Dad Movie. It’s become efficient shorthand, a method for describing (or, often, dismissing) a specific kind of film that appeals to men of a certain age and disposition. It’s reductive, of course; not all dads like all Dad Movies, and plenty of women love them as well. But it’s a convenient tag, pinpointing a distinctive mix of recurring themes and emotional responses, even if the precise definition of a Dad Movie is somewhat nebulous. (As with other, less wholesome forms of entertainment, it often comes down to a matter of “I know it when I see it.”)
So what makes a great Dad Movie? And if we can settle on the parameters, what are the definitive examples of the genre?
The terms have shifted over time. Your classic Dad Movies were championed by baby boomers, the first generation with easy access to movies on demand, via the VHS craze of the 1980s and the concurrent rise of movies on cable. The Venn diagram of classic Dad Cinema and TBS Sunday-afternoon standbys is, essentially, two overlapping circles. But the children of those dads inevitably became dads themselves, bringing their own preferences and tastes to the mix, and widening the windows of dad fare to include ’80s and ’90s movies they grew up watching — often with their own dads.
Certain genres lend themselves to near-automatic inclusion. Most westerns are Dad Movies by default, between their historical settings, hard-nosed action and frequent musings (implicitly or explicitly) on the complexities of masculinity. War movies are similarly beloved, not only for their preoccupations with military tactics and geopolitical shifts, but also for their ground-level examinations of male camaraderie, bravery and loss. Fathers and grandfathers are drawn to sports movies for similar reasons: Beyond their explorations of friendship and teamwork, the subject matter makes them an easy complement to the televised games that they may well share screen time with on a lazy Saturday.
Setting aside those obvious designations, the boundaries and qualities of Dad Cinema become a tad more difficult to pin down. Dads love action movies, but not all action movies; unless he’s a child of the ’80s, your average dad isn’t automatically in the tank for the migraine headaches of “Transformers” movies. And though comic-book aficionados may still be on board, most dads simply don’t have the time, energy or interest to do all of the supplementary viewing seemingly required to understand, much less enjoy, the latest Marvel extravaganza. Dads favor straightforward action flicks, preferably with practical effects, real stunts and aging heroes like Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson, who feel like aspirational contemporaries.
Generational shifts, and the widening of the age and definition of a good Dad Movie, has perhaps most affected the action genre — simply because the ’80s and ’90s were a golden era of action cinema, and many of us Gen X and millennial dads came of age then. The heroes who led them were the kind of men we grew up watching and idolizing, whether we realized it or not: Our perceptions of what it meant to be a man, and how adults handled adversity, conflict and crisis, were shaped as much by the movies we watched with our fathers as they were by our fathers themselves. At 12, I wasn’t certain how much I wanted to be like my father when I grew up — but it felt like we both hoped, someday, to be as resilient as John McClane in “Die Hard” or as cool as Martin Riggs in “Lethal Weapon.”
And then, of course, there are the weepies. Open displays of emotion, despite the best efforts of the forward-thinking and willfully vulnerable among us, are still tied up in ancient binaries of masculinity and femininity. Some men value the opportunity to shed a tear, or even sob, while watching a favorite film — whether it’s prompted by an underdog winning the big game through sheer determination, the tragic death of a close friend taken too soon or a long-needed reconciliation of a father and son.
With those loose properties in mind, your correspondent — both a father myself and the son of a movie-loving patriarch — proposes a Dad Movie Canon, seeking to include the necessary genres, essential titles, and a handful of alternates.
‘Field of Dreams’
Perhaps the quintessential Dad Movie, Phil Alden Robinson’s 1989 adaptation of the W.P. Kinsella novel “Shoeless Joe” combines several key elements of a great Dad Movie: It is a valentine to baseball, it features multiple excuses to reach for a hankie (there are three moments that reliably make this viewer fall apart), it centers on a complicated relationship between a son and his late father, and it stars Kevin Costner, an easy inductee himself in the Dad Movie Hall of Fame.
ALTERNATIVELY: “The Natural” (rent on major platforms) is a similarly heartstring-pulling baseball fantasy, while “The Godfather” (major platforms) explores another complex father-son dynamic.
‘Hoosiers’
This 1986 drama is arguably the best of the sports underdog movies — and features a stellar lead performance by Gene Hackman, another shoo-in for the Dad Movie Hall of Fame. His work here as Norman Dale, the head coach of the Hickory Huskers, an Indiana high school basketball team, is magnificently dad-coded: unwaveringly honorable, enigmatic and taciturn, but (in the right circumstances) capable of both explosive emotion and unexpected warmth.
ALTERNATIVELY: Some dads prefer “Rudy” (streaming on Netflix), a similarly styled drama reteaming the “Hoosiers”’ director David Anspaugh and the screenwriter Angelo Pizzo, while those looking for a full-on sob will advocate for the football tear-jerker “Brian’s Song” (major platforms).
