Royale's Autobiographical Movie List-Post 1:The Early Years

Okay, so I'm trying something new. This tangent that I am taking is inspired by the Movie High Infidelity. In that movie, when John Cusack's character is reorganizing his record collection, his friend asks him what organizational method (I'm paraphrasing)he is using. He says autobiographical. That, ladies and gentleman, blew my mind and has endeared me to the film. Although I never watch it because I cannot stand the hair style on his love interest. Sad, really. Anyway, this is the start of Royale's Autobiographical Movie List. I have been known to say that music has saved my life, which is actually true. I also want to say that that movies have shaped my life. Some have had more impact on my life than real-life events. That is the truth.
So we begin back in 1971 with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the first movie I ever saw at the theater. I don't remember a lot about the film but I believe the price was fifty cents. My Mom let my brothers take me to the theater. It was about five blocks from my house and we walked there. It was a big deal just to go downtown, and especially cool to actually go to a theater. The Heart Theater in Effingham was a great old theater even then. It had a big glowing clock that I would stare at intently, trying to make time go faster so the movie would start sooner. I remember being thrilled at the big squid attacking the Nautilaus. I get a warm nostalgic feeling when I've seen it since.
Next was Snow White. This was a very special occasion because it was just my mom and me. My brothers were not with us for whatever reason, and my mom decided to splurge while we were downtown shopping. The Dragon that the prince fought was the coolest. I have to say, I wasn't that into the movie until he appeared. Thinking back on this, I don't think my mother and I went to the theater more than a handful of times. I took my mom to the drive-in when I was in my twenties and then to the theater when I was in my thirties. That makes three times. We did watch a lot of TV, VHS tapes and DVD disks together, though.
Both of these movies were good. Both are Disney classics and neither one was on it's first run when I saw them. I don't think I thought much about when a movie had been made back then. Our TV was in black and white so just seeing a movie that was in color meant a to me.
These movies were important to me for fairly obvious reasons. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was the first movie I had ever at the theater. It was the beginning of it all. All the movies that came later in which I loved or hated or changed the way I saw things all started with that one movie. I don't own that movie and I probably never will buy it on DVD. It guess it was more about the experience than the movie. It was thrilling. I was a "big boy" and I got to go to do something with my big brothers. Quite a landmark for a kid.
Snow White was a little different. It was special and kind of a secret. It was something that my mother and I shared without my brothers. Going to the movies was something we could hardly afford. Somehow at that young age I realized how special that was. Once again, I don't own that movie and probably never will. Yes, it was the experience and not the blah blah blah. But as trite as that may sound, it's true. And although there are parts of the movie that I remember, what I remember most was standing outside and staring at the movie poster and my mom saying, "We Let's go in." She said it with smile after she had talked herself into it. She had an attitude of "by god, we deserve this." She was a little dramatic but pretty damn cool. And I'll never forget that.