At first glance, mainstream society doesn't seem to give fatherhood the respect it deserves. Hell, nearly every sitcom dad is a bumbling fool. Movie studios, on the other hand, have been singing the praises of male parenthood for some time now. Don't believe me? Check it out:
47. A Quiet Place
Lee Abbott is just an average dad trying to protect his family from monsters with super-hearing in a post-apocalyptic world. Taking care of a family of four was already hard enough. But how does a guy keep a newborn safe from creatures that are violently attracted to the slightest sound??
To Kill a Mockingbird features Gregory Peck in his signature role -- Atticus Finch. The movie spans three years during which Atticus, a widower and single father, teaches his daughter and son to think for themselves and to not accept the casual but rampant racism that pervades their 1930s Alabama town.
45. Kramer vs. Kramer
When Ted Kramer's wife walks out on him and their five-year-old son, he's devastated -- and completely unprepared to be an instant single father. He has no idea how to do laundry, can't cook and is utterly unfamiliar with Billy's school schedule. Through much trial and much more error, Ted learns how to be a single parent and he and Billy forge an unshakable bond. He even sabotages his career (which results in his firing) so that he can devote more time to his little man.
Then, after having abandoned him for 15 months without making contact, Billy's mom shows up seeking full custody. What???
Naturally, the court grants custody to Ted's ex-wife. Initially planning to appeal the decision, Ted learns that Billy will probably be questioned on the stand and he decides that his son has been through enough.
John Archibald's son, Mike, has an enlarged heart and needs a transplant -- STAT. But that'll cost at least $250,000 with a $75,000 down payment. And his insurance company is royally screwing him and won't cover the procedure. John can only come up with $25,000 so he moves on to Plan B: walking into a hospital and taking holding 11 people hostage until the staff performs the transplant. Not wanting to hurt anyone, he never loads the gun. He just wants to save his son. He has, however, brought one bullet along as he intends to kill himself, thereby making a heart available for Mike.
43. Jersey Girl
Devastated, Ollie understandably sinks into a deep depression, which ultimately results in him losing his job. Now not only unemployed but blacklisted as well, Ollie leaves most of his fatherly duties to his daughter to his own widowed father, Bart. Eventually, Bart, realizing that little Gertie needs her father, insists that his son accept his own familial responsibilities. So Ollie rearranges his priorities and learns how, through trial-and-error, to be a single dad.
42. Lethal Weapon
Rianne and Roger Murtaugh
Homicide detective Roger Murtaugh is feeling old, he gets saddled with a suicidal partner and then drug smugglers kidnap his daughter, Rianne. Enough is enough. You know this won't end peacefully. Now there's an LAPD officer you can root for.
41. Prisoners
When Keller Dover and his friend Franklin Birch's six-year-old daughters, Anna and Joy, disappear on Thanksgiving Day, they call the police and report their suspicion that the driver of an RV parked near the girls' last known location abducted them. But after the police arrest and quickly release the only suspect, Alex Jones, the fathers take the law into their own hands. Keller abducts Alex and detains him in his late father's abandoned apartment house where he shows Franklin what he's done. The two torture Alex for information to no avail. Since the movie involves a mystery, I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it but I will say this: Keller lets nothing stop him from searching for his daughter.
40. Fatherhood
After Matt Logelin's wife, Liz, dies during childbirth, he suddenly finds himself a widower and a single father. To make matters worse, he lives in Boston and his nearest relatives live over a thousand miles away in Minnesota. But he and little Maddy are the only family that either of them needs.
39. The Pursuit of Happyness
Based on the true story of single father Christopher Gardner's pursuit of the American Dream in order to provide a better life for his son. After his attempts to sell Osteo National portable bone-density scanners (into which he sunk all of the family's savings) fail, Chris can't come up with the money to pay off his parking fine, which culminates in the Parking Authority placing a boot on his car. Fed up, his wife Linda leaves him and their son Christopher and moves to New York. Then, unable to make rent, father and son are evicted. Betting on himself and his long-term plan, Chris accepts a position as an unpaid intern with financial firm Dean Witter. During the six-month program, Chris and his son must sleep in homeless shelters and struggle to get by. But Chris never gives up -- which would mean giving up on his son's future.
