Movies I Saw In Theaters 1975-1996

I have had my “Red Movie Notebook” since 1985.  Some times, years go by, without me looking at it…..sometimes I look at it on a regularly basis.  There are two parts to my notebook.  Part 1 (see the photo below) shows all the rental numbers that Variety listed in their 1986 All-Time Top Grossing Movies chart.

I still pat myself on having the patience to write all of these movies down….and for me….doing it in a decent handwriting.

The second part of my “Red Movie Notebook” was a movie viewing log (photo below).  It listed all the movies I had seen….with a rating for each movie.  4 stars was the highest score while a 1/2 star was the lowest score.   If I had seen the movie in theaters it got a star.  In the photo below…I saw 13 “H” movies in theaters.

The other day I was looking at my “Red Movie Notebook” and thought….”Wow, I could probably list about 95% of all the movies I have ever seen in theaters.  So the first part of that idea was to move the movies from the notebook to our website.  The following table shows most of the movies I saw in theaters during the 1970s (I was a pre-teen), 1980s (high school/college) and mid 1990s (I became a father at 21…actually on my 21st birthday).  I will have to depend on the old memory to come up with the movies for mid 1990s to 2018.

These Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

The really cool thing about this table is that it is “user-sortable”. Rank the movies anyway you want.

  • Sort movies by movie titles and trailers
  • Sort  movies by stars of the movies
  • Sort movies by adjusted domestic box office grosses using current movie ticket cost (in millions)
  • Sort  movies by yearly domestic box office rank
  • Sort movies how they were received by critics and audiences.  60% rating or higher should indicate a good movie.
  • Sort by how many Oscar® nominations each movie received and how many Oscar® wins each movie won.
  • Sort  movies by Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score.  UMR Score puts box office, reviews and awards into a mathematical equation and gives each movie a score.

  1.  My first ever date was to see E.T. (1982).  She was a red-head……I would eventually marry a red-head…..just not her…and not WoC.
  2.  My mom and dad took me to see Clint Eastwood’s The Gauntlet (1977).  After Sondre Locke’s chest was exposed during a scene…..my  dad told my mother he would never take me to another R rated movie.
  3.  Endless Love (1981) was the first R-Rated movie that I was able to see without adult supervision.
  4. I never saw Jaws (1975) in theaters…but I have vivid memories of friends telling me the  breakdown of how the movie happened.
  5.   I spent most of Friday the 13th 3D (1982) staring at the bottom of my popcorn box versus the movie screen.
  6. The Breakfast Club (1985) came out my senior year in high school.  Because we knew someone that worked at our local theater….me and my friends most have seen that movie 40 to 50 times.
  7. I loved Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) but I was very disappointed in the “Special Edition” that Spielberg later released.
  8. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) is the movie that made me the movie nut I am today.
  9. Biggest laughter in theaters?  1976’s Gus, 1980’s Stir Crazy and 1981’s Porky’s.
  10. Saw A Clockeork Orange (1971) at a midnight showing when the movie was almost 15 years old.
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33 thoughts on “Movies I Saw In Theaters 1975-1996”

  1. You and I had very different childhoods. I saw 37 of these in the theaters. I cannot believe you did not see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the theater. I had seen it twice in the theater by 1996.

    I miss you. You should go on more of my business trips with me.

    Reply

    1. Hey WoC….I agree…we did in fact have very different childhoods. I am shocked….tell ya….shocked that Mimi was not dragging you to see Clint Eastwood movies in the 1970s. I am impressed that you have seen 37 of these movies in theaters. I know these days you average about 10 movies a year in theaters. In 2018 you have seen 3 so far in theaters…..Infinity Wars, Game Night and Ready Player One.

      As for Rocky Horror Picture Show…..I saw it at the Naro a few times….but for some reason it is not in my “red movie notebook”….I know I am equally disappointed that this “database” seems to have some errors…..lol. Miss you too….hopefully your next business trip will be more crowded.

      Reply

  2. So it was a list of movies you saw at the cinema, sorry I meant theater, here in the UK we prefer the word cinema, theater is a place for musicals, plays and childrens panto. 🙂

    You’ve seen some really good films on the big screen, and a lot of bad films too (Bruce blushes). What have you missed? let me see… a ha… Jaws! Maybe you were too young for that one. I saw that about a dozen times back then and where’s the martial arts masterpiece that is Enter the Dragon? Too early?

    There are 54 films on the chart I haven’t seen, which means I’ve seen 177.

    I was keeping a similar record of films I saw at the cinema back in the 70s. I wish I kept track of the films I saw on TV too.

