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Your Coming of Age Movie Summer

An Evening Comment Diversion / Dustin Rowles

Comment Diversions | May 19, 2009 | Comments (81)

All the credit for this idea goes to Cinematical, which has been running a pretty stellar series on their authors’ favorite movie summers, which gives the writers over there a chance to wax nostalgic about the summer that they became full-on movie fans. Let’s call it your Coming of Age Summer. Our (very young) friend William Goss, for instance, came of Movie Geek Age in 1998, which was kind of a dreadful year for blockbusters: Godzilla, Lethal Weapon 4, Armageddon that was saved, somewhat, by There’s Something About Mary and Saving Private Ryan. Poor bastard. That’s no way to burst your summer of blockbusters hymen.

Tonight I’m borrowing (outright stealing) their idea and putting that question to you for the comment diversion: What was your coming of age summer, and which movies do you remember from it?

For me: It was 1988. I was 13. And it was Die Hard, Big, A Fish Called Wanda and Beetlejuice, which actually opened in April, but didn’t make it to my godforsaken town until the summer. I saw it four times in the theater and haven’t seen it since. Nor do I want to, for fear that it won’t hold up.

Day-O!


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Comments

Seeing as how I'm still quite young my summer coming of age movie(s) was probably Tart, or Pretty Persuasion.

I haven't the slightest when came out, but, when I watched them I came. Of age.

Posted by: Brittany at May 19, 2009 8:41 PM

And cruel intentions. That prepped me for high school.

Posted by: Brittany at May 19, 2009 8:43 PM

We had few movies in my house growing up, so when I was in college on a lax schedule I blockbustered anything with an interesting cover for down time.
Gia
Adventures of Sebastian Cole
Pump Up The Volume
Empire Records
Virgin Suicides

I was deeply affected by cinema that year.

Posted by: Sweetie Dahling at May 19, 2009 8:48 PM

Snakes on a Motherfucking Plane. 'Nuff said.

Posted by: Chugga at May 19, 2009 8:50 PM

In June of 1994 I had just finished my freshman year of high school, and my much older friends - who had just graduated - celebrated the end of the year by having a movie party of high school movies. This gave me my first introduction to The Breakfast Club and Pump Up The Volume. I'd always been a movie junkie, but I think that party changed the way I understood movies.

Posted by: Bistro at May 19, 2009 8:54 PM

Since we're talking summer season, I'm definitely going with 1996. 15 years old at the time, my young movie mind was shaped warped by:
Independence Day
Twister
Mission: Impossible
The Rock
Eraser
Executive Decision (a March release)
Primal Fear

Some of the lowlights from the same summer include The Nutty Professor, Phenomenon, The Cable Guy, Striptease, and *shudder* Jack.

Posted by: branded at May 19, 2009 8:58 PM

1984 for me...

Sixteen Candles
The Terminator
The Karate Kid
Ghostbusters
Beverly Hills Cop
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Red Dawn.

Was one hell of a year.

Posted by: richmac at May 19, 2009 8:58 PM

Wow. 1984 taken. I'm just going to point upwards then.

Posted by: Mrcreosote at May 19, 2009 9:02 PM

I can't say that a summer of movies were my coming of age. I've always loved movies, especially the experience of going to the theater - and I've always loved going alone.

If I ever thought of a time of coming of age with regard to film, it would likely be the early 90s when I watched a lot of independent and foreign films.

I guess I flunk this diversion.

Posted by: Cindy at May 19, 2009 9:03 PM

Dawn of the Dead (Romero - on DVD)
Seven Samurai (on DVD)
Royal Tenenbaums (in the theatre)
Citizen Cane (hadn't seen it since I was a boy)
The Thing (John Carpenter - DVD)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (DVD)

I freaked out and started watching every movie I could get my hands on, eventually endeavoring to compile the best movie collection ever seen (1500 strong today). I wouldn't be who I am without those films.

Posted by: superasente at May 19, 2009 9:04 PM

1989...Tim Burton's Batman, Batman, Batman, Batman, and Batman!

