The Monkees

I have no idea. My mom used to buy me VHS all the time, like the Disney movies and such. But I have no clue what VHS I bought first with my own personal money. I remember buying the Ace Ventura movies on VHS in a double pack from Venture when they went out of business.

Chet Desmond

"Rock 'N Roll High School" - $39.95 ordered from Marshall Discount Video.

OldBoy

remember when VHS movies were like $99.99 retail? that was crazy! why was that?

edwardnortonfan

The first VHS purchased for me as a gift was Philadelphia. The first one I bought myself was either Reservoir Dogs or The Bird with the Crystal Plumage...I don't remember which came first.

lee_hero

Very, very tough to tell. Way back in like '83, my parents opened up one of the first rental stores anywhere around here. I had tons to choose from. Think the first one that ever got added into my own private collection was Krull though.I loved that movie as a kid. My favorite thing to do as a child though was to browse around the horror section. I remember all those old Wizard VHS boxes used to intrigue me as well as the way ahead of it's time box for The Dead Pit with the eyes that lit up. I have that to blame for my obsession with horror films I think.

zoomgirl

Arsenic and Old Lace

Dubya

We got a VCR for Christmas 1983 which was sort of the first year they became the "hot item to have." I was given Raiders of the Lost Ark which was released at the bargain price of $39.99. I also got the "Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller."

Alan Smithee

Halloween at K-Mart for about 17 bucks.

cdoug57

Terminator 2 - used from Blockbuster

CertifiedTHX

Not sure about my first VHS purchase. All I remember is picking up the first four Star Trek films back in '89 or '90. My mother bought me a number of movies when I was a kid, and among the first of those was Ghostbusters, in the original box design that you opened on the side to access the tape.

I remember seeing Ghostbusters II and Star Trek V in Tower Records for $89 each (maybe $99 for the latter). Perhaps I'm mistaken-- and someone correct me if I am-- but I think the pricing had to do with the rental market. Like, they weren't available for purchase yet, but if you really wanted to have them, you could pay the exorbitant price.

1983 was when I got my first VCR-- well, the family did. Top-loader design. New TV to go with it. Channel changer was a knob that vibrated noisily with every turn. Ah, the memories....

--THX

Lucky101

What's VHS????

lee_hero

You're exactly right THX.

In the early days, the studios actually used rental markets to help their sales. Titles would be outrageously expensive for usually about 90 days to a year before dropping. I can remember us buying the tapes for our store directly from the studios as well. They would try to get you to buy more copies by having these "windows" as they called them. They would inform the rental stores up front as to how long it would be before the movie saw any other kind of format [examples - 90 day ppv window, 12 month cable/free tv window, 6 month rental window meaning it would be that long before they put the title on sell-through that's what they called it when the titles would be available for cheap at like Wal Mart].

Occasionally titles would come out at sell through, but not often. ET was one of the first that did this.

Another bit of info on the vhs rental market, rental stores did get cut some pretty good slack. Tiltes that retailed for around $99.99 or so, the studios would usually sell to rental stores for anywhere from $40 to $60 a copy depending on how many you bought.

CertifiedTHX

Excellent. Good information, too. Thank you.

--THX

Roybq

"Star Trek III" on release day for $29.95 minutes before I had James Doohan autograph it at a nearby (now long gone) video store.

I also do remember paying $75 for "Back to the Future" on release day. I played it so often that I think I did get some worth out of that one.

dom56

Ah..the good time.

My first VHS player was a RCA Hi-Fi and it came with Footloose for free but Empire Strike Back was my real purchased for $80. Come to think of it, all the VHS tapes I bought were all full-screen. I don't think there were any widescreen VHS that I know.

Edit:

I found out I have the Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Widescreen Video Collector's Edition that I bought at my (now closed) TRU. Real nice set, it come with a 48-page collector's book and a 35mm film strip.

JimRochester

That was a long time ago so I really don't remember. Unfortunately I had to start surrendering my Beta tapes for those new fangled VHS things

LiquidSky

Way back in the early 1980s: A concert tape of The Go-Go's called Totally Go-Go's. Some stupid gal in the audience was talking about how this was the first "punk" band she had ever seen.

tofu

Hmm...such a long time ago. I think it was Blade Runner: The Director's Cut

Brian Shannon

Star Trek: the Motion Picture

JackBurton

The first VHS I can remember paying for was Big Trouble in Little China. I bought it from my friend's dad's video store. He was reluctant to give it up b/c it was his rental copy, but I was persistant. In the years that followed that VHS was repaired with scotch tape several times.

Chad

I have no clue what my first VHS was, but I do know what my first W-I-D-E-S-C-R-E-E-N VHS was...

The Halloween Anniversary Edition from Anchor Bay. It was housed in a very nice and sturdy plastic case that said "Widescreen Presentation" near the bottom of the cover.

Dazza

I think it was an Iron Maiden EP called something like "Video Pieces", which had a couple of cuts each from Number of the Beast & Piece of Mind. I remember renting it first and then buying a new copy from the store once I'd saved up enough money. Not sure what the first actual movie I bought was -- initially I bought music videos of my favourite bands, but I think Platoon may have been the first film on VHS I paid out for...

Joseph B

My first VHS movie purchase was:
Blazing Saddles.

My second purchase was Star Wars: A New Hope. It cost me $70 in 1984.
That tape provided a P&S version of the movie with stereo audio on linear tracks. (This was before VHS "HI-FI" audio.) And yet, I *loved* that thing. I think I played it at least once a month for two years. Of course, the "hissy" stereo linear tracks wore out way before the two years were up; and there were audio dropouts all over the place.

Two years later I purchased the Star Wars Trilogy pack for $45. All three movies provided HI-FI stereo. I actually thought that my Star Wars Collection was now complete!

My last VHS purchase was the Widescreen Indiana Jones Trilogy release in 1999. I already owned a DVD player at that point, but Lucas released these newly-minted transfers only to VHS, VHS WS, and LD (and the LDs were only released in Japan). Since I had been "Jonesing" for these movies in WS -- and I was able to purchase the trilogy pack for just $30 -- I felt like they were worth the investment to tide me over until the DVD release. (That release finally came in Fall 2003, so ultimately I felt like I got my money's worth.)

Since I never really considered VHS to be a collectors format, I only purchased about 40 titles total. I had been saving up for LD but as soon as I was exposed to DVD in Fall 1998 I knew that LD was dead. I purchased my first DVD player in November of that year and never looked back. (Well, except for the aforementioned Indiana Jones Trilogy.)

advdfreak

It had to have been the original Star Wars trilogy. It was also probably my first double dip on VHS!

emsdad01

Prince's Purple Rain. If I recall it was one of the first VHS movies to be sold to the public. It was $30. Later, I as grew older, I came to realize my mistake and just how awful this movie actually was.