Concerns about tarnishing the memory of childhood favourites.

[unluckytourist]

There's an old wrestling movie, from the mid nineteen eighties called GRUNT! I could barely recall its existence. I remembered it being a mockumentary, concerning the beheading of a champion, and the expulsion of his killer to a mental asylumn, only for him to make a triumphant return, first fighting in a county fair and dismantiling a midget pyramid.
Now, having seen it when I was about 5-6, and only the once, it had probally been shaped in my mind into a film of outstanding quality and post modern humour. For the longest time I even considered that I had dreamnt it up. Doing a dig around on IMDB, however, I realise its not only very real, but seemingly very crap too. I guess the question is, do I search out a copy? Revisit the film? Or just leave it as is, without letting my age and abillity of being bothered by awful acting, poor production values and lazy writing, tarnish the memory of the film?
Anyone else had the same dilema?

[peter johnson]

Same dilemma? Yes -- About "Warlords of Atlantis" and other films I saw as a yungun that I knew, sort of, wouldn't stand the test of time/the change to an adult point of view.
Worth doing anyway?  Oh, hell yeah -- You get to relive what it was about the films that made you love them to begin with, plus your adult self gets something to laugh at and ponder over.
I would never have foregone the experience of rewatching endless episodes of "Voyage to The Bottom of The Sea", though now their cheesiness shines through like a cheddar stain on muslin.  The acting was still very good and consistently good amidst the second and fifth-rate effetcts.
peter johnson/denny crane

[sideorderofninjas]

It's a gamble to hunt up a movie you watched as a kid.  You may now watch the movie and realize it is horrible.  Though, some movies even with everything going wrong don't seem that bad when colored with your childhood memories. 

[Yaddo 42]

As it has been said, sometimes it destroys a precious memory to see a film you loved (say Krull in my case) as a kid for what it really is. Seeing it on TV as a teen left me on the fence. Seeing it as an adult, I could see what a drab and half realized idea combined with a grab bag of fantasy cliches.

OTOH, it can reinforce the memory, true nostalgia when you get down to it. You may cherish the memory even more, because it can take you back to that moment, whatever the film itself may be. Some of the monster movies I used to watch with my dad when I was little are like this. I cherish the memory more than movie, it's just a visual cue more than anything.

Or you may be of two minds about it like Peter mentioned. You get to stroll down memory lane, but can now laugh at yourself young self and the film you liked so much. This is why I want a copy of Inframan.

Bite the bullet and watch it.

[Doc Daneeka]

If you really enjoyed the film, then it won't matter you'll kinda like it no matter what. Like me, Moonbase, and Dance of the Dwarfs

[JaseSF]

I'd love to get my hands on GRUNT! THE WRESTLING MOVIE and THE SHEIK's I LIKE TO HURT PEOPLE, which according to Fred Olen Ray, was originally supposed to be an Horror film, not a documentary... It would bring back memories for me but also it'd be wonderful to see Dick Murdoch again in GRUNT! knowing so many stories as I do about him now. Sure, they probably wouldn't hold up (although 1973's THE WRESTLER certainly did) but I'm sure I for one would have fun watching 'em again.

[Torgo]

I was really hooked on the movie The Keep when I was growing up. 

I watched it years later and wondered what in the heck I was thinking!  Definitely not Michael Mann's finest hour.

[Trevor]

As far as things like income tax and other things go, my memory is like a goldfish's. However when it comes to films, "I have a long memory and no-one's going to take that away." (Quote from the great but unfortunately sadly late British actor James Hazeldine)

I remember my first film that I saw on TV (Philip Leacock's Baffled! and I remember being scared by it: I remember the first film I saw in a cinema which was Charles Jarrott's abortive remake of Lost Horizon. I was six at the time and only returned to cinema when my Dad took me to see Sidney Lumet's Murder On The Orient Express a year later which blew me away and made films my hobby. Films are now my bread and butter.

I remember almost all of the films I saw when I was younger and things didn't sag like they do now ~ they are lodged in my mind and mostly in my heart forever, good then and good now.