Having just gotten George Romero’s The Crazies on DVD, I realised this was the first film I ever bought as a VHS pre-record. I think I meant to get Deep Red, but that was out of stock.
So while I’m getting all misty-eyed with nostalgia (and because, being exceptionally sad, I can remember these things), I’m curious what other people’s first film purchases were, on VHS and/or DVD? And while we’re at it, what was the first film you taped off TV to keep?
Mine: TV - Hang 'Em High (still have the tape around 25 years later!); DVD - The Wild Bunch
First movie I taped from T.V was Mutiny at Fort Sharp. It was shown in the early hours on I.T.V, which is a T.V channel here in the U.K. I think it was the late 80’s / early 90’s. A few lower key Spaghetti westerns used to be shown on this channel in those days.
First VHS I purchased was a U.K pre-cert tape to Straw Dogs.
Must have been april or may 1986: I bought a VHS videorecorder on a saturday afternoon and at night the film was shown on Belgian television. I was so fond of my new aquisition that I taped the movie, watched another program and subsequently watched the recording. I must have watched five or six films that weekend. My step father brought me a tape of a Louis de Funès movie, I rented a few films and recorded a second movie on sunday night (Excalibur) I still have the Long Riders recording.
They showed Mutiny at Fort Sharp on ITV? How the heck did I miss that? (I’m in the UK too). Maybe it was before I had the knowledge of SWs that I have now.
I still have ITV recordings of a few SWs, including the first Sartana - still the only version I possess - and a couple of Fidanis.
I remember watching Five Man Army one early evening on BBC1 many, many years ago - probably before we had a VCR.
I don’t think I ever bought a movie on VHS until very recently, when shops started to sell them for almost no money because of the introduction of DVD
VHS seemed almost exclusively a rental product, not a selling product.
I never saw much in VHS, again until recently: twenty year old recordings still funtion rather well, while recordings made with a DVD recorder often show all kinds of problems after a few years. Of course you can always try the trick with the fridge, but that’s a bit radical, and I don’t think fridges were invented for this.
First Movie I recorded on VHS probably Twin Dragons or a James Bond Movie.
The first VHS I rented were Commando or For a few Dollars more. I never bought a Movie on VHS .
The first DVD’s I bought must have been Ed Wood, Assault on Predict 13 (or the Fog) and Django (or the Great Silence).
Yes they do. I’ve got a whole cupboard full of them (I’ve collected over 200 VHS’s) and DVDs are half the size of them, so ideally, I’ld like to replace all my videos with DVDs.
Jeez, i’m surprised so many people recall these things. I’ve been trying but still have no clue! The only “first” thing i can remember is the first single i ever bought for myself…