Our Favorite Summer Movies

What do Jaws (1975), Mamma Mia! (2008), and Independence Day (1996) all have in common? They are all films that feature or take place in the summer! With the heat wave that hit the east coast last weekend, we could not help but think about some of our favorite summer films, and decided to list them here. Not every summer film we love made the cut, as just sitting down and brainstorming a ‘summer movie’ list yielded dozens of titles, but rather we picked some of our all-time favorites, pairing our picks by creating summer themed subgenres. We hope this list will inspire you to watch some of these films over the weekend or revisit some of your own favorite summer themed movies. Happy Watching!

Summertime Adventure

The Goonies (1985, dir. Richard Donner)

“Goonies never say die!” If you don’t know what this means, then you should just watch the movie. The Goonies is an all-around great adventure film about a group of adolescents who go in search of some pirate treasure in a last-ditch effort to save their homes from being foreclosed and turned into a country club. Full of end of summer angst, The Goonies is one of my all-time favorite films. – Sarah 🦇🍨💰

The Sandlot (1993, dir. David Mickey Evans)

Tom Guiry plays Scotty Smalls, the shy new kid in town who befriends a group of boys that get together every day at a sandlot to play baseball, until one day a fated home run over the wrong fence brings the fun and games to a halt.  There's nothing better than a "best summer ever" movie, and The Sandlot shows us the best summer that this group of boys ever had.  Sure, you have the classic summer scenes: the s’mores tutorial, tricking the lifeguard into a kiss at the pool, getting sick on a carnival ride, and the most beautiful Fourth of July fireworks scene that makes even the least patriotic among us sentimental, but what makes The Sandlot special is how it presents a nearly universal adolescent summer experience, taking us back to that one special summer that we each have bronzed in our memory and those choice friends with whom we spent those perfectly imperfect days. – Bailey ⚾😊

Summer Drama

Rear Window (1954, dir. Alfred Hitchcock)

What do you do when you are laid up with a broken leg, during a heat wave, in an apartment in Greenwich Village? Voyeuristically spy on your neighbors, of course! This Alfred Hitchcock thriller could easily be overlooked as a great ‘summer’ movie, but from the very opening of the film the audience is swept up in the quirky summertime routines of Jeff’s (James Stewart) neighbors, from the sunbathers, to the newlyweds, and even the couple that drags their mattress out onto the fire escape in an attempt to keep cool at night. Things, however, are not as innocent as they seem, and Jeff is suddenly the only witness to a murder…  – Sarah 🗡📸😱

The Florida Project (2017, dir. Sean Baker) 

The Florida Project depicts a summer in the life of six-year-old Moonie (Brooklynn Prince), a girl who lives with her mother (Bria Vinaite) in a motel outside of Disney World.  This film is perhaps the most accurate representation of summer for a lot of children in Moonie's position, who fill the endless summer days in spaces that do not belong to them, but that they nonetheless treat as their own.  This is one of the best-acted films of all time, especially on the part of the children in the film, as Baker is able to draw an authenticity from the cast that is incredibly rare in films featuring child actors. Summer is simultaneously boredom, freedom, and even trouble, and The Florida Project is unequalled in capturing these ideas.  – Bailey 🙃

Coming-of-Age & Summer Love

Dirty Dancing (1987, dir. Emile Ardolino)

Set in the summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing follows the coming-of-age and first love of Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) with her resort dance instructor, Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). The other star of this film is its soundtrack, featuring songs like “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” “She’s Like the Wind,” and “Love Is Strange.” There is no denying how iconic this film has become, between the story, acting, dancing, and music, clearly “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” – Sarah 💃💏

My Girl (1991, dir. Howard Zieff)

This coming-of-age story stars Anna Chlumsky as Veda Sultenfuss, an 11-year-old girl who in one summer must confront her own obsession with death, a new woman in her widowed father's life, her new-found feelings for her best friend, and puberty, all at once. Thinking of My Girl brings to mind images of Veda's bike rides with her friend Thomas J. (Macaulay Culkin), the way she took out her frustrations on her dad's girlfriend Shelly (Jamie Lee Curtis) with carnival bumper cars, and a really nice Fourth of July scene.  The movie is ultimately a tear-jerker (no spoilers here!), but it's also full of moments of summer fun. – Bailey  😭😗

Summer Laughs

Weekend at Bernie’s (1989, dir. Ted Kotcheff)

