Alright olds, first movie you watched on VHS/BETA

[GhostOfTomJoad 9346]

In 1982 I rode with my dad from the eastern suburbs of St Paul to an electronics store off First Avenune in Minneapolis to buy a top loading Sony Betamax for $600 (a large sum back then). We brought it back home and I helped him connect the RF-type coax and U-type audio feeds to the back of our 21" RCA console. There was one movie rental store within 5 miles, it was about the size of a Subway sandwich shop, including a small, linen closet sized "adult" section that was separated from the rest of the store by a dark red shower curtain.

We came home with two movies that night: The Onion Field and 9 to 5. Quite the double feature. In the coming weeks we'd rent Airplane, Rocky III, Caddyshack and Porkys (I was told to look away when titties showed up).

Celebrate the old days of movies on tape. Whatcha got?

 

Edited March 23, 2019 by GhostOfTomJoad

[Continental Op 3934]

I think it was Vacation, which we rented at the grocery store.  

[Guest]

Maybe Raiders of the Lost Ark?

 

Fuck if I know, that was a long ass time ago...

[GhostOfTomJoad 9346]

2 minutes ago, Continental Op said:

I think it was Vacation, which we rented at the grocery store.  

Very solid. I remember us being on the waiting list for Vacation (they had maybe 5 copies in the whole store).

[Whatever 700]

I was born in '82 so my whole childhood movie watching was centered around renting VHS from the local movie shop. In fact, my 1st T-ball team was sponsored by an outfit called The Movie Shop.

 

Couldn't tell ya what my first VHS movie was.

 

 

[Parliament 14276]

Your mom's wedding night.

[Armybrat 40858]

Bought a Quasar VHS deck in 1980 - 4 hour record/playback capability. Weighed 40 pounds. Bought a separate video camera that weighed in at about 12 pounds and a tripod. Used the $2,000 outfit to start a part time business taping weddings. Taped a lot of our kids Little League & soccer games with it.

First movie rented to view? Don’t recall the title, but I think the male star was named Harry Reems.

Edited March 23, 2019 by Armybrat

[Underdog 28759]

Not a movie but bought my first VCR soley for this...

[Kennythetiger 9416]

The Man From Snowy River

[CooterBrown 18021]

Debbie Does Dallas at a friend’s house.

When we got our first VCR a few months later, it was Mad Max. I had no idea it existed but i was obsessed with the Road Warrior and it was on the shelf when my parents bought the VCR at the video store.

[Bull Horn 118]

Raiders of the Lost Ark - I remember it was New Year’s night 1984 because it was the evening after the Cotton Bowl loss to Georgia. Didn’t even realize Miami had beaten Nebraska in the Orange Bowl until after the movie.

Seeing the Nazi faces melting off freaked me out, but the Cotton Bowl loss was much more traumatizing.

[tbone_ 14138]

I think it might have been Excalibur.

[billfromlaketravis 11520]

Empire Strikes Back. My brother and I were little, we watched it some many times we broke the tape. The Battle of Hoth was the first scene to go. 

If we weren't playing Nintendo, we were watching Star Wars. 

[WhatTheBuck 28794]

I have no recollection whatsoever. I don't remember for sure the first movie I saw on laser disc either but it might have been the original Star Wars. 

[Radical Larry 28657]

I can't remember, but we usually picked up a couple of movies at HEB while shopping for groceries. They were open more frequently back then. 

[Billy Pilgrim 1983]

One of the Dirty Harry movies and the howling- remember it like it was yesterday

[lemonlime 5503]

Grease

 

[DougO 5253]

I don't remember the first movie, but I remember the first magical moment I was captivated by the wonders of home video tape. It was a Sony Beta Max display that was showing the replay of the Cowboys game vs the Redskins, with Roger fn' Staubach leading the charge. I needed to have that in my life.

[Stunns38 3538]

Don’t remember the first movie but we always recorded the Cosby show on Thursdays. The first VHS I watched everyday as a kid was Back to the Future.

[Uncle Boobs 1248]

Attack of the killer tomatoes.

[atomheartbevo 89766]

Pretty sure it was a Star Wars movie.

[Sejjr 3246]

Not sure but might have been Smokey and the Bandit on the grandparent’s Betamax. 

[Hook1997 5397]

Not sure the first but always rented from the local movie shop.  One of the early ones I remember was watching The Best of Times.  Great old Robin Williams movie.

[Grippe 313]

[mr. sunshine 2831]

Fandango. I think. Man that was a long time ago 

[Deej 76870]

Ghostbusters.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9346]

I remember the corded remote control that my dad bought for the Betamax about 6 months later. He didn't want to spend the extra $50 initially. Lulz.

