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From action movies to high-octane thrillers, Dad Movie magic is still a huge box office draw. Although somewhat nebulous as a genre descriptor, “Dad Movies” – or films that tend to appeal to middle-aged men – tend to share certain elements or themes between them. Dadcore cinema is most synonymous with the action, war, Western, and historical drama genres, and may include a certain familial or comradely element that is endearing to the dad demographic. There is no set definition exactly – but there are certain films that give off a Dad Movie vibe, and some naturally fit that vibe better than others.
Given the broad nature of the Dad Movie umbrella, some of the greatest films of all time are in contention to be included in any list ranking the genre’s greatest examples. However, this ranking is not about the best films that happen to be Dad Movies, but more a look at films that embody the Dad Movie vibe best. From Denzel Washington action thrillers to John Wayne Westerns, here are the 20 best Dad Movies of all time.
20 The Equalizer
Although by no means one of the action movie greats, The Equalizer is about as perfect a distillation of the Dad Movie as can be found this side of 2010 – even alongside more obvious examples like Ford vs Ferrari. Director Antoine Fuqua reunited with Denzel Washington to develop a solid entry in the vigilante movie canon with The Equalizer, which sees the latter take on the part of aging former spy Robert McCall as he does battle with Russian gangsters. The Equalizer is by no means revolutionary, but Washington’s confident and sagely depiction of McCall ensures this 2014 reboot of the classic TV series brings the Dad Movie goodness.
19 The Guns Of Navarone
There are plenty of great “men on a mission” adventure war movies that fit the Dad Movie umbrella, and while there are certainly better than The Guns of Navarone, there remains a comforting, almost pulp quality to Navarone that cements it as a genre staple. Boasting a stellar ensemble cast comprised of Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, Navarone‘s story of a commando unit sabotaging a pivotal German installation also shines a spotlight on a less-traversed theater of World War 2 – the Mediterranean campaign. While not especially challenging viewing, The Guns of Navarone represents a great approximation of the kind of WW2 adventure many dads grew up with in the 1960s and 1970s.
18 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
The high point of the National Lampoon’s Vacation series, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is the definitive festive Dad Movie. This makes sense, given Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold is one of the greatest movie dads, but what Christmas Vacation does so perfectly is tap into the chaos of the holiday spirit. Christmas Vacation – which was also written by John Hughes – possesses a perfect mix of National Lampoonery, heart, and festive cheer, featuring an all-time great performance from Chase that will endear itself to any dad who has agonized over making sure Santa delivers come Christmas morning.
17 Sneakers
1992’s Sneakers is a criminally underrated thriller-comedy ensemble comprised of several Dad Movie legends, most notably Robert Redford. The cast also features River Phoenix, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, and David Strathairn, with Ben Kingsley as the main antagonist. Reflecting on 1960s-era counterculture and hacker activism, Sneakers is a charming effort from the early 1990s – and an underappreciated Dad Movie gem.
16 Con Air
Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson changed the DNA of the blockbuster when they burst onto the scene in the 1980s with Flashdance and Beverly Hills Cop. However, the producer duo are arguably more synonymous with the action movies of the 1990s – more specifically those helmed by Tony Scott and Michael Bay. Crimson Tide, The Rock, and Enemy of the State are all Dad Movie royalty and encapsulate the energy of Bruckheimer and Simpson’s films best. However, it is a non-Scott, non-Bay film that may have the most Dadcore DNA – Simon West’s Con Air.
Produced by Bruckheimer following Simpson’s passing in 1996, Con Air exemplifies the loud, brash appeal of the producer’s films, right on down to Nicolas Cage’s iconic flowing locks. It also has the Dad-liest premise out of Bruckheimer’s 1990s efforts, with Cage’s Cameron Poe serving out a sentence after a fight gone wrong while protecting his pregnant wife. Poe is the ideal Dad Movie protagonist, fighting off a delightfully menacing John Malkovich so that he can finally meet his daughter.
