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A few films for Dad
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Today, June 21st, is Father's Day, and I am going to recommend a few films for dads. My dad is a stand-up guy, literally the best man I know. Growing up I felt a little bad for him, I was interested in books and films, my brother into theater and music, neither of us the sports-enthused kid he might have dreamed of. My dad was never what I would have called a film connoisseur either. Then, my sister was born, she got older, was corrupted by me, and eventually she liberated my parents. My mom, who never let me watch R-rated films, so I had to sneak around to do it, takes my sister to the most provocative films released in theaters, and my dad is led to every opening night release that my sister feels would be an interesting film to see. I have become quite impressed by my dad's taste in films, he has developed a sophisticated eye, and he is very good at sorting out the true cinema from popcorn fluff, though he enjoys both. I do remember walking through a video store with my dad, asking him if he had seen anything good. He replied that he just watched National Lampoon's Dorm Daze, but it was a disappointment. I wondered if it was a disappointment because the ending was obvious, all the girls ended up topless and everyone was drunk. Regardless, I anticipate those few moments when my dad, in complete honesty, can give me a moment of humor. Still, I know a few films my dad will always cherish.
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I recall one of the best afternoons I ever spent was watching Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle with my dad. I had seen the film before, and I was prepared for every moment that I knew would conjure a laugh. I spent the film's duration watching my dad in hysterics, while I was unable to control my own fits of laughter. We both anxiously watched each moment of Harold and Kumar, who in a stoned state of mind go out in search of fast-food from White Castle. I could see my dad reminiscing, remembering White Castle hamburgers, and drunken college days. My dad might have wept, just a little, at the film's conclusion. The day was utterly relaxed, and we concluded our screening on a trek out to the famed fast-food joint, hoping to see Neil Patrick Harris, and returning with a sack of perforated hamburgers with fried onions.
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Clint Eastwood might be my dad's favorite film star, I have never asked him, but I get the feeling Eastwood is in the top five. I remember when I was young, and my dad was watching some Eastwood western. The screen projected a bullet-riddled Eastwood. I asked my dad if the man on TV was dead, my dad just looked at me and said, "no way, that's Clint." So, I came to understand Eastwood as a superhero of sorts because my dad seemed to like him, and my dad is my idol. Eastwood has really become something of a master filmmaker, on par, relatively, with Akira Kurosawa. To be honest, any Eastwood film would suffice for a successful experience, save The Bridges of Madison County because no one gets shot. Unforgiven is probably one of the best westerns of all time, directed and starring Eastwood, I know my dad loves the film. Gran Torino is a film close to my dad's heart, as he grew up in Detroit. Yet, Eastwood's filmography is extensive, and films such as, Pale Rider, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and Dirty Harry as well as most any other film Eastwood directed or starred in would be a film my dad would approve of.
Sometimes when I talk to my dad he surprises me. A few examples are when he told me he considered both becoming a priest as well as an anthropologist, or the day he saved twenty orphans from a burning building, though I still am unsure if that story was entirely truthful. Some of the most surprising revelations are when he tells me of films that he and my sister saw, which he loved. Pan's Labyrinth was a film the two of them saw the first week it was released, and he raved about it, so much so I was inevitably let down only because he made it out to be the best film ever. Still, he was correct, the film is astonishing. My dad also loved Slumdog Millionaire, while I found it simply alright, my dad thought it to be "fantastic."
I consider my dad to be a superhero in his own right, I think his fatal flaw is shellfish. I take his opinion very seriously. When it comes to films, my dad can find the good in most anything, it is just his nature. He has developed a very acute film taste, selecting some of the best cinematic achievements as well as some films made for pure enjoyment, enthused about both. My dad can lose himself in the comedy of slapstick humor, the intensity of an Eastwood film, and he holds interesting insights toward the newest films released in theaters. I have a very interesting man as a role model, and his film choices are most likely relative to all the Father's worthy of accepting a wish of "Happy Father's Day."
To read about some Father's Day films log on to: fusedfilm.com/2009/06/top-7-fathers-day-films-to-watch/
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