Many of us harbor special feelings for certain movies we saw years ago, and that kind of cinema love usually has less to do with the films themselves than with where we were when we saw them.
Not where we were geographically, although that might play a part, but rather the circumstances under which we saw them — where we were in our lives at that particular moment.
People often tell me about a movie they recall most fondly because they saw it with a loved one, perhaps when they were young or maybe a bit older but at a vulnerable stage, and it simply spoke to them for some reason.
Maybe they watched it with their wife or husband on their first date or it was their mother’s favorite movie and they used to watch it together or it touched on a subject that related to a recent experience, perhaps tragic, perhaps euphoric. Whatever.
Sometimes it’s a movie that wasn’t particularly popular and if you bring it up, no one else seems to have heard of it, or worse, they know it and don’t like it.
But darned if you don’t just love that movie anyway. Always have, always will.
This is also true of songs and books and other forms of entertainment, of course, although I haven’t yet heard of a favorite video game that is loved in quite the same way.
Thomas Wolfe famously wrote that you can’t go home again, but sometimes we try anyway. But when it comes to movies we love, going back to it can sometimes recapture that old feeling. And it doesn’t matter whether it holds up to contemporary scrutiny, it can still bring pleasant, warm feelings of nostalgia.
On the other hand, maybe you see it years later and wonder, “What did I ever see in that stupid movie?” But that doesn’t happen to me very often, even with movies that I recognize as just so-so, despite my affection for them.
For example, I was 12 when I first saw “Hand in Hand” as a second feature on a drive-in double bill. My brother dozed off but my parents and I enjoyed this simple tale of two 7-year-olds who are fast friends until it’s brought to their attention by God-fearing adults that their respective religions don’t jibe: the girl is Jewish; the boy is Catholic. For some reason this little, low-budget black and white British movie really spoke to me, and when I saw it again some 50 years later, I could still hear what it had to say, despite its dated elements.
A couple of years later, I saw, again with my parents, my first foreign language film, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” a romantic French opera with English subtitles that made an international star of Catherine Deneuve. My folks were expecting something more like “Mary Poppins,” and shortly after it started they wanted to skedaddle. But they indulged their movie-geek teenage son and I was entranced, kicking off a love for foreign language cinema that has yet to wane.
Other unique movie experiences for me include the first time I saw “The Graduate” and was blown away by the artful, experimental and dazzling direction, cinematography and editing of this dark comedy with a bitter, be-careful-what-you-wish-for ending. This one made me look at movies differently, and I developed a respect for the art that could be achieved.
Then there’s “MASH,” which I saw in Paris in 1970, and with which I identified strongly because I was still in the Army. But this one is actually more memorable for the circumstance of seeing it in a European theater, laughing with other American servicemen when something funny was said, then hearing the local audience laugh a couple of beats later — after they had time to read the French subtitles.
When I moved to Salt Lake City in the late 1970s, pre-home video, I discovered there were regular screenings of classic films in town, courtesy of the now-defunct Utah Media Center, and when “Psycho” was programmed, I couldn’t resist. My memory from years earlier was that the Hitchcock classic was gory and bloody and very violent, so I was surprised to see that it only has two onscreen killings, both relatively bloodless. This really said something to me about the power of restraint, especially as it came just as graphic slasher movies were gaining traction.
There are, as you might suspect, many more, but you get the idea.
And I’m sure that you have your own favorites. So let’s stop talking about it and go watch something!
Chris Hicks is the author of "Has Hollywood Lost Its Mind? A Parent’s Guide to Movie Ratings." He also writes at www.hicksflicks.com and can be contacted at hicks@deseretnews.com.