Set over Labor Day weekend, you either love or hate this end-of-summer black comedy film. I, for one, find Weekend at Bernie’s to be very amusing and ridiculous, right up there with other macabre cult films, such as Harold and Maude (1971) or Pink Flamingos (1972). The premise of the film is simple, two introductory-level employees at an NYC insurance company are invited to the Hamptons beach house of their boss after discovering cases of insurance fraud, but little do they know that their boss is responsible for the fraud and mixed up with the mob. Filled with mob hits, mistaken identities, and plenty of slapstick humor, Weekend at Bernie’s will make you weary of accepting any invites to your coworkers’ beach houses anytime soon. – Sarah 😎

The Little Rascals (1994, dir. Penelope Spheeris)

An adaptation of the Our Gang series of shorts, The Little Rascals pits best friends Alfalfa (Bug Hall) and Spanky (Travis Tedford) against each other as Alfalfa's burgeoning romance with Darla (Brittany Ashton Holmes) transgresses against the rules of the ‘He-Man-Woman-Haters-Club,’ of which Spanky is president.  Summer highlights include: the scene cross-cutting between the boys' campout and the girls' sleepover party, Alfalfa swimming at top speed through a private pool in his underwear, and the carnival at which the boys try to make some money to rebuild their burned-down clubhouse (bonus: marshmallow-roasting moment during the clubhouse fire). – Bailey 🤝

Childhood Favorites

Gidgit (1959, dir. Paul Wendkos)

This film was a childhood favorite for me, I don’t know when I first saw it, but it has become a summertime staple. The film is a take on California surfer culture centering on Francine “Frances” Lawrence (Sandra Dee), aka “Gidgit,” and the contrived ‘love triangle’ that develops between her, a surfer named Moondoggie (James Darren), and a beach bum named Kahuna (Cliff Robertson). Adapted from a book, and spawning many film sequels, a television series, and being the keystone of an entire film subgenre, namely ‘beach party’ films, Gidgit is the quintessential teenage summertime romantic comedy. – Sarah 🌊🏄💘

It Takes Two (1995, dir. Andy Tennant)

The Olsen twins, at their finest, play identical strangers: orphaned Amanda (Mary-Kate) and wealthy, but motherless, Alyssa (Ashley), who meet and switch places (‘Parent Trap’-meets-’Pince and the Pauper’-style), ultimately attempting to encourage a romance between Alyssa's widowed father (Steve Guttenberg) and Amanda's social worker (Kirstie Alley).  Like the The Parent Trap films, a fair portion of this movie takes place at a summer camp, so we see a lot of fun summer activities like campfires, swimming, and horseback riding, plus the camp bus and cabins are painted in bright colors, which takes viewers right back to the ‘90s.  However, the crowning achievement of It Takes Two, when it comes to summer, has to be the food:  the mac and cheese, the s'mores, and the sloppy joes... Definitely don't watch (or write about) this movie on an empty stomach. – Bailey  😋

The Perfect Double Feature

The Parent Trap (1961, dir. David Swift)

For me, no ‘summer movie list’ would be complete without The Parent Trap. The original Disney film stars Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills, as separated twins Susan and Sharon, who are reunited at summer camp and plot to get their parents (superbly played by Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara) back together, hatching an elaborate scheme or ‘parent trap.’ The comedic gags in The Parent Trap get me laughing every single time I watch this film, as the sisters pull so many pranks on each other, their soon to be stepmother, and their parents. While I appreciate the 1998 Disney remake of this film, you cannot refute the authentic Disney magic that the original film exudes, from the acting, the costumes, the expert use of split screen and strategically disguised body doubles, and to the catchy songs written by the Sherman Brother, The Parent Trap is a true summertime classic. – Sarah ⛺🍯🐻

The Parent Trap (1998, dir. Nancy Meyers)

In the remake of the 1961 film, estranged twins Hallie and Annie (both played by Lindsay Lohan) discover each other at summer camp and switch places, eventually endeavoring to reunite their parents (Dennis Quad and Natasha Richardson).  This movie is nearly as good as the original, and possibly supersedes it when it comes to the movie's first act at camp. The late-night poker game, outrageous pranks, fencing battle, and the scenes of the twins discovering and becoming each other in the isolation cabin are guaranteed to make viewers of any age want to drop what they’re doing and enroll in summer camp, pronto.  Other summer highlights include the hiking scenes full of sabotages against their father's fiancée (Elaine Hendrix) and the beautiful long shot of the girls practicing the secret handshake on the dock by the lake. – Bailey 😈😈

This list of our summer favorites is by no means definitive, there are countless summer themed movies that didn’t quite make our cut. Share with us some of your favorite summer films in the comments below!

Copyright © 2019 Sarah Crane & Bailey Lizotte