1981

My favorite movie of 1981 had as its star an actor who was also in my fave movie of 1980. The music was done by the same composer as my prior year's favorite and this movie was also the top money maker of the year (just like "TESB"). It was a movie that my parents insisted on seeing first to make sure that it would be "suitable" for me. Even though the villains' heads melted (and in one case, exploded) at the end of the movie, they let me see it at the tender age of 9 and a half. And I did like it, loved it, actually. 2 hours of action adventure taking place all over the world. And what better villiains than Nazis? Our town of 25,000 had a 4-screen theatre at the time and this movie played for 10 straight weeks (held over!), then came back for 5 weeks, then returned later on for a few more. I went to it several times that year. I remember one evening I went to it on my own while my parents went to the Paul Newman - Sally Field courtroom drama "Absence of Malice".

I bought all the ancillary items I could from it. I bought the movie's soundtrack on record (Yes, record!). I remember carrying around the novelization while our family visited my great grandmother at a nursing home. I recall reading the "Making Of" book at my desk at elementary school when I had free time. I remember walking from my grandma's house to JCPenney and seeing that they had the first issue of the comic book adapted from the movie (25 years ago, JCPenney was like Wal-Mart and sold everything, not just clothes like today). I had no moolah, so I hurried back and pleaded with my grandma to give me 50 cents so I could buy it.

Just look at the original theatrical poster:



"Raiders of the Lost Ark", my favorite movie of 1981.