Yesterday, my son asked if we could all go the movies together this weekend as a family, something we haven’t done in a year and a half. But when I looked at what was playing at the theater around the corner from us, I saw listed mostly features like “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” “The Forever Purge,” and “A Quiet Place, Part II” — in other words, not exactly the picks I was looking for 🤷♂️
That, of course, got me thinking about the summer movies I used to look forward to when I was a kid — and by look forward to, I mean we were so amped and excited about seeing them we could basically think about nothing else. (This excitement continued well into adulthood, by the way!)
So now that summer is officially here, I’m wondering — what, in your mind, is the greatest summer movie you ever saw? What was the one you’d put up there as the best of all time? It can be anything (don’t let my pooh-poohing of horror movies deter you) 😃 — Terrell
Field of Dreams.... James Earl Jones' voice commands the screen and elicits an emotional response. The one constant through all the years Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.
Too bad baseball has lost a bit of that sepia flavor.
So many when you go back to the 40's and 50's! My Dad like Abbot and Costello, so I was brought up on Slap Stick which you seldom see today. Movies were 25 cents,a fortune for my Dad!
Can't say I liked too many of the Blockbusters that were mentioned. My favorite one, when I was about 16, was the Unsinkable Molly Brown. As I got older, Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf crept in, then there was Robin Williams with The Dead Poets Society and Mrs. Doubtfire. Of Course, I loved Peter Sellers and saw all of his Inspector Clouseau movies. I've see the big ones, but they made little impression. . .
Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Exorcist, and Forest Gump comes to my mind. I took my grandkids to see Cruella, thinking I would take a nap during the show. I ended up watching the whole thing. The storyline was well done. Expect Cruella II in a year.
Don't forget The Exorcist - I was still in high school and scared the you-know-what out of me when I saw a screening on the Warner Brother's lot. It hadn't even come out in the theaters yet, so I had no idea what I was getting in to! And of course, Blazing Saddles, T2, 2001: A Space Odyssey... I could keep going...
I liked Jaws, Independence Day and other summer releases but the big one for me is when I won tickets on the radio (KISS FM) to the Mann's Chinese Theater (public) premiere of Star Wars. Some of the celebs were still hanging out from their earlier premiere. We got a package with T-Shirt, original album, other cool swag (which I wish my brother and I saved but you didn't in those days as a kid). It was surreal, we even walked the red carpet even though the press had left already. It was a small opening for its day but we were thrilled!
I don't know if it was summer or not but I'm thinking back to the ones when I was a kid...The Love Bug and Parent Trap (the one with Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara). I must be the old person on this stream!
I was in college one summer semester, and every Tuesday my friend and I would go to see the latest release. That was the summer of "ET". I remember it was the first "feel good" movie I had seen in forever. Also released that summer was "Poltergeist", "An Officer and a Gentleman", and "Bladerunner" - still one of my favorite all time top 10 movies. What a great summer for film that was!
Ghost busters!!!! Love that movie. Others on my list, Top Gun, E.T., Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, Back to the Future, Star Wars, Risky Business, and my favorite summer blockbuster of all time Raiders of the Lost Ark!
The original Ghostbusters. I have great memories of going to the theatre with a group of friends from high school to see it for the first time. Also, Nightmare on Elm Street. I saw it at a drive in theartre, sitting in the back of a friend's pickup on a hot summer night. First horror movie I really watched, and didn't sleep for 3 days after that!
i'm a huge horror fan (saw conjuring, quiet place and tomorrow seeing the purge lol) and my fav summer movie is jaws. will be watching it this weekend per july 4th tradition as that's when the movie takes place:)
A couple of older movies (1960's) that are not exactly fun summer type viewing ----Cool Hand Luke (Paul Neuman, George Kennedy, et al.)---- Bad guys, good guys, tough times and religious overtones;
Fail Safe, (Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, et al.)---Accidental thermonuclear first strike over Russia---now we have Supersonic nuclear warheads across the globe.
