Rypro 525

my first ever was empire strikes back on sifi channel, but the movie that convised me that wide was better (i was like 12 when empire on tv was on) was seeing the side by sides on that little tcm special with ben hur.

Flynn

Oddly enough, Braveheart.

calhoun07

The first I remember seeking out to see on VHS tape was the Color Purple, mainly because I recall how Spielberg made news at the time for insisting that the movie be released as widescreen on VHS. Ever since then, you could not get me to buy pan and scam again.

Mourn

The first time i ever noticed the crappiness of pan and scam was when i was little and watching Alien. When Ripley is questioning Mother, half of the computer's responses were cut. I didn't know why it was like that tho.

My first real widescreen experience was Die Hard, about a year and a half ago. Haven't looked back since.

JonTurner

The Insider, when it came out on VHS in widescreen only.

For the first about 15 minutes, I wasn't too happy, but by the time I was halfway through the movie, I was loving it (the film and the widescreen).

It was very, very soon after that that I finally got a DVD player - I couldn't stand watching anything in P&S again.

UAIOE

"American Pie".

This was the very first DVD i ever watched (back in '99). At first i wasnt happy about it, but after a few minutes i adjusted and accepted that it was more like the movie theater.


I've been pro-widescreen ever since.

Jackskeleton

to long to remember.

Mondo Kane

That one and INNERSPACE were among the first I saw too. I remember that those movies even showed a demo of "the black bars" before the feature began.

But the first true widescreen presentation I saw (In its 2:35 glory) was THE GOOD,THE BAD,AND THE UGLY.

Iron Chef

Bladerunner. I picked up the director's cut on VHS back in 1992, and didn't know that it was in widescreen, but the minute that I started watching it, I realized what a great thing widescreen is.

Geofferson

Same here.

costanza187

The Jackal, watched at somebody's house on their DVD player back before I knew what a dvd player was.

matome

One of my first laserdiscs from back in '91: Predator

Groucho

Probably Manhattan (the first VHS tape to released with letterboxing).

Goat3001

Same here. My uncle was showing it to me on his laptop and explained to me what widescreen was. All he said though was that they add in "black bars" so you have more picture on the sides. I didn't get it but I watched the movie anyway and really didn't get bothered by the black bars at all, I just took it as part of the film

Dr. DVD

Innerspace for me. Wasn't really sure of it at first, but grew to love it.

The film that won me over was definitely Lawrence of Arabia. After that, I refused to watch anything epic that wasn't WS.

DonnachaOne

It was actually Fellini's "Amarcord", beating "Manhattan" by eight months.

hat said, I believe my first widescreen experience was "Indiana Jone & The Temple Of Doom".

Haven't watched a p&s version when there was a widescreen version available since.

Once you've had wide, you don't run & hide

Johnny Zhivago

And another here... Bladerunner.

Sunday Morning

innerspace when it was released on video (probably early 88)

i knew something was right, but didn't know what it was. god bless joe dante.

Pants

I too remember inerspace.

One of the all time greatest "revelation" moments for me was watching Star Wars in letterbox for the first time. I'd seen the film Pan&scan more than a hundred times, and while there are MANY, MANY instances of the widescreen version revealing previously unseen footage the most amazing was this scene:

Luke is looking for Sand People through his binoculars, and then we see through his binoculars from his POV. Luke says, "I see two banthas down there but no sand people" and we, the audience, see two banthas just as Luke discribes. Then Luke says, "Wait, theres one now". In P&S no sandperson was ever shown. I always wrote this off to sloppyness. I figured that Luke indeed saw something that we were not shown. THEN I SAW THE LETTERBOX VERSION. There is a Sandperson!!!! He's right down in the corner, plain as day. I couldn't believe that there was a sandperson there all along. Talk about P&S screwing up the effect of a story.

BassDude

Mine was The Holy Trilogy also.

After seeing all the films in the theaters, I got what I thought was the only version of the movies on VHS. I watched those over and over, and those P&S versions over rode my original memories. Then, a local theater had a Star Wars Festival and showed the films over and over one weekend. I caught them and was amazed at the stuff I had missed over the years. I found out about Letterbox VHS and found the trilogy in a blue box with a hologram on the outside and a making of tape on the inside. (Still have it by the way...original version...no THX...No Greedo shooting first.)

I think the next one I bought was either The Graduate or Lawrence of Arabia anniversary editions.

B.A.

I think mine was the Braveheart videotape

MvRojo

Back in 1993 when I was 11, I went into Suncoast to pre-order Jurassic Park. I was asked whether I wanted WS or P&S. After the guy explained the difference, I went with the WS. Now I can't stand seeing anything but OAR.

Matt

Gdrlv

The first widescreen film I ever watched on a TV set was Alien, the first (and only) laserdisc I ever watched.

DVD Smurf

I do not remember, first DVD was Life with Eddie Murphy.

paratize

I think it was JURASSIC PARK (on VHS), but I could be wrong....