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In case you’re like me and you happen to forget these things throughout the year, let today’s edition of The Lists serve as a reminder: Father’s Day is this weekend!
With that in mind, and as a personal tribute of sorts to my pops, who turns 56 today in addition to celebrating his 28th Father’s Day on Sunday, I thought I’d offer up a rundown of the films that remind me of those days in front of the big console television growing up back east.
My personal movie awakening came in the mid-1990s, when films like Michael Mann’s “Heat” and Bryan Singer’s “The Usual Suspects” made me realize I wanted to have a hand in this crazy business for life. But I can’t ignore the impact decades of film product had on my youth in the form of my father’s viewing habits. I didn’t like every film my Dad loved. But somehow, his taste frequently seemed to either correspond with my own or correspond with how it would eventually evolve.
There are a number of films that didn’t make the collective that deserve some measure of notice, despite not having a particular impact. Peter Hyams’s “Capricorn One” comes to mind, for instance, or horror flicks like William Girdler’s “The Manitou” and Stan Winston’s “Pumpkinhead.” Not to mention more recent efforts like George Tillman Jr.’s “Men of Honor.” And even though I remember watching “The Godfather” with Dad (and Mom, actually) as a kid, I don’t immediately connect the two when I consider Francis Coppola’s film today.
The order of the list is a mish-mash of criteria. I wouldn’t say it’s tiered by quality so much as by how much the films remind me of the old man (though quality certainly figures in here and there). Mostly, this is just a tip of the hat to one guy’s movie tastes that galvanized his son in some way. I hope you enjoy.
10. “The Spirit of St. Louis” (Billy Wilder, 1957)
This lengthy Billy Wilder yarn about Charles Lindbergh and his famed cross-Atlantic flight has always stuck in my head mainly for the film’s second act. In particular, James Stewart’s one-man show from the hour mark on, aside from the moments he shares on screen with a fly, always fascinated me. Only later did I discover that the 47-year-old actor was portraying a 26-year-old aviator — and the audience never flinches. How’s that for actorly chops? I didn’t see this frequently with the old man but I vividly recall the first time it crossed my bow when he set the remote aside and stopped flipping channels for a few hours.
9. “The Right Stuff” (Philip Kaufman, 1983)
Phil Kaufman’s adaptation of the Tom Wolfe novel has become an annual Thanksgiving viewing ritual for me for random reasons, but earlier than when that perennial experience kicked off, I recall watching the film on cable or the rare network appearance with my dad. It’s a guy’s guy movie for obvious reasons (featuring ultimate guy’s guy Chuck Yeager played by ultimate guy’s guy actor Sam Shepard), but it’s also a bit of an epic, filled to the brim with talented performers and focused on something that fascinated me as a kid: space travel.
8. “Jaws” (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
This, I imagine, is a staple for many on a list such as this. After all, Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster (which made it all the way to the final round in our recent influential films poll series) oozes testosterone appeal. Three guys out at see hunting down a killer great white shark? And with tough-as-nails Robert Shaw leading the way? Yeah. John Williams’s cello score makes for one of my earliest childhood movie memories. A Sunday programming matinee would generally be just what the doctor ordered. If it was on, we watched…simple as that.
7. “The Hunt for Red October” (John McTiernan, 1990)
The first episode in the saga of Jack Ryan is still the best, for my money, and always a reminder of one of my old man’s favorite flicks. I can’t tell you how many times we caught this on HBO or Cinemax, or certainly how often that old, battered VHS tape found its way into the VCR (remember those?). Sean Connery is actually the only star who pops up twice on this list, and that kind of makes sense, no? After all, in the realm of guy’s guys, he’s kind of high on the totem pole. Alec Baldwin was perfect for the role Harrison Ford would eventually define.
6. “The African Queen” (John Huston, 1951)
This marks the only entry on the list that I flat out disliked. It’s up toward the middle because it was (and is) a big favorite of my dad’s, and we watched it frequently, but it might have been further up if I actually enjoyed it. Sorry Dad, but it contains, in my view, Humphrey Bogart’s worst performance (and he won an Academy Award — go figure) and the most over-the-top histrionics actress Katharine Hepburn ever accomplished on screen. Nevertheless, it is a firm reminder of my childhood movie-watching experience and deserves recognition. A negative impact is an impact after all.