38. King Richard
Richard Williams' boundless tenacity drove him to lead his daughters, Venus and Serena, to the pinnacle of Womens' Tennis. Williams persevered through poverty, rejection and hostile gang members in order to create a future for his children.
37. Something from Tiffany's
During a Christmas vacation in New York City, single father and writer, Ethan, happens to meet chef, Rachel. Their chemistry is instantaneous; however, Ethan's on the verge of proposing to his unsupportive girlfriend (in order to provide his daughter, Daisy, with a positive female role model) and Rachel wants to be there for her self-absorbed boyfriend, who's has just been hospitalized after being hit by a taxi.
Marlin is just an ordinary clown fish and single dad. He's normally not courageous or adventurous at all. But when his son, Nemo, is caught by a scuba diver, he travels from his home waters in the Great Barrier Reef to Sydney Harbor 1,096 miles away braving bloodthirsty sharks, hungry pelicans, jellyfish, the aggravation caused by his moronic sidekick (Dory) and his own neuroses along the way in order to get Junior back safe and sound.
After popular chef Carl Casper quits his job at a swanky California restaurant, his girlfriend and his ex-wife convince him to operate his own food truck. Not having the money to buy one, Carl accepts his ex-wife's other ex-husband's offer of an old truck in need of restoration. The catch is: the truck is in Miami. So after fixing up the truck, Carl and his son Percy drive it coast-to-coast back to California serving Cuban food and bonding along the way.
34. Gone Girl
Nick Dunne's sociopathic wife framed him for her murder. After turning the nation against him and making him the only suspect -- she shows back up at their home covered in blood (she killed her ex-boyfriend in cold blood while she was away). Ordinarily, this would be a great time to file for divorce and never look back. Except the missus used Nick's sperm from a fertility clinic to get pregnant. So in order to protect his child from a world-class psycho (and only for that reason), he agrees to stay with her.
33. Like Father Like Son
Jack Hammond unwittingly drinks a mystical potion (because his son's friend hid it in a bottle of Tabasco sauce) that causes him to switch bodies with his son, Chris. So until they can get their hands on the antidote, uptight Jack has to fill in for his teenaged son at his high school while Chris screws up his father's job at the hospital where he works as a surgeon. The two can't relate to each other and don't get along very well so Jack gets the role reversal that he'd have to pay for in therapy without spending a dime and finds out what it's really like to be his son. I know what you're thinking -- but unlike Freaky Friday and Vice Versa, Like Father Like Son is actually funny.
32. The Hate U Give
The Hate U Give features a fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American male by a white police officer. Unlike the relatively recent spate of police murders captured on video, there is only one eyewitness -- aside from the cop. The remainder of the film explores the effects that the shooting has on the witness.
That witness, Starr Carter, was a childhood friend of the victim, Khalil Harris. The two are pulled over for failure to signal a lane change on an empty street when Khalil drives Starr home from a house party. After Khalil is ordered out of the car, he's shot to death by the officer.
What follows is Starr's struggle to come to terms with the death of her friend, her efforts to achieve justice for Khalil while remaining anonymous, and her continued fight to be accepted by her predominantly African-American community without being solely defined by her ethnicity at her predominantly white high school. Despite Starr's wish to blend in and be a "normal" teenager, the seed of social activism planted in her by her father begins to grow.
In a future in which the sport of boxing and MMA has been eclipsed in popularity by robots going mano a mano, Charlie Kenton (a former professional boxer himself) is informed that his ex-girlfriend (baby's mama) has died.This leaves his son, Max, who he doesn't really know, without a home. Max's aunt and rich uncle make a deal with Charlie in which he'll be paid $100,000 provided he doesn't fight their petition for full custody. But Max has to live with Charlie for the next three months while the couple is on vacation. Well, Max soon discovers an old robot of his own to train as a fighter and both father and son discover that they've bonded through their mutual love of boxing.