    Interesting look at your moviegoing habits Bruce. Vote Up!

    Here are the films I saw at the cinema in 1978 – 40 years ago!

    2001 A Space Odyssey
    Assault on Precinct 13
    Carrie (1976)
    Close Encounters
    Close Encounters
    Close Encounters
    Convoy
    Death Race 2000
    Death Race 2000
    Death Wish
    Deep ,The
    Driver ,The
    Enforcer ,The
    Enter The Dragon
    Enter The Dragon
    Enter The Dragon
    Enter The Dragon
    Exit The Dragon, Enter The Tiger
    Fist of Fury II
    Force Ten From Navarone
    Freebie and the Bean
    Fury ,The
    Game of Death
    Game of Death
    Game of Death
    Gauntlet ,The
    Gone in 60 Seconds
    Grease
    High Plains Drifter
    Holocaust 2000
    Hooper
    Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
    It Came from Outer Space (1953)
    It Lives Again
    Live and Let Die
    Man With The Golden Gun ,The
    Night of the Living Dead (1968)
    Pink Panther Strikes Again ,The
    Return of the Pink Panther
    Revenge of the Pink Panther
    Revenge of the Pink Panther
    Saturday Night Fever
    Saturday Night Fever
    Spiderman The Movie
    Spy Who Loved Me ,The
    Star Wars IV -A New Hope
    Star Wars IV -A New Hope
    Star Wars IV -A New Hope
    Star Wars IV -A New Hope
    Superman The Movie
    Superman The Movie
    Swarm ,The
    Thing ,The (1951)
    Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
    Trinity Is Still My Name
    War of the Worlds (1953)
    White Buffalo ,The
    Wicker Man ,The
    Wild Geese ,The
    Wild Geese ,The

    Hmmm most of them were rereleases. Films that I’d seen more than once in cinemas that year are repeated on the list, there is a date before each title on my files, and the cinema/theater after the title. Spiderman the Movie? It was an awful made for TV film that was released theatrically here in the UK.

    Reply

    1. Hey Steve….well 177 movies is a pretty impressive 77%. As for Jaws…yes my mom would not let me see it….I did grow up minutes from the Atlantic Ocean…..I think she was trying to protect. It was actually a surfing incident that almost killed me….versus fear of sharks….that has kept me out of the ocean for the last 25 years.

      I knew of Bruce Lee….but never came close to seeing one of his movies in theaters. Very cool that you have you are list going. Very fun….seeing the movie cinema trips…..especially seeing the ones that got repeat viewings like Star Wars and Enter the Dragon.

      I will skip Spiderman the Movie…..but is still probably better than how Spidey 3 with Maguire was….lol. Thanks for taking us down your memory lane….it was enjoyable.

      Reply

    2. I saw War of the Worlds (1953) with When Worlds Collide (1951) in the old RKO Cinerama theater in Manhattan circa 1977 or 78. They promoted them as the original Star Wars.

      Reply

      1. Hey Dan. That is a great way to check out those two all-time great science fiction classic movies. In many ways they were the original Star Wars. Thanks for sharing this information. Enjoy the last of the Memorial Day Weekend. I am trying to catch up on lots on the website…as in just 12 short hours I will be headed back to school…..luckily…this is the final 13 days….and then SUMMMMEEEERRRRRRRRR!

        Reply

  3. Thanks for sharing Bruce. I have seen many of these films in the theatre as well with my rough count being 90. The Man Who Would Be King is the oldest movie on the list I distinctly remember seeing in the cinema. I was 10 years old and it made a strong impression on me.

    Reply

    1. Hey PhilHoF17….with you having seeing 90 of these movies….I think it is safe to say we were seeing the same movies at the same time….might explain why we have such similar thoughts on so many movie subjects. I saw The Man Who Would Be King is probably the first non-Disney movie I saw in theaters. As I saw A Clockwork Orange when I was in college. The end…with Connery’s head being placed on the table……made a really strong impression on me….not to mention making me a Caine fan for life. I remember figuring out how to say “bloody” in a good Caine British accent…..ah….the memories. Thanks for checking out this list of movies.

      Reply

  4. I waited until you gave this page a proper title to comment. I have seen 42 of these movies, more than I thought it would be. My top 3 favourites are Rain Man, Fargo, and The Breakfast Club.

    Reply

    1. Hey Flora…the “no title” was fun for a little bit….but glad the page has a title now. 42 is really really impressive. Kudos to you. Your Top 3 are excellent movies…..with Breakfast Club being on my Top 100 Personal Favorite Movies list. Thanks for the feedback, visit and comment.

      Reply

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