It's a bit of a stereotype in movies that a dad must be stoic and strong and never cry in front of his son. But as any happy dad will tell you, that's not always the case in real life. Having a kid will soften you up in a big, big way, and funnily enough one that's often evident watching a movie with a great father-son relationship in it. So in honor of Father's Day this year, we've picked 10 of our favorite movies with father-son relationships that are a hair trigger away from breaking open the water works in even the most stereotypically hardened of dads.
About Time
This brilliant film stands out in this list not only because it involves time travel, but because it hits with the multigenerational whammy of a relationship between a grown man (Domnhall Gleeson), his father (Bill Nighy), and his own newborn son. It’s one of the funniest movies on this list, but don’t let that fool you. About Time doesn’t just pull on the heart strings, it yanks them right out of your chest.
Field of Dreams
Field of Dreams is the ultimate movie for guys who feel like they never quite got enough time with their own fathers growing up. It takes a fantastic premise and uses it to resurrect memories for one last ball game with pop. Obviously if you love the sport this one will hit extra hard, but even if you don't know a baseball from a basketball, there's just something magical about this movie that works every time.
Frequency
Strangely enough, Frequency actually gets to dabble in the best story aspects of both About Time and Field of Dreams. It uses a very specific form of time travel to reunite a grown father and son, but unlike those two movies their reunion isn’t always so cheerful, seeing as they are trying to stop a serial killer in the process.
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
It doesn’t matter if you’re a father or a son, a mother or a daughter, or even a robot some kid built in his garage. It is simply impossible to watch the tragic documentary Dear Zachary without A) crying and B) running to the phone as soon as it ends to call your parents (or kids) and tell them you love them.
Finding Nemo
Most movies can bend over backwards trying to make someone cry and never even come close. Finding Nemo, however, can start to bring out the waterworks in its opening scene alone where future father Marlin loses his wife and all of his kids, save for one. The fact that it can do that while being an animated kids movie about fish is hugely impressive.
October Sky
October Sky may not be a standard go-to watch for a lot of people looking for great father-son relationships in movies, but it certainly deserves to be on any such list. It’s a great (and true) story about a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who defies the wishes of his gruff father (Chris Cooper) to become a rocket scientist. That’s certainly a highly specific story, but anyone who has ever clashed with their dad about what they should do in life will certainly relate.
The Lion King
Unlike Finding Nemo, which can sneak up on anyone of any age, The Lion King is the kind of movie that’s going to work its teary magic on the generation that grew up with it. But hey, if you were a kid in the ‘90s, the death of Mufasa still stings.
Good Will Hunting
Including Good Will Hunting on this list is cheating a bit since Robin Williams and Matt Damon aren’t actually related in it, but the relationship they form is a heartfelt, wholly sincere father-son dynamic. In fact, most grown men probably wish they could talk to their own dad the way Williams and Damon open up to one another in this classic.
My Life
Even in the best case scenario, it takes a lifetime for a son to truly understand his father. Unfortunately the best case scenario rarely happens, and indeed the worst case hits home in My Life, the 1993 heartbreaker starring Michael Keaton as a father-to-be who gets diagnosed with a terminal case of cancer while his wife is still pregnant. Determined to make sure his child grows up knowing him, however, Keaton decides to make a video tape that captures his life, and what follows is a funny, touching walk between the highs and lows of life and death.
Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful is the kind of instant classic that doesn't seem to come around all that often anymore. The 1997 Oscar winner for Best Actor and Best Foreign Language Film shows the best and worst of life through a story about a Jewish father who does everything he can to protect his son from the fact that their family has been imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. It's a wonderful, imaginative and, unsurprisingly, beautiful movie.