Pirates of the Caribbean, hands down. Not the later movies once the franchise jumped the shark, but the earlier movies were the definitive blockbusters of my early teen summers. Remember running around at summer camp, my bestie and I braiding beads and stuff into our hair because of Jack Sparrow (and also unfortunate Jedi braids because of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but let's forget that one). LOTR were the winter movies, POTC were the summer movies.
Geez, there were lots of summer movies in my prime kid years. Jaws, Alien, Animal House, Star Wars (of course) American Graffiti and we can’t forget Meatballs. The list goes on, but that’s plenty. Ah, the good ol’ days!
When I was a kid our local theater, the New Moon, would have kids matinees on Tuesday mornings. My mother would drop us off and be gifted a couple of hours free time. We saw all the Disney classics and looked forward to every Tues. - such good memories. I guess my favorite summer movie would be Caddyshack. You can’t beat the casting.
What a great discussion to have today. I’ll second “Star Wars” as one of the greatest ever! I also have a fond memory of seeing Independence Day one summer. That was fun!
Oh yes! That was a great one too -- that was when Will Smith was at his peak, I think. May need to watch that with the kids (though I wonder if they'll think it's hokey now!)
Thanks as always for the great thread. Would definitely say the best summer movie I have ever seen (and I’m dating myself here) was the first/original Star Wars Movie - “A New Hope”- I believe that was 1977?? I have been a lifelong Star Wars fan ever since!
Great Friday topic Terrell. I can't say I remember a specific movie as much as the place. Every summer we would go on a family vacation to Wellfleet MA. They have a drive-in and every year we would see at least summer blockbuster. It was a blast. Mini-golf, pizza, then a movie at the drive-in.
Field of Dreams.... James Earl Jones' voice commands the screen and elicits an emotional response. The one constant through all the years Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.
Too bad baseball has lost a bit of that sepia flavor.
Awesome, awesome movie!
Has nothing to do with the thread, but I wanted to share the following seen on Twitter: “Do people who run know we’re not food anymore?”
So many when you go back to the 40's and 50's! My Dad like Abbot and Costello, so I was brought up on Slap Stick which you seldom see today. Movies were 25 cents,a fortune for my Dad!
Can't say I liked too many of the Blockbusters that were mentioned. My favorite one, when I was about 16, was the Unsinkable Molly Brown. As I got older, Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf crept in, then there was Robin Williams with The Dead Poets Society and Mrs. Doubtfire. Of Course, I loved Peter Sellers and saw all of his Inspector Clouseau movies. I've see the big ones, but they made little impression. . .
E.T. and Back to the Future-I … two times we took our little one and … We’re the pumped”!
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is my favorite and Nacho Libre makes me laugh EVERY TIME :)
Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Exorcist, and Forest Gump comes to my mind. I took my grandkids to see Cruella, thinking I would take a nap during the show. I ended up watching the whole thing. The storyline was well done. Expect Cruella II in a year.
Don't forget The Exorcist - I was still in high school and scared the you-know-what out of me when I saw a screening on the Warner Brother's lot. It hadn't even come out in the theaters yet, so I had no idea what I was getting in to! And of course, Blazing Saddles, T2, 2001: A Space Odyssey... I could keep going...
I liked Jaws, Independence Day and other summer releases but the big one for me is when I won tickets on the radio (KISS FM) to the Mann's Chinese Theater (public) premiere of Star Wars. Some of the celebs were still hanging out from their earlier premiere. We got a package with T-Shirt, original album, other cool swag (which I wish my brother and I saved but you didn't in those days as a kid). It was surreal, we even walked the red carpet even though the press had left already. It was a small opening for its day but we were thrilled!
I don't know if it was summer or not but I'm thinking back to the ones when I was a kid...The Love Bug and Parent Trap (the one with Brian Keith and Maureen O'Hara). I must be the old person on this stream!
