Top 10 Memories: Movies

Just Me & the Dog, Day 2-  Got phone calls from Teresa Reep Tysinger and Jennifer (Bob) Minnigan Kuramochi.  Teresa's call was business related, but I was not much help; Jennifer called to invite me to lunch with she and her hubby Jun this Sunday, and to tell me she purchased me some Cheerwine.  She is now officially my favorite reader and one of the top 3 people of all time!  It seems I can be bought, and now we all know the price- Cheerwine.

One of the things I hope to do over this last month of my "year of blogging" is to look back across my years in youth ministry all at once and give you some lists from various categories of memories.  Today we begin that process with MOVIES.  This is not a list of my favorite movies.  These are the titles that came to mind the most quickly when I asked myself which movies I most closely associated with youth group memories.  Not listed here is Ghost Story- that horror story has already been told.  And here they are:

10)  Flash the Teenage Otter/Run, Appaloosa, Run!In the dark days before Blockbuster, if you needed movies for events the only place to get them was on reel-to-reel from your local library.  At Quaker Lake Camp, it seemed like for several years anytime we needed a movie it was one of these two live action Disney films.  Flash (1961) featured animals, while Appaloosa (1966) was about a girl and her horse.    I have tried to forget them, but that darned Appaloosa theme song is just so catchy...

 9)  Pirates of the Caribbean:  Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)-  A large group of us from Wesley Memorial UMC in Tampa went to a late showing not long after Pirates opened, and we loved it.  But my main memory was at the end, when Will Turner announced to everyone that he was a pirate.  Stephanie Greife was so confused, and said so very loudly.  The entire theater laughed, and a great memory was made!

 8)  Chariots of Fire/Gandhi-  For two consecutive years (1981-82) we went to see Oscar winning movies as a part of the youth group at New Garden Friends Meeting.  Both were epic films with deep spiritual messages, and were perfect for that group of students.  The discussions that followed were as good as the movies themselves.  I still love the Gandhi quote about Christianity:  "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."   Sometimes the truth hurts...

 7)  American Pie (1999)-  Before you panic: NO, I wasn't dumb enough to take my FUMC-K youth group to this film.  However...   Lisa Kraus, a college student at the time, and high school youth Amber Herrick asked me to take them , with the blessing of their parents.  I chose poorly...  To be honest I thought the movie was really funny, but I was too embarrassed to laugh too much.  It is a great memory.

6)  Wayne's World (1992)-  After youth one Sunday evening, a group from Springfield Friends Meeting grabbed some dinner and then went to see the movie (in a theater building that is now a church).  We were huge fans of all things SNL in those days, from the Church Lady to Hans & Franz to Toonses the Driving Cat.  We HAD to see Wayne's World together.  It is still a classic; my son Will is a huge fan. The scene where they spoof the opening credits to Laverne and Shirley had me on the floor laughing.  You know, the floor of a movie theater is never a good place to be...

 5)  The Cowboy Way (1998)-  One Sunday night after church we planned to go to a $1 movie at one of the local theaters near Kissimmee.  For reasons I don't remember, I was not there for the choosing of the film, and left it all in the capable hands of youth counselor Cathy Thacker and a few others.  In fairness, I thought they made a good choice too.  Until...   Let's just say terrible things happened in that film, and that I have never gotten over my fear of cows.

 4)  Aladdin (1992)-  I could have just as easily chosen The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.  My group from Springfield Friends Meeting saw them all together, and we were huge Disney fans.  I chose Aladdin because the music blew us away, and we quoted Robin William's Genie for weeks after we saw it.  You Ain't Never Had A Friend Like Me is still one of my favorite film songs ever!

 3)  Anchorman (2004)-  I took a group of guys from Wesley Memorial to a late night showing in the summer of 2004, and we laughed so hard I thought someone was going to get hurt!  We quoted the lines for months; in fact, Will and I still quote the lines.  I think I would watch the DVD right now if it wasn't in NC with him...  "I'm in a glass case of emotion!"

 2)  Raising Arizona/Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure- These classics, released in 1987 and 1989, were not films that we saw as a group in theaters.  These were films that we were exposed to by Hall of Fame member Heather Beggs.  She told us how good they were.  She brought me the soundtracks.  She quoted line after line after line from each of them.  By the time I actually saw them, lines like "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K" and "Mister, you got a pantie on your head" seemed like old friends.  And she was right; both movies are awesome, and pretty much every youth group since had to sit through them!  And the moral of Bill & Ted still rings true today:  "Be excellent to each other!"

 1)  Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)-  I saw it in theaters BEFORE it was released, having won tickets from a radio station.  I owned the video.  I own the special edition DVD.  If you were ever male and in one of my youth groups, chances are you watched it with me; if you are female you probably complained about how stupid it is.  OK, so that is stereotyping, but it is pretty close to the truth.  It went with us on every trip, was quoted most every week, and made us laugh a million times.  It is also now in NC with Will.  Good thing WIPEOUT! is on tonight...

So there you have it!  If you have other memories of movies I would love to hear them.  Join me tomorrow and we will take a look back at Youth Week 1999!

Because of Jesus,

Carl