Movie nostalgia

I was recently trying to think of movies I had a distinct memory of seeing in the theater in my younger days. The earliest one I came up with was "Popeye," believe it or not, and I also remember my father taking me to see "Tron" in the summer of 1982, and later that year, of course, we all went to see "E.T."

I have a vague memory of seeing "Return of the Jedi" in the summer of 1984, in Sweden, in English with Swedish subtitles, but I don't remember any of the theater-going experience. I also believe I was taken to see most if not all of the classic Disney theatrical rereleases in the late '70s and early '80s, back before they switched to just putting everything out on video for a limited time only (heck, I have a vague memory of seeing "Song of the South" in the theater).

Later on, there were a few special experiences, such as my father coming home early from work so we could see the "twilight" showing of "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" on the day it was released, seeing "Speed Zone" on its first day of release in a nearly vacant theater, and seeing "Jurassic Park" at the only theater in Tampa that was equipped with digital sound equipment at the time (at one point of maximum volume, my father leaned over and whispered to me, "Thanks for insisting we see this movie here").

What I remember better than the movies are the theaters where I saw many of these movies, most of which are either gone now (the Tampa Bay Center mall theater, the Horizon Park 4, and the $1.00 second-run Twin Bays theater), were torn down and replaced (the Hillsboro 3-plex, replaced by the Hillsboro 8), or were gutted and replaced (the Britton Plaza 3, where one of the auditoriums was downright gigantic, now the Britton Plaza 8, where all the auditoriums are downright tiny). But then there was the art house, the Tampa Theatre, which is still exactly the same, and for good reason; also, it was a big event when the Old Hyde Park 7 opened in 1985 ("Young Sherlock Holmes" is the first movie I saw there), and it's still exactly the same, as far as I know.

In 2000, I finally started keeping a list of all the movies I see in the theater, most of them in nondescript Los Angeles multiplexes, just so I'll be able to remember years from now, for example, that I saw "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle" on July 4, 2000, at the Valley Plaza 6. I don't know why I'd need that information in the future, but more information is (almost) always better than less.