Movies That Molded Our Lives

[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)

[Orema]

Daughters of the Dust: This movie about Gullah women preparing to migrate north resonates with me on many levels ... Holding onto the past while making way for the future. How ancestors play into our daily lives after they're long gone. Violence. The importance of family. The importance of women. I saw this for the first time shortly after I moved to the west coast and felt very alone. It didn't necessarily help me nor guide me, but it certainly made an impact on me and how I felt about my family at an important time in my life. I try to watch it every 5-10 years.

[meridiantoo]

Originally Posted by 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...

This movie was an eye-opening experience for me. I watched it when I was in junior high. I was, as we all were, so impressionable at that age. This movie also struck me and helped me to understand my high school and early 20s years concerning the rigid social roles and repressed desire and the possible consequences.

Other films that molded my life:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - This film broke my heart the first time I saw it. And it saddens me every time I watch it, even today.

Dead Poet's Society - I watched this film when I was a Freshman in college. I was having a hard time solidifying what I wanted to do with my life, which direction I should go in - and ,therefore, what to major in. I loved the way the teacher character played by Robin Williams instilled a sense of life and passion into his class, and how the young men, in return, found something to believe in. I found the courage to name my calling in this movie - to leave the world a better place than when I got here. The tragedy in the end (the character played by Robert Sean Leonard) only enhances the movie's sense of a profound message that many families considered dangerous (not likely the case anymore).

Forrest Gump - Just a very sweet movie. I wish we had more Forrest Gump souls in the world.

Ordinary People - I also saw this movie in junior high the first time. I was amazed at how accurately the mother (played by Mary Tyler Moore) mimicked my own mother. This movie resonated within me for years.

The Color Purple - This movie is probably the single most influential movie for me. If you grew up in the deep south prior to say 1980, you are keenly aware of how accurate this movie was, and maybe even still is. Each character stirred things in me that I didn't even know existed. The plight of poverty in the African American culture is present throughout the film, but it takes a back seat to other themes. I identified so much with the main character Celie, and likely always will. Seeing the film made me want to read the book, which I did, and write an essay and mini-play about in high school. Love this movie!

Fried Green Tomatoes - When I first saw this movie, I was in the midst of dealing with homosexual desires. I was so confused, afraid, and torn, and this movie really helped me to muster the courage to accept myself and potential future.

[Shystonefem]

Fried Green Tomatoes

Wall Street

Harry Potter (Still, Always)

What Dreams May Come

The Godfather

Practical Magic

So many more.. too many to list

[Sweet Bliss]

Picnic

The horror I felt after seeing it as an adult was palpable.

[~ocean]

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes " and its sooooooo true too ! says the Latin girl. lol

[homoe]

Bump Bump Bump


I can't say this movie shaped my life but Maybe I'll Come Home In The Spring was a movie that made an impression on me about running away from home! I can't recall who was in the movie but I remember watching it several times as a teenager