In 1987 (I was 12) I was at my next-door neighbor Bill's house (he was 22). We didn't have a VCR yet (we got one in late 1988), so being able to watch a rented movie was still a big deal for me. Bill had a VCR and I'd recently watched Rocky IV at his house, which I'd been wanting to see wicked bad for 2 years. I still remember that day vividly. Jed (a year younger than me, lived 3 houses up the street) and I were out riding our bikes, talking about movies, and Rocky IV came up as usual. Bill was shingling our roof that day and I yelled up to him, asking if he would rent Rocky IV, not expecting him to say yes (I'd asked him before with no luck), but this time he did say yes. But I had to wait hours for him to finish working on our roof for the day, but it was well worth it. Rocky IV was incredible.
In any case, like I said, I was at Bill's house a couple weeks after watching Rocky IV there and his girlfriend, Mary, had gone to the grocery store. When she got back she told me that she'd rented a couple of movies that she thought I'd like (Bill and I had no idea that she was going to rent movies): Cobra (1986) and Ninja III: The Domination. That was a very memorable day. Both movies were awesome.
Once we got a VCR in 1988 my friends Corey, Tom, and I rented all the good ninja movies, including Ninja III, many times. Revenge of the Ninja was my favorite though, and I dubbed a copy of it by connecting 2 VCRs in 1989, so I wouldn't have to keep renting it. I still have that copy I made way back then; I happened to stumble across it in a box of junk a few weeks ago, and it still mostly plays fine (there are a few brief glitches here and there).
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