Seriously, I saw it, like, eight times...

Posted by: Case at May 19, 2009 9:06 PM

I'm the oldest in the family, so the folks were hardest on me in terms of not getting to see R rated films. I got more leeway in 2006, but that was an awful year for films (Pirates II, Nacho Libre, Lady in the Water). I consider my summer to be 2007, which was an excellent year for films (Knocked Up, Superbad, Rattatoullie, Juno, I could go on forever).

Posted by: George at May 19, 2009 9:16 PM

It was 1996 for me too, Branded, and also the summer I turned 15. Except The Cable Guy was AWESOME.

Other awesomeness:
Twister
Independence Day (for the pure spectacle)
Trainspotting
The Craft (what, I was a 14 year old girl)
A Time to Kill
Also, they weren't "summer releases" but I had an in with the owners of the cheapie theater, and I distinctly remember sneaking into Fargo and 12 Monkeys multiple times over that summer.

Posted by: Barabajagalla at May 19, 2009 9:16 PM

I think it was the summer of grade 8:

The Outsiders
Rushmore
Bottle Rocket
Sabrina
American Beauty
Thirteen
War of the Buttons

And not a movie, but the first season of "The O.C." It's embarrassing, but I started writing fan fiction and finding blogs thanks to that show. First Television Without Pity (before it got bought out), then Livejournal, then Go Fug Yourself and Pajiba from there.

Posted by: Marcela at May 19, 2009 9:32 PM

I think I'm just going to have to say "ditto" to Cindy's comment as that echoes my thought exactly. Except that I didn't really start getting in to foreign and independent films until around 2001 since that was the first time as an adult that a) I had cable and IFC existed and b) I had the opportunity to watch movies on a regular basis.

Posted by: elsie at May 19, 2009 9:35 PM

1989, when Heathers was on HBO. I was 10, and it rocked my fucking world. Although I remember I kept thinking there would be multiple choice for half the movie?
Character 1: "It's going to be very __"
And then I was hoping to see on the bottom of the screen:
a) cool
b) lame
c) pretty
d) sad

And then the next year was Pump up the Volume. Oh baby. Yes. It all started with those two. Even though I had, of course, seen tons of movies before then, these were the two that made me think maybe movies could have a bigger impact.

Posted by: Sharon at May 19, 2009 9:40 PM

I'll just put in another vote for 1984, although I was only 12, so some of the movies named above I didn't see until later (specifically The Terminator).

I'll also add, since I was a 12 y.o. girl, Splash (wanted to change my name to Madison for a while) and Footloose (Kevin Bacon!). Also, my mom took a few of my friends and me to Star Trek III: The Search For Spock on my 12th birthday, even though I was recovering from chicken pox and still had scabs on my face (the worst thing ever for a preteen girl).

But the best part: in 1984, I saw a double feature of the re-released Fritz Lang's Metropolis with Blade Runner at the Neptune Theater (old, funky, one huge screen, still around today). That, my friends, is a coming-of-age at the movies experience if ever there was one.

Posted by: MM at May 19, 2009 9:48 PM

I'm going to go with 2002. I was 15 and saw quite a few movies that summer that were either so awful they were good or just solid blockbusters.

Awful:
Crossroads
A Walk to Remember
Blue Crush
Star Trek Episode II

Awesome:
The Bourne Identity
Catch Me If You Can
Minority Report

Posted by: kelsy at May 19, 2009 9:48 PM

And I forgot Signs! That goes in the awesome category. Aliens and non-crazy Joaquin.

Posted by: kelsy at May 19, 2009 9:51 PM

Fuck, I'm old.

1984...I concur, richmac.

16 Candles and Karate Kid remain nostaligic favourites, the others bring back memories of happy times at the movies as well.

Posted by: blackbird at May 19, 2009 9:52 PM

Oh, yeah, and PS: Fuck, I'm old.

Posted by: MM at May 19, 2009 9:55 PM

--== Cougars'ter.C'om ==-- It's where Cougar (women who are mature, rich and experienced) and men who like them can meet.

