Here's something I've been kicking around for a long time and, since I've got a few minutes to kill before a gig, here's the first in a series of special posts on largely theatrical memories from my childhood and beyond that cement the reason why I love movies so much.
1977 was a HUGE year for one obvious reason...STAR WARS! I was 8. Fast forward to 1981. My father wasn't around much, it seemed, when I was a kid because he worked (for months at a time) out of town. Sure, the family would visit from time to time but still...
He was home for a while this time and he told me about this new action movie called, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (which I'm sure I'd seen the commercials for) that starred Harrison Ford, THE DUDE THAT PLAYED HAN "FREAKING" SOLO!!! It's a Saturday, early afternoon, and we head down to the largest screen in Pensacola, one of those theaters with ONE screen. The lobby cards (remember those) were all over the place. Anyway, at that time I really liked to sit in the middle of the last row because we didn't have stadium seating then and I was a kid that couldn't see over ANYONE sitting in front of me. This gave me the ability to sit on top of the back of the seat making it really easy for me to see every inch of screen regardless of what basketball player I was behind.
So here we are, me and my dad. The lights dim. We see the Paramount logo turn into the mountain peak. Lots of mysterious jungle shots and then BAM! The crack of a whip, a bullet is loosed from a gun, Indy turns around and we see his face for the first time.
HOLY SHIT! This Ford guy is a badass no matter what he does! For the next two hours it's a roller coaster ride and I'm right there laughing and clapping along with my dad.
At the end of the movie he turns to me with a grin as wide as mine and says, "Wanna see it again?". I was a total spaz and freaked out with overwhelming glee. We sat there and talked about our favorite scenes for the next half hour or so before the next show started, not leaving our seats.
That's my biggest and most favorite movie memory. Nothing can ever surpass the feeling I had when my father turned to me and said what he did. It's as memorable as "May the Force be with you" and it's my favorite personal experience at the movies.
Great. Now my keyboard's wet.
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