The Darkness I Found at the Saturday
Matinee 1963
Ten Movies that I Saw as a Ten Year Old
Introduction
In 1963 I was ten years old. Going to the movies on a Saturday morning cost $1.00, and that included the theater ticket, a large popcorn, a large soda, and round-trip bus fare. And you could add ice cream BonBons if you chose to walk the two miles to and from the movie theater and skipped the bus. There were three movie houses on Whittier Boulevard, between Ford Boulevard and Atlantic Boulevard, in East Los Angeles. Furthest to the east was the biggest theater called The Golden Gate, furthest west was The Boulevard, and in the middle, The Center. The way distribution worked, The Golden Gate got the latest movies, but when these movies no longer sold tickets, they were handed off to The Center Theater, who, in turn, handed them down to The Boulevard. The Golden Gate was fifty cents admission, so no BonBons, even if you skipped the bus. The Center Theater charged 35 cents and had a double-feature, plus a preview, a cartoon, and The Rocket Man serial. The Boulevard Theater charged 35 cents for a triple-feature.
But this article is not about theaters; it’s about movies, specifically the movies of 1963 that played a role on my childhood psyche. So let’s get to my list of ten films and talk movies.
1. How the West Was Won
Walter Brennan as the patriarch of the killer family.
2. The Birds
Not my first Hitchcock movie (Psycho 1960 was my first). But as scary as that first one was, it didn't affect me as much as The Birds did. On my walk home from the movie, I was constantly on the look-out for attacking birds. Even on my way to school the following week I walked under trees so the birds couldn't see me. Psychos did not exist in my world, but birds were everywhere. I was traumatized for a month.
Tippi Hedren attacked by birds in attic.
3. Doctor No
Evil villain planning to attack Cape Canaveral from his secret underground lab with a super weapon, the foundation for the Bond bad guy archetype. My introduction to the villain who wanted to take over the world. Thereafter, it was about the villains in future Bond movies. Goldfinger, Odd Job, Rosa Klebb, and Red Grant were great follow-up villains.
4. Night of the Hunter
5. Jason and the Argonauts
Anyone who doesn't choose the skeleton warrior scene as the most influential on their childhood is a liar. Sure, there were very many visual moments that captured our attention, the skeleton attack captured our imaginations. To this day, it still does.
6. Blood Feast
The first thought which may cross your mind is, How the hell did a ten year old kid get into this movie. You have to remember, this was 1963. This movie was considered "over the top" rather than "adult". It was seen as something for kids because of all the gimmicks. After all, there was a "nurse" on duty in case anyone had a "heart attack". Everyone in attendance received a "barf bag" with the movie title printed on its side. Gimmicky meant silly. So, when we kids saw the gore from the Godfather of Gore, Herschell Gordon Lewis, we were on a roller coaster of fun. I watched every one of his movies in the theater throughout the 60s. Also watched every movie that promised to top the gore from this movie. What a journey!
7. The Haunting
Is she crazy or are there ghosts about? This trope was captured by this film for me. Although there may have been others before 1963, this was the scariest one for me at that time. And, of course, there were ghosts in my mind. That's what made it scary.
8. The Silence
Just as I was allowed into the gory horror movies of the time, I was also allowed into adult cinema. If it was in the movie theater, parents didn't worry about what was showing. The theaters wouldn't show questionable fare. This was not my first foray into adult drama. After all, Peeping Tom (1960) was shown at the same theater. The one scene that kind of creeped me out though was the boy bathing his mother. I just didn't understand what was going on, but felt uncomfortable. I have not rewatched this movie till this day. I did not care for the cringe experience. It also made me more selective in my choice of foreign films, where this adult stuff could be found.
9. Charade
I thought this was an Alfred Hitchcock film. I still had The Birds in mind, so I was surprised to learn it was a Stanley Donen production. But I enjoyed it. The bad guys are looking for valuable stamps and leave a whole bunch of dead bodies in their search. The good guys are on the run and it seems that anyone who interacts with them are done in by the bad guys. But it's the bad guys that I remember most. After Dr. No and his metal hands, George Kennedy plays a killer with a mechanical hand. My love for the villains was beginning to grow as I met more unique ones in film.
10. The Servant
British movies were not foreign films, in my opinion, and their adult fare reminded me of horror films in their look and feel. It was part of the love for black and white cinema that intrigued me. So, when I saw The Servant, my young mind couldn't tell if I was watching a scary movie or an adult one. It was also my introduction to Dirk Bogarde, who would pop up later in films like The Damned, The Night Porter, and Death in Venice. He played characters that were different than any bad guy I'd ever seen. He was decadent, a new word in my vocabulary. When Dirk Bogarde takes over the house where he works as a servant, it haunted me. How did that happen? It was such a strange transition to see the master and servant reverse roles. I was introduced to the film of decadence.
And there we have the ten films from 1963 that influenced my darker side for film appreciation. Thanks for visiting the blog.
