It was Mr. Arkadin or the confidential report!
8 1/2. Turned on the commentary to find my film professor speaking at chapter 3. That was a mindblower. That was the first Criterion version of anything I had ever seen. I’m still waiting for the 6 disc Criterion Collection of Ghostbusters, though.
THE THIRD MAN
la grand illusion
I guess it was Fellini’s 81/2, one of my all time favorites.
Probably the first film in the Criterion Collection I saw was LORD OF THE FLIES (watched it in a jr. high class after reading the book, but not the Criterion version). The first Criterion DVD I watched was probably TRAFFIC. And I think the first Criterion DVD I bought was THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS.
“Rififi.” Growing up, whenever I read reviews for the latest Hollywood heist movie the critics would always seem to compare it with “Rififi.” And so when I first started my Netflix account (which I had eventually had to discontinue) one of the first movies I rented was “Rififi” from Criterion.
Loved the movie, loved the DVD. I immediately frontloaded my netflix queue with Criterion DVDs, including “8 1/2” and “The 400 Blows.” Right now the only ones I own are “The 400 Blows” and “Hearts and Minds” (I did a paper on the Vietnam War and this documentary was a life-saver), but once I save a bit of money from my new job I’m gonna go to TOWN on the Criterion site!
The Hidden Fortress.
Does this question refer to Criterion releases or just films in the collection?
I’m not trying to be critical, but I think it’s a bit odd that people talk about this or that art film that was recommended to them in college. Didn’t anyone watch Spartacus when they were young? Or Lord of the Flies? I remember running around the house for weeks with a fake sword yelling, “I’m Spartacus!”
Besides those, though, I think Wages of Fear was the first Criterion release I remember watching.
I’m pretty sure the first Criterion disc I watched was the first one I bought – John Woo’s The Killer on laserdisc. I had just bought a Laserdisc player in late 1992 and I drove to New Orleans (finding a shop in Baton Rouge that had a decent selection of discs was like finding a leprechaun) with the specific purpose of buying that disc. And from that point on Criterion discs always had a home in my movie collection.
the royal tennenbaums.
Royal Tenenbaums as well. Again, that was before I really knew what Criterion was, but I asked for it as a gift. The next one I watched was the Seventh Seal, and the first I bought myself was Breathless.
400 Blows
OK I just went through the films on the Criterion website to see which one I actually saw first, and I discovered that The Man Who Fell to Earth is the first actual film I saw that eventually became a Criterion title. My dad took me to see it in the theater when it was first released in 1976, when I was 14 going on 15. Kinda blew my mind, since I was more used to the “Planet of the Apes” sequels and “Star Trek” reruns or late night Creature Features on TV when it came to watching science fiction. After that, I also saw Life of Brian, The Tin Drum, Time Bandits, Videodrome, Spinal Tap, Sid and Nancy and Brazil in their original theatrical releases. And I saw Monterey Pop and Jimi Plays Monterey somewhere around that time as well.
Sid & Nancy, several thousand dollars ago.
I was a late starter: John Cassavetes’ Shadows.
Amarcord. Hooked since.
The Royal Tenenbaums, fresh out of high school.
The Royal Tenenbaums, which is now my favorite film!
Hitchcock’s Notorious on laser disc!
Was it L’Avventura or was it 8-1/2? Anyways, I bought “Mon Oncle”, “L’avventura”, “L’eclisse” soonafter.
I have no idea, movies I’d seen years ago, I just found out were Criterion. Like Royal Tennenbaums or well, I had a film teacher and didn’t see the boxes, like Ran. And I owned Beastie Boys Anthology for a while and just found out it was Criterion.
Night and Fog. or Schizopolis…
First I watched was RoboCop at a friend’s house. First purchased was either Silence of the Lambs or Black Orpheus.
M. Hulot’s Holiday. I saw it on TV in the 60’s (probably PBS) and at an art theater in the 70’s. When I saw the DVD several years ago in a store, I bought it immediately. That was the first time I’d heard of the Criterion Collection.
Seven Samurai
“I Vitelloni” and then “La Strada”, I love I started watching Fellini on Criterion. Is there a better way?
I don’t recall what the first Criterion DVD was…I had become quite familiar with many of their titles when they were on VHS, so I just naturally replicated my VHS collection and before I knew it…I noticed a recurring name. Then I looked into what other films they released on DVD and was hooked. This was back during the original 1-50 spine numbers, so it’s been a while. The first CC dvd I purchased was Alphaville. I liked that, so I grabbed the 2 Suzuki titles: Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter…and it’s basically been ongoing ever since.
Brazil has always been my No. 2 movie, so I bought the 3-disc-er before I knew anything about the company. The next day, I went back to the store and bought Seven Samurai, Alphaville, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Charade (my No. 3 movie), The Third Man, and The Last Temptation of Christ. Four years ago, I moved in with a friend who owned a laserdisc player. I went to the store to buy the Criterion Blade Runner laserdisc… Seven months later, I had every Criterion laserdisc that didn’t have a DVD counterpart or had different special features. I started therapy two weeks after completing my collection.
ZAK FORSMAN
I think the first for me was a laserdisc of Taxi Driver. It bought it for the Scorsese commentary.