MovieChat Forums > Alligator (1980) Discussion > 35 Years Old

35 Years Old

posted 9 years ago by hereminton
2 replies | jump to latest

This movie opened in theaters on Wednesday, July 2, 1980, and yesterday turned 35 years old. That means it is now old enough to become President or Vice President of the United States. I know, that's a little silly, but see my "35 Years Old" posting on the Airplane board for more on this. I got it from Netflix on Wednesday, and just so happened to watch it last night on this anniversary. I plan on keeping it until July 6, through this holiday weekend, and will watch it a few more times. That is because I really like it, it is on my favorite movies of all time list, and has been since the early 1990s. I don't actually remember when it first came out in the summer of 1980, I was 12 and between 6th and 7th grade (between elementary and junior high school), but I do remember when it first came on TV, on ABC one Friday night in the spring of 1982. I was in 8th grade then (still in junior high school), and after seeing it in the TV Guide that week I definitly wanted to see it, and watched it that night. We then got our first VCR that November, and I watched it a few more times on it later in the 1980s, and then rented it out from a video store and watched it several times in February, 1993. I then became homeless after our 1997 move and had no means to watch it, but then got an apartment in September, 2010, with a TV and DVD player, and brought alot of movies on DVD from various stores. And I really looked hard for Alligator as I really wanted to buy it, but could find it nowhere. I then joined Netflix in March, 2013, and the first movie I rented out and watched from them was Alligator (twice then). I've then rented it out and watched it a few times every year since then, including now this year. It does not seem to be a really well known movie, but I think it is a very good movie, and deserves to be acknowledged on this, its 35th birthday. As does Airplane, and these two movies opened in theaters on the exact same day, and had they opened now, or in the last few years I would have gone to a multi-screen stadium seating theater to see them both, on the same day and on the same ticket. But that opportunity was not availiable in 1980.

"I happen to be a vegetarian". Lex, from Jurrasic Park

[–] offyerswod 8 years ago

I like your loyalty and attention to this movie and its scary that homelessness broke up the love affair with it.
were you on the streets for all that time ? 97 - 2010 ?

im glad you got sorted anyway and are rewatching this classic on a regular basis

I first watched this movie in the early 90's possibly 91 or 92 ..It was aired on BBC late one friday night.( part of a double creature feature night - Q the Winged Serpent was the film right after it )
I was a young kid but stayed up into the early hours to watch and record both ..though 'Q the winged serpent' was missing the end because 'Fletch was also on the same tape tape.

the 'Fletch and Alligator' tape was one of many tapes i would watch when off school.

The Blob ( 88 ) and Loaded weapon was another
Dark Angel and Tremors another

I later bought the Alligator dvd in about 2002 from a charity shop ( it had a *beep* dvd cover but was cheap )..I still have the DVD and I have probably watched it about 3 times since i bought it and once more on Youtube

[–] hereminton 8 years ago

Thanks for the reply. I actually was not on the streets from 1997 to 2010, as I stayed in a couple of weekly hotels for a few months in 1997, and slept in my car the rest of that year, and then out of a car from November, 1997 to April, 2001. The car then broke down and I lost it, and I slept in a wooded area and behind and in front of three buildings from spring, 2001 to January, 2003. I then got a storage unit that month and slept in its bathroom and a nearby wooded area until mid 2004, when I started sleeping in the actual building where my storage unit was located. Technically I was not supposed to do this, but nobody else ever came in that building so I got away with it until December, 2006 when I decided to move. I was then in wooded areas in three different cities until November, 2009 when I moved into a free boarding house. And for three weeks in July, 2009 and again for two weeks in late October/early November that year I stayed in a cottage of a mental hospital that my psychiatrist had recommended due to my depression. I then got the apartment in September, 2010 and things have been really good for me since then (in fact the best years of my life).

And speaking of Alligator, I discovered and started buying movies from amazon in the spring of 2015, and that summer brought Alligator from them. It was about 45 dollars, which I realized was a little high, but I really wanted it so just decided to go ahead and spend that money.

If there is anything else about this situation you'd like to know feel free to reply to my post again. And by the way, do you live in England and are British, since you said you first saw it on BBC?

"I happen to be a vegetarian". Lex, from Jurrasic Park