Posted by: Cougar at May 19, 2009 10:00 PM

I saw my first R rated movie in late 1977 (snuck in at 14). It was Saturday Night Fever, and it amazed me. The following year I saw the bizarre combination of Animal House, Any Which Way But Loose, Grease, Up In Smoke, Sgt Pepper, and Superman. My experience of being dragged to Halloween that year still haunts me.

Posted by: slower lower at May 19, 2009 10:01 PM

I can't tell you how happy it makes my decrepit heart to see a bunch of other old people here that claim 1984. It was, in fact, a very good year. Ah, 13... what a terrible, terrible age to be a girl. At least I had the movies.

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at May 19, 2009 10:02 PM

1977-Star Wars. Carlton Theater Red Bank, NJ. Saw it with my younger brother and stayed to watch it twice. Good times....

Posted by: John W at May 19, 2009 10:07 PM

I want to say the summer of 2000,

because "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" came out and totally blew my mind... I had never seen anything like it before. And, although I feel almost underwhelmed by movies with the same tropes now, I still remember the pure fantasy and wonder of that masterful film. I must have finally admitted to myself my love of movies afterwards, because so many people I know hated it or loved it... for all the wrong reasons?!? Hard to explain.

Oh, oh, and the same was true for "Cast Away." Argue with me all you want, but I fuckin' love that movie, love Tom Hanks, and think it is one of the best examples of his amazing acting skill.

"X-Men" was heartily loved at the time, but now tainted for obvious reasons. "Gladiator", also. I have to re-adjust my brain to watch either movie with enjoyment.

And (shame on me) I didn't see "Unbreakable" or "Almost Famous" that summer, but loved them immediately when I saw them later.

Posted by: AgoGo at May 19, 2009 10:14 PM

I don't remember exactly, but I'd have to say 1998 sounds about right, I was 15 and started sneaking into R rated movies. Saw "Wild Things" and on-screen penis. Mind=blown.

And Marcela-I totally found this website through reading (ans writing) "O.C." fanfiction. No shame in that...or is there?

Posted by: tncunnin at May 19, 2009 10:17 PM

Definately 1989, Check this list:

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Batman
Lethal Weapon 2
Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
Back to the Future Part II
Ghostbusters II
The Little Mermaid
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
The Abyss
Uncle Buck

Memmmoriiiiies in the corners of my miiiiiind
Misty water-colored memories
of the way we were

Don't tell The Pink Hulk that I just did that.

Posted by: admin at May 19, 2009 10:25 PM

i was 14 in 1985 and anyone who knows me knows that the movie that changed my life was indeed nightmare on elm street 2.

also out that year: tuff turf (with lene lovich on the soundtrack! am i the only person that actually owns this on dvd?), re-animator, back to the future, goonies, brazil, ladyhawke, clue, ghoulies, breakfast club, weird science, after hours and honorable mention: we are the world's music video!

Posted by: gp at May 19, 2009 10:28 PM

HA!
One advantage to growing old...we had better years!
In particular, I recall 1967...

Bonnie & Clyde
The Graduate
Cool Hand Luke
Elvira Madigan
Wait Until Dark

And to think, kids today will look back on Transformers...sheesh.

Posted by: clocker at May 19, 2009 10:38 PM

1983
Risky Business
Vacation
Stayin' Alive (?)

whatever...don't judge me.

Posted by: wsapnin at May 19, 2009 10:39 PM

Let's see... Summer of '87,
I saw:

Robocop
Lethal Weapon
The Untouchables
The Princess Bride
Predator
Summer School

And I later saw Near Dark, but not that Summer. Lots of good ones on top of those, but I had to wait for them to come out on video.


Posted by: logar at May 19, 2009 10:39 PM

i'm with you admin, 1989 was THE year. though i also wore my Lost Boys VHS tape out that summer. ah, the summer of coreys.

Posted by: aprileee at May 19, 2009 10:41 PM

Pajiba: where a few old farts throw in with the children of the internet and remind them -- occasionally -- that stuff happened before, oh, 1980.

