A few days ago I was at my favorite DVD shop going through the discounted titles. They have shelves and shelves of $10 DVDs (with one section full of titles at 4 for $10). When I saw the five Batman movies at $10 each, I realized I hadn’t bought any of them yet. So I grabbed them all and started for the counter. As I walked down the aisle, I happened to glance down at a section where everything was $6 and Urban Cowboy
Like anyone else, I often find myself strolling down memory lane when I hear a certain song, or smell a certain scent, but rarely do any visual cues trigger my memories. As soon as I read the title of the DVD, I suddenly was remembering things I hadn’t thought of in years. The late 70s and early 80s were a magical time for me, as I was just becoming aware enough of the ‘adult’ world to want to be a part of it, but I was still way too young to do so. And it dawned on me as I stood looking at that Urban Cowboy DVD that I still had never seen the movie.
When Urban Cowboy was first released, I was too young too see it. I really wanted to, because I was a huge fan of Welcome Back Kotter and, of course, Vinnie Barbarino was my favorite Sweat Hog. When the movie later started playing on cable (remember when there was only HBO, Showtime and Cinemax?) a couple of friends saw it. All they could talk about was ‘the guy eating the worm’. I was able to sneak a peek one night when my parents weren’t paying attention. It just so happened that the scene I caught was the one where Scott Glenn turns up the tequila bottle and gulps down the worm. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.
The first rated ‘R’ movie I ever saw was Conan the Barbarian. I must have been 11 or 12 at the time. My parents were members of a bowling league and there was a dollar theater next to the bowling alley. I saw a lot of movies there. One night, Conan was playing and I begged my father to let me see it. I was a huge Conan fan, having read all of the books and as many of the comics as I could get my hands on. So my father walked over to the theater with me, bought the ticket, and told them I had his permission to see the movie. I remember being afraid they would refuse to let me in anyway since rated ‘R’ meant that anyone under 17 was supposed to be accompanied by an adult. But they took my ticket and I went inside. I was in awe from beginning to end. Some annoying jackass in the row behind me had already seen the movie and couldn’t resist describing to his friends ‘what’s coming up next’ for each friggin scene in the movie. Even that couldn’t spoil it for me, though. What’s more, from that day on I was sometimes allowed to watch rated ‘R’ movies on cable with my parents. But there are still a lot of movies from before that time that I have never seen.
So I added Urban Cowboy to the Batman stack and headed home. My wife and I sat back and watched it today. Overall, it was better than I expected. I remember having a crush on Debra Winger back then from seeing her in An Officer and A Gentleman and Cannery Row. Seeing this movie brought that back. It also made me want to see more of the movies I had missed.
There are a great many movies from the late 70s and early 80s that I remember hearing the hype about but wasn’t allowed to see at the time: Saturday Night Fever, North Dallas Forty, and Raging Bull to name a few. These are movies that just slipped from my mind at some point, else I would have seen them all by now. So I’m on a mission to find as many of these titles as I can. I know I can order most of them online, but I need to get the region 3 versions and with Korean subtitles (for my wife). That means hunting through as many local DVD shops as I can find. I’ll start with my favorite, which is a pretty big store. There’s a good chance some of these movies are there. And if not, they’ll turn up somewhere at some point.
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