15 Tombstone
1993’s Tombstone is notable for being one of the most historically authentic Westerns ever produced. Although the film bears the scars of its troubled production, it succeeds thanks to its stellar ensemble cast and riveting action sequences. Val Kilmer deserved an Oscar nomination for his portrayal as gunslinger and gambler Doc Holliday, while Kurt Russell, who Kilmer alleges ghost-directed the picture, provides a steady presence as Wyatt Earp. The duo do an excellent job of updating one of the most legendary of Old West partnerships, with the former’s highly quotable performance ensuring that Tombstone will remain a Dad Movie staple.
14 Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was directed by Australian filmmaker Peter Weir, and features one of the best title cards to a historical war movie ever with “April – 1805. Napoleon is master of Europe. Only the British fleet stands before him. Oceans are now battlefields.” Weir ensures that Master and Commander lives up to that tagline from the off, depicting 19th century naval combat in all its unforgiving misery.
The film, which was based on the Aubrey-Maturin series of novels by Patrick O’Brian, features one of Russell Crowe’s best performances, with the actor taking on the role of the eponymous Captain Jack. Weir’s movie boasts immense attention to detail and an adventurous-yet-grounded tone. In a just world, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World should have received about a dozen sequels.
13 JFK
Oliver Stone’s JFK is a weird but brilliant beast of a movie. Part chaotic conspiracy thriller and part old-fashioned American courtroom drama, JFK tells the story of President Kennedy’s assassination and the only man ever brought to trial over the alleged conspiracy – Clay Shaw, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Many of Stone’s conclusions may be fantastical, but he lays out the evidence in such a compelling way that it becomes impossible not to get swept up along for the ride.
12 The Shawshank Redemption
Prison dramas are another Dad Movie staple, with the likes of Escape from Alcatraz and The Longest Yard qualifying nicely in the Dad Movie bracket. However, The Shawshank Redemption is too iconic for it not to lead the way. Based on the Stephen King novella, The Shawshank Redemption became one of the most acclaimed movies of the year when it released in 1994, despite being an initial flop, and has developed a strong following ever since, with Morgan Freeman’s Red emerging as one of the most beloved movie characters of all time.
11 Rocky IV
The entire Rocky series has Dad Movie DNA coursing through its veins, but if any installment of the series embodies that spirit best, it has to be Rocky IV. Sylvester Stallone’s fourth outing as the Italian Stallion is a massively over-the-top departure from the series’ working class roots, swapping the industrial iconography of Philadelphia for a glitzy, James Brown-fronted confrontation between East and West, with Dolph Lungdren stepping into the ring as Soviet strongman villain Ivan Drago. From its revenge-based story and iconic “Heart’s on Fire” montage to its endearing moves at Cold War resolution, Rocky IV makes for perfect Dad Movie viewing.
10 The Untouchables
Brian DePalma’s The Untouchables is a gangster crime drama full of cowboys, so it is only natural that the movie also has a legendary soundtrack composed by the Maestro himself, Ennio Morricone. Inspired by the investigation that led to the arrest of notorious Chicago Outfit boss Al Capone, played here by Robert De Niro, The Untouchables earned Sean Connery an Academy Award for his portrayal of Irish cop Jim Malone, who teaches Kevin Costner’s clean-cut treasury agent Elliott Ness the secrets to dismantling Capone’s empire. Blending gangster and cowboy together is inevitably Dad movie magic.
9 Predator
Predator is among the greatest action movies of all time – which naturally also makes it a great Dad Movie. Directed by then-newcomer John McTiernan and led by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Predator is a perfect fusion of 1980s action movie cinema and pulp sci-fi horror. It also displays the same kind of subversive approach to action that would make McTiernan’s Die Hard such a phenomenon, with the film assembling some of the most physically dominant stars of the time, only to have them be torn apart by an apex being from outer space. Throw in one of the all-time great movie themes from Alan Silvestri, and Predator is definitive action cinema.
8 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade
It is impossible to go wrong with any of the first three Indiana Jones films, but if any one of those embodies the Dad Movie best, it is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The third entry in the Spielberg-Lucas franchise, Last Crusade united Harrison Ford’s adventuring archeologist with Sean Connery, who played Indy’s father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr. Ford and Connery’s chemistry is perfect, with one of the film’s core dynamics being the relationship between father and son.