John W already called it, but no one could own Star Wars and the summer of '77. That was probably my coming of age in terms of seeing movies in the theater, but seeing Night of the Living Dead after hours on our local UHF station a couple of years earlier -- along with Karen Black's Trilogy of Terror on the ABC Movie of the Week -- was probably when my cherry actually got busted. Imagine it, kids: grainy rabbit-ears reception in a time without either internet or cable! The horror, indeed...

Posted by: Che Grovera at May 19, 2009 10:52 PM

Anna von B: Thanks for making me feel ok for being so fucking old. Warms my old, decrepit heart as well.

I'm going on a John Hughes' film binge now....

Posted by: blackbird at May 19, 2009 11:01 PM

Summer of '86. I was an exchange student in Quebec, and we would go into Montreal every weekend.

Aliens - 9 times
The Golden Child

Don't remember what else we saw, but I remember the theater on Rue St-Catherine.

Posted by: ncnn at May 19, 2009 11:03 PM

This is a little different but it was the summer where discovering Pajiba and my family getting Netflix created the perfect storm of high quality movie viewage. Instead of the air-conditioned movie theater it was a cool basement with a Playstation 2 for my DVDs.
Seriously, I owe Dustin a lot. I've considered sending him some kind of fruit basket or something. I caught onto Pajiba when I was looking for different things it shaped my opinions and got me hooked on movies. Then the Netflix was the perfect supplier for my habit.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at May 19, 2009 11:55 PM

"Coming of age"? Haven't come there yet.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at May 19, 2009 11:55 PM

1995. I was thirteen. The movies:

-Sense and Sensibility
-Batman Forever (shut up I loved that movie)
-Braveheart
-Apollo 13
-Babe
-Rob Roy
-Se7en

Good lord. I remember seeing ALL of those at the movie theater, and just...wow, what a year that was. I don't know if they all came out during the summer (I know some of them didn't) but hell, that was a pivotal year. I remember it was also the year when I first started watching the Oscars and LOVING them. That was the year.

Posted by: figgy at May 20, 2009 12:04 AM

Oh Godtopus figgy! Well I suppose that your love for Batman Forever does make a twisted sort of sense. I mean, given your nipple fixation and all.

Posted by: admin at May 20, 2009 12:07 AM

Heathers/Pump Up the Volume was less a blockbuster coming of age, more like "important personal transition" films. BB-wise, it's Aliens all the way. Man, has the action genre missed James Cameron, his run from Terminator to True Lies was golden. I forgive him for Titanic on the strength of Aliens alone.

Posted by: Dave Shepherd at May 20, 2009 12:07 AM

1993. I lived with film students. I discovered so much that summer. John Waters, Pink Flamingo. John Cassavetes, Minnie and Moskowitz. David Lynch, Erasurehead. It warped me irreparably. But in a good way.

Posted by: Newbie at May 20, 2009 12:10 AM

Fine, I'm taking 1994:
1994
Forrest Gump
The Lion King
Speed
True Lies
Clear and Present Danger
The Crow

Posted by: Fredo at May 20, 2009 12:17 AM

The Independence Day/The Rock summer of madness.

Posted by: Mick J at May 20, 2009 12:19 AM

I do NOT have a nipple fixation!

And yeah 1996 was also a great year for me. Independence Day and The Rock are my favorite Stupid Blockbuster movies of all time.

Posted by: figgy at May 20, 2009 12:38 AM

The local theater in my town blew. I watched Dragonheart, Kid in King Arthur's Court, and Father of the Bride II there because that's all that was playing there. So, I discovered my love of movies at home on TV and VHS, not in the theater.

We didn't have cable, but every once in a while Showtime or HBO would be free for a week or two and my brother and I would watch movies all week long. I spent most of my summers bike riding around town with my brother and then watching movies at home. The two movies I remember most are Predator and Radio Flyer. I get nostalgic every time I see those movies.