Goonies, Star Wars movies, Superman movies (w/gorgeous Christopher Reeves) & Indiana Jones movies. They just don’t make them like they used to!!!
Heaven can wait…. I think I saw it 5 times that summer.
I was in college one summer semester, and every Tuesday my friend and I would go to see the latest release. That was the summer of "ET". I remember it was the first "feel good" movie I had seen in forever. Also released that summer was "Poltergeist", "An Officer and a Gentleman", and "Bladerunner" - still one of my favorite all time top 10 movies. What a great summer for film that was!
Two come to mind... The first Star Wars movie was epic and then I remember the Lord of the Rings... You can probably see where my tastes run...
I'm not sure if this is a summer movie or not, but I LOVE Thelma & Loiuse!
Ghost busters!!!! Love that movie. Others on my list, Top Gun, E.T., Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, Back to the Future, Star Wars, Risky Business, and my favorite summer blockbuster of all time Raiders of the Lost Ark!
The original Ghostbusters. I have great memories of going to the theatre with a group of friends from high school to see it for the first time. Also, Nightmare on Elm Street. I saw it at a drive in theartre, sitting in the back of a friend's pickup on a hot summer night. First horror movie I really watched, and didn't sleep for 3 days after that!
i'm a huge horror fan (saw conjuring, quiet place and tomorrow seeing the purge lol) and my fav summer movie is jaws. will be watching it this weekend per july 4th tradition as that's when the movie takes place:)
A couple of older movies (1960's) that are not exactly fun summer type viewing ----Cool Hand Luke (Paul Neuman, George Kennedy, et al.)---- Bad guys, good guys, tough times and religious overtones;
Fail Safe, (Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, et al.)---Accidental thermonuclear first strike over Russia---now we have Supersonic nuclear warheads across the globe.
If you liked Fail Safe, you had to enjoy Dr. Strangelove!
Pirates of the Caribbean, hands down. Not the later movies once the franchise jumped the shark, but the earlier movies were the definitive blockbusters of my early teen summers. Remember running around at summer camp, my bestie and I braiding beads and stuff into our hair because of Jack Sparrow (and also unfortunate Jedi braids because of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but let's forget that one). LOTR were the winter movies, POTC were the summer movies.
We're loving the Pirates movies now -- just showed them to our 7-year-old for the first time!
Geez, there were lots of summer movies in my prime kid years. Jaws, Alien, Animal House, Star Wars (of course) American Graffiti and we can’t forget Meatballs. The list goes on, but that’s plenty. Ah, the good ol’ days!
When I was a kid our local theater, the New Moon, would have kids matinees on Tuesday mornings. My mother would drop us off and be gifted a couple of hours free time. We saw all the Disney classics and looked forward to every Tues. - such good memories. I guess my favorite summer movie would be Caddyshack. You can’t beat the casting.
LOVE Caddyshack!!!! 😃
What a great discussion to have today. I’ll second “Star Wars” as one of the greatest ever! I also have a fond memory of seeing Independence Day one summer. That was fun!
I've got to agree with on those picks!!!
Oh yes! That was a great one too -- that was when Will Smith was at his peak, I think. May need to watch that with the kids (though I wonder if they'll think it's hokey now!)
Thanks as always for the great thread. Would definitely say the best summer movie I have ever seen (and I’m dating myself here) was the first/original Star Wars Movie - “A New Hope”- I believe that was 1977?? I have been a lifelong Star Wars fan ever since!
Same here!!! What did you think of the more recent sequels (like "The Force Awakens," etc.) and "The Mandalorian" (if you've seen it)?
Great Friday topic Terrell. I can't say I remember a specific movie as much as the place. Every summer we would go on a family vacation to Wellfleet MA. They have a drive-in and every year we would see at least summer blockbuster. It was a blast. Mini-golf, pizza, then a movie at the drive-in.
That sounds awesome, Brian! What a wonderful memory.
I used to vacation in Orleans as a kid and loved the Welfleet drive-in! Saw Grease there one year. What fun!