Movie Dads

Father's Day movies to watch with Dad.

To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) Drama, Starring Gregory Peck
Atticus Finch, a Depression-era Southern lawyer, defends a black man against a rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.

Father of the Bride (1991) Comedy, Starring Steve Martin
A father muddle's through his only daughter's lavish wedding.

Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) Drama, Starring Dustin Hoffman
When his wife walks out, Ted Kramer and his six-year-old son have a chance to really get to know each other. Then Ted's wife returns and she wants her son back. An intense custody battle ensues intensifying the wounds left by the separation.

Finding Nemo (2003) Animated Film, Starring Ellen DeGeneres as the voice of Dory
After his son is captured in the Great Barrier Reef and taken to Sydney, a shy clownfish sets out on a journey to bring him home.

Pursuit of Happyness (2006), Drama, Starring Will Smith
A struggling salesman falls on hard times, living in homeless shelters and eating in soup kitchens. His young son stands by his side with strength and courage as his dad struggles in his new career.

Three Men and a Baby (2002), Comedy, Starring Tom Selleck
Three unmarried men- architect Peter, artist Michael, and actor Jack are sharing an apartment in Manhattan. After Jack goes filming in Turkey his two roommates find his baby daughter- which Jack doesn't know about- abandoned outside their door. The two are left to look after the baby, and realize how difficult this can be.

Mrs. Doubtfire (1999), Comedy, Starring Robin Williams
A comedy about the tremendous lengths some dads would go to in order to spend time with their children. A dad desperate to spend more time with his kids after a bitter divorce disguises himself as a nanny.

Father's Day Fiction

Take time away from the BBQ for these cool Father/Son reads!

And Sons: A Novel
by David Gilbert



Acutely aware that his time is short after the death of his lifelong friend, Charles Topping, Andrew Dyer, a revered, famously reclusive New York writer, is anxious for his youngest son, 17-year-old Andy, whose birth destroyed Andrew’s marriage, to connect with his two half brothers. 


The Art of Fielding
by Chad Harbach



Succeeding on many levels, this highly enjoyable and intelligent novel offers several coming-of-age tales set against the background of an exciting and convincing baseball drama. Harbach paints a humorous and resonant portrait of a small college community while effectively portraying the Wisconsin landscape and a lake that provides an almost mystical source of solace and renewal. 

Life of Pi
by Yan Martel



Possessing encyclopedia-like intelligence, unusual zookeeper's son Pi Patel sets sail for America, but when the ship sinks, he escapes on a life boat and is lost at sea with a dwindling number of animals until only he and a hungry Bengal tiger remain.

The Road
by Cormac McCarthy


A man and a boy, father and son, each the others world entire, walk a road in the ashes of the late world. In this stunning departure from his previous work, McCarthy (No Country for Old Men, 2005) envisions a postapocalyptic scenario.

True Grit
by Charles Portis



With her papa's pistol tied to her saddlehorn and a supersized ration of audacity, fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross sets out to avenge her father's murder.

Responsible Men
by Edward Schwartzchild




Max Wolinsky, a swindling salesman, finds himself forced to face this question when he revisits his Philadelphia stomping grounds. After a year of exile in Florida, following his wife’s infidelity, Max returns to see his father and stroke-impaired uncle and to attend his son Nathan’s bar mitzvah, but the trip goes sour when old associates want in on his latest scam.

Funny Father Fiction for June

"Fatherhood is pretending the present you love most is soap-on-a-rope"
-Bill Cosby

While fatherhood is serious business, it helps to remember that we are all human and there is a funny side to how fathers relate to their children.  It's almost Father's Day, so in honor of this auspicious occasion, I thought I'd list novels that explore the humorous side of being a Dad.

FATHER/DAUGHTER:

Donorboy by Brendan Halpin
After the deaths of her mother and her lesbian lover in an accident, Rosalind, a troubled teen, finds herself living with Sean, the sperm-donor father she has never met, who takes on the task of caring for a grieving teenager.

Perfect Skin by Nick Earls
When life throws him an unexpected curve, thirty-something laser surgeon and single father Jon Marshall must enter the world of dating in a post-Duran Duran world where he has many misadventures.

Hollywood Dodo by Geoff Nicholson
Accompanying his starry-eyed daughter to Hollywood, self-appointed "moral bodyguard" Dr. Henry Cadwallader watches her ambitions flourish in unexpected ways, a situation that is complicated by a young man's determination to resurrect an extinct bird.

Ask Again Later by Jill A. Davis
Taking a break from her career when her mother is diagnosed with a highly treatable form of cancer, lawyer Emily is disillusioned by her mother's dramatic attention-seeking behaviors and takes an unobtrusive job in her father's law firm.

FATHER/SON:

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Hilarious, energetic, and profoundly touching, a debut novel follows a young writer as he travels to the farmlands of eastern Europe, where he embarks on a quest to find Augustine, the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis, and, guided by his young Ukrainian translator, he discovers an unexpected past that will resonate far into the future.

Rich Part of Life by Jim Kokoris
Teddy and his brothers find their lives thrown into turmoil by the death of their mother and, soon afterwards, a winning lottery ticket that leaves the family with more money than they ever imagined.

Man and Boy by Tony Parsons
Harry Silver has everything that money can buy, and everything it can't. He's a successful TV producer, with a beautiful wife and an adorable young son. Yet something is niggling Harry. He's about to turn 30, and the end of his youth seems to be looming.

Book Against God by James Wood
His marriage and academic career falling apart, philosophy doctoral student and chronic liar Thomas Bunting secretly writes an atheistic manuscript he hope will be his opus and returns to the side of his ailing parish priest father.

Meely LaBauve by Ken Wells
Fifteen-year-old Meely LaBauve comes of age in the Catahoula Bayou, where he struggles to have a relationship with his father, a drunk and an alligator hunter, and survive in a tough neighborhood.

Handling Sin by Michael Malone
Raleigh Hayes has barely finished lunch when he receives news that his eccentric father, Earley Hayes, has checked himself out of the hospital, drained his bank accounts, and left town in a yellow Cadillac convertible in the company of a mysterious, young black woman who, rumor has it, the elder Hayes intends to marry.

So there you have a walk on the lighter side.  Hope you have a Happy Father's Day full of fun and memories with your fathers!