The movie that really took things to the next level for me was Jurassic Park (1993). We would invite all of our friends over to watch Jurassic Park and then turn on the surround sound. The roar of the T-Rex would shake the entire house. That movie made me fall in love with the experience of watching films.

Posted by: Borg at May 20, 2009 12:41 AM

I do NOT have a nipple fixation!

Posted by: figgy at May 20, 2009 12:38
---
It's a comma fixation, hence my handle.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at May 20, 2009 12:58 AM

OK, that one I admit to.

Posted by: figgy at May 20, 2009 1:13 AM

It wasn't so much the movie - but the theatre and the specific time and place...1986, grade five or so, getting invited halfheartedly along with the cool girls (I paid for the popcorn, loser that I was) and the little neighborhood theatre, The Fox, in the Beaches, Toronto. The film? Top Gun.

Oh! The dusty, creaky old chairs, the girl using one of those old push-vacuums to clean up pop-corn afterwards, the old-world stylings of the place - and of course the mass intensity of just-hit-puberty giggling and swooning. Fabulous.

I was sucked into the transformative and enlightening power of film then and there.

Posted by: replica at May 20, 2009 1:14 AM

You know there are over 3800 movies rated in my Netflix account. I really cannot remember when I started.

I suppose I started loving movies in 1996. I discovered Quentin Tarantino, Richard Pryor stand-up, Humphrey Bogart, and Martin Scorcese. I guess it was the awkward year after my freshman year of high school, a far cry from the coolly confident guy those movies certainly had a hand in making. Nothing a number like 3800 would indicate, I assure you, but they are an elite and eclectic 3800. I only sleep 5 hours on average, and not always during the night.

Posted by: Jackseppelin at May 20, 2009 1:42 AM

replica that is so perfect.

Posted by: figgy at May 20, 2009 1:59 AM

Jackseppelin, I'm not sure if you're kidding about the coolly confident part but I feel like movies may have helped me there. Like using a quote when I can't find the words. And then people think I'm quick and witty when I'm really just quick and possessing an above average memory.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at May 20, 2009 2:07 AM

1999, I turned 13 in June and it was the summer between 8th and 9th grade.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (came out on my birthday, saw it with my mom after she gave me a Furby)
Toy Story 2
The Mummy (cue Brendan Frasier crush)
The Green Mile
Galaxy Quest
10 Things I Hate About You
Drive Me Crazy

Austin Powers: Spy Who Shagged me was big with classmates but I had no desire to watch it, and when I did (to inform an English project in which we retold the Arthurian legends with a Powers twist) I found it infantile and revolting. I should have saved the sentiment for American Pie.

Posted by: TryScience at May 20, 2009 3:19 AM

Ok, I thought I was going to agree with 1984, and I saw at least 50 movies in the theater that year, but looking to see what movies got me to flip back a couple of years. (at least 40 in 1983) I think I will have to settle with 1982.


I was only 12, but thanks to my older brother and sisters instructing me on getting around the R rated barrier, or if the movie wasn't playing at the mall we could walk to, getting the parent with the least amount of information about the movie to take us (Blade Runner). Plus it didn't cost $18 a ticket.

Here is just a list of the ones I am 100% sure I saw in the theater.

Blade Runner
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial
The Thing
First Blood
Conan the Barbarian
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Rocky III*Tootsie *Poltergeist*Fast Times at Ridgemont High*TRON*48 Hrs.*The King of Comedy*The Dark Crystal*Porky's *Airplane II: The Sequel*Grease 2*The World According to Garp*Creepshow*Friday the 13th Part III*The Secret of NIMH*Firefox*Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid*Annie*Victor Victoria*Cat People*Night Shift*The Beastmaster*The Toy*Swamp Thing*Trail of the Pink Panther*Evil Under the Sun*The Last American Virgin*Author! Author!*Zapped!*The Pirate Movie*The Sword and the Sorcerer*Young Doctors in Love*On Golden Pond*Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip*Some Kind of Hero*Hanky Panky*They Call Me Bruce?*Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again*Six Weeks*Kiss Me Goodbye


Posted by: lwoodpdowd at May 20, 2009 3:20 AM

i'm with admin on the 1989 love, although i think you have to add Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to that list.

