It's hard to imagine a family that watches more movies than mine, and what's one of the nicest things for me is the amount of movie buddies I have in my home.
There are the kid-friendly films I watch with my boys, anything with my wife, scary movies and comedies with Maggie, and this year, Julianna and I have developed a love for the Bruce Willis "Die Hard" films.
It's not a big surprise because my dad used to go to the movies a lot and my younger brother, Tom, and I were his movie buddies. He took us to all those Disney films in the 1970s that starred Kurt Russell and the likes of Tim Conway and Don Knotts.
My dad did takes us to see "Jaws" at The Playhouse when it came out, and though that may have been considered risky at the time, nothing could compare to the one time when Tom and I, at the tender ages of 12 and 10, respectively, saw our first nude scene at the Park Hills Plaza in a movie called "Black Sunday" courtesy of dad.
It wasn't the old man's fault, though. He thought he was taking us to a football movie. Well...at least that is what I tell myself and that is what I will take to my grave. I believe I even used that as an excuse when I went to confession back then.
It was a drama starring Robert Shaw and Bruce Dern about how a terrorist group was going to set off a bomb at the Super Bowl in Miami involving the Steelers and the Cowboys. The previews probably had lots of football shots of the Orange Bowl, and my father thought that even though it was rated R, how bad could it be?
Well, let's say my mom would not have been thrilled at the time. There was a scene where one of the terrorists, played by a German actress named Marthe Keller, is nude in a shower. She steps out of it when good guy Robert Shaw busts into the hotel room. He has a chance to kill her, but doesn't. The camera was on her long enough for two boys to take in the view.
I remember looking over at Tom, and he looking back at me with the same stunning amazement. You have to understand, we grew up in an extremely Catholic, Italian household. The only nudity we saw were statues in people's gardens.
I also remember my dad not looking at either one of us, hoping it would just go away. There was no more nudity in the film. Good for him, but bad for me. I can't speak for Tom, but I was 12!
Which leads me to this ... my daughters want me to rent a movie called "The Cabin In The Woods," a horror movie that got pretty good reviews this past spring. It's R-rated and I found out it has nudity in it. I want to see the movie, but I don't know if I am ready to sit in a living room with my daughters and experience that.
My wife let Maggie, who's 17, watch "Bridesmaids" with her this past summer. And if you are familiar with that R-rated comedy (which I did see and love), I had to leave the room because I could not bring myself to watch it with her.
Maybe if I just stare straight ahead and not look at my girls when they ask me about it again, it will just go away. That is...until my two boys ask me to rent it someday. Ughh!
