I remember the first movies I had seen as a child was when I was around 6 or 7 years old. We were living in Ankara, my father was a Major in the Turkish Navy. There was a School of Police and Gendarmerie (Polis ve Jandarma okulu) close to our home, which brought new American movies to show in their movie theater. These movies were not shown in regular theaters yet, but we had the privilege of watching them because of my father’s position in the Navy. I still remember the life size wax sculptures in the hall of the cinema representing policemen and security forces, all the way from the Ottoman era to the modern Turkish Republic. Some of these movies are still in my memory today : The life of the great tenor Mario Lanza, Trapeze, starring Burt Lancester, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida, The Great Houdini, whose story I tell my grandchildren today, the adventures of Captain Nemo played by James Mason and the Master Harpooner Ned Land played by Kirk Douglas in the Disney Classic of 1954 : 20000 Leagues Under The Sea. Some 20 years later, after I had seen the movie based on Jules Verne’s classic, I was able to board the replica of the submarine Nautilus in Disney World in Orlando Florida as a young man..
Picnic and Awara
Picnic was a popular movie of life in a small town America starring young Kim Kovak and her older companion William Holden, and Awara an Indian movie starring Raj Kapoor with the popular song Awaramu.
James Dean and his only 3 Movies: Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden and Giant
James Dean was the idol of the young generation during 1950ies and decades to come. His red sports jacket with the white undershirt and the cigarette on the left side of his lips in the Rebel was often imitated by young men, while his handsome looks was stealing the hearts of young girls. When I got to know him in his movies, he had already died in a car crash in Indiana while working on his third movie, The Giant, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson. But undoubtedly the fame came to him with his first movie Rebel Without a Cause, where he had co- starred with Natalie Wood.
Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis in The Vikings and Spartacus
Two movies which had a great impact on me as a young boy were The Vikings and Spartacus. ln The Vikings Kirk Douglas was starting with Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. I still remember the last sword fight scene between them and the funeral at the end in the burning Viking ship. In Spartacus again Kirk Douglas was the main character, but this time Tony Curtis was sharing the co-star position with Jean Simmons, British theater heavyweights like Laurence Olivier, Peter Laughton and Peter Ustinov.
Brigitte Bardot in "And God Created Woman", Michelle Mercier in "Angelique" episodes
2 FRENCH MOVIES : AND GOD CREATED WOMAN AND ANGELIQUE
These 2 films were in today's standards R rated movies, but tasteful and leaving a lot to imagination, unlike the movies of today. Brigitte Bardot was, and still is the undisputed sex symbol of all times,which she prooved in And God Created Woman, while Michelle Mercier, the most beautiful woman according to many, starred in a series of Angelique films displaying her sexappeal.
Two horror films of Alfred Hitchcock from early 1960ies: Psycho and the Birds
Lot of people who watched theses films in their youth are still scared of going into the shower tub and when they see black crows flying in groups.
The Best Comedy Pair in Movies of All Times: Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were the kings of comedy in Hollywood and had teamed up for over a dozen of films. Since at that time there were no children’s movies per se, except cartoons, these were children as well as adults favorites. I don't remember the names of the films since they were dubbed and shown with different names in Turkey, but I still remember laughing hard and looking forward to their upcoming features.