Posted by: causaubon at May 20, 2009 4:47 AM

sorry, not Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but Honey, I Shrunk the Kids which had a Roger Rabbit short before the film when it was shown in my home town (was it like that everywhere?).

I was 13 and this was the the first time I took a girl on a date- dinner and then and the movie, and my mom playing chauffeur.

Posted by: causaubon at May 20, 2009 4:53 AM

Hmm, good diversion!
I'm going back a long way (and I can't be arsed to check if these were all summer releases, but they are what I remember seeing...)

1974. Check it:

Towering Inferno
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
Earthquake
The Godfather part II

Posted by: Tarn at May 20, 2009 5:05 AM

Good call causaubon I knew I had missed a couple. I bet you got some sweet, sweet hug out of that date.

Posted by: admin at May 20, 2009 7:52 AM

1978. I was 11. The $1 cinema in the town where I grew up had "Grease" and "Star Wars" playing on alternate Friday afternoons around 5pm, and I went to see one or the other just about every Friday afternoon, all summer. Couldn't quite completely decide if I wanted to be Olivia Newton-John or Princess Leia when I grew up.

Posted by: Neon at May 20, 2009 7:57 AM

Dustin - it will! Don't take my word for it, though, see for yourself. :P

Posted by: LouLou.B at May 20, 2009 8:16 AM

I did not see many movies in a theater until I was well into my teens. I remember crowding around a TV with my friends in elementary school and just losing myself. I don't have specific memories of one year, just a mixture of 3 years from the ages of 9-11 (1985-1987).

Stand By Me is the first, middle and last coming of age movie of any boy who grew up in the mid-80's. I was 10 the first time I saw it and my friends and I ate it up. We watched it at every sleepover and quoted it as much as possible.

Other greats:
Goonies
Risky Business - My first sight of boobs. On an old 3-color big screen projector TV, no less.
Evil Dead & Evil Dead 2
ANY horror movie I could get in my VCR.
Three Amigos
Karate Kid
Top Gun
Back to the Future
Teen Wolf
Rocky IV

Just a great time to be kid watching movies.

Posted by: Kballs at May 20, 2009 8:25 AM

Also, 1995 for me. And it was all about Robin Williams. Something about a daddy complex, I suppose, though at the time I was too young to know what that meant, so...

Jumanji
Mrs. Doubtfire
Alladin
Hook
The Fisher King
Dead Poets Society
The World According to Garp

Also too young to fully grasp the last three, but that didn't stop me from crying my eyes out.

And I even liked Bicentennial Man. Although, I may have some issues, as I remember fancying Freddy Mercury as my dad before Mr Williams came along. Oh, and the whole dying thing too...

That was cold and unnecessary.

Posted by: LouLou.B at May 20, 2009 8:27 AM

Neon I love you. I no longer feel like *quite* the oldest fart in the room.


First one would be 1977...I was 13....

STAR WARS
Smokey & the Bandit
Slap Shot
Damnation Alley
Close Encounters
Saturday Night Fever
The Goodbye Girl

Then, the big year....1980....I was between my sophmore and junior years of high school....I LIVED at the tiny local theatre.....had a job, drove the blue VW bug, lost my virginity....DAMN!!! That was a GREAT FRAKIN' YEAR!!!!

Friday the 13th (original and best!)
American Gigolo
Caligula (a complete mess...but a lot of fun! gave a new meaning to "heads will roll!!!")
Coal Miner's Daughter
Little Darlin's
The Fog
Mad Max
Empire
The Shining
The Blues Brothers
Airplane!
My Bodyguard
Used Cars
Caddyshack
Xanadu
Elephant Man
Somewhere in Time
Private Benjamin
Motel Hell
Flash Gordon
Ordinary People
Raging Bull
Stir Crazy
Any Which Way You Can


*fuck....I'm REALLY old.....*

Posted by: dammitjanet at May 20, 2009 8:35 AM

1986 - Aliens

I never saw that many movies when I was a kid until they hit video. I pick 1986 because Aliens was the first R rated movie I saw in the theater. I was 13 and dragged my grandfather to see it. To his dying day he referred to it as "the bug movie". One of the best experiences I've ever had in a movie theater. First time I'd ever seen an audience cheer and then give the movie a standing ovation when the credits rolled.

