Plans for Father’s Day? Perhaps you’ll want to watch a movie with Dad. If so, here are a six pack of titles….some classics, some not so much….but ALL carry a solid message of the relationship between father and child.
#1) Field Of Dreams (1989)
One of the best baseball movies of all time isn’t really ABOUT baseball, really. Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer who hears voices, tears down a good portion of his crop, and builds a baseball field. Ray’s father died when he was a teenager, but thanks to the magic of this story, they still get to play catch.
#2) Mr. Mom (1983)
Jack Butler (Michael Keaton), an auto engineer in Detroit, loses his job during a recession and his wife (Teri Garr) finds work, leaving Jack to take over the responsibilities at home. Granted, this movie took place in an era where the workplace was a very different place as far as gender equality goes – in other words, it’s extremely dated (we’ve thankfully come a loooong way over the last 3 or 4 decades) – but the effort of Keaton’s character doing his darndest on the home front still makes it a winsome comedy.
#3) The Lion King (1994)
In so many Disney movies, the mother is the key parental figure. No so in the Hamlet-inspired ‘Lion King’, a heart wrencher as Simba loses his father, Mufasa. Happily, the “Hakuna Matata” number temporarily dries up the tears that seem to always come from this beauty.
#4) Big Fish (2003)
The most unusual entry on the list is possibly the sweetest. Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) and his son William (Billy Crudup) have a strained relationship, primarily due to Edward’s cheesy, elaborate stories that William never believed. When Edward falls ill, William, a journalist, returns home, and in the final days of his dad’s life, explores the tall tales and learns more about his father than he expected to.
#5) Parenthood (1989)
You could make an argument for the Steve Martin vehicle ‘Father Of The Bride’ to be on this list as well….the actor just seems to have the perfect vibe for this material. In Ron Howard’s ‘Parenthood’, Martin is a sales executive who is already overworked with life both at the office and home, when he learns that his wife is pregnant with their fourth child. His fears extend from the fear of being able to handle on more kid to the looming reality that he’s slowly becoming his workaholic father.
#6) The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Will Smith headlines this biographical drama about a down-on-his-luck salesman named Chris Gardner who, due to some horrific circumstances, is forced to move himself and his five-year-old son (Will’s real life son, Jaden) from one homeless shelter to another. Through all of the hardships, the undying love and fierce protection that Smith’s character displays is what makes this movie so unbelievably powerful. Dare you not to cry during the ending.
