Summer is hands down my favorite time of year. During the summer the days are longer, the nights are warmer, you tend to have more time on your hands, and who doesn’t love going to the beach? The Summer puts me in a great mood and here are some movies that remind me of Summer.
Dazed and Confused: Not only is Dazed In Confused a great period film, but I think it perfectly encapsulates that last day of school/first day of summer feeling. I remember being a senior in high school and those couple of days were pretty much optional, my friends and I just showed up because there was nothing else to do. Granted, we didn’t go around beating underclassmen (insert hot butterbean joke here), but feeling of “summer has started, where’s the party?” was definitely there.
The Sandlot: What can I say about The Sandlot, it is the quintessential summer movie. Even though I was never a big baseball fan, I could see how the characters could represent the friends that I grew up with; we all had that one friend who talked too much (that was totally me), the new kid that we let hang with us, and the one kid we always knew would be destined for something great. The Sandlot is just an all-round fun movie that holds a ton of nostalgia for me.
Crooklyn: If The Sandlot represented my friends during the summer, the Crooklyn was definitely represented me and all my cousins. During the Summer, I would spend days on end over my cousin’s house and we would terrorize the neighborhood (in a good-natured way). I swear, Crooklyn was like a page was torn out of my life and set in the 1970’s my cousins and I ate the same candy they did and played the same games they did ( quick fact: Hot Butterbean makes a cameo in this movie). I saw so much of myself in Troy, the lead character; she was headstrong, sassy, and just wanted to be heard.
Wet Hot American Summer: How could I do this list and not mention this movie, I mean Summer is in the title! The Summer Camp in Wet Hot American Summer is a place that only the most neglectful parents would send their children, it is also a camp that I would have given my right arm to go to as a child. The movie takes place on the last day of camp, so that summer magic is slowly starting to fade away and campers and counselors alike are taking that last opportunity to tie up any summer loose ends. The movie is hilarious, as if it had any choice because the cast is stacked to the brim with funny.
National Lampoon’s Vacation: Of course this had to be number 1. If this was a podcast topic, undoubtedly this movie would have been placed in the box. Vacation succinctly sums up the Summer vacation with your family scenario: long hours in the hot car with your parents, an argument breaks out between siblings, and every possible thing that could go wrong does. But somehow, in the end, everyone has a great time. My Family’s first trip to Disney World mirrored this movie so much…well minus the dead aunt on the hood of the car and pulling a gun on a park security officer. Oh my Dad didn’t swin in a pool with a swin suit model, my mother would have kicked his ass.
So what about you? What are some of your favorite summer flicks? Let me know in the comments below!!