Movies That Molded Our Lives

[Gráinne]

Not in chronological order:

Brokeback Mountain-which happened to be released not long after I came out. Sometimes you see a movie and have the sense that you are watching greatness. This was like watching my autobiography, my story. I was deeply moved but emotionally OK until the scene where Ennis is holding the damn shirts in the closet, and then I lost it completely. I was very shaken and yet comforted by this film.

The Crying Game-I was deeply shaken by the story of the IRA man and his captive's transsexual girlfriend, although way back then I had no idea why, nor why I was so drawn to the character of Dil. I saw something about myself in her, but couldn't express it. I must have seen it about 15 times or more; the first time through I was OK until Fergus allows himself to be arrested instead of Dil, at the very end. Cue losing it again .

Bend It Like Beckham-the theme of being true to yourself and following your own dreams despite culture and family pressure.

[The_Lady_Snow]

"El Padrecito"-- Cantinflas was something I would watch with my Abuelo when I was a kid.

"Viva Zapata"-- Anthony Quin, he was a crush of Dona Fortunata and sometimes she would let me sit with her and watch this particular movie.

ANYTHING with Pedro Infante, my Abuelita loved his music, his looks, any movie or show he was in.

"Mi Familia"--these are all movies that I have enjoyed with my kids that touch on our culture..

"Tortilla Soup"

"Real Women Have Curves"

"Crash"

"Selena"


I could go on an on with Mexican Cinema

[LadyRain]

....Steel Magnolias......and Fried Green Tomatoes... Philadelphia

[SugarFemme]

Shirley Valentine. It is an awesome British film. It came at the perfect time in my life when I needed to learn to reclaim myself for MYSELF.

[pajama]

Thanks everybody for the input. I thought of another one this morning, well two actually, that helped form one of my big phobias.

Jaws and Alligator - Jaws in particular came out, or I remember the book, when I was 7 or 8. Up until then I can remember going to the beach every summer without a care in the world. The summer Jaws came out, I was even apprehensive about getting in a pool. To this day I WILL NOT get into water I can't see the bottom of (hence why I never go swimming in a lake or pond). And even when I'm in the ocean snorkling I have to work very hard to not have an anxiety attack. I usually can only tolerate an hour or so in open water snorkling.

When Alligator came out I was in my early teens. Overall the movie is kinda stupid but there is this one scene where these little kids (7-8) are playing pirates at night out at the pool. One kid is making the other "walk the plank" by going out on the diving board. The giant gator is at the bottom of the pool and the blindfolded kid walking the plank sees him under the bottom of the blindfold. That terrified me so much, that I won't swim in a pool at night without the lights on in it to this day. And even with the lights on in it, I tend to have to fight the anxiety attacks also.

A

[Gemme]

A,

I'm with you! Jaws messed me UP when it came to swimming. Even in pools. I just knew that shark was waiting for me beneath the drain. I've never done faster dives in my life.

There was another creepy monster movie, The Thing, I think. Or one like it around that time. A marshy, slimy weird looking guy thing creeping around. We had an institutional bathroom....long and narrow with the pot at the end....and I would dash to potty and dash to the sink and my baths never took more than 5 minutes. I was about 8.

[pajama]

Originally Posted by Gemme

A,

I'm with you! Jaws messed me UP when it came to swimming. Even in pools. I just knew that shark was waiting for me beneath the drain. I've never done faster dives in my life.

There was another creepy monster movie, The Thing, I think. Or one like it around that time. A marshy, slimy weird looking guy thing creeping around. We had an institutional bathroom....long and narrow with the pot at the end....and I would dash to potty and dash to the sink and my baths never took more than 5 minutes. I was about 8.

TOTALLY AGREE

Oh that reminds me of another one Psycho, to this day I try to only use clear shower curtains. I want to see that crazy mo-fo coming for me before he flings back the curtain to stab me. LOL When I was a kid I would look out the shower curtain like 5-6 times during a quick shower 'cause I'd think I'd heard something. Now I don't have to check.

[Lady_Di]

speaking of the phobias....

Arachnophobia

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by guihong

Brokeback Mountain-which happened to be released not long after I came out. Sometimes you see a movie and have the sense that you are watching greatness. This was like watching my autobiography, my story. I was deeply moved but emotionally OK until the scene where Ennis is holding the damn shirts in the closet, and then I lost it completely. I was very shaken and yet comforted by this film.

I went to Brokeback Mountain in the East Village when it first came out. My sister had been gone for several years by then, but that scene you mention— where he is gently touching the clothes in the closet, and weren't there also some belongings in a paper bag?—took me back to those two weeks she was in a coma, and I would go into my parent's bedroom when the house was empty, open the brown paper grocery bag that held her clothes, the jeans and top the ER staff had cut off of her. The bag held her sweet perfume-and-hairspray, cigarette smell, and it gave me a way to be close to her during those two weeks.

