When I was a kid, we watched alot of movies. Not so much after school, but certainly we covered a fair amount of territory on Saturdays and during the summertime. Don't get me wrong, we spent hours upon hours riding bikes, playing in the tree-house, playing in the yard, and strewing toys around in the playroom too. Now that I have a couple of kids, I can definitely see the merits of having a library of media available to entertain children. Keep those kids busy so mom/dad can have a nap! (Thank you Netflix!)
So here's Jen's observation: She thinks that I was raised on watching a handfull of obscure, made-for-TV Disney films. Is that derogatory/defamatory? Should I care? I'm confident enough to quote lines from some of these movies from time to time, but Jen thinks I shouldn't expect anyone else to know what I'm talking about. So just off the top of my head, here are 20 movies that me and my siblings watched a multitude of times, in the order of release date. (Excluding the typical Disney musicals or animated features like Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Jungle Book that should not earn me a weird label!)
| Title | Year Released | Studio | $$ |
| The Shaggy Dog | 1959 | Disney | $27M |
| The Misadventures of Merlin Jones | 1964 | Disney | $4M (rentals) |
| That Darn Cat! | 1965 | Disney | $12.7M (w/re-release) |
| The Gnome Mobile | 1967 | Disney | ?? |
| The Reluctant Astronaut | 1967 | Universal | ?? |
| The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes | 1969 | Disney | ?? |
| The World's Greatest Athlete | 1973 | Disney | $22.5M |
| Benji | 1974 | Mulberry Square | $39.5M |
| The Apple Dumpling Gang | 1975 | Disney | $31.9M |
| Escape to Witch Mountain | 1975 | Disney | $20M |
| No Deposit No Return | 1976 | Disney | ?? |
| The Cat from Outer Space | 1978 | Disney | ?? |
| The Black Stallion | 1979 | Omni Zoetrope | $37.8M |
| Astronaut in King Arthur's Court (Unidentified Flying Oddball) |
1979 | Disney | ?? |
| Herbie Goes Bananas | 1980 | Disney | $18M |
| Condorman | 1981 | Disney | ?? |
| Summer to Remember | 1985 | InterPlanetary Pictures | (TV) |
| Lots of Luck | 1985 | Disney | ?? |
| Biggles: Adventures in Time | 1986 | Compact Yellobill | $112K |
| Flight of the Navigator | 1986 | Disney | $18.5M |
I notice here that Ken Berry, Tommy Kirk, Kurt Russell, Tim Conway, Don Knotts, Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello are on the cast lists multiple times, and that they are predominantly Disney. That would have something to do with my parents getting a whole collection of movies recorded to video-cassette (recorded off the Disney Channel) from the Ables around 1987.
I took the liberty to average the release dates here, and came up with 1975.
Now I recognize that some of the movies might not have financial data because either they were big losers or they didn't make much, BUT, I added that column just to give an indication of how well they did at the box-office.
This $22.5M winner Jen makes fun of me for referencing!
So now I leave it to you. How many of these 20 have you seen (or recognize), and was my movie selection really that unique as a child?
Bonus question: What other movies do you think I would like to see based upon this list?
That is hilarious Joseph. Yes this is totally to be attributed to Dela Ables who HAD CABLE ON THE BASE, being willing to keep making us videos full of Disney movies! That was really so so so nice of her, really. We had only Huntsville stations, and very few of them! You guys had alot of friday night slumber parties in the playroom during those years. I think we liked it too because they were good and fun and you...know...we grew up without VCRs so...we didn't have that option of watching something over and over. At some point in time, Disney movies showed on Sunday evenings, but I was at church when they were on. What we did watch though, with my dad, was Bonanza, after church on Sunday night.
ReplyDeleteI recognize about half of those titles, but I probably only saw most of them once. Except for Flight of the Navigator! We loved that one. I still think of it when I hear that Beach Boys song.
ReplyDeleteI have to admit that I have not seen a lot of these, but The Shaggy Dog (the original, not the Tim Allen remake) and the Herbie movies were a childhood favorite. I should show my kids the Herbie movies....can't believe I haven't yet!
ReplyDeleteAwesome. Just awesome.
ReplyDeleteI guess we're raising our kids to be pretty atypical as well since we don't have cable & rely on DVDs we have, netflix, and hulu--
A fairly commercial-free childhood and NONE of the mind-numbing cartoons/obnoxious shows that are on TV these days!
hahaha, so funny. Okay, I recognized most, but not all of them. We definitely watched some multiple times: the Shaggy dog, Gnome mobile (was our FAV), flight of the navigator, and there were a few more. wow, brings back memories!
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing 9 of those listed...and when I saw "The Gnome Mobile" the song popped RIGHT in my head! ("The gnome mobile! The gnome mobile! Hunting for gnomes in the gnome mobile!!")
ReplyDeleteI will say that I misread Condorman the first time I looked at it...
And for Brianne, Flight of the Navigator scared me to death! I hated that eye on an arm thing....
You are funny, Joe! I've seen 18 of those 20 -- never seen Biggles or Lots of Luck but we might have to try those. We've shown our boys most of them but it's Friday night and this might be a good resource list to hunt for on Netflix ;) Condorman was a definite favorite of mine and my siblings -- even being mostly girls!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to think about others that we watched -- you listed the greats, though!
Jen, what do you like to watch??
Dionne, looks like you and I make good company! Last night Jen counted the ones she was familiar with {before marrying me}, and only got up to 9. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteBrianne/Nicole/Amy: I think Flight of the Navigator connects with us as it has a young hero, aliens, and spaceships.
Jen E: I should have also listed Herbie Rides Again, as I remember Ben giving such great impersonations of Mr. Hawk, "Youu! Youuuuu! Youuuuuuuu!" I think Condorman was cool, because it was like gadgets and inventions (yes, very cheesy!).
Interestingly, I really liked Biggles, even though it was a box office loser. The fiction parts appealed to my 9 year old brain, I guess. And Lots of Luck did get skipped over more than some of the others for its boring factor... but the plot does center around a car race!
Shara/Mom, are there some others from that collection that deserve a callout?
So I watched 14 of those twenty! What does that say about me???? By any chance is your father an engineer? hmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteWind in the Willows
ReplyDeleteAnnie
The Wacky Zoo of Morgan City
Big Bird in china
My Side of the Mountain
7 Brides for 7 Brothers
Freaky Friday
All Dogs go to Heaven
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken ****
In Search of the Castaways
The Boy who could fly ( love this)
Escapade in Florence
Lots of Luck
The Horsemasters
Harry and the Hendersons
My Side of the Mountain ( one of my favorite books)
two I enjoyed that she also taped for us...
Goodbye MR. Chips
Merry Andrew
The things is, most of those movies, when we got them, Dad and I had not seen them. We were in college studying when many were made, I guess. We didn't mix tv and college very much.
I did watch the Apple Dumpling Gang during labor with Shara at Utah Valley Hospital.