MovieChat Forums > Return of the Jedi (1983) Discussion > Being 10 years old in 1985

Being 10 years old in 1985

posted 9 years ago by EliasExplorer
3 replies | jump to latest

I think that kids from every generation, be it the 50s,60s,70s,90s,or 00s, will have their own stories and feelings of what it was like to be 10 years old around a certain time... but I have to say that being 10 in 1985 was something very magical.

Let me start with the movies of that era. I am sure that most of us will agree that Steven Spielberg and the people around him (Chris Columbus, Joe Dante, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis) had a huge influence on the movies that were made between 1977 and 1985.
I mean we were able to watch fantastic movies like Close Encounters, E.T., The Goonies, Explorers, Indiana Jones, the three Star Wars movies, Gremlins, Back to the Future, and so much more in the mid-eighties.
Then there was also The Neverending Story, Flight of the Navigator, Young Sherlock Holmes,...the list goes on and on.

I remember how exciting it was to catch a glimpse of the lobby cards in the theatre, the anticipation of seeing the movie with my parents or older nephews, ...
Coming home afterwards and (there was no Internet yet) reliving the movie in your fantasy by looking at a few pictures in a magazine (if you were lucky to catch one).
I have very vivid memories of seeing Gremlins, The Goonies and Explorers in the cinema and being absolutely enchanted by these experiences...

I also remember walking in toystores or department stores and looking at the wonderful movie toys (I am referring mostly to the Kenner Star Wars toys).
And then there were also all these wonderful cartoons and television series like Buck Rogers, Battlestar Galactica, The Powers of Matthew Star, ...
I am sure every generation has its own movies and series, and toys and music, but man oh man it sure was amazing being ten years old in 1985.

Maybe part of the magic was that there was no Internet, and not everything was "one click away". You had to wait for things, wait for a television series to be aired, waiting weeks with high anticipation till you could visit the cinema, ...
Maybe one of the most magical inventions of the 80s was the VCR. I can still remember my father bringing a VCR from work in the weekend, and then we went to the videostore to rent movies for the weekend...

I became a father for the first time this week, and now I have this idea to collect all the movies I mentioned in this post on dvd, so one day when my son is old enough (between 6-10) I can watch those amazing movies with him, and I am sure I will enjoy seeing his reactions afterwards :).

If you have similar experiences of being a kid in the 80s feel free to share them here on this board.
Thanks for reading!!

[–] Jacovitti86 9 years ago

I agree that the time between 1977 and the late 80s, was a great time to be growing up with movies. Probably the most ideal age would've been 6-7 years old when the first Star Wars came out, so you could see the likes of Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders, E.T., Return of the Jedi, Temple of Doom, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future in cinemas. It was just a great time for blockbusters, they were almost all instant classics.

I myself was not around in '85, I was born the year after, but I grew up with these films watching them on TV or VHS. But I still consider myself lucky to have seen films like Jurassic Park, Jumanji and Titanic (I realise a lot of people hate on this film but it was quite a cinematic experience for a 12-year-old) in cinemas. But I agree that the rise of guys like Spielberg and Lucas definitely coincided with a magical time for blockbuster cinema.

[–] boatlandmore 9 years ago

I was born in '73 so I understand what you mean. For me, my dad was the prime mover. He loved movies & sci-fi tv shows & watched all kinds of stuff like you mentioned, along with shows like Amazing Stories, the Twilight Zone 80's reboot, Knight Rider, & all that action - adventure stuff like Black Sheep Squadron, Tales of the Gold Monkey & everything else. Now that he's gone, these types of things hold a special meaning for me. When I take my son to see a movie, I always look at the empty seat next to us & think about how my dad would have loved to have been with us & how much I miss him. I own most of the things we used to watch together on DVD now & I always think of him when I pop something in & I remember those days so long ago seeing it for the 1st time with mom & dad back in the day. Fun stuff there, I sure do wish I had a time machine myself....

[–] jova99 9 years ago

I remember how excited I was waiting in line for 90 minutes to get tickets to see Return of the Jedi. and we waited until Sunday to avoid the longer lines seen of Friday and Saturday...but it was a rainy Sunday Afternoon, thus we still had to wait in a long line with our umbrellas...I was 13 years old in 1983

I had seen Star Wars in 1978 when it was shown at our local Drive-In theatre the summer after it was first released. Would have been better to see it in a theatre , as the sound was horrible at the drive-in, but we still enjoyed the film, as my mother brought along 4 of my friends because they charged by the car, some of us sat on the roof of the car to watch it, as the car must have been too hot in the summer heat of july....

it was fun being 10 in 1980 , back then the local cinema would usually show older films, so i was able to see Jaws in 1978 on the big screen...and remember seeing other cool 70s flicks 2 years after they were first shown...today kids don't get a chance to see films from 2 years ago on the big screen as we did. So when I missed Airplane in 1980 my local independent cinema showed it in 1981...when i missed seeing Caddyshack in 1980 I was also able to see it on the big screen in 1982.

I suppose the VCR killed these second run movie theaters....my local movie theatre closed down in 1986 and the Drive-In closed does in 1983.