Two in my case.
First was SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO ( 1952). I was 16 when I saw it. Gregory Peck played a writer who lay dying at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the film was a series of flashbacks depicting the life he lived. I loved the story, and when I learned it was based on a story by Ernest Hemingway, I read everything I could get my hands on that he wrote. Literature had always been a favorite subject of my in school, and now, after reading Hemingway I suddenly found myself wanting to be a writer. As a result I started studying all forms of the written word. I worked at a drugstore after school and used my extra money to buy an old typewriter, Soon I was writing fiction stories and sending them off to various magazines. I sold my first short story in 1967 ( after a thousand or so rejections) and my last one in 1975. By then I had made it to the executive level in publishing and workdays got longer and longer, leaving me exhausted at the end of the day, and little time to write. Besides, you couldn't raise a family on the litle bit of money I got paid for short stories, so it just made sense to give it up.
The second film that affected my life was FROM HERE TO ETERNITY( 1953).Montgomery Clift's character played the horn. There's a scene where he is out with the guys, grabs the bugle from one of the guys and plays Chattanooga Choo Choo along with the band. That scene stayed with me for days. I loved music as long as I can remember, and had recently bought a stereo record player. My next purchase was a used trumpet. I took some lessons at the local conservatory, as well as some extra lessons from a professional band trumpet player and before long I was playing for money. But, like writing, my career in publishing was too demanding and I slowly drifted away from the paying gigs, which really wasn't a lot in those days.
So how about you ? Any movies make a change in your life ?
First was SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO ( 1952). I was 16 when I saw it. Gregory Peck played a writer who lay dying at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro and the film was a series of flashbacks depicting the life he lived. I loved the story, and when I learned it was based on a story by Ernest Hemingway, I read everything I could get my hands on that he wrote. Literature had always been a favorite subject of my in school, and now, after reading Hemingway I suddenly found myself wanting to be a writer. As a result I started studying all forms of the written word. I worked at a drugstore after school and used my extra money to buy an old typewriter, Soon I was writing fiction stories and sending them off to various magazines. I sold my first short story in 1967 ( after a thousand or so rejections) and my last one in 1975. By then I had made it to the executive level in publishing and workdays got longer and longer, leaving me exhausted at the end of the day, and little time to write. Besides, you couldn't raise a family on the litle bit of money I got paid for short stories, so it just made sense to give it up.
The second film that affected my life was FROM HERE TO ETERNITY( 1953).Montgomery Clift's character played the horn. There's a scene where he is out with the guys, grabs the bugle from one of the guys and plays Chattanooga Choo Choo along with the band. That scene stayed with me for days. I loved music as long as I can remember, and had recently bought a stereo record player. My next purchase was a used trumpet. I took some lessons at the local conservatory, as well as some extra lessons from a professional band trumpet player and before long I was playing for money. But, like writing, my career in publishing was too demanding and I slowly drifted away from the paying gigs, which really wasn't a lot in those days.
So how about you ? Any movies make a change in your life ?
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