25 Great Movies About Fathers

“Steve Jobs” (2015)
After debuting to initially good reviews, last year’s “Steve Jobs” seemed to be tainted somewhat: It disappointed at the box office, barely outgrossing the Ashton Kutcher movie, and aside from its central performances, went mostly ignored during awards season. And that’s a shame — Danny Boyle’s film of Aaron Sorkin’s script might not have been the generation-definer that some claim “The Social Network” to be, but it’s still a tour-de-force in many respects. Eschewing more traditional biopic structures, Sorkin has a three-act structure that shows his Apple-founding subject (an incredible Michael Fassbender) before three major product launches, in 1984, 1988 and 1998. Neither the script or the performance spare the nastier side of Jobs’ personality, but Sorkin also smartly finds redemption for his lead in Jobs’ daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs (played at different times by Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine), who he denied the paternity of for many years before the pair eventually reconciled. Amid the dazzling verbosity and Boyle’s assured direction, there’s the story of a man shaped by what he sees as his own rejection by parents, and his struggle to accept his own child, and it’s the very effective spine of the movie.

“Taken” (2008)
Like the superspy equivalent of a momma bear separated from its cub, Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills in “Taken” is as propulsive and terrifying an example of a father’s love for a child as you can imagine. That a film that in so many respects is a rather ropey B-movie could become such a mega-hit is a tribute to the primal power of its premise and the canniness of its execution. Neeson plays a former CIA agent whose daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped while holidaying in Paris, and who uses his ‘particular set of skills’ (as he puts it in the film’s most famous scene to the abductor) to punch his way through France to get her back before she can be sex-trafficked away. Directed by Pierre Morel but written and produced by Luc Besson, it has about as much understanding of a teenager as its lead character (what teenage girl in 2008 goes off and becomes a groupie for U2? U2?), and its grim racism is hard to overlook, but there’s a straight-ahead professionalism to the set-up and the way it delivers on that set-up that’s undeniably satisfying. The action’s well handled, the pace relentless, and Neeson, who reinvented his career as a result, a formidable force of nature as he tries to rescue his spawn (who went on to get kidnapped another two times in sequels, perhaps raising questions about Neeson’s non-murder-related parenting skills).

“There Will Be Blood” (2007)
There’s an argument to be made that, aside from “Punch-Drunk Love,’ all of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s films are about fathers and sons, from the surrogate relationship between gamblers Sydney and John in “Hard Eight” to the complicated friendship between Lancaster Dodd and Freddie Quell in “The Master.” But none of those are as prominent as the relationship in “There Will Be Blood,” in which the ties between a father and his adopted son serve as the backbone of the film. To begin with, prospective oil tycoon Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a lone wolf, but after the death of an employee, he ends up adopting his infant son, naming him H.W., and using him to boost his image as a family man to locals, calling the boy his “son and partner.” But it’s a complicated relationship as the boy grows older; Daniel’s love, or something like it, is clear when H.W. (Dillon Freasier) loses his hearing after an explosion, but the boy is sent away after trying to set his “uncle” Henry (Kevin J. O’Connor) on fire, only for their bond to be repaired when it turns out that Henry was an impostor anyway. The film’s title is an important one here; Plainview somehow sees family as important, and ultimately can’t get over that he’s not directly related to H.W. But at the same time, he never forgives Eli (Paul Dano) for forcing him to confess to “abandoning” his boy, and is clearly broken when he rejects a grown H.W. at the film’s conclusion. Their relationship is only one aspect of a rich and complex film, but it’s arguably the most important one, humanizing an often monstrous character.

“To Kill A Mockingbird” (1962)
In the minds of virtually an entire generation, Gregory Peck is inseparable from Atticus Finch, the southern lawyer and stoic hero of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Robert Mulligan‘s 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee‘s acclaimed bestseller. Peck himself has said it was the role that defined his career, a role he thought of every day of his life. Fifty years later, at his funeral, they quoted Atticus Finch in his eulogy. As father figures go, Atticus Finch is nigh-on perfect, a principled and eloquent lawyer, standing up for the poor and oppressed, a crack shot and a loving father. Even so, he is unable to shield his young children from the harsh reality of life in the segregated South. It is testament to the quality of Peck’s performance that he manages to avoid the potential pitfalls of sentimentality which are everywhere in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” During the shoot, Peck formed a strong Bond with Amasa Lee, the father of Harper Lee and model for Finch, and the pair spent virtually all their time together before Lee died, just before the film was finished. Peck wore his watch to the Academy Awards that year, where he won Best Actor. An enormous success on its release and an enduring classic ever since, it remains an object lesson in fatherhood. Just don’t ruin your mental image by reading “Go Set A Watchman.”

“The Tree Of Life” (2011)
Strip away the microbes, and the dinosaurs, and the volcanoes, and even the cornfields, and Terrence Malick‘s “The Tree of Life” is a film about family, and perhaps more specifically about a father and a son. For all the talk of grace, nature, death, and man’s insignificance in the grand scheme of things, the film’s most accessible when it comes down to Jack (Hunter McCracken), the rebellious and troubled son (who grows up to be an architect, played by Sean Penn), and his strict, frustrated father (Brad Pitt). There’s a vaguely Oedipal quality to Jack, who adores his mother, and has an inherent violence against both his brothers and also those who deems to be enemies. But there’s a complexity to Pitt’s character, too. He clearly and provably loves all his sons, but also continually puts himself first and bullies his kids in the hope of making them stronger. And he’s clearly rubbing off on Jack, who’s very aware that he is turning — or at least, has the capacity to turn — into his father, even as he tries his best to resist the traits they share. And while we don’t see much of Jack as an adult, Penn’s brief role does suggest that the two men grew up to have more than a little in common, and it continues to haunt his soul.

That’s a pretty good starting point from which to start your Father’s Day viewing, but if you’re looking for more, there’s a few more films that didn’t make the list. Tim Burton’s “Big Fish” is one of his better later efforts, while Steven Spielberg’s “Catch Me If You Can” has a moving father/son relationship. James Gray has returned to the theme multiple times, while Takeshi Kitano’s “Kikujiro” is well worth checking out, and Sam Mendes’ “Road To Perdition” might be his best film.

Beyond that, we also considered “Broken Flowers,” “A Bronx Tale,” “The Fury,” “Affliction,” “L’Enfant,” “Star Wars,” “The Road,” “Boyz N The Hood,” “Dear Zachary,” “The Great Santini” and “Life Is Beautiful.” And that’s not to forget “Definitely Maybe,” “Love In The Afternoon,” “Hanna,” “Kick-Ass,” “Oldboy,” “Somewhere,” “Maggie,” “Jauja,” “Mulan,” “Despicable Me,” “Annie,” “My Life,” “Laggies,” “3 Men And A Baby,” Hirokazu Kore-eda‘s “Like Father, Like Son” and “The Nice Guys.”

Anything else? Let us know in the comments.

— Oliver Lyttelton, Rodrigo Perez, Kimber Myers, Diana Drumm, Kristen Lopez