Why? 

What was your favorite movies when you were six years old?

            Sixteen?

            Twenty six?

            What is the best film you have seen in the last five years?

            Ten?

            Twenty?

            Has your opinion of a particular film changed?

            For the past ten to fifteen years I (Cary) has had the idea to re-watch movies. Go back and give them another look- now.  You age and mature, you find both new and older films, as do our experiences, influences, and values.

            This idea was born when I perused a few films over the years in middle age. One was Smokey and the Bandit, the other was Batman- the sixties version with Adam West. Lets just say I found these films to be a bit better when I was sixteen and six than I do now in middle age. This is where my idea was born with the word ‘revisited.’ What do these movies mean for us NOW!      

            As we age, our opinions and perspectives change on many things. What we once thought was amazing, is now sadly lame. It happens, life happens, shit happens.

            My wife Kim and I are Baby Boomers. Sociologists have decided those of us born between 1946-1964 fit into this category We were born near the end. I was proudly hatched with five days left in the Eisenhower administration on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday. Kim was born in the final year of our group when the #1 song was the Beatles I Wanna Hold Your Hand was #1 and I enjoy doing that with her.

            We entered life on the third rock from the sun in the aftermath of the Second World War. Beaver Cleaver, Richie Cunningham, and the Man in the Grey Flannel Suit had yet to morph into Huey Newton, Abbie Hoffman, and Dr. Timothy Leary. Who? Look ‘em up.

            Movies had been around for decades, but many were worried with the explosion of television in the fifties. Twenty percent of American homes had TVs in 1950, by 1960 that was astonishingly up to eighty-seven percent. Television did not kill motion pictures but may have influenced their content.

            The American family morphed into a gathering that coalesced around large square wooden boxes that transmitted images and sound electronically and mysteriously across the continent through TV masts and towers. Once we were old enough, our parents would at first accompany us to movie theaters. In our young lives, it was heaven on earth.

            We were allowed to choose from popcorn (with enough butter to clot our arteries later), soda pop, and candy. Our tiny hands grasped these delicacies as we descended down a slow slope to padded folding seats over sticky concrete floors. As soon as we aged enough, Mom and Dad were comfortable enough to earn a reprieve for themselves and had us a five-dollar bill and drop us off. Our developing brains were both entertained and enthralled by the screen.

            Those movies had a huge influence on our childhoods. Our heroes and villains appeared before our eyes. Television got smart and broadcast selected movies into our living rooms, which offered limited entertainment compared to today. We had ABC, CBS, NBC, later PBS, and a few independent channels that appeared later. That was it: no Cable, VHS, DVDs. DVRs. Nothing. If you missed something, it was gone until the next time. This was all we knew and it was magical.      

            I also felt the perspective would be greatly improved if Kim and I BOTH watched them together. We are a happy couple but have different taste, like different genres, and have varying experiences in out lives.

            We have seen and like different movies due to taste and gender. I have never seen Grease or Titanic. I am not a big fan or musicals and I always joked that “I don’t need to spend three hours watching this movie, I can tell you in three seconds. Boat hits iceberg, boat sinks!”

            Kim and I obviously have a slight age difference, plus our background and gender is impactful. I didn’t create the term “Chick-flick” but that is certainly a genre of film. In 1978, two atypical films came out: The Deer Hunter and Grease. Who do you think preferred one or another?

            Its important to get our differing perspectives from the films. I hope it will make it more interesting to the reader.

            Enjoy, and try it yourself  🙂