Old Favorites

[€uroMeinke]

NA and have been watching old Disney Films that were relesead (or re-released) in our Childhoods, and it got me thinking about seeing the Love Bug for the first time as a kid and coming to the conclusion that it was the absolute best film ever - it was my favorite for a long time, and Buddy Hackett was the best comedian ever.

Later in my high school years, Clockwork Orange, was my favorite film. I saw it with friends at a revival theater and spoke like a droog for days, listended to Beethovan, and loved to sing "Singing in the Rain."

While I still enjoy both films, I'm not sure I'd rate them as highly as I once did, but it's still fun to look back at what I once considered the "Best of the Best."

So what are your old favorites - what movies did you watch over and over again? What songs got continuous airplay? Come share your old favorites.

[Scrooge McSam]

To Live and Die in LA - Loved loved loved when the hero went down well before the end and the "oh ****, what now?" conundrum left behind. Thought I don't think of the movie as highly as before, I'm still loving Willem Dafoe

[Ghoulish Delight]

I confess that I watched Grease over and over...oh, wrong thread. But, umm, yeah.

I watched our Disney's Peter Pan video to death.

[Not Afraid]

I remember LOVING What's Up Doc with Babs and Robert Redford. I think I saw it three times (we didn't have video back in the dark ages of my childhood). I just realized it was directed by Peter Bogdanovich (Last Picture Show & Paper Moon - thank you IMDB).

Of my Disney favorites - The One and Only Genuine Family Band, Bambi, and Jungle Book were all favs for which I had the records and overplayed them. Poor Mom and Dad.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Beetlejuice. My siter and I rented that any chance we got.

[Prudence]

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music.

When I was younger, I had a strict bedtime. (Actually, this pretty much carried through until I was 18, but that's another story.) At the appointed time I had to go to bed, no matter what the occasion. Even on weekends. Those two movies ALWAYS went past bedtime, so I always saw the first half and not the second.

One weekend Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was on during the day. But I had the flu and strep throat and couldn't leave my bedroom with the humidifyer without coughing uncontrollably. So I still didn't get to see the end. Now if they're on I have to watch.

Also, I have read and re-read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass: And What Alice Found There more times than I can count. At one point I had memorized nearly every poem in both books. I used to carry a copy around with me at all times -- just in case. I still read them every so often. I have a number of different versions -- my old, falling apart paperback, my complete works set, a version in French, a facsimile of the 1864 manuscript "Alice's Adventures Underground" hand-lettered and with illustrations by Carroll, and my best buddy gave me "The Annotated Alice" for my last birthday.

I am very nearly obsessed by Alice. I used to BBS under the moniker "March Hare." For my 30th birthday, spent at Disneyland, my husband had the guest services thing (official name escapes me) put together an Alice themed basket. The shopper went out for weeks trying to find things and came up with a puzzle, an ANCIENT black and white photo autographed photo of Alice and the White Rabbit, a mug, and a music box I've never seen for sale before or since. The shopper reported that there aren't too many Alice fans, but the ones that are out there tend to be fanatic. During our honeymoon trip, we came upon Alice, the Tweedles Dee and Dum, and the Queen of Hearts just inside the park. I asked Alice if it was her unbirthday and revealed that it was my unbirthday as well. She flung herself at me in a hug (we have a GREAT picture) and dragged me around to visit the Tweedles and Queen of Hearts and report the news. It was my most magical park experience ever.

I also read and re-read (only slightly less often) the whole Wizard of Oz series. I think those books are still at the 'rents somewhere. And Gone with the Wind and Jane Eyre. I read those books over and over again.

[SacTown Chronic]

Strange Brew and This Is Spinal Tap.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

The Producers. The library had a copy and we borrowed it constantly. Same goes for Swiss Family Robinson and Pollyanna and Mary Poppins.

The Love Bug was one of those movies they'd show on lazy Saturday afternoons on KTLA. I loved Buddy Hackett in that.

My first two non-kiddie records were The Cars Greatest Hits and Huey Lewis and the News' "Sports". My cool uncle bought me those. I played them until they were unplayable. One of our favorite games was lipsynching to the songs, playing tennis rackets and plastic pianos and my Rainbow Brite microphone. "Sports" is especially embedded in my head....every note of it.

[mousepod]

When I was 4 years old, I saw Yellow Submarine and I really loved "Nowhere Man". My parents went out and bought the original soundtrack for me, but the song wasn't on the record, so I made them exchange it for 'Yesterday and Today'. So my Beatles thing started really early.

We didn't have a VCR until I was in high school. My cousin gave me a videotape with A Clockwork Orange, The Man Who Fell to Earth and *ahem* Deep Throat. But I was already old by then.

For my true "old faves", I'd have to go with The Jungle Book, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Sound of Music, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the book)...

[Name]

I remember at one point of my life watching The Crow over and over again.