What book or movie had an outsized impact on you as a teenager and why?
June 5, 2024 | Sparkle Wednesday
When I was a kid, I like to watch Mel’s Matinee on summer afternoons. At the beginning of each program, Mel Jass introduced the movie, shared trivia with viewers, and provided commentary about the upcoming flick.
One day, Mel introduced the movie Wait Until Dark, starring Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin. I LOVED it! It's so suspenseful and has some epic jump scares. Set in the mid-to-late 1960s in New York City, Susy Hendrix, a blind woman (played by Audrey Hepburn), unknowingly becomes involved in a drug crime. Here's a little more about the film from Wikipedia.
Wait Until Dark is a 1967 American psychological thriller film directed by Terence Young and produced by Mel Ferrer,[3] from a screenplay by Robert Carrington and Jane-Howard Carrington, based on the 1966 play of the same name by Frederick Knott.[4] The film stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman, Alan Arkin as a violent criminal searching for drugs, and Richard Crenna as another criminal, supported by Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.[5]
Why did this have an outsized impact on me? Audrey Hepburn, of course, and the hustle and bustle of New York City. I wanted to live in a place like that!
Audrey Hepburn was mod and sophisticated while also being approachable and earnest. She was beyond incredible, and I wanted to be like her. To this day, if there's an opportunity to watch Wait Until Dark or Breakfast at Tiffany's, I’m in.
It wasn't until later that I learned about Audrey Hepburn’s commitment to humanitarian work. Wow, yet another reason to admire her.
Other Outsized Movies and Books for Me:
The Diary of Anne Frank
The Great Gatsby
Good Will Hunting
What about you? What book or movie had an outsized impact on you as a teenager and why?
I remember reading The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom. I was probably around 13 or 14. It still haunts me today.
Great question and Audrey Hepburn- amazing!
Books have always been by solace. Judy Blume’s, Are You There God, It’s me, Margret, got me through puberty. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and 1984 by George Orwell taught me to question authority, and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley gave me my addiction to the gothic novel. I still go to books for pleasure, problem solving, and comfort.
As for movies that I loved as a teen and still rewatch…Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Karate Kid, and A Room with a View.