More Films For Father's Day

I received a couple of suggestions following yesterday's search for films to watch on Father's Day, such as Kurt Russell's Used Cars (1980), which followed in our National Lampoon's Vacation. A few people also disagreed with my saying Clark Griswald was the man of our age, pointing to Harrison Ford's portrayl of Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and a similar character in Firewall. Similarly it was felt if we were going to allow the Steve Martin remake of Father of the Bride, then it would be appropriate to allow the 1991 version of Cape Fear with Nick Nolte as the mild-mannered father forced to fend off Robert De Niro's maniacal escaped ex-convict.

Some of my favourite suggestions however built on my throwaway Fight Club comment, calling for Andy Samberg's Hot Rod, which sees him constantly trying to fight his stepfather, played with gleeful malevolence by Ian McShane. Also mentioned as a tender father-daughter moment was From Dusk Til Dawn, when Harvey Keitel warns Juliette Lewis to shoot him before he becomes "a vicious lapdog of Satan."

Films for Father's Day - Or Griswald Knows Best

Last night I settled down to watch Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and commented that having the time to watch it was like a pre-Father's Day present, since no one else in my house is as enthusiastic about watching it as I am. However, this made me wonder, what films would be fitting for Father's Day? Obviously, it would have to be a film in which a father figures prominently, but I think that such a film would have also have to explore what it means to be a father, and the relationships that fathers' have with their children. Thinking of films that fit this bill became quite difficult. In fact, my immediate thought when I thought of films about fathers as Fight Club, specifically the scene where Edward Norton and Brad Pitt discuss who they would most like the fight, and the one replies simply, "My father".

Fathers have become surprising scarce in the cinematic landscape over the thirty years; either entirely absent, or else as in The Namesake, one of several players in a supporting case better known as "family".

Having thought about it then, here are some suggestions for movies worth watching on Father's Day:

Rudy, 1993

The Pursuit of Happyness, 2006

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, 1989

Father of the Bride, 1991

Sleepless in Seattle, 1993

However, the film that most people we talked to mentioned was National Lampoon's Vacation (1983). I guess this is only fitting since Clark Griswald, a far cry from the days of Atticus Finch, best embodied the shifting roles of fathers throughout the 1980s. The rise of post-modern theories throughout the 1960s and sexual politics of the 1970s, coupled with the economic decline of the Carter years, did much to diminish the "Father Knows Best" image of the successful, knowledgeable, and powerful head of household from the 1950s. Clearly Clark Griswald, admirably portrayed by Chevy Chase, is doing his best with what little resources he has to wring some semblance of success from an outdated image of the American Dad.

Suggestions?