30. A Bronx Tale
Sonny gives C some good advice.
A Bronx Tale is sorta the gangster version of Robert Kiyosaki's bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad. Because nine-year-old Calogero Anello ("C" for short) witnesses a shooting and keeps his mouth shut when questioned by the cops, he earns the attention and respect of local mob boss, Sonny. Sonny, who's become a hero to "C", takes him under his wing and teaches him street smarts and how to pull girls. But he advises his young friend to avoid a life of crime despite his own membership in the Mafia.
Meanwhile, "C"'s actual pops, Lorenzo, objects to the relationship because he realizes that the trappings of Sonny's success will make more of an impression on "C" than what he says. Sonny, on the other hand, resents what he sees as Lorenzo's holier-than-thou attitude.
Lorenzo, who drives a city bus, teaches "C" integrity and the value of hard work. Because he listens, he avoids winding up in an early grave like his teenaged friends -- and Sonny.
29. Project Power
A former Delta Force member follows leads to New Orleans in an attempt to locate his abducted daughter. After the major underwent experiments conducted by private defense contractor Teleios, Tracy was conceived and when she eventually exhibited superhuman abilities, Teleios absconded with her in order to conduct further research. But the major's special forces background, combined with the superhuman abilities that he developed as a result of the trials and his paternal instincts spell trouble for the shadowy organization that took his little girl.
28. The Purge
It's 2022 and America celebrates an annual day of immunity, during which nearly all crime is legal, called the Purge. James Sandin makes a pretty nice living as a hotshot salesman for a home security company. A good bit of his income is derived from selling the company's systems specifically designed to keep out intruders on Purge Night.
When that night comes around this year, the Sandin family home comes under siege from rich sociopaths and resentful neighbors whose own houses are dwarfed by the mansion that James had built using the money that they spent on the security systems that he sold them.
After realizing the extent of his moral failings, James gives his life to protect his son and daughter (and wife) from the would-be killers.
27. Army of the Dead
There's no matriarch holding all of the various cousins, uncles and aunts together in this holiday classic. Shockingly enough, Almost Christmas' Meyers family is led and held together not by mom or grandma, but dad -- a widower with brains and principles. When was the last time you saw that in a movie?
25. Barbershop 3
Local barbershop owner Calvin Palmer's son Jalen was born at the end of the first Barbershop movie. Now the father of a teenager, Calvin struggles to compete with the lure of the gang life that has captured his son's attention. Calvin's old friend and co-worker Rashad is facing the same issues with his own son, Kenny -- who happens to be Jalen's best friend. Calvin has to decide whether or not to enroll Jalen in Catholic school and to relocate the family business (passed down from his own father) and home from Chicago's violent south side to the north side for his son's well-being.
Ray, Robbie and Rachel
Hostile Martians launch a global invasion during the same weekend that New Jersey crane operator Ray Ferrier has his kids, Robbie and Rachel. Initially, he can't relate to them -- especially not teenaged Robbie -- but once the invasion touches the Garden State, Ray's paternal instincts kick into overdrive and never turn off. He drives through a crowd of people in order to get his kids to safety; he murders an unstable man in order to protect Rachel; and even allows himself to be captured by the aliens so that he can rescue Rachel from them.
23. The Accountant
Christian Wolff is the man he is because of his father. Not long after his childhood diagnosis of autism, his mother abandoned the family. Chris' father, a psychological warfare officer in the U.S. Army, arranged for he and his brother, Braxton, to be trained in various forms of combat so that neither would become victims in life.
As adults, Chris is a wealthy money-launderer and marksman and Braxton is a world-class assassin -- but nobody messess with either of them.
