Ryan McNeilIn a recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, columnist Chris Nashawaty bemoaned what has become of summer movies. He gripes that just about every release between the beginning of May and the end of August is either an over-stuffed blow-em-up, or a superhero franchise in the waiting.
However, Nashawaty mentioned that it wasn’t always so. That along with your John McClanes and your Terminators, there was once a time where the summer could also be counted on for some really good movies. The more I thought about it, the more I agreed with him.
So in honour of Mr. Nashawaty’s longing for the movies of yester-summer, I thought set aside the superheroes, animated ogres, and galaxies far far away. Instead I thought I’d serve up some of the best that have come in my lifetime…
5. GLADIATOR (May 2000)… Was it really best picture worthy? Maybe not, but it was a daring and entertaining modern epic. Like any good movie it spawned an influx of ugly cousins (TROY, ALEXANDER), but none of them managed to find the same mix of excitement and melodrama that we got with the story of Maximus. Aided along by a surprisingly quotable script – “What we do in life echoes in eternity” anyone? – and borrowing lovingly from many of its predecessors, GLADIATOR got the first summer of the millennium going with a bang.
4. THE FULL MONTY (August 1997)… It feels like every year audiences get drawn to a little movie that could. They seem to start under the radar, but after a month or two, these movies are being featured in magazines, being spoofed on TV shows, and sometimes become dark horse Oscar contenders. For me, the best of these was MONTY, a movie so funny that I went to see it again to hear what I’d laughed through the first time. Gems like MONTY always seem to get unearthed in August. After you’ve consumed the Big Blockbuster Happy Meals from May and June, they serve as a great antacid to sooth the heartburn.
3. OUT OF SIGHT (June 1998)… talk about bang for your buck! You get George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Catherine Keener, Albert Brooks, Dennis Farina, Michael Keaton. You also get the last movie that Jennifer Lopez made before she became J-Lo (There’s a difference – trust me). Adapted form the Elroy Leonard novel, and directed by future Oscar winner Stephen Soderbergh, this crime movie is just. so. cool. Buried under the rubble of ARMAGEDDON and GODZILLA, not many people saw this one in theatres (guilty). If you’re in the same boat, fear not – the movie holds up amazingly well on DVD. Most of the movie is set in sunny southern Florida, so it makes for good viewing on a humid night when your air conditioner is broken
2. UNFORGIVEN (August 1992)… Confession – I’d have put this one on just for the beautiful advance poster that trumpeted its release. In case you’re keeping count, this is the second Best Picture winner on this list. Hollywood – take note – there’s no reason to save all your very best stuff until November! This is the second movie on this list with an August release – with one more to come, and many more that made the short list. With that in mind, I wonder what it is that makes studios believe that those last four weeks before Labour Day should just be a dumping ground for misfits? Part of me gets the feeling that Clint Eastwood wasn’t trying to make the last great western, it just turned out that way. Funny what can happen when you just set out to “make a movie” eh?
1. APOCALYPSE NOW (August 1979)… What better time than the dog days of August, to release this mad masterpiece that reminds us of the old adage “War is Hell”? I was only one year old when it was released, but I have a theory. See, I’m pretty certain that back before the days of the super-duper-mega-multiplex, that there were lots of non-air conditioned theatres out there. So as audiences watched Captain Willard work his way up the river, they sat in stuffy theatres (or likewise drive-ins on a humid night). For every drip of sweat Willard perspired, they shed one too. Is there any better way to immerse oneself in the movie? Those sticky, stuffy days are the best time of year to let loose a twisted masterpiece like this. For bonus points, The Redux followed suit in 2001. I’ll bet if they could do it over, Paramount would have kept this one back until December, but that would have robbed audiences of one of the best summer movies of all time.
Did I forget one? Leave a comment and tell me your choices for your favorite summer movies. Likewise, feel free to leave suggestions for next week’s top five.
Great selection of flicks there. For me I have lots of memories during summer months of my sister waking me up late morning saying “Do you want to go to the movies?” and we, along with my brother would trek down to the Uptown and Yonge & Bloor to see them.
Not all of the were winners (Robin Hood with Coster) but some of them were great (Terminator 2!) and they provided great memories.
I wonder how much of the summer film season we feel doesn’t live up to years past is a reflection of the times, or of our own memories? Will Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and other such films be the favourites of the future?
Your “reflections of the times” point is a good one…and one I was keeping in mind when I’ve heard flack about the new Indiana Jones movie.
I get the suspicion that it’ll age rather well, and the haters are just people who don’t realized that they watched the previous three through younger eyes.
I think youre right too in saying that movies like IRON MAN will be favorites of the future.
I think with this list I was trying to express the hope that for every good popcorn flick like SPIDER-MAN 2 and BOURNE ULTIMATUM, that audiences likewise get treated to more LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE and MOULIN ROUGE!
Hehe, I get ya! Not all films are on even ground and not all are made for the same reasons or audiences.
Expectations play such a huge part too, but summer seems to be the exception as people still want a “great” movie but sometimes summer films are just, summer films.
Not bad considering my #1 favorite movie of all time comes in #2 on your list.
To play devil’s advocate – I thought you were going a different route when you mentioned this list – possibly less popcorn flick and more deeper films. I consider Gladiator a popcorn flick – even if it won Academy Awards. Especially since there has been a lot of rumbles about Ridley Scott considering doing a sequel… Don’t get me wrong it’s a great film – I saw it twice in the theater!
How about these for summer releases: The Usual Suspects (yes threats of sequels looms), The Sixth Sense, Psycho, Chinatown, Saving Private Ryan, The Great Escape, Blade Runner, Trainspotting, Little Miss Sunshine or just about any Disney Pixar film? Heck, Citizen Kane was a May release!
~CBlaze~
I just watched Gladiator this week! Too funny. That is all.
“I get the suspicion that [Crystal Skull will] age rather well, and the haters are just people who don’t realized that they watched the previous three through younger eyes.”
No way, amigo. I’ve gone back and watched the first three again with my 31 year old eyes – Crystal Skull doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Raiders, and probably not in the same paragraph as Last Crusade. It can, however, be placed on the same page as Temple.
Anyhow, as I mentioned elsewhere, I’ve always dogged August for being so horrible, but a quick list at the last few years showed a ton of great movies that have been put into the dustbin of summer. Most are smaller films that the studios just kinda dropped there or films from indie houses, but some big daddies made it in there, too.
I’m pretty sure I saw Run Lola Run in the summer – that would for sure make my list, as would the two great Parisian entries from last year – __ Je T’aime and 2 Days in __.