‘Shane’
Stream on Paramount+ or rent on major platforms
If you had to pick one western for inclusion, it would have to be George Stevens’s 1953 oater, notable not only for its magnificent Technicolor photography and Alan Ladd’s iconic turn as the title character, but also for his scenes with Brandon deWilde as little Joey Starrett. The unforgettable closing moments of their surrogate father-son relationship will move the most stoic dad to tears.
ALTERNATIVELY: Other father-favorite westerns include the freewheeling John Wayne classic “Rio Bravo” (major platforms) and the rowdily entertaining “The Magnificent Seven” (major platforms).
‘Apollo 13’
Rent on major platforms
If we’re still carving out spots on that Dad Movie Mount Rushmore, space must be cleared for Tom Hanks, whose inherent decency, frequent father roles and twin obsessions with NASA and World War II make him the dad we’d all like to be. Those qualities are abundantly represented in Ron Howard’s 1995 docudrama about the miraculous rescue of the astronauts, including Hanks’s Jim Lovell, on the 1970 lunar mission. The quiet beat Ed Harris’s mission control commander takes at its conclusion, a shattered respite to wipe his eyes, may be the single most moving moment in all of Dad Cinema.
ALTERNATIVELY: The Hanks-penned “Greyhound” (Apple TV+ and other major platforms) is a more recent riff on these themes, while dads who love the intersection of space movies and male weepies will swear by Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” (major platforms).
‘The Great Escape’
Rent on major platforms
In addition to war movies, dads love “men on a mission” movies, in which a seemingly disparate group of dudes comes together for a common cause, initially clash over tactics and personalities, but ultimately set aside their differences to pull off the operation with professionalism and class. (Heist movies like “Ocean’s Eleven” also fall under this rubric.) One of the first, and best, was this 1963 classic from the “Magnificent Seven” director John Sturges, with Steve McQueen and an all-star cast attempting a daring escape from a German POW camp during World War II.
ALTERNATIVELY: “The Dirty Dozen” (YouTube) is another essential World War II men-on-a-mission movie, while “Saving Private Ryan” (major platforms) throws Tom Hanks into the mix.
‘The Hunt for Red October’
Rent on major platforms
Tom Clancy is a standby of boomer Dad bookshelves, so it’s no surprise that we love the first screen representation of his signature character, the C.I.A. analyst Jack Ryan. As orchestrated by the “Die Hard” director John McTiernan, this 1990 pulse-pounder takes its submarine setting, Cold War conflict and techno-thriller tropes and squeezes them like a fist.
ALTERNATIVELY: “Crimson Tide” (major platforms) is an equally effective sub thriller, with Gene Hackman vs. Denzel Washington action to boot, while “Clear and Present Danger” (major platforms) is the best of the subsequent Jack Ryan adventures.
‘Blazing Saddles’
You can’t make a list of Dad Movies without accounting for dad jokes, and there are plenty of them to be found in Mel Brooks’s 1974 hoot, which is a particular favorite among fathers for a) its western setting, and b) the unforgettable and altogether inimitable campfire scene.
ALTERNATIVELY: “Airplane!”(major platforms) is another favorite source of dad jokes — find me a father who hasn’t dropped “Don’t call me Shirley” into casual conversation — while the raucous “Animal House” (Netflix) will prompt nostalgia among those who remember either its early ’60s setting or late ’70s release.
‘Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World’
Rent on major platforms
Russell Crowe is another unimpeachable figure in the world of Dad Cinema, and not just for his loud-and-proud love of maps. This 2003 epic from the director Peter Weir is adapted from Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin series of nautical historical novels — a good old-fashioned, Errol Flynn-style adventure on the high seas, with Crowe as a steadfast symbol of intelligence, bravery and loyalty.
ALTERNATIVELY: Crowe’s Oscar-winning turn in “Gladiator” (major platforms) scratches the same itch.
‘The Shawshank Redemption’
Rent on major platforms
The miracle of Frank Darabont’s 1994 adaptation of Stephen King’s novella “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption” — second only to “Field of Dreams” in the male weepie pantheon — is how it finds pathos and poignancy in the most unlikely of places. The last voice-over, from Morgan Freeman’s inmate Red, isn’t just the culmination of this prison story; it’s the simple but true articulation of male friendship at its most heartfelt.
ALTERNATIVELY: “Midnight Run” (major platforms) and “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (major platforms) transcend their formulaic genre buddy-movie conventions to become memorable portraits of camaraderie and trust.
‘Terminator 2: Judgment Day’
Rent on major platforms
When it comes to the action movies of the ’80s and ’90s that are widely adored both by those who were fathers then and those who would become fathers, the Daddest of them all is James Cameron’s 1991 sequel to his 1984 hit, because it has a father-son relationship at its center. Sure, it’s a symbolic one — young John Connor (Edward Furlong) doesn’t have a dad around (long story), so the T-800 terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) who’s been sent to save him has to fill that role. But if a robot can learn to effectively love, care and protect a child, well, can’t we all?
ALTERNATIVELY: “The Fugitive” (major platforms), “Ronin” (major platforms) and “Die Hard” (major platforms) are other perpetual action favorites from the ’era.
