posted
My sister lived on Guam 1983-84 [hubby in the air force]...she told me about these new machines from nearby Japan where you could watch 'movie tapes'...I was blown away! But hopes were soon dashed upon learning a VCR cost $1000...I knew I could never afford such a movie-lovers dream as this wonderful contraption.
Once the technology moved stateside, the price became more reasonable but as struggling early-career workers and newlyweds, we figured this was indeed a luxury that would have to wait.
Finally, we got our first VCR as a christmas gift in the mid '80s from my in-laws...the first movie we watched was "An Officer and a Gentleman."
What about you?
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mamamiasweetpeaches
She's with you, but she's thinking of Jake Ryan....
Member # 1715
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"TEX" I loved Matt Dillon. My parents had a vcr and a video store account but I never got to pick the movies. One day I just went "Look, you GOTTA let me watch this. Matt Dillon, for crying out loud!" and they did. And anyone who has seen TEX knows its a safe one to watch with your parents hanging over your shoulder.
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I know you might not believe this but i remember!!!
It was the Evil Dead ......I was with me older brother and 1st Couisn and we all went to a local video store and i had 5 dollars burning a whole in pocket. So i give them the money to rent Evil Dead . Cause i was too young, and my mother was'nt going to rent it for me, she said i need to wait till i was a little older to seee this movie. You know what she was right!!!!!!!!!!!!
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posted
We had a VCR really early (and boy did it last!) And all I wanted to watch was The Pirate Movie. Because that's what I always grabbed when the folks took me to the local rental place in the early 80s. I would through a tantrum if it wasn't available.. well I was pretty young.
That and some anime Dracula movie that was pretty scary for a five year old.
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My family may have been the first ones in our neighborhood to get a VCR since I remember that we had one in 1978. However, we used it to record TV shows. The first movie video we had was something "Goose" which was a world war 2 movie. My dad was/is a world war 2 fanatic.
In late 1985 and through most of 1986 I was away at college in Louisiana. When I returned in late 1986 my father had a VCR and a really good TV. And by this time video rental stores had started to pop up all over the place. The first movie that I personally rented was in early 1987 and it was.....
Love and Death with Woody Allen and Diane Keaton
The movie was very funny to me since I was a literature major in college and had read lots of the russian novels Woody was lampooning. But even if you have never read a word of russian prose you could probably enjoy the movie. It is as good as "Sleeper," which is one of his masterpieces.
posted
Hmmm....I am not totally sure which one I rented personally first.
I remember my Uncle was the first one to get a VCR in our family...He was always the coolest on movies, he had a projector and a big screen, and we use to go to his house on Saturdays, and watch Sinbad and Mighty Joe Young on the projector....
I remember in the 6th grade me and a friend went up to his house and watched Grease on his VCR.
Me and my Aunt use to rent movies every Friday night and I can remember some of the first we ever rented were:
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Raiders of the Lost Arc and Purple Rain
When HBO came out, we watched most of our movies on there.
One of the first scary movies I ever saw was:
Silent Scream, I just sent it to cindymancini, and hope she likes it, cause it scared me to death, and so did :
The Legacy
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cindymancini
Selling underpants to geeks since 1984...
Member # 679
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Good topic HipsterMom! I think the first video's we rented were National Lampoon's Class Reunion or Porky's or something. What I remember most is the video store we rented from. It was a little tiny place, like a quarter of the size of Blockbuster, however they had a way better selection .
It was next to a pizza parlor that we would all go to after football games in the fall. I can still remember the way the store smelled when you walked in the door. I can still picture the 2 people that worked at the counter and all the vhs tapes numbered behind them on the shelf.
It's weird but renting a movie back then was a whole different experience. Now everything is so commercialized. Cookie cutter, if you will. Do you think I will look back at Blockbuster and be able to tell you who worked behind the counter? Oh well...
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Valley Dated Julie From 'Valley Girl' (allegedly!)
Member # 1322
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I have no idea about the first movie I rented. I'm a movie buff, so it was probably the limit of three for first time renters. Actually, video stores were so new back then, they might not have had a limit yet. Ouch..before someone else says it.
