Sunday, June 20, 2010

Favorite Movie Dads

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, and especially to mine, whose years of hard work and sacrifice made it possible for me to enjoy the blessing of being a father myself. Here's a little fun something I put together in 2008 . . .

In honor of Father's Day I've compiled some of my favorite portraits of fatherhood at the movies. Some of these pater familias are seriously flawed, but I find redeeming qualities in all of them.


The Ideal: Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)




The Patriarch: Don Corleone (Marlon Brando), The Godfather (1972)




The Suburban Superhero: Bob Parr (the voice of Craig T. Nelson), The Incredibles (2004)




The Heroic Single Dad: Chris Gardner (Will Smith), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)




The Regretful Old Man: Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström), Wild Strawberries (1957)




The Dreamer: Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)




The Loveable Rascal: Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)




The Working Class Icon: Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani), Bicycle Thieves (1948)



Who is your favorite movie dad?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fine selections. I've always liked Charles Durning's warm patriarch in TOOTSIE, too.

Pete Postlewaite's turn as Daniel Day Lewis' da in IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER was quite stirring, heartbreaking.

I can also think of several examples of toxic cinematic fathers, namely Christopher Walken in the forgotten AT CLOSE RANGE, and James Coburn in AFFLICTION.

JenLo said...

Steve Martin in Father of the Bride