22. Due Date
Peter Highman is gonna be a first-time father any day now. His wife Sarah is super-pregnant and waiting for him in LA. All he has to do is make his flight home from Atlanta so that he'll be there for the arrival of his first-born. Unfortunately for him, the weirdo he meets on the plane, Ethan Tremblay, gets them both kicked off the flight and placed on the national "no-fly" list. Undeterred but missing his wallet, Peter agrees to share a rental car with Ethan, in spite of his growing hatred for him, on a coast-to-coast road trip.
Along the way, Peter ends up in a high-speed chase from the Mexican police and discovers that his friend Darryl probably fathered the baby that Sarah's carrying. All that to witness the birth of his (probably Darryl's) child. This guy deserves a friggin' medal.
21. Unforgiven
Former gunslinger William Munny put his six-shooters away years ago at the behest of his now-dead wife. Now raising two kids on his own and realizing that the ends aren't really being met by hog-farming, he reluctantly agrees to hunt down a couple of cowboys with bounties on their heads so that he can provide for his youngins.
20. Suicide Squad
Floyd Lawton, known as Deadshot in the tabloids, is a sociopathic hitman who's never been in love and doesn't feel a bit of guilt about killing people for money. But his 11-year-old daughter, Zoey, is deeply entrenched in his otherwise icy heart. And his love for her is what made it easy for the Batman to track him down and apprehend him. After he's recruited to a team of expendable supervillains, he gives the mission his all for one reason and one reason only: the promise of seeing his little girl again.
18. Ant-Man
17. Pacific Rim
Marshal Stacker Pentecost saved Mako Mori during a Kaiju attack on Tokyo that left her an orphan. So being a man of action and a man of responsibility, he adopted her. And though she's a trained warrior and pilot, she's also Daddy's little girl, so naturally he blocks her every attempt to join the fight to protect the mankind from the colossal monsters. When he finally gives in and gives her his blessing to join the battle, he makes the ultimate sacrifice in order to save her -- and the world -- again.
16. World War Z
You would think that protecting humanity from a zombie apocalypse would be reason enough to join a team of scientists and commandos in search of a cure for the walking-dead pandemic but former U.N. investigator Gerry Lane only agrees to go along when he's told that his children (and wife) will only be allowed to remain on one of the U.S. Navy aircraft carriers used to house V.I.P. refugees if he does.
In fact, before finding out about the mission, Lane is prepared to jump off the roof of an apartment building in order to protect his daughters. Seconds earlier he'd been drenched in zombie blood, some of which got in his mouth, and he fully intended to kill himself in the event that he felt himself transforming into one of the infected, mindless killers so that he'd have no opportunity to attack his family.
15. 3:10 to Yuma
Just like in High Noon, timing is everything in 3:10 to Yuma. But instead of awaiting a dangerous outlaw's imminent arrival on a train, the point in Yuma is to ensure that a dangerous outlaw departs on a train. The black hat is Ben Wade, the murderous leader of a gang of stagecoach robbers. Wade gets himself captured by the law in the Arizona town of Bisbee (23 miles southeast of Tombstone), but the locals don't have the resources to stop the killer's gang from liberating him. So, the idea is to get him on the afternoon train and off to the Yuma Territorial Prison in none other than the town of Yuma (duh). No stranger to Westerns, the prison is also referenced in The Wild Bunch, Hombre and The Comancheros. An outlaw is even put on a train to the facility in Once Upon a Time in the West. Anyway, Civil War veteran-turned-rancher (he fought for the Union) Dan Evans is deputized and hired for $200 to escort Wade to the locomotive. He needs the money because his landlord is threatening to evict him and his family from his land. But he also wants to teach his son that doing the right thing is worth any risk.
14. Interstellar
Ex-NASA pilot/engineer and widower Joe Cooper doesn't embark on a one-way mission to distant planets in order to save mankind -- he only agrees to participate in the search so that he can ensure the futures of his son Tom and daughter, Murphy.
