If you’ve read my blogs this month, you know that I don’t really have favorites. I like a lot of things, but there are very few things that are hands down favorites. The same is true for movies. As a child, Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang was a favorite but I think it was because my parents surprised us with a trip to the drive-in to see it.
I was always enjoyed Gone with the Wind. I remember seeing in at the theater. It was the first movie I saw that had an actual intermission. It was an EVENT when it was shown on network TV for the first time (my family did not have cable). I can remember planning my schedule to be certain I was could watch it on the two evenings that it was broadcast.
Goodbye Girl staring Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason was a favorite when I was in college. I wanted to be an actress in New York City and that movie showed me what living there might look like. Of course, I also loved the happy ending.
As an adult, especially while raising my children, I didn’t go to the movies often. It wasn’t in the budget. We did see several Disney movies, usually courtesy of the grandparents. I do remember enjoying Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
Several years ago my husband and I started going to see a movie every Tuesday night – the tickets cost $6 at our local theater. We made it a “date” for almost two years. Many of the movies that we saw were not memorable, and the ones that were memorable did not move into the favorite category.
I am trying to learn how to watch a movie with a more critical eye. I’ve read Through the Screen Darkly by Jeffrey Overstreet and have attended lectures about movies as art. I have not yet acquired a taste for the critically acclaimed movie – I rather read a book.