Anyway, I lost it in Brokeback Mountain, at the end when that scene you mention happened, and when the lights came up I still sat there with my alarmed friend, sobbing in a way that frightened us both.

I am reading this thread and remembering movies by the emotional experience I had watching them. Movies are like smells, they take you back to that place in your life really fast, or at least they do for me.

[Glenn]

Just a few:

The Day The Earth Stood Still
The Time Machine
Robin Hood (Errol Flynn)
Quest For Fire
Woodstock
Ghandi
Catch 22
Ayn Rand-The Fountainhead-(!949)
Philadelphia
Lianna
Desert Hearts
Taxi Driver
Miller's Crossing-(The most perfect film ever made imo).

[Soon]

Splendor in the Grass

I remember staying home from school to watch the second part of this (there were movies during the weekday) when I was about ten or eleven.

Something about the tragic consequences of rigid social roles and repressed desire struck me and always stayed with me...

[always2late]

There are a few movies that have had a profound impact on my life to this day...

It's A Wonderful Life...it taught me that everything we do and say can have an impact on others' lives, that our actions have consequences and results that we may never even see.

The Black Stallion...When I was very young, I went through a bad time. Because of this, I began failing in school and sort of withdrew from everyone. Someone in my family who was very dear to me gave me a figurine of a black horse, and took me to see the movie. They said that it meant that one should keep going even when the odds were against them, and to never give up...to keep running until you crossed the finish line.

Ok..I am going to add my vote to the movies Alligator and Jaws. I still get queasy when I remember the scene with the pool in Alligator, and I have a totally insane fear of sharks because of Jaws (you don't even want to know what happened when I was taken into the shark tunnel at SeaWorld!). I don't go swimming in the ocean. And as far as lakes, ponds, and even freshwater mountain streams go...I won't go in unless someone else goes in first (the theory being that if there IS an alligator or shark in them, that other person will get attacked, and then I know not to go in...clever huh? LOL)

[pajama]

Originally Posted by always2late

Ok..I am going to add my vote to the movies Alligator and Jaws. I still get queasy when I remember the scene with the pool in Alligator, and I have a totally insane fear of sharks because of Jaws (you don't even want to know what happened when I was taken into the shark tunnel at SeaWorld!). I don't go swimming in the ocean. And as far as lakes, ponds, and even freshwater mountain streams go...I won't go in unless someone else goes in first (the theory being that if there IS an alligator or shark in them, that other person will get attacked, and then I know not to go in...clever huh? LOL)

OH. MY. GOD. I do that too!!!!!!! The rare occasion I will get in a pool or deeper ocean water is if there are others in too. I figure they will get eaten first. I almost put that in my original post. LOL That rule does not apply to lakes and ponds though, for some reason.

[Ginger]

Originally Posted by always2late

There are a few movies that have had a profound impact on my life to this day...

It's A Wonderful Life...it taught me that everything we do and say can have an impact on others' lives, that our actions have consequences and results that we may never even see.

The Black Stallion...When I was very young, I went through a bad time. Because of this, I began failing in school and sort of withdrew from everyone. Someone in my family who was very dear to me gave me a figurine of a black horse, and took me to see the movie. They said that it meant that one should keep going even when the odds were against them, and to never give up...to keep running until you crossed the finish line.

LOL)

I especially like what you say about Black Stallion and A Wonderful Life, how you connect those movies to an emotional juncture in your life. :)

[Gemme]

Originally Posted by always2late

There are a few movies that have had a profound impact on my life to this day...

It's A Wonderful Life...it taught me that everything we do and say can have an impact on others' lives, that our actions have consequences and results that we may never even see.

The Black Stallion...When I was very young, I went through a bad time. Because of this, I began failing in school and sort of withdrew from everyone. Someone in my family who was very dear to me gave me a figurine of a black horse, and took me to see the movie. They said that it meant that one should keep going even when the odds were against them, and to never give up...to keep running until you crossed the finish line.

Ok..I am going to add my vote to the movies Alligator and Jaws. I still get queasy when I remember the scene with the pool in Alligator, and I have a totally insane fear of sharks because of Jaws (you don't even want to know what happened when I was taken into the shark tunnel at SeaWorld!). I don't go swimming in the ocean. And as far as lakes, ponds, and even freshwater mountain streams go...I won't go in unless someone else goes in first (the theory being that if there IS an alligator or shark in them, that other person will get attacked, and then I know not to go in...clever huh? LOL)

Originally Posted by IslandScout

I especially like what you say about Black Stallion and A Wonderful Life, how you connect those movies to an emotional juncture in your life. :)

I loved the Black Stallion! What a lovely way to look at that movie.

[Soon]

Looking for Mr. Goodbar

--saw this around age 11-12 and was fascinated by how people can have different personas, desires and lives than what one may first perceive...

(oh the secret lives of teachers)