Confessions of a Filmaholic

The movie that turned me into a lifelong film addict was Days of Thunder, released in 1990.

Every film lover has an origin story.

For some people, it is the first movie their parents took them to see. For others, it is a rainy afternoon on the couch flipping through cable until something magical happens on the screen. A moment when the world fades away, and you realize movies are more than entertainment. They are transport. Escape. Emotion. Memory.

This is mine.

I was eleven years old when I fell in love for the first time.

I was mesmerized by clear blue eyes. His gravelly voice reminded me of a film star from one of those old 1950s movies I had grown up watching. He had that rugged manly appeal that makes you lean forward in your seat.

The man responsible for this cinematic awakening was Michael Rooker as Rowdy Burns in Days of Thunder.

With conservative Christian parents, my movie choices were mostly limited to wholesome family films and classics with a PG rating or lower. And yet there I sat in the dark watching a PG-13 movie I had snuck into with my best friend.

While I was completely captivated by the rough-edged character on the screen, my best friend was having the same reaction to the younger, pretty-boy lead. As it turns out, that would become a lifelong pattern. She always fell for the pretty boy. I fell for the tough guy.

I walked out of that theater convinced I had just met the love of my life.

Rowdy Burns had certainly captured my attention and would influence the type of men I would be attracted to for years to come.

But the truth is, my real love was film.

The complexity of the sets. The details in the costume design. The depth of the characters. For that hour and forty-eight minutes, I was completely inside Rowdy’s world.

By no standard was this an Oscar-worthy film or even a particularly good one. Yet it had the power to distract me from everything outside that screen. I wasn’t thinking about the argument I’d had with my father earlier that day. I was not worrying about anything waiting for me when the credits rolled.

I was transported.

It was a feeling I would grow to crave. One, I would chase through every VHS tape my three local rental stores had to offer.

I was right there with Bastian as he stole the book marked with the Auryn symbol.
I followed Alice down the rabbit hole.
My heart pounded with Indy as he ran from the boulder.
I watched the Goonies band together to save their homes.
I cheered when Janie and Jeff stood up to the entitled rich kids.

And like millions of others, I sat in stunned silence the first time Darth Vader said

Luke, I am your father.

I knew who to call.
Railroad tracks promised adventure and maybe even a dead body at the end.
A triple dog dare could never be refused.
A boombox raised over your head became the height of romance.

We laughed at stolen Huggies. We learned that sometimes As you wish means far more than the words themselves.

And engraved somewhere deep in my heart were the three most important rules

No water
No sunlight
And never, ever feed them after midnight.

From action movies to gut-busting comedies to sweeping love stories, there was always a movie for every mood, every moment, and every version of who I was becoming.

I became determined to see them all.

Relationships sometimes break down. Friendships sometimes fracture. Life can change in ways we never expect.

But one thing has never changed.

The joy I get from an entertaining movie.

And for that, I will always be grateful that Michael Rooker as Rowdy Burns pulled me in that night, in a dark theater, so many years ago.

Because that was the night I discovered the power of film.

And it has never let me down.

Your Turn

Now I want to know your story. What was the movie that started it all for you? The one that made you realize film was more than just something to watch on a Friday night? The one that stayed with you long after the credits rolled?

Tell me in the comments, because if there is one thing film lovers understand, it is this.       

Every movie we love becomes part of who we are. And those stories are always worth revisiting.