5. “Stripes” (Ivan Reitman, 1981)
This Ivan Reitman romp remains a comedy staple from my youth. Some say there are two kinds of people in the world: “Caddyshack” people and “Stripes” people. I’m definitely in the latter category, full on in the tank for Bill Murray and Harold Ramis’s gallivanting and shenanigans, being all they can be in the U.S. Army. I have vague memories of catching it on Saturday or Sunday mornings, maybe on WGN or the like. It seemed to be a favorite for weekend programmers. The film also features one of my all-time favorite lines: “You can’t leave! All the plants are gonna die!”
4. “Twister” (Jan De Bont, 1996)
This one obviously came a little later in life. I was already in high school when Jan De Bont’s thrilling take on storm chasers made its way to theaters. I know I saw it on the big screen but I can’t recall whether Pops did or not. Regardless, once we got the VHS, that was all she wrote. Even with a DVD player at the house, Dad still wears out the spools on that thing. The film has become, if not his favorite movie, certainly one of his favorites, and I confess to loving it, too. It’s a nice reminder of that mid-90s glory age (of sorts) for testosterone-driven action filmmaking. And I had a crush on Helen Hunt back in the day.
3. “The Untouchables” (Brian De Palma, 1987)
Sean Connery shows his face once again on my countdown, this time for the film that won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Brian De Palma’s direction of a firecracker David Mamet screenplay is definitely one of Dad’s favorites, but it also contains some of my earliest “Hey, cool!” movie memories. The scene that leaps to mind, of course, is the Odessa Steps sequence, a master class in suspenseful film editing. But I also recall being unnerved (in a good way) by the way Sean Connery’s Jim Malone stands up a dead mobster and blows a hole into his mouth to get a wormy bookie talking. Powerful stuff.
2. “North by Northwest”(Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
The middle child between Alfred Hitchcock’s presumed canonical masterpieces “Vertigo” and “Psycho” is probably my favorite of the director’s for a reason. Dad introduced me to the film long ago, and like anyone, that image of Cary Grant running away from a dastardly crop duster stuck with me. I also recall being in love with the film’s climax atop South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. Hitch always knew how to make his settings sing. Grant was something of an uncharacteristic leading man for the director, I thought. There was always something slightly different about the film amid Hitch’s portfolio, and I liked that.
1. “Once Upon a Time in the West” (Sergio Leone, 1968)
This is probably head-and-shoulders above the rest. Long before I knew of the artistic genius that went into Sergio Leone’s 1968 masterpiece of the western genre, I was watching it with Dad, who was absolutely spellbound by it’s powerful narrative and the machismo of its various performances. I could write thousands of words about this film. It owes so much to the genre it depicts but brings such an operatic quality to the filmmaking that it becomes one of a kind. Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, all fantastic. Claudia Cardinale, the hottest woman to ever grace a movie screen. And that score! Too much to discuss, but when I think of this one, I think of Dad.
Happy Birthday, Pops. And Happy Father’s Day.
What about you? Do you have any fond movie memories of your father, stepfather, adoptive father, etc.? Have your say in the comments section below!
30 responses so far
1 6-16-2009 at 11:55 am
AmericanRequiem said...
Air Force One
2 6-16-2009 at 11:59 am
colby said...
my father passed away when i was 15, but some of my clearest memories are of the movies we watched together. granted, at the time, i couldn’t appreciate most of them. but, in no particular order, these are the ones i remember:
Papillon
Thunder Bolt and Lightfoot
The Bodygaurd
A League of Their Own
The Towering Inferno
Major League
Lethal Weapon 1-4
The Sandlot
Braveheart
3 6-16-2009 at 12:30 pm
N8 said...
If you could write thousands of words about “Once Upon a Time in the West”, you should! I think it’s easily the best Western ever made and I’m always fascinated by what others have to say because then I always notice something I didn’t before. Seriously, will we ever get to see a special InContention retrospective on the film?
4 6-16-2009 at 12:37 pm
El Rocho said...