When we got to Austin in '84 dad decided that we needed a 2nd Betamax (even though Sony was already losing the format wars badly). I was amazed at how much sleeker/smaller they'd already become. The Blockbuster at Anderson Mill/183 hadn't opened yet. I remember us going to some video rental shop near 620/183 but can't remember the name of it. They had a smalll beta section. I kinda wish I still had the stupid laminated membership card they used to give out.

Anyone remember I Heart Video & Pizza off 35 and Parmer (I think)? That seemed like a brilliant concept at the time.

[phdhorn 6224]

[retread 2951]

[DCA_HORN 725]

No idea what the first movie was at home but we went and bought my grandparents a VCR specifically to record the Iran contra hearings.

[GhostOfTomJoad 9346]

15 minutes ago, DCA_HORN said:

No idea what the first movie was at home but we went and bought my grandparents a VCR specifically to record the Iran contra hearings.

How many hours did you spend teaching them how to program it to record?

[CooterBrown 18021]

No idea what the first movie was at home but we went and bought my grandparents a VCR specifically to record the Iran contra hearings.

They sound fun.

[EvilCaseMcCoy 691]

Parenthood.  I was young and didnt have many options.  I seem to remember Ted Danson's wifes boobies being on display though.  

[Sbbruin 21865]

Probably my ucle’s Swedish Erotica tape I swiped.

[tantric superman 4667]

12 hours ago, slorch said:

Maybe Raiders of the Lost Ark?

 

Fuck if I know, that was a long ass time ago...

Yeah.  If you can remember, you aren't an "old".

[CooterBrown 18021]

This thread made me remember my first DVD was Trainspotting. You got 3 free DVDs with the purchase of a player at Best Buy. Picked up that, Time Bandits, and Animal House. At the time, I didn’t know about the newfangled cables you needed to use so I just used the regular component cable. The picture looked really grainy. My girlfriend and I were like “what’s the big deal? It looks like shit.”

 

 

 

 

 

[RPM 26330]

Can't remember the first movie. I do remember we used to rent VCRs and video disc players from the video store.

 

[Radical Larry 28657]

3 hours ago, phdhorn said:

[msucolt45 4063]

The Long Riders was first, then Caddyshack for the double feature.
The LR movie was one of the first westerns (IMO) that the action scenes were as realistic as can be, even by today’s standard.

Still own the DVD versions of both.

[bamachine 1231]

It was either Jaws, The Jerk or If You Don't Stop It...You'll Go Blind, not sure which I watched first but watched all three soon after getting our first VCR in like '81.

[mdleast 8298]

Can’t recall my specific first VHS but this thread reminded me that the local library had VHS and Beta tapes you could rent back in the early 80s.

 

[Butch Had Not 2982]

It was probably wrath of khan but I want to say it could have been something else less memorable. 

[Herpa Derpa 6126]

Got a VCR around '80, first set I remember:

Blazing Saddles, The Jerk, Superman, Bugs Bunny Road Runner Movie, Grease, and Charlotte's Web.  Oh, and the Groove Tube, but I wasn't supposed to know about that.

[Underdog 28759]

Rush Hour was first dvd along with another movie I don’t remember, they came with the dvd player purchase. 

[Jack Straw 2954]

War Games 

[phdhorn 6224]

2 hours ago, Radical Larry said:

Heh, yeah I know 1987 is like a long time after those things came out. I probably saw a buncha them on someone else's VCR but this was definitely the first flick I rented with my own system.  So it's the first one I remember, to be honest.  I did see some stuff on those old LaserDiscs which were very cool, but I can't remember shit.

So this one is my first real VCR memory.

[msbesq 385]

Can’t remember the first one, but we were the first of our friends with a stereo vcr and a nice stereo system. We must have watched The Breakfast Club 20 times with different friends because they were always amazed by the sound. Btw, that stereo vcr was $1,000 in 1984.

[RDCanecutter 26458]

Ron Jeremy was doinking both his girlfriend and some woman who was married to Peter North, but then Peter North forgave his wife, had a flashback where he doinked some Asian lady, then he ended up doinking his own wife and their new friend, who used to be Ron Jeremy's girlfriend. Ron Jeremy found out about it and stormed out, emotionally distraught.

[Lat22 4015]

I guarantee you we had the first VCR in our little home town. The first night we had it, my dad was going to record Baa Baa Black Sheep. I was in 7th grade and needed to be picked up after football practice. I was scared to call my parents to pick me up because I didn’t want the ringing phone to mess up the recording. The year was 1978. 

I don’t remember the first movie I watched, but the first rated R movie I watched on it was Tom Horn. 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

First thing I remember watching on VHS was First Blood.  I must have been 6 or 7.