Compiling a list of classic summer movies is simple; in fact, a significant portion of them have "summer" in the title. What's harder is remembering the movies that get summer right and manage to nail the nostalgia, malaise, and wonderment of our favorite season. Here's a list of ten movies that pinpoint summer's hazy identity. Some are perennial summer camp favorites, while others are more surprising (even shocking) inclusions.
Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 voyeuristic masterpiece features his best characters, funniest dialogue, greatest performances (James Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Thelma Ritter all mesmerize), and a sweltering languor that defines summer in New York. You don't need Hitch's repeated shots of a boiling thermometer -- which helpfully reflect the tension between Stewart and Kelly's characters -- to realize this is a film sluggish with sinister heat. At least that poor, snooping doggy across the courtyard died tipping off Grace and her detective skills.
It takes is one shot of Elizabeth Taylor (as Maggie "the Cat") slinking in a doorway to realize it's a scorching summer night in Tennessee Williams's overripe melodrama. While Suddenly, Last Summer is a more direct evocation of the season, it's simply too insane to compete with the slow-burn, heat-aided tension that erupts between Paul Newman and Liz. I hope we all sleep with someone named "Skippah" someday.
You can never hear enough about the thrills of Jaws. Whether you're on board for the unbeatable summer horror or the standout performances (Robert Shaw's USS Indianapolis monologue remains unreal), Jaws is one of classic you should feel secure in revisiting time and again. Just ask Emily Blunt!
Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal may have won Oscars for other movies, but make no mistake; Matthau is at the peak of his craft as the cantankerous Little League coach Morris Buttermaker, and O'Neal shines his tomboy star player, Amanda Whurltizer. While baseball is a prime summer movie draw, I most cherish here the "Who gives a shit, it's hot out" rancor of shortstop Tanner Boyle (Chris Barnes). I also love Joyce Van Patten's small part as a Little League manager who tells Buttermaker that "all the good [uniform] colors will be taken soon," including "maroon and white" and "white and maroon."
The definitive summer camp classic is not exactly an awesome one; Meatballs is notable for Bill Murray's screen debut as counselor Tripper Harrison, the kind of mess hall antics that delighted you before puberty, and the world of pranks that predates Camp Nowhere and Heavyweights by a generation. Still, it nails the morale and moribundity of camp.
For the film that sent the world's appreciation of Meryl Streep into overdrive, little is celebrated about its other great actors, including Peter MacNicol as the naive protagonist Stingo. When the budding writer meets Sophie (Meryl Streep) and her hotheaded beau (Kevin Kline), we watch their friendship bloom in the thick of a lovely Brooklyn summer in 1947. Since the movie is an examination of Stingo's memory, the season of discovery, friendship, and tragedy is ensconced in nostalgia, making for a classic, yet unusually devastating summer film. Streep would later star in another underrated summer movie, The Bridges of Madison County.
Even after embracing a number of coming-of-age cliches (emotional breakthroughs, narration, confrontational fights), Stand By Me remains an irreplaceable treasure 25 years later. The journey four 12-year-olds (Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell) take through rural Oregon to track down a dead body on Labor Day weekend is somehow the perfect platform to exhibit the loss of innocence and the beginning of adulthood. Stand By Me also understands that although kids spend most of their time bored and responsibility-free, they're as emotional and sincere as any grownup.
Screwing up your family's highfalutin summer plans by getting down with a sexy dance instructor is beyond watchable; it ranks among the most cathartic storylines ever to exist. Patrick Swayze helps straighten Jennifer Grey's backbone in this kinda-strange mix of family drama, bildungsroman self-actualization, and -- ah, yes -- abortion trauma. "I've Had the Time of My Life" may remain the definitive summer anthem.
Putting aside the unforgettable storefront scene and the two philosophies from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X that tie up the film, Do the Right Thing is a movie whose sweaty summer glaze is palpable. Have you been able to think of ice cubes and Rosie Perez the same way since?
Yes, it's probably not the finest animated summer romp (clocking in at only 73 minutes), but there's no denying that its cast of loonier toons exhibits at least three hilarious versions of classic summer vacays. Plucky and Hamton's car ride to HappyWorldLand is a page out of National Lampoon's book; Fifi le Fume's stalking of movie star Johnny Pew is adorable and probably typical of Burbank teenagers; Buster and Babs's water pistol fight across Acme Acres (and then the southern United States) is amazing. Like Steven Spielberg's followup animated series Animaniacs, what sets Tiny Toons apart from most cartoons is the incredible voice talent. Tress MacNeille (Babs) is a national treasure!