13. Rocky Balboa
Rocky's relationship with his only son, Robert, Jr., which grew strained in the preceding movie, has only gotten worse over time. Though the elder Balboa's fortunes have risen (he is now a successful restaurateur), he continues to live in the city. Robert, now a grown man, has remained in Philadelphia as well but only maintains minimal contact with his father. Robert, Sr. only sees him when he shows up unexpectedly. Rocky does manage to bond with "Little" Marie's half-Jamaican teenaged son, "Steps" (short for Stephenson). Rocky, who's never been a candidate for Mensa, thinks Jamaica is in Europe.
12. Boyz N the Hood
Boyz N the Hood juxtaposes Trey Styles' (who is raised by a single father) adolescence with that of his best friends, Ricky and Doughboy (brought up by a single mom). Trey's dad, Furious, gives him chores, insists he address him as "sir" and gives him practical advice about sex. By the end of the movie, Trey's headed to Morehouse College and both Ricky (a teen father) and Doughboy (a murderer and drug dealer) are dead.
11. Logan
But after Laura's guardian, her former nurse Gabriela, is murdered, Logan starts to gain a new purpose in life and agrees to deliver her to a sanctuary community for mutants. Along the way, he reluctantly grows closer to his newly-discovered descendant and dies protecting her (and her friends) from the same black-ops team that killed Gabriela.
10. Hell or High Water
The bank wants the land because oil was just discovered there and as an unemployed natural gas worker, Toby has no other way of clearing the $43,000 debt. He doesn't wanna get rich. He wants his sons to escape the poverty that his family has known for generations. And that oil money should just about do it.
9. Creed II
Like Creed and Rocky Balboa, Creed II is very much about fathers and sons -- but to an even greater extent. Now that the loose ends concerning the Dragos have been tied; the Balboas' issues have been resolved; and the Creeds seem to have found both redemption and peace, one question remains: Will Apollo's other two kids ever be addressed?
8. Creed
Former undefeated world heavyweight champion boxer Apollo Creed practically haunts this film. It's even named after him. But it's his son Adonis' story and how he copes with having a legendary father. The previous film, Rocky Balboa, touched on Rocky's son Robert's struggle to live in his famous father's shadow as well and its revealed in this movie that he surrendered to the pressure and moved, not only out of Philly, but out of the country. Rocky tells Adonis that Robert, Jr. now lives in Canada. Adonis however, takes the challenge head-on. He not only takes up his father's profession, he moves from Los Angeles to Philadelphia in order to solicit the Italian Stallion's training expertise.
And in turn, when Rocky needs someone to lean on, it is Adonis, and not his only son, who supports him.
7. The Tomorrow War
By the year 2023, Iraq War veteran and family man Dan Forester has seemingly made a successful transition back into civilian life. And then he's drafted for military service in a global effort to repel alien invaders. However, because the invasion doesn't take place until 2051, Forester and his fellow draftees are sent to the front lines via a wormhole. Why use fighters from the past? Because the war has ground the human population down to less than 500,000. And when he gets to the future he discovers that the ranking officer is none other than his daughter, Muri, who's now a seasoned war vet herself. But time does nothing to diminish a father's love, so Dan puts it all on the line to protect his little (though middle-aged) girl.
Robert "Bloodsport" DuBois is a British assassin whose career exploits finally catch up to him, landing the seasoned killer in federal prison. After turning the offer down several times he's eventually coerced into joining black ops team Task Force X when his estranged young daughter's life is used as a bargaining chip. DuBois uses his expert marksmanship and leadership skills to accomplish the mission, adding to his considerable body-count. But afterwards he defies orders to save a Latin American island nation from an alien invasion and protects his squad member, Cleo "Ratcatcher 2" Cazo, along the way (he saves her life three times), proving that even villains can be heroic.
5. Black Panther
4. Man of Steel
Jor-El tells Kal-El about his heritage.