That was also the summer of Ferris Bueuler, Ruthless People, Top Gun, Platoon, and Crocodile Dundee. They can't all be winners.

Posted by: TylerDFC at May 20, 2009 8:54 AM

1993

I bought my first issue of Empire Magazine which had it's annual summer preview (February Issue I think) and used it as a checklist for the year.

The following I remember seeing in theatres.

Jurassic Park
The Fugitive
In the Line of Fire
Schindler's List
Cliffhanger
Philadelphia
Groundhog Day
Cool Runnings
Dave
Demolition Man
Last Action Hero
Wayne's World 2
Falling Down
Carlito's Way
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

Posted by: Kildarepaul at May 20, 2009 9:05 AM

1964 or 65

"The Sound of Music" and "Mary Poppins" and "Half a Sixpence" (OK that last one was a bomb but I remember really liking it at the time).

Posted by: BWeaves at May 20, 2009 9:47 AM

I have to second 1993 simply for Jurassic Park. I watched that movie 3 times in the theatre and wore out the soundtrack. I was 12.

Posted by: griffimx at May 20, 2009 10:01 AM

LIFEGUARD! all the way. First time I saw nudity in a PG movie. Hairy chest, smoking hot Sam ?? as the lifeguard. Couldn't get me out of the bathroom for weeks!

Posted by: Darren H at May 20, 2009 10:03 AM

Bweaves!
"The Sound of Music" was the very first movie that I was allowed to attend by myself and I was totally caught up in it. Sitting in the Wichita Theater (one of those wonderful old art-deco 'movie palaces') and watching the enormous screen while the sweeping panoramic shot narrows down to Julie Andrews lovely face as she bursts into the opening number... sigh. It pretty much defined the movie going experience for the rest of my life.
Glad there's someone here who can relate to that.
Thank you!

Posted by: Spender at May 20, 2009 10:05 AM

Seriously, I owe Dustin a lot. I've considered sending him some kind of fruit basket or something.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at May 19, 2009 11:55 PM

Optimus, that's an inspired gift choice for the movie critic with the Ryan Reynolds fixation...you could have a future as a personal shopper!

Posted by: Che Grovera at May 20, 2009 10:30 AM

1977
I was 7(not exactly coming of age age but was my first awareness of movies as important) and I saw a triple feature at the drive in which included:
(1)A film called Swashbuckler...which I loved...there was nudity and pirates!
(2)The Sting
(3) Star Wars

It was an odd combination but cemented my love of movies.

Posted by: Trina at May 20, 2009 11:24 AM

1978--i was 12 going on 13:

my coming of age movie is 'gone with the wind.' i saw it on tv (as a mini-series) and it was the first time i had lust for a movie character--rhett butler. but that was on tv, so maybe it doesn't count....?
so....
the biggest one for me was "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band" (i know. cringe.) the really sad part was i didn't realize who 'the beatles' were and had the hardest crush on peter frampton and barry gibb (double cringe!!).

other biggies for me that year:
grease (john travolta sure was pretty)
heaven can wait (warren beatty. yum.)
high anxiety (mel brooks. it was funny to me)
the end (i remember liking this one a lot)
hooper (my mom was into burt reynolds)
and this one, which i just watched again a few months ago and laughed my ass off--
thank god it's friday (disco. disco. disco.)

Posted by: maxpurr9 at May 20, 2009 12:17 PM

oh yeah. 'close encounters of the third kind' was also a biggie in our house.
and my parents wouldn't take us to see 'animal house.'
(we lived out in the country and could only see movies when we drove into the "big town.")

