Both of my parents were very influential in turning me into a baby movie buff in my youth. Mom introduced my sister and I to her favorite ’80s flicks and had movie nights with us. Dad took us to the theater on rainy afternoons during our annual camping trips and on weekends.
My dad is still one of my most frequent theater companions, even giving in to my attempts to convert him into an Old Movie Weirdo by subjecting him to screenings at the Redford. I’ve been trying for ages to get him to collaborate with me on the blog, and he’s finally agreed! To kick of this series of dad’s movie musings, today he’ll be sharing his all-time “Top 10” list, and I’ll discuss whether I think his taste in films has had an impact on my own.
Note: Dad’s top 10 is actually a top 11. He insisted I begin the list with “0”. So, here’s the 0 – 10 ranking, haha.
0. Top Gun
1. About Last Night…
2. Legends of the Fall
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
4. A River Runs Through It
5. Idiocracy
6. St. Elmo’s Fire
7. Big Daddy
8. Rocky I
9. The Breakfast Club
10. The Wedding Planner
Putting this list together, I can definitely see a bit an influence on my own viewing. Eight of dad’s eleven favorites are films I also enjoy — perhaps not landing on my own top 10 list, but certainly falling under the category of “Movies I’ve Loved.” Six of those eight are films he introduced me to, when I watched them for the first time.
I can also see some of a more general influence on my own viewing — a love of big dramas set in the past (Legends of the Fall and A River Runs Through It), films of the ’80s (Top Gun, About Last Night…, St. Elmo’s Fire, and The Breakfast Club), and science fiction (Close Encounters).
On the flip side, there’s an undeniable influence of my sister and I on his viewing with the inclusion of The Wedding Planner in his top 10. Through raising two rom-com loving daughters, he’s developed a soft spot for the genre, too. We’ll have a whole post about that coming up in a few weeks!
The Motion Pictures 
Ha! I never thought of getting my father to collaborate on my blog, but it’s true for me too: a lot of my taste is inherited (or learned) from him. We went to see pretty much every Harold Lloyd movie when they ran at the Film Forum, and it’s thanks to him that I ever saw ANY French films from the 30s. I’m forced to conclude that your parents are perhaps a tad younger than mine. I can’t imagine my father seeing any of the movies on your dad’s list…unless he was dragged to “CE3” by me as a child.
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Wonderful that you were able to share those films and memories with your father! My love of the classics came from my grandma. You were right to assume that my parents are pretty young, and they love watching movies but aren’t really “film buffs.” A good 90% of the films I watch/review are actually older than my parents, haha. Often by several decades! But I’m endlessly fascinated by how the influence of those around me has unconsciously shaped my own viewing habits, even in small ways.
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