Btw, thank goodness I didn't listen to my brother and buy the beta. Posts: 7845 | From: Smiling and glancing in awe in the back of a limo | Registered: Mar 2003 | Site Updates: 22
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Hmmmm, I think it was either Stand by Me or Dirty Dancing. Like you , Cindy, I remember that video store better than the movie. It was tiny, and had a really stong cat smell to it - the owner had this really hideous FAT and stinky cat. Perhaps that explains my cat-aversion... Posts: 562 | From: Santa Carla | Registered: Oct 2003 | Site Updates: 0
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TKO
Contains 0.2% of Rewind Riboflavin
Member # 1471
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I never was able to convince my folks to buy a VCR as they were still very expensive in the beginning. When my best friend got one, we watched our video's at his place. The first movies we rented were: Fist Of Fury, XTRO and First Blood.
Then later in the mid 80's, one could rent these 'movieboxes' at your local video store. These metal suitcases with build-in VCR allowed unfortunate people to finally watch our movies at home.
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posted
I was a little kid when we got our vcr in the mid late 80s I remember renting the care bear movie I always rented that one Posts: 1270 | From: GA the peachie state :) | Registered: Jan 2004 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
the first video i rented was not actuly a movie it was w.w.f.-wrestlemania the first movie i cctuly rented was footloos i rented more wrestling videos than actual movies now as an adult i own 99% of the videos i rented as a kid i got most of them for under 5 dollers
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Kash
Kash : Aha! He'll save every one of us...
Member # 297
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Great question, can't remember the ones I rented (maybe 'Return of the Jedi') but some of the first movies I saw on video were 'Star Wars', 'The Outsiders', 'First Blood', 'Care Bears: The Movie' and 'Ghostbusters'.
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posted
I think ET was mine, which was played on our top-load VCR at the time!
My mother used to treat me to a Friday night movie when I was young, and for as long as I can remember I always spent a great amount of time in there choosing! Sometimes I would be running around for up to an hour, and she would get a little cranky!
My lasting memory I have of that particular video store, was the 'Fright Night' poster. It was put up in the Horror section that was always by the front door, and I used to sneak in and run straight past it. Haha, that freaky vampire scared me so much!
~grems!
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posted
We rented our first video as we couldn't afford to buy.
Our first rentals were 'Beastmaster' (for me) and 'An American Werewolf In London' (for my older Brother and Sister). I watched them both, even though they said American Werewolf would scare me. They were right - I was terrified!
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Rainbowbrite22
Given the choice, Duckie would have been Luckie...
Member # 2288
posted
I remember where I lived we had a video store called show time and the horror section was so freaky it had dim lighting and some posters up and even some fake spider webs to make it look creepy and you would step down into it it was awesome sweet movie memories
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posted
Sixteen Candles is the first one that I can remember I don't know if it was the actual first one or not. I also remember renting Trick or Treat and not being able to watch it because we rented a VCR and it screwed up.
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posted
I think it was either The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Movie or the Sesame Street Follow That Bird film for me.
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posted
I think the first video that I ever rented (VHS of course, 'cause Beta Sucked!) was Grease. I then proceeded to re-rent it about fifty-nine times. I think the money my parents forked out to keep my sister and I happy with the land of Grease could have sustained a third world country back then. Of course, back then, an overnighter wasn't $7.95!!!! Posts: 232 | From: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Mar 2005 | Site Updates: 0
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posted
Dawn of the Dead on August 4th 1983 from Video Gallery on Main St. in Melrose, MA.
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posted
The first video I ever remember renting was Ghostbusters. The next thing I rented was The Toxic Avenger, and after that it's all a blur.
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posted
Actually darling sister and wonderful keepers of eighties kitsch, I have the benefit of hindsight and 3 years. Our very first VCR tape (we owned it;it wasn't rented) was: "What's Happening to Me?" That's right, we had doctors for relatives and they thought that this was an acceptable cartoon 'movie' to inflict on us as 12/13 year olds. Actually, in hind-sight, it is really very good and an excellent resource for the classroom but sorry to break it to you darling sister I believe that our very first video was a cartoon look at puberty. Our second video was Grease. Such a difference!
First movie rental though would have to have been "The God's Must be Crazy".
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posted
the first video I ever rented? oh man, hard to answer - my parents had a video shop and so I grew up watching pretty much everything from there! but I think the first film I ever watched on video was ENTER THE DRAGON...
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posted
Darling sister, if you re-read the post, the question was "What was the first movie you ever RENTED?" Go on, check, that's what is says. Therefore, I'm right. There were probably movies I was subjected to as a child, in which I had no input (e.g the God's must be crazy) but the first movie I actively wanted to rent was Grease. Sorry, check mate babe.
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