My Favorite Movies About Fathers

James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell



In honor of Father’s Day, I thought I’d share (with help from my film scholar son) ten of my favorite movies about dads.
FATHER OF THE BRIDE           
(1950, Dir. Vincente Minnelli)
The great Spencer Tracy plays the father of the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor, who has decided to get hitched. What follows are the stages of a bride’s father that seem as inevitable as the stages of grief: testing the young man about his financial future; meeting the in-laws; trying to keep down wedding expenses; surviving the emotional shakeups. The comedy is as fresh today as it was in 1950, and being the father of a daughter myself, I cannot help tearing up at the end. Top of the list.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
(1962, Dir. Robert Mulligan)
Gregory Peck isAtticus Finch, the widower raising his two children in Depression-era Alabama. He is a paragon of decency, honor and the values that make one a compassionate human being. One of those times when the perfect role met the perfect actor for that role. It’s also, I think, the perfect movie score.
PARENTHOOD
(1989, Dir. Ron Howard)
Steve Martin plays Gil, the flustered father of an overanxious son, who also happens to have a less than perfect dad himself (Jason Robards). The movie is spot on about the various types of parents and their quirks, with the underlying message: you never stop being a parent. Highlight for me (and most dads, too) is when “Cowboy Gil” saves his son’s birthday party from utter ruin. 

KRAMER VS. KRAMER
(1979, Dir. Robert Benton)
One of the first movies, based on the novel by Avery Corman, about single fathers. Dustin Hoffman captures the spirit of the times, a 70s guy who thinks he’s got everything . . . until his wife leaves him. Hoffman and the son, played by Justin Henry, make it on their own for awhile, and then the ex-wife (Meryl Streep) returns and demands custody. This was the first male two-hanky movie.
SHANE
(1953, Dir. George Stevens)
One of the great American films of any kind, Shane is sometimes mistaken for a typical Western, with a gunslinger and bad guys. In reality, the movie is about the father, played by Van Heflin, trying to eke out a living as a homesteader with his wife and young son. Shane (Alan Ladd) comes into his world to help. It’s all mythic, and Jack Palance is one of the great villains in cinema history. But once Shane has done his work, he tells the boy to grow into a man just like his father, “strong and straight.”
LOVE FINDS ANDY HARDY
(1938, Dir. George B. Seitz)
When Lewis Stone stepped into the role of Judge Hardy, father of the irrepressible Andy (Mickey Rooney), neither he nor Louis B. Mayer thought he would become the Ward Cleaver of his generation. Stone is the quintessential father, who knew when to let Andy take responsibility for his own actions, and when to cut him some slack and teach him lessons about life. So popular were these movies that Stone and Rooney filmed short subjects for MGM, which were sort of public service announcements. The studio brass figured no one had more parental authority than Judge Hardy. You’ll even find them immortalized in the great Warner Bros. cartoon Hollywood Steps Out (1941). Of course, Judy Garland and a young Lana Turner are in this one, too.
The following films are provided courtesy of Nathaniel Bell (M.A., Film Studies, Chapman University):
THE KID
(1921, Dir. Charles Chaplin)
Chaplin’s “Little Tramp” rescues an abandoned baby boy (later to grow into the adorable Jackie Coogan) and teaches him how to survive in the slums. The ensuing comedy-drama reaches a sentimental pitch worthy of Dickens. Images of Chaplin caring for the youngster in his pathetically ramshackle apartment, cutting diapers and cooking breakfasts, are the very picture of fatherly devotion, demonstrating that love, not money, is the greatest gift a father can bestow.

THE CROWD
(1928, Dir. King Vidor)
In this silent masterpiece, a young man with grand ambitions is humbled—first as a husband, then as a father—by the struggle to earn a living in the Big City. Witnessing the change from a carefree and naive youth to a man brought low by misfortune is a pungent reminder of the responsibilities that come with being a family man and provider. The gritty details are almost oppressive (this may be the first film to actually show a toilet), but it’s worth enduring for the powerful scene in which the father is pulled back from the abyss by his five-year-old’s innocent declaration, “I believe in you, Pop.”