7 A Clear And Present Danger
A Clear and Present Danger may not be the strongest of the Jack Ryan films, with McTiernan’s The Hunt for Red October making a claim for that honor, but it exemplifies the Dad Movie brand to the nth degree. What A Clear and Present Danger lacks in Red October‘s style it makes up for with Ford, whose every-man qualities and geekish approach to the role make him the best onscreen Jack Ryan. Those same qualities also make A Clear and Present Danger one of the very best Dad Movies.
6 Saving Private Ryan
Saving Private Ryan was by no means the first WW2 movie to divert from the adventurous tone of the genre that became commonplace in the 1960s and 1970s, but its harrowing depiction of infantry combat was revolutionary. It is possible to argue that this precludes Spielberg’s D-Day movie from Dad Movie status, but this hard-hitting approach is exactly what makes it such a great example. Saving Private Ryan‘s reverence for historical record forces audiences to confront the harsh reality of the Second World War, with its bloody, character-driven lens hammering the sacrifices made during that conflict even further.
5 Rio Bravo
Quentin Tarantino once described Rio Bravo as the perfect “hangout movie” – a film audiences return to primarily because they want to hang out with the characters onscreen. The hangout vibes of Howard Hawks’ 1959 Western are also what make it a perfect Dad Movie; John Wayne is perfectly stoic as sheriff John T. Chance, while Dean Martin turns in a career-best performance as the fittingly named recovering alcoholic deputy, Dude. Martin and co-star Ricky Nelson’s in-movie performance of “My Rifle, My Pony and Me” is also a legendary Western moment.
4 Hard Target
There is a scene in Halloween Ends where the father of troubled teen Corey Cunningham sits in the dark, headphones on, watching Hard Target, oblivious to the chaos unfolding around him. While this alone is not proof of the film’s Dad Movie credentials, it does do a great job of showing the Dad Movie viewing experience. John Woo’s debut American film, Hard Target, paired him with Jean-Claude Van Damme – and it led to terrific results. A cross between The Most Dangerous Game and a Spaghetti Western, Hard Target is an underrated gem from Woo’s American filmography – one that fully utilizes Van Damme’s strengths while transplanting the director’s signature style to the bayou.
3 Unforgiven
Unforgiven is often mistakenly characterized as the first anti-Western – or at least one of the first to confront the genre’s myths with historical reality. Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winner is certainly introspective, but its attentions seem largely focused on the actor and director’s own cinematic legacy, with protagonist Will Munny embodying a more resigned and mournful approach to violence than many of Eastwood’s other characters. Unforgiven‘s genre deconstruction is uniquely personal and compelling, letting loose harsh realities and moral ambiguity to devastating effect.
2 Lethal Weapon 2
Riggs and Murtaugh are the ultimate Dad Movie protagonists, and Lethal Weapon 2 cements their status with aplomb. Less edgy than the original Lethal Weapon as a result of producer Joel Silver rejecting Shane Black’s original script and replacement writer Jeffrey Boam upping the comedy, Lethal Weapon 2 is no less entertaining, further enshrining the bond between Danny Glover and Mel Gibson’s loyal officers through a mix of action, snappy dialogue, and the scenery-chewing antics of their apartheid gangster antagonists. Inevitably, that makes Lethal Weapon 2 all the better as a Dad Movie than its predecessor.
1 The Fugitive
1993’s The Fugitive is the perfect encapsulation of the Dad Movie brand, with Harrison Ford perfecting his every-man action star status while being pursued by the dogged-yet-charming Samuel Gerard – a role that earned Tommy Lee Jones his first Academy Award. Director Andrew Davis proved a fine choice for updating the original Fugitive TV series for the big screen, producing a tense thriller that gave ample space for Ford and Jones to shine. All of this contributes to The Fugitive‘s status as a bona fide Dad Movie classic, with a peak 1990s Ford and a thrilling race-against-time story embodying everything great about Dad cinema.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
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