The 10 Movies That Impacted You Most Growing Up

[Jack the Stripper]

So we’ve had the 10 albums that most influenced you growing up so why not do something similar with movies. The 10 movies that had the most impact on you growing up and have stayed with you. So not a top 10 all time favourites list although I’m sure some of them are for having had such an impact on you.

Like the albums we’ll do one movie each per day and you don’t have to do a write up or mini review but you can if you want.

[Tyr66]

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Hmmm, I'm gonna have to think about it to keep it down to just 10!!

[Jack the Stripper]

Day 1

Star Wars

Just a great story with great characters which appealed to both young and old audiences. The visual effects were like nothing anyone had seen before and changed the way movies were made from there on. No movie has transcended generations quite like the original Star Wars has.

I’m an original Star Wars kid and saw each of the movies at the cinema as they were being released so this is an obvious pick for me. 

[Zzzptm]

Day 1

Star Wars

Just a great story with great characters which appealed to both young and old audiences. The visual effects were like nothing anyone had seen before and changed the way movies were made from there on. No movie has transcended generations quite like the original Star Wars has.

I’m an original Star Wars kid and saw each of the movies at the cinema as they were being released so this is an obvious pick for me. 

That has to be on my list, as well. It came out when I was 8/9, Third/Fourth grade. We all had a contest about who had seen it the most times. I racked up over 20 views in the summer after its release. Magical, wonderful, exciting, fresh film - IN ITS ORIGINAL FORM. I have no special attachment to versions with remastered effects or added scenes... or *edited* scenes. This is a movie that has always been emotional for me, so it has affected my life more than once. I am at peace because I now have a digital version of the original release, in the original screen format ratio. To me, there is no other version. I watch it and it would definitely be one of my desert island films.

[Jack the Stripper]

Day 2

ROCKY

Such a moving, uplifting and motivating sports movie. Superbly written with brilliant casting and performances. Loved this movie as a kid and still do.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Day 1

Sort of a cheat but I wasn't using up 3 slots on this franchise! A great trilogy and final part is quite probably the best film ever made!

[Tyr66]

Absolute Masterpiece.
Watched for the first time with friends in the attic of a friend's house while drinking Monacos (beer with grenadine syrup). He had installed armchairs around a TV connected to a VHS player. unforgettable moment.

[Charger]

Damn Jack! This is toooooooo hard!

I'm gonna have to really think about this.

[Jack the Stripper]

Damn Jack! This is toooooooo hard!

I'm gonna have to really think about this.

Its not all that hard. It’s not so much an all time favourites list but more about the movies you remember most that stood out and impacted you growing up from your childhood years onwards.

[Charger]

Yeah I know...but it's still hard...

I'll kick it off with this though:




This was my first Dirty Harry movie and I think my first Clint Eastwood movie as well...of that though I can't be entirely sure. Recorded it on VHS from tv back in the day. I remember watching it over and over again as I thought Harry was one of the coolest characters I'd ever seen. Took me a good long while to see the other Dirty Harry movies though...but when I did I loved them too. And still do...so much in fact that I just bought the bluray boxset with all 4 movies!

[Zzzptm]

JtS shared my Day 1... My Day 2 is...



Akira Kurosawa's epic The Seven Samurai.

When I was a teen in the 80s, I got into the Art House scene. I was lucky that Dallas had the Granada Theater up until late '86, by which time I was at UT Austin, where I could continue my Art House fix.

But before I could drive, I'd get my mom to drop me off if she wasn't going to also see the flick, and I'd be there. I read about movies and had heard that The Seven Samurai was one of the best ever. I yearned to see it. Finally, it came for a 3-day showing at the Granada and I was all over it like a donkey on a waffle.

It did not disappoint.

My favorite character was the stern, stoic master swordsman who worked at perfecting his craft while at the same time being aware that he was setting an example for the young samurai in the group. Ever after, whenever I had a tough trial ahead of me or a major test in school, I thought of that master, entering a fighting stance and becoming one with his craft.

[Jack the Stripper]

Day 3

Superman: The Movie

Brilliantly adapted to film with a great mix of action, heart and humour and one of the great ensemble casts ever assembled, Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, Terence Stamp, Valerie Perrine and the wonderful Christopher Reeve who captured the spirit of Superman so amazingly well, and not to mention the brilliant music of John Williams. Superman was the only blockbuster comic book superhero movie from my pre teenage years and still to this day remains the definite Superman movie.

[Tyr66]

Conan the Barbarian (1982)
the cast , the story , the score, characters , swords,  fight scenes . So epic . A perfect movie in a right time.

[Jack the Stripper]

Conan the Barbarian (1982)
the cast , the story , the score, characters , swords,  fight scenes . So epic . A perfect movie in a right time.

Yep loved that movie so much as a kid. I bought a replica of Conan’s Atlantean Sword a few years after and also developed a love for the fantasy art of Frazetta and Ken Kelly.
I’m putting mine in chronological order and was going to include it in my 10 but I’ll probably leave it out now.

I’m almost certain there’s at least one other movie we will both have Tyr. I’m still a couple of days off posting it