TARZAN FINDS A SON!
(1939, Dir. Richard Thorpe)
Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) and Jane (Maureen O’Sullivan) discover the infant survivor of a jungle plane crash. Naming him “Boy,” they adopt the tot and return with him to their treetop abode, where Tarzan passes down his best vine-swinging techniques. Later, when the inevitable search party comes to reclaim Boy, Tarzan’s fatherly instincts—powerful as a gorilla’s—kick in full force. For all its creakiness, this 1939 potboiler is probably one of the best demonstrations of that primal paternal impulse to defend your children at all costs.
THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN’S CREEK
(1944, Dir. Preston Sturges)
Sturges brings his withering satirical sensibilities to bear on the American small town in this WWII screwball classic. The entire cast is brilliant, but it’s William Demarest who steals the picture as Edmund Kockenlocker (the name alone, as James Agee once suggested, places him firmly in cartoon strip country), the trash talking, pipe smoking town constable whose protection of his two teenage daughters verges on the psychopathic. His favored technique for fending off potential suitors is taking a wild kick, missing the mark, and falling flat on his back.

Happy Father’s Day! Enjoy!


23 thoughts on “My Favorite Movies About Fathers

  1. My Dad passed away on April 1st so this is my first Father’s Day without him. But wow, how blessed I was to have such a great Dad. I am grieved that not all children can say the same thing.

    I can’t say I’m much of a movie watcher, but having such a strong father has caused fathers and fatherhood to figure very strongly into my novels in one way or another.

    I always thought that was weird actually. You’d think the writers who would focus on fatherhood in their stories would be those who DIDN’T have a good relationship with their Dad and were re-writing history, so to speak, through their fiction. But it remains a very strong theme in my work.

  2. Jim, I have to admit that I’ve only watched a couple of those movies myself, but the lessons you point out in all of them are both valid and valuable.
    Thanks for this. Happy Father’s Day yourself.

    • Back atcha, Doc. The real sleeper here is The Crowd. People don’t watch silent movies much anymore, but there is a rich heritage there, and The Crowd really captured a type of man at a specific American moment.

  3. I’m with Doc Mabry, and only a few of these are familiar to me. But I enjoyed the list, and always enjoy the passion that shines through when you talk about your favorite films.

    Although I’ve seen the original Father of the Bride, hubby has not, and we had already added our Sweet Caroline to the family when the contemporary version starring Steve Martin was released. Hubby watched it once and swore he would never watch it again. (Only movie I’ve ever seen that made him misty-eyed.)

    My father was young and immature at the time I came along, and it’s been a joy to see us both grow older and wiser. And I’ve treasured seeing what an incredible grandfather he is — to our two kids, and the other 11 on my step-mother’s side. He’s much more of a country bumpkin than Atticus Finch, but possesses the same basic goodness and deep moral character.

    Happy Father’s Day to you, Mr. Bell! Wishing you a richly blessed day.

    (This is off-topic, but where’s Basil this week??)

    • I suspect Basil will make an appearance….

      Diane, how many young men really know what being a father is like until they actually get there? If they’ve had a good model, that’s one way. The tragedy is these days that those models are increasingly rare, and “society” doesn’t seem to honor fatherhood like it once did. The results are obvious. Good movies and good books might help remind us.

    • You Rang?

      Sorry, had a long night of fighting dragons and learned rather briskly that denim is certainly not anything like fireproof. I have no idea how Conan did it in the buff.

      By the way, anyone know how to get those yellow brimstone stains out of fabric? The blood wasn’t too hard with cold water, but that brimstone…

  4. I haven’t watched all these movies – though To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorites. My own father got a Willie Nelson CD for father’s day from me – I just spoke to him and he is currently driving my mum mad with playing it:) Happy Father’s Day TKZers!
    Clare

  5. Of course, we can’t forget the classic film THE GODFATHER, nor should we overlook the more recent THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, each of which examines the relationship between fathers and sons in a very original way.