Jonathan and Clark Kent
Superman might've turned out OK without a father. But fortunately for him, he didn't have to find out. In fact, he had the benefit of two selfless dads to teach him how to be a man. Distinguished Kryptonian scientist Jor-El ensures the survival of his newborn -- and only -- son by launching him towards Earth when it becomes clear that Krypton's destruction is imminent.
Kansas farmer Jonathan Kent (with his wife Martha) finds the crashed spacecraft, takes the boy in and raises him as his own. He teaches the now-christened "Clark" the value of selflessness, sacrifice and humility.
Ultimately, both dads trade their own lives for their son's well-being. Jor-El confronts General Zod, who kills him for it, in order to give his wife enough time to launch the capsule that houses their baby boy. Seventeen years or so later, Jonathan Kent dissuades his son from using his abilities to save him from a tornado (thus exposing himself as something other than human).
Ironically, the previous Superman movie, Superman Returns, featured the Man of Steel himself as a father. But it's not worth the two hours outta your life it would take to watch it.
Threaten his estranged wife and John McClane'll partly destroy a skyscraper or crash a plane. But you kidnap his daughter and he'll travel cross-country, leave your girlfriend at the bottom of an elevator shaft and shoot himself in the shoulder just to make sure she's safe.
In the best fourth entry in a movie series ever (its only real competition is Terminator: Salvation), the seemingly-obsolete McClane pits his old-school cop skills against a team of amoral computer hackers. His wife's divorced him and his daughter Lucy has decided to use her mom's maiden name. But she's still his little girl.
2. Rogue One
Jyn and Saw
Galen and Jyn
Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia aren't the only Rebels with a dad who works for the Empire. Jyn Erso's father Galen is the engineer who designed the Death Star. But in keeping with Star Wars tradition, "There is still good in him..." Actually, Galen was pressured into working on the superweapon and he reasoned that if he oversaw the design as opposed to someone else he could sabotage it. He even calls his file containing the details on how to destroy the battlestation "Stardust" -- the nickname he gave his daughter as a little girl.
For her part, Jyn only joins the Rebel Alliance so that she can help the rebels rescue her father from his involuntary work on the project. They want to help him defect because his inside information would prove invaluable. Jyn just wants her dad back -- especially since she just lost her surrogate father, Saw Gerrera, who raised her after Galen was initially pressed into Imperial service.
1. The Empire Strikes Back
"I am a jedi like my father before me."
Updated 12/10/22
Originally Posted 6/1/17
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Ran, I swear, you and your Star Wars films, ha! What, no Star Trek on here either? Lol! But seriously you have a very good list here. It is a good variety of films across the board. I especially agree with 'The Pursuit of Happyness.' Will Smith nailed his performance in this inspirational film. It was a great movie and definitely belongs in this category. Another great pick on your list, although one not many I have talked to care for, is 'Manchester by the Sea.' Yes, I agree it was not the fastest moving film but the performances were outstanding and what the lead characters had to go through as parents was heartbreaking. Michelle Williams' 5 minute speech alone was incredible. A truly heartbreaking movie. I also loved 'Hell or High Water.' This is one of best films of this past year! The performances were so good and the storyline one that is unique and does not come around often. Great, great film! A classic is also 'Kramer vs. Kramer.' Dustin Hoffman is fantastic in his role as a loving father and the little kid plays along side him so well. Some heartbreaking and tough scenes in this one for sure. Plus you cannot discuss this without mentioning the ultimate actress, Meryl Streep. Good pick!
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of other films that should be on this list. How can anyone not remember 'The Champ' with Jon Voight and little Ricky Schroeder? The climatic scene in that movie gets me every time. The other one that gets to me is with Richard Dreyfuss, 'Mr. Holland's Opus.' Oh geez, the scene where he uses sign language to 'sing' the classic John Lennon song, 'Beautiful Boy', to his deaf son is one of the most moving moments in a film ever in my opinion. Richard Dreyfuss definitely deserved his Oscar mom for his performance. I am sure there are others but these are the ones that stand out to me.
Thanks, John. But "Mr. Holland's Opus"?? Way too sappy for me.
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