These movies are full of nostalgia for all things summer – family road trips, summer jobs, baseball and lifelong friendships. Did your favourites make the list?
10. Jaws
This movie made everyone scared to go in the water! A giant great white shark arrives on the shores of a New England beach resort and wreaks havoc with bloody attacks on swimmers until a part-time sheriff teams up with a marine biologist and an old seafarer to hunt the monster down. One of the highest grossing movies of all time – definitely a summer classic.
9. Stand By Me
A coming-of-age story about friendship starring some of the 'it' actors of the 80's (River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell, Kiefer Sutherland). It's the summer of 1959 in Castlerock, Oregon and four 12 year-old boys – Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern – are fast friends. After learning of the general location of the body of a local boy who has been missing for several days, they set off into woods to see it. Along the way, they learn about themselves, the meaning of friendship and the need to stand up for what is right.
8. National Lampoon's Vacation
A movie for anyone who's suffered through a family road trip gone wrong. The Griswold family's cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park doesn't go exactly as planned. Pretty cheesy but everyone can relate to a parent's need to spend quality time with their kids.
7. Dazed and Confused
Remember the feeling of freedom on the last day of school? This critically acclaimed cult favorite explores the last day of school – and one wild night – in the lives of high school students in 1976. A great cast and a great soundtrack!
6. Adventureland
This movie is for anyone who's ever had a summer job that they hated. The film is set in the summer of 1987 when recent college grad James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is making big plans to tour Europe and attend graduate school in pursuit of a career in journalism. However, financial problems force him look for a summer job instead of traveling abroad, which lands him at Adventureland, a run-down amusement park in western Pennsylvania. There he meets (and falls for) Emily Lewin (Kristen Stewart)
Nothing says summer like a baseball movie – I watch these next three whenever they're on tv.
5. Field of Dreams
Kevin Costner starred as Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who hears a voice in his corn field tell him, "If you build it, he will come." He builds a baseball field on his farm and the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the other seven Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series show up to play. James Earl Jones also stars and has a great speech about baseball in simpler times. It's a movie about believing in something when everything and everyone tells you not too.
4. Bull Durham
Another Kevin Costner movie – this time he plays Crash Davis, a veteran player brought in to get rookie player Ebby 'Nuke' Laloosh (played by Tim Robbins) ready for the Major Leagues. Susan Sarandon plays Annie, a baseball groupie who gets involved with Nuke but is attracted to Crash. The best part about this movie is the chemistry between Susan Sarandon and Kevin Costner.
3. A League Of Their Own
A movie about the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League which was started in 1943 when most of the baseball players were figthing WWII. It has an incredible cast (including Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Rosie O'Donnell, Madonna, Jon Lovitz, Lori Petty and Bill Pullman) and includes a classic line "There's no crying in baseball"
These last two are part of my all-time favourite list, regardless of the season.
2. Dirty Dancing
'Nobody puts Baby in a corner" – one of the all-time best movie lines! In 1963, Frances "Baby" Houseman (played by Jennifer Grey), goes with her family to Kellerman's, a resort in upstate New York's Catskill Mountains. She falls for the resort's dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) as he teaches her 'his kind of dancing'
1. Indian Summer
This one is my favourite, mainly because it reminds me of the summers I spent as a camper and camp counsellor. (The camp in the movie even looks like my summer camp). A group of childhood friends, now in their thirties, reunite at Camp Tamakwa to reminisce about the golden age of the camp. It has a great ensemble cast and beautiful scenery.
Happy watching!
