Despite growing up on a farm in the Mid-west, movies have influenced my life a great deal. Our public library system had "portable" reel-to-reel" movie projectors which we checked out as often as we could, depending on our recent school performance. We all learned to thread film and maintain the old machine through hours of delightful movies. Everything about these events was memorable, from the clacking of the shutter to the large paper bags of home-made popcorn. The "movie screen" (a sheet) flickered late into the night while we sat on couch cushions and blankets piled on the floor. What good times we had. I still like left-over popcorn for breakfast.
My imagination ran wild as a kid and movies fed on it easily. One of the first movies I can remember is a Dracula movie I saw at about three years old. My parents didn't intend for me to see it. I snuck into the living room in our basement while they were watching it on TV and I remember hiding at the arm of the couch to see better. I'm not sure, but I seem to remember them picking me up eventually where I watched to the end.
I was fascinated. Despite my young age, I remember the plot quite well and I have often wondered which version I saw. In this version, the two "hunters", one being the father of Dracula's bride, killed Dracula by swinging a boat hook into his back and lifting him into the sun where he pivoted around and around, decaying with each turn until he turned to dust and his cape floated away.
I don't remember being very scared, if at all. I must have been too young. However, I also remember one of the first movies to really scare me was War of the Worlds. The Martian's visit to the farm house and its hand creeping onto the heroine's shoulder freaked me out! I couldn't sleep alone for two weeks after that. We lived in an old, white farm house like that one, with an old barn that I did chores in every morning and night. My fear of aliens remained until my late teens when I finally sorted out those inner fears.
Another negatively impacting movie was Jaws, which I happened to see part of, as an eight year old, while at the home of a bible study group my parents visited. Wow. That accentuated my fear of water for years afterwards—well, Jaws and some movie of an alligator in the sewer system that I must have seen in the same house.
Most of the movies I saw growing up were oldies; the Sound of Music, West-side Story, etc. Oldies comprised the majority of the library's reel-to-reel collection. But the Betamax and VHS war finally came to the Mid-west in the late 80's and the library expanded its movie offerings. I didn't go to the movie theater more than four or five times before I started college in a town with dollar theaters. I had a lot of movies to catch up on.
I generally avoid R-rated movies, and some PG-13—specifically those with sexual content and extreme violence. I love international and independent films too.
I'm not a collector of movies. I have only purchased one DVD; the extended edition of Lord of the Rings I. I would purchase the next two, at a good price. But I can't think of any movies that I would want to watch over and over again enough to warrant a $25 purchase. My opinion changed a little when I married. Having movies handy to distract children is a must. At least my wife had some kid-friendly movies at hand when we married. We haven't purchased any others though.