Posted by: maxpurr9 at May 20, 2009 12:21 PM

The Sound of Music was the very first movie I saw in the theater with my Mom. She loved musicals, and I grew up watching them endlessly with her on tv. It led to my first major disenchantment with hollywood when I read Maria Von Trapp's autobiography later and realized that it was mostly bullshit in the movie. I still love it, of course, and subject my kids to it frequently on DVD. Old is when you remember movies having an intermission. My kids still laugh when I put in Dr. Doolittle (the original, not that Eddie Murphy crap) and I make them sit through the intermission music instead of skipping it.

Posted by: slower lower at May 20, 2009 12:24 PM

I was 13 in the summer of 1975. Jaws was the first PG movie I ever saw and I had nightmares after it, but loved it. I still have a hard time swimming in the Atlantic in water over my head.

We grew up in a very rural part of Ohio in a large family and rarely ever went to the movies. The only movies I saw in the theater as a kid was Song of the South and True Grit (actually at the drive in).

Posted by: SkyBlue at May 20, 2009 1:01 PM

I'm taking Fredo's taking of 1994:

Forrest Gump
The Lion King
Speed
True Lies
Clear and Present Danger
The Crow

AND ADDING:

Pulp Fiction
Shawshank Redemption
Leon / The Professional
Clerks

Fuck, that was a great year.

Posted by: TL at May 20, 2009 1:02 PM

maxpurr9, I went to see "Sgt. Pepper's" in jr. high with a bunch of my girlfriends. Even at 12 or 13, I knew it was HORRIBLE!! I loved the Beatles, and, of course had the obligatory 70's teenage girl crush on Peter Frampton, but it was really awful. Best part--"Maxwell's Silver Hammer." Anywho, *spoiler alert!!!!* when Strawberry Fields dies, and they are carrying her down the stairs in her Snow White-esque glass coffin, my friends are all bawling their faces off....and I am laughing hysterically. All I could think of is, "Man, the top of her head has GOT to be smashed up against that glass and I'll bet that hurts!" Yes, I was ostracized by the other girls at New Salem at that moment, and my love of snark began...

good times....

Posted by: dammitjanet at May 20, 2009 3:41 PM

Picture it: 1986. A young Pink Hulk was 10 years old that summer, coming into his own with a new range of "alone-time" activities, an burgeoning understanding of the world according to Judy Blume, a new-found, secret interest for the boys in my fifth grade class, and a love for movies. The "coming of age" movies for me that year were:

1. Stand By Me. What better movie to come to age to than an actual coming-of-age movie? This is also the first time I remember having an honest-to-God crush on another boy: River Phoenix.

2. Top Gun. Two words: shirtless volleyball.

3. Pretty in Pink. I don't even think this one requires explanation.

4. Ferris Bueller's Day Off. My hero and my ideas on popularity were born with this movie.

5. Short Circuit. The moment I first realized I wasn't like the other boys: when I cried at a robot's possible demise.

Posted by: The Pink Hulk at May 20, 2009 4:03 PM

Does it make me a bad film fan if I dont associate a summer with films or my coming of age film wise?

I dunno I just cant really think of films that made my summer in that way I mean i was the same age as people at this time but it was either that here in the UK we get stuff a few months later... or that we dont really actually have a summer to associate films with. I dont think I can really say a wummer made me or even effected me in that way popculturally.

Maybe Im just pop culturally impoverished.

Posted by: jim of the lower case at May 20, 2009 4:36 PM

2001, I was 13 years old:

-The Mummy Returns
-Moulin Rouge
-Shrek
-Pearl Harbor
-Evolution
-Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
-AI
-Final Fantasy
-Legally Blonde
-Planet of the Apes
-American Outlaws

This was the year my father realized he had a daughter who likes movies as much as he does. And we've spent pretty much every summer weekend at the movies since then.

Posted by: Shell'sBells at May 20, 2009 5:35 PM

The summer of 1978

Grease
Animal House

Suprman came out at Christmas.

Posted by: Mitchell at May 20, 2009 10:51 PM





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