  6. The Steve Martin remake of Father of the Bride was pretty good as well.

    Another Father Son film that I really enjoyed, although it was not a happy one, was Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD.

    Nothing says happy father’s day like surviving the apocalypse, and escaping cannibals with your son

  7. Best father movie for me? “Field of Dreams.” They say it’s a guy flick but God, I bawl my eyes out every time I watch Costner play catch with his dad.

    My dad raised us three girls. He taught me to catch. And stand on my own two feet. Miss him something awful.

  8. Like Larry in Stephen King’s “The Stand,” my dad weren’t no nice guy. But it had its moments.

    When I was in college and people would be all, “I’m going home this weekend, YAY!” My first thought was always, “why?” As a result, dad-oriented movies like these are kind of a mystery to me.

    One thing my brother always commented on was that dad never treated us like kids. Now, not only did this enrich our vocabulary considerably, it also gave us a unique entry into the world. We were expected to be independent and self-reliant from pretty much age 5 on.

    My bro told stories of dad pulling up in front of the house in his jeep and yelling, “get in!” and taking off for a day exploring mines or off-roading. No extra clothes, or spare inhaler, snack packs, juice boxes, hat, double sunscreen, insect repellent, booster seats, blankies, DVD player, weather forecast, and does everyone have their cellphones charged . . . Just a get-your-butt-in-the-jeep-if-you-want-to-go-NOW.

    I came along late in life and dad was widowed soon after. I was raised the same way. When he felt like “burning some gas,” into the car (usually some flavor of hot rod) I went and away we’d go. Until middle school, I thought all little girls spent their birthday at the AutoRama.

    Needless to say, our family was complicated.

    Although not even a remotely hands-on dad, when I was 4, one weekend he sat me down and we didn’t get up until I could read. The book was “The Gingerbread Man.”

    For whatever reason, known only to dad, he decided it was time I knew how to read for myself. Probably that self-reliance thing (damn kid, always wanting me to get her cereal and stuff, he called me “damn kid” a lot.) However, I carried that head start all the way to college.

    On Facebook someone asked the greatest lessons you learned from your dad. There was the usual high-minded stuff. I added:

    1. When passing a car, always wait until you can see their headlights in your rearview mirror before pulling back in, AND

    2. Always order prime rib rare.

    After that, we pretty much figured it out on our own.

    Terri (AKA Crescents Gionnta)

    • I appreciate that Terri. My step dad taught me how to be a man of honor. But my father…well…by 15 years old I knew all the good bars (as well as who made the strongest margaritas) in Fairbanks AK as well as all the nicer (or at least the least likely to contract V.D.) joints in the then legal red-light district in our home town. Ah yeah, father’s day was a trip at times.

    • Basil – I love it. My dad was a supervisor for a logging company. My brother tells the story of being about 10 and accompanying dad to Sacramento to round up the logging crew to head for the woods for the summer.

      They took the bus and parked it in front of their fav bar on 2nd street in Sacramento. Dad would go inside and start hauling drunks out and toss them onto the bus, where Ken was waiting alone.

      Each would have a big hug or handshake for the boss’ son, swear him to secrecy and sneak off the bus back into the bar.

      Lather, rinse, repeat, until everyone was corralled. Then dad would pass out bottles of whiskey for the drive home and off to the camp they’d go.

      Twas just the way of things.

  9. James–
    Here’s another title to add to the list: I Never Sang for my Father, with Gene Hackman and Melvyn Douglass. A hard father is suffering the onset of dementia. His middle-aged son has just lost his wife, is full of justifiable resentment against the father, but wants to re-connect. Not exactly in the feel-good category, but very powerful.

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