In elementary school and into high school, Saturday nights were our night, my father and me. My mother passed away when I was just a baby, so it was my father who took care of me. Every Saturday night at 8pm Elwy Yost hosted ‘Saturday Night at the Movies’. It was a staple for us both. Truly magical.
10. The Innocents
9. Marathon Man
8. Pulp Fiction
7. A Fistful of Dollars
6. Fargo
5. The Searchers
4. Red River
3. North by Northwest
2. The African Queen
1. Jesus Christ Superstar
5 6-16-2009 at 12:38 pm
The Rake said...
Believe it or not, I remember showing off Boyz N The Hood and New Jack City in my attempts to bond with Dad. A good sport, he liked Boyz but didnt think too much of New Jack. Years later, he voted for Obama. Who knew?
The Rake
http://thefilmnest.com
6 6-16-2009 at 12:39 pm
the world said...
how about watching some good old porn with dad?
7 6-16-2009 at 12:39 pm
Mike_M said...
N8, i agree… Kris, WRITE IT. Such a great movie, the best western in my eyes and one of my favorites movies of all time.
I really do not have any memories on movie watching with my dad, I do remeber watching Godfather 1 and 2 with him and my mom though many times.
Another memory was watching Gladiator in my room on my computer (we didn’t have a standalone DVD player yet, since they were just coming out) but when it was over I remember him telling it was boring and had no action, thought that was funny.
8 6-16-2009 at 12:46 pm
Davidraider88 said...
Some of the films I associate with my dad are:
West Side Story- my dad grew up a Jewish kid in Brooklyn and this film resonated with him.
My Cousin Vinny- Every time this is on TV, my dad and I have to watch it because we are big Joe Pesci fans. He also loves how how the ultimate New Yorker stood out like a sore thumb in the South (we live in the South).
Goodfellas- Joe Pesci strikes again. My dad always says this film reminds him of how NYC was in the 1960’s, and how the gangsters were glorified.
The Sting- My dad and I would watch this film simply because it’s just so fun to watch Newman and Redford on screen together.
Rudy- The ending always brings a tear to my dad’s eyes. It’s pretty hard to resist a story of a small town kid who achieves his dreams even when no one believes he can do it.
9 6-16-2009 at 1:34 pm
entertainmenttoday.. said...
I grew up loving the disaster movie so for my father and me it was The Poseidon Adventure (we saw it numerous times), The Towering Inferno and Earthquake.We even saw Beyond the Poseidon Adventure at the local theater. I remember turning to my father and asking him- why are they shooting guns on the Poseidon? LOL Good piece Kris!
Chuck
10 6-16-2009 at 1:42 pm
Guy Lodge said...
I love this.
The film I’ll forever foremost associate with my dad is “Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines,” mainly because he kept trying to force it on me and my brother as kids, and we could never understand what he found so hilarious about it. I still don’t, really, but my affection for the film now overrides that niggle.
For some reason, my dad ended up taking me to the movies on his own a lot when I was a kid — but there was very little pattern or continuity to what we chose to see together. Movies I remember over time as dad-dates, so to speak, include everything from “The Little Mermaid” to “Manhattan Murder Mystery” to “Three Kings” to “Master and Commander.” The last movie we went to see together was “Elegy” — he liked it a lot more than I did, but we were united in our love for Patricia Clarkson.
Tom, if you’re reading: Happy Father’s Day for Sunday.
11 6-16-2009 at 1:56 pm
Jonathan Spuij said...
Star Trek, Any Scorsese film, The Dark Knight. My dad has roughly the same taste in movies I do, he just doesn’t watch all that much.
Speaking of father’s day, did anyone notice the magnificently brilliant capture above the Gran Torino dvd ad in Empire this month?:
“Clint’s Your Man for Father’s Day”
12 6-16-2009 at 3:01 pm
Mike_M said...
Actually my dad and I used to LOVE watching all of the National Lampoon Vacation movies, especially Christmas and the original, hell even the Vegas one.
Also every Christmas he watches Scrooge from the 50’s.
13 6-16-2009 at 3:12 pm
Dad said...
The article was great, thanks for the opportunity to be able to watch these movies together. I think I will go and put the tape in and watch Twister again. Dad
14 6-16-2009 at 3:29 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
Look who popped his head in. What’s up Pops!
