On Videos in the 80's with My Parents

               

I'm working and The Goonies is on in the background. What a great movie. It reminds me of some of the movies my parents and I would watch when we first got a VCR circa 1985(?). The Goonies was the first movie I ever saw with a curse word in it (e.g. when Chunk smashes his slushy against the window -- it may have been the first time I ever heard that word period -- I wish I was still as shocked to hear them in movies now).

Here are some of the VHS Gems that I remember renting during those days(by the way, at that time we rented movies from an old house in Sellersburg that had been converted into a video store -- I always felt a little like I wasn't supposed to be there, like I might take a wrong turn and stumble upon some guy sitting on his couch in his underwear eating a frozen dinner):

 

 

 

 

 

Kids build a spaceship from junkyard parts. Intergalactic adventure ensues.

 

 

An old man's house is slowly surrounded by frogs. . . for two hours.  I remember being dumbfounded rather than scared. Based on the cover, I can't imagine why my mom let me rent this. I guess she thought it was some sort of documentary.

 

 

I have no idea what this was about. I vaguely remember a burly guy with a beard and I'm pretty sure Savannah was an orphan.  A happy orphan, evidently

 

 

 

 

 

I don't recall watching this and thinking, "This is an amazing, unforgettable journey of humanity," as the cover claims, but I do remember thinking something along the lines of, "That man was in a block of ice and now he's not."  Although I specifically remember watching the beginning of this, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep about 20 minutes in, after the most important event had occurred (i.e. the thawing of the iceman).

 

I can't say which of the Pink Panther movies we rented, but I remember being severely disappointed that it wasn't a cartoon (I think the title sequence stars the cartoon Pink Panther).  I also remember my parents and some friends of theirs laughing at what I saw as unfunny people doing unfunny things; I distinctly remember asking my dad, "Is this supposed to be funny or what?"

He replied, "Or what."

After that enigmatic (although probably, in retrospect, fitting) answer, I remember quickly finding something else to do.