I can still remember the first movie I ever saw at our local theater, a Hayley Mills classic – “That Darn Cat.” It came to our town in early 1966. I was 10 and tickets were just 50 cents! My 7-year-old sister Paula went with me. Very exciting stuff – a new experience and without mom and dad for the first time. The theater darkened and the curtains parted and the screen was huge and the movie was in color! We had a b/w TV at home. Mom and Dad bought the fam’s first color TV in 1969.

But back to the theater … the movie was awesome. The popcorn was ca-yum-ba. This was a major event for Paula and me. Little did we know that night, on later trips to our town theater, we’d discover a family of bats were often flying about – surprise supporting cast members? Anyway … it was all part of the experience!

Now, over 50 years later, going to the movies is still exciting – you can’t beat a silver screen. Sure, sure, lots of people have giant TVs, but it’s still not the same. Like I wrote in the piece about the costume contest for “Downton Abbey,” what sets going to the movies apart is sharing an experience with a large group of people, reacting to scenes and dialogue as a group; smiling when one or more fellow audience members shout out loud – that would be me – or cry – that would be me, too. I cannot count the number of times one or both of my daughters would lean over and whisper in my ear: Shhh! Or “If you keep crying I’m going to move to another seat!” They would get a bit embarrassed by their old mom. Now, as adults, they just laugh or exchange glances and roll their eyes (I’ve seen them).

And, how fortunate have all of us been to have a fantastic little theater right here in Boothbay Harbor? And one that continues to bring this community new films on the release dates! That is a big deal for the Harbor Theater to pull off – sure, it means they may have to run that film for two to three weeks (no big deal to the large cineplexes where one expects to see new movies), but the very fact we get the opportunity to see new movies in our own back yard at the Harbor Theater – supporting local business in the process – rather than driving to Brunswick, Augusta or Portland is very special indeed.

In addition to “Downton Abbey,” Harbor Theater will be screening, “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” (starring the spectacularly gifted Cate Blanchett); and “Official Secrets” starring Keira Knightley. And hopefully the Exhibition on Screen films on the major, influential artists will come back.

The Lincoln Theater, just up Route 1 in Damariscotta, offers new movies, too, and is the place to see some of the R-rated films not screened at the Harbor Theater – like Quentin Tarrantino’s latest, “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood,” which I’m going to see this week before the run ends.

Lincoln is also the venue for National Theater Live broadcasts, The Met Live in HD, ballet performances from the Bolshoi Ballet Company – the largest such company in the world; opera; Talking Art in Maine hosted by Jane Dahmen and Talking Food in Maine hosted by (none other than) Cherie Scott. The Lincoln will also be running the Blanchett film followed by “Blinded By the Light” about the effect of Springsteen’s music on a young Pakistani man, also a poet and musician. And the theater has another great lineup for the week of Pumpkinfest next month.

Between these two theaters we are culturally rich – and lucky – indeed. And so are our kids – each theater runs special children’s movies. Boothbay Region Elementary School kids have been to our Harbor Theater on field trips and during school vacations when kid movies from the past are run on Saturday mornings – I think “Home Alone” was one of those last year. And the popcorn is ca-yum-ba!

Isn’t it time for you to see a film on the silver screen? The Harbor Theater is still showing movies seven days a week. The Lincoln is, too. For more info on them, visit www.boothbaycinema.org and www.lcct.org

I think Tim Burton explained our love of the movies so well – and I’ll leave you with this: “Certain things leave you in your life and certain things stay with you. And that's why we're all interested in movies – those ones that make you feel, you still think about. Because it gave you such an emotional response, it's actually part of your emotional make-up, in a way.”

’Course, some emotional responses, like the shower scene in “Psycho;” or most scenes in “Blue Velvet” (which incidentally was described by a co-worker at Maxfield’s as a “sweet little movie” ... my stomach was tied up in knots for a week!) but then there are the ones that really got you thinking (maybe even moved you to journal) like “Dead Man Walking,” “Network” and “Silkwood.” How about the ones that made you laugh ‘til you thought your sides would split, like “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Sleeper” and “Young Frankenstein?”

We all know that some films are universally unforgettable: “Casablanca,” “Gone With the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz,” and since the 1970s: “The Princess Bride,” “The Godfather,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” – (OK, this might just be me) ; “Raiders of the Lost Ark” series, “Star Wars” and the “Lord of the Rings” films ...

Our individual lists go on and on. Movies are the great, albeit brief, escape. One of my all-time fav movies is “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” with one of my all-time favorite lines that has stayed with me since I saw it: “I just met a wonderful new man. He’s fictional,  but you can’t have everything.”