"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream, it takes over as the number one hormone; it bosses the enzymes; directs the pineal gland; plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to film is more film."-Frank Capra
What can I say, I am a junkie. Actually, I think we all are, it's just a question of what object, substance, or person, that we are addicted to. Mine just happens to be movies. I'm kind of happy about this. It's not as damaging on my body as say drugs or cigarettes, or as expensive as sports cars, designer clothes, or remodeling. Just give me my $15 fix, and I'm good to go.
I think my father was the first to get me hooked on film, not that he has any interest in them. He worked for an electronics company for a short time and one day brought home a new machine called a VCR. Someone had purchased it and something wasn't working right. They asked for a new one, and now the company was stuck with a machine they couldn't resell. So it was given to my dad. This was really at the early stages of the game, early 80's, when these machines were going for $500 or more. I began taping the Late Late Show at midnight. This was pre-cable and the only place to see older movies was on late night T.V. And so it began....
As mom and pop vid
eo stores starting going up on street corners, I would ride my bike and randomly rent films that I've heard of but had never seen. Then it happened, the day I rented Casablanca. This was the moment. Up to this point, I was still a novice, just dabbling in my "substance" of choice, my "recreation drug". I could have still been able to walk away. The lights went out, Max Steiner's music began and I was completely hooked. It's the only movie I've ever watched and as soon as it ended, I hit the rewind button, and immediately watched again. The addiction took hold and I realized I would either need to continue feeding my itch with "more film" or I would need some type of extensive 12 step program to ever be set free again.
What can I say, I am a junkie. Actually, I think we all are, it's just a question of what object, substance, or person, that we are addicted to. Mine just happens to be movies. I'm kind of happy about this. It's not as damaging on my body as say drugs or cigarettes, or as expensive as sports cars, designer clothes, or remodeling. Just give me my $15 fix, and I'm good to go.
I think my father was the first to get me hooked on film, not that he has any interest in them. He worked for an electronics company for a short time and one day brought home a new machine called a VCR. Someone had purchased it and something wasn't working right. They asked for a new one, and now the company was stuck with a machine they couldn't resell. So it was given to my dad. This was really at the early stages of the game, early 80's, when these machines were going for $500 or more. I began taping the Late Late Show at midnight. This was pre-cable and the only place to see older movies was on late night T.V. And so it began....
As mom and pop vid
eo stores starting going up on street corners, I would ride my bike and randomly rent films that I've heard of but had never seen. Then it happened, the day I rented Casablanca. This was the moment. Up to this point, I was still a novice, just dabbling in my "substance" of choice, my "recreation drug". I could have still been able to walk away. The lights went out, Max Steiner's music began and I was completely hooked. It's the only movie I've ever watched and as soon as it ended, I hit the rewind button, and immediately watched again. The addiction took hold and I realized I would either need to continue feeding my itch with "more film" or I would need some type of extensive 12 step program to ever be set free again.There were other movie milestones in my life. I took a film studies class my senior year in high school, then a few more in college. If anything this just feed the addiction. Like with most addictions,
your college experience is one of experimentation. So too was it for me. I was slowly led to the strong stuff, a semester of Hitchcock, a year with the Foreign Masters, and on and on.Now, some 30 years later, I still find myself looking for another fix, another unknown moving story that will give me that cinema high. I know there are other junkies out there just like me. Hopefully we'll be able to chat some about our film addictions and pass along our celluiod "drug" of choice.
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