that and Apocalypse Now were very...not realistic). It got to one point where one of the guys dies from a land mine and someone is yelling "I can't find his face! He hasn't got a face!" and my 6'5, manly man, tough as nails, stoic dad turned white as a sheet and got up and left the room. Come to find out his best friend who went in with him on the buddy program had tripped a land mine and his face had literally been blown off. It was the first time I'd ever seen my dad upset to the point where he couldn't just set his jaw and pretend nothing got to him. It was scary as all get out and also very eye opening and humanizing.

[Megan]

I think the first movie that made me WOW was "The Matrix" I really got into it and I belive if it had been a religion I would have joined it LMAO

[jeldobar]

Stand by Me

[Whatchawatchin]

That's a great one.

[Autumn]

Stand by Me was a big one for me as well.

[Whatchawatchin]

Hahaha! I remember playing Space Invaders on my Atari (after I rode my pet dinosaur home, of course :P) after watching Tron and imagining it was me down there on the little gun sliding back and forth.

[RJP]

Interesting - Tron was my then pre-adolescent daughter's favorite movie back in the mid 1980's. I remember renting the video endlessly. She was a video arcade junkie who was so awesome no "boy" could beat her. Fast forward to the present, and her 9 year old son, my grandson, is gaming addict - XBox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, you name, he's good at it. He shows no interest in movies though.

[Mort in Detroit]

I was six when I saw the Pit & the Pendulum. For over a month I refused to go in the basement.

Then again, in 1976, at 10, I saw the Bad News Bears. It was the first time I'd heard the "f" word and a few other choice expletives and colloquialisms. It was also the first time I saw kids blatantly mouth off at adults. At that age, I'd been in 7 countries and had never been amazed by or in such culture shock with anything like the Bad News Bears. The disrespect both adults and children showed one another was incredible. Our dad, who took us, didn't need to say a word. I knew that if I dared behave like that, I'd have a far greater fear than the basement some years before or any other known to mankind.

[Bruce]

I was just a little older than you when I saw Pit & the Pendulum. No movie scared me more before, and no movie has really scared me since. Odd, because it's a very silly movie.

First movie that really opened my eyes-Phantom of the Paradise. I just noticed I must be deeply effected by alliterative titles. There was something about Phantom's post-hippy glam sensibilities and air of oozing decay that made me realize movies could be more than just something you watched.