15 6-16-2009 at 3:30 pm
Derek 8-Track said...
The Right Stuff. Nice! That’s the movie I think of when I think of my Dad and Movies simultaneously.
It should have won best pic in 1983!
Screw Terms!
16 6-16-2009 at 3:56 pm
Speaking English said...
***the VCR (remember those?)***
Uh hu, and I still have one in my TV. I use it once in a while, too.
17 6-16-2009 at 4:03 pm
McGuff said...
David, great calls with “Rudy” and “The Sting,” two that would end up in my top 10 for sure. My Dad is a sci-fi nut, so it would be tough to pick which “Star Wars” film would top the list … “Return of the Jedi”, probably.
18 6-16-2009 at 5:01 pm
John H. Foote said...
My dad is seventy and in frail health so I am happy he has been such a strong, positive influence on my life — he used to put me to bed at 7 on Friday night, only to wake me up at 11:20 for the start of Fright Night Theatre at 11:30 — there we would sit on the couch watching those wonderful old Universal horror movies together — talk about putting me on the path I walk today — those warm memories will be with me until the day I die — and you know, even though I am married and have kids of my own, when I need to talk to someone, often it’s still Dad I call. He’s quite a guy…
19 6-16-2009 at 5:20 pm
Jesse said...
My old man died earlier this year, so this is the first Father’s Day without him. That being said, here’s the list that got me into films (in no particular order).
1. GoodFellas (and my current favorite)
2. The Last Picture Show
3. The Great Escape
4. Papillon
5. Mean Streets
6. Blazing Saddles
7. Pride of the Yankees
8. Apocalypse Now
9. Easy Rider
10. Bringing Up Baby
20 6-16-2009 at 6:47 pm
Daniel said...
I never knew my father.
This opens up my wounds even further.
21 6-16-2009 at 6:49 pm
Kristopher Tapley said...
My condolences, Daniel. It certainly wasn’t the intention of the piece.
22 6-16-2009 at 7:07 pm
david said...
With my dad it’s always about which movie has the coolest guns…and the most bloodshed.
23 6-16-2009 at 7:09 pm
El Rocho said...
Thanks for the needless comment, Daniel. What was the point? I lost my mother when I was 4….never knew her. If this was a Mother’s Day list, it wouldn’t ‘open up my wounds even further’. Grow the fuck up and mature. This is all created in good faith and intentions. There’s no need for your pointless, self-centered comments.
24 6-16-2009 at 7:15 pm
colby said...
forgot to add all Harrison Ford movies, namely:
Witness
Patriot Games
Clear and Present Danger
25 6-17-2009 at 7:10 am
The Dude said...
The Shining. My father and I have vastly different tastes in movies, but this is one of the few that we both love equally. And the first time I saw this it was just him and I sitting in front of the TV at 11pm on HBO or Starz or whatever. The movie itself doesn’t remind me of him (that’d be a little scary of crazy Jack reminded me of pops!)…the film reminds me of the experience I shared with him.
26 6-17-2009 at 3:43 pm
Ripley said...
Thanks Kris for the great list. My father passed away in 2000, so this is my 9th Father’s Day without him, never gets easier. He was a cinephile, more than me even and he introduced me to films like 2001 and A Clockwork Orange in the theater, and we watched many films on vhs and dvd. One of our last dad/son events was watching movies on his home theater setup.
27 6-19-2009 at 12:05 pm
Stephen Heath said...
Raiders Of The Lost Ark. It was full, we had to sit in the very front row. My dad always worked and we never got to do a lot of things together, so it was something that blew us both away.
28 6-19-2009 at 12:06 pm
Stephen Heath said...
The only other time was “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” Same reaction.
29 6-19-2009 at 12:07 pm
Stephen Heath said...
…and “The Right Stuff” is one of my top five ever.
30 6-21-2009 at 11:07 am
Nathaniel R said...
This is a beautiful post.
I wish I had a lot of dad at the movies memories but my dad doesn’t much like movies. He actually made a rule that I couldn’t talk about them at the dinner table. I guess that made me the loud mouth I am today!
P.S. I lurve “The Right Stuff” too