The 10 Greatest Dad Movies Ever Made

Now that I have a kid, I'm ready to enter my sweatpants-and-afternoon-snooze era. You know, the Saturday position many dads take, where they put on basic cable, relax on their only day off, maybe after cutting the grass, and watch a movie.

A Dad movie.

Oh, you know what a dad movie is? It's the one that, if caught on TV halfway through it, will hold any dad hostage until the credits roll.

It's the kind of movie that if he;s luck to have a La-Z-Boy, he puts his feet up during it and makes you get him a beer from the fridge to watch.

It's the kind of movie he lets you watch with him, even if it's not age-appropriate because "this is a good one."

From WWII epics to baseball, here are the 10 greatest Dad Movies ever made.

Let's dive in.

1. The Great Escape (1963)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: John Sturges
• Writer: James Clavell, W.R. Burnett
• Cast: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, James Coburn

Dads love the Second World War. I could have made this genre the whole list, but I had some restraint. So I went with one of the best. The Great Escape defined the cool-headed, problem-solving hero that Dads want to be. Between Steve McQueen’s iconic motorcycle jump and the male camaraderie, this is peak Dad cinema.

2. Die Hard (1988)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: John McTiernan
• Writer: Jeb Stuart, Steven E. De Souza
• Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson

I live in the shadow of the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles. This is where I became a Dad. I can never move. Die Hard gave us a Dad in an undershirt and without shoes, fighting international thieves. John McClane is who all Dads want to be when they grow up. Or attend a Christmas party.

3. Field of Dreams (1989)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Phil Alden Robinson
• Writer: Phil Alden Robinson
• Cast: Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Burt Lancaster

Dads don't cry unless they're watching Field of Dreams. I mean, this movie taps directly into the heart of male vulnerability and playing catch with their old man.

4. Apollo 13 (1995)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Ron Howard
• Writer: William Broyles Jr., Al Reinert
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris

Your Dad thinks he could get home safely from the moon. And these are the astronauts who will guide him. Dads love competency porn, and Apollo 13 is just that. Ed Harris's "Failure is not an option" is the ultimate fatherly leadership thesis.

5. Gladiator (2000)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Ridley Scott
• Writer: David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson
• Cast: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris

Duty, honor, revenge, and ancient history. Yeah, this one is for the fathers. Gladiator makes a man wonder how long he could last in the ring, and allows him to drop knowledge on his kids. I mean, Maximus Decimus Meridius is a family-first Dad who had to avenge his fallen kid and wife. Dad fantasy.

6. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Peter Weir
• Writer: Peter Weir, John Collee
• Cast: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D'Arcy, Billy Boyd

I love a boa. Am I a father? Yes, I am. This is a chef-d'oeuvre of tactics, leadership, and historical detail on the high seas. It is the ultimate slow-burn that dads will defend as an unrecognized cinematic masterpiece.

7. The Hunt for Red October (1990)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: John McTiernan
• Writer: Larry Ferguson, Donald E. Stewart
• Cast: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones

I love this movie so much. Tom Clancy! Every Dad out there loves some Tom Clancy! This is the gold standard of Cold War techno-thrillers. You get Sean Connery’s majestic submarine captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin’s analytical Jack Ryan; the film is all tension and deception, and men speaking quietly in darkened control rooms while the world tries to kill them.

8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Steven Spielberg
• Writer: Robert Rodat
• Cast: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper

Yes, we had to have another WWII movie. Maybe the king of all WWII movies. Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece asks the moral question: is the life of one man worth the risk of eight others? Yes. And that's what dads do; they risk their lives for their kids.

9. Ford v Ferrari (2019)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: James Mangold
• Writer: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, Jason Keller
• Cast: Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal, Caitríona Balfe, Tracy Letts

Yeah, the dads also love fast cars. This movie is just vroom vroom and fighting the corporate man over and over while finding personal triumph. This movie is all fuck your boss and drive fast. It's Dad testosterone for the ages. Ford v Ferrari celebrates men who know how engines work and who aren't afraid to push them to the absolute limit.

10. A Few Good Men (1992)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Rob Reiner
• Writer: Aaron Sorkin
• Cast: Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kiefer Sutherland

Rob Reiner is a sneaky dad-movie director who brings courtroom drama to its absolute peak. You even get an Aaron Sorkin script that you know Dads love. Watch Tom Cruise’s Lt. Kaffee go toe-to-toe with Jack Nicholson’s Colonel Jessep. Dads will recite "You can't handle the truth!" word-for-word every single time they ground you.

Summing It All Up

Dads rule. Pick one of these movies, call your old man, and watch it with him. Or,m if he's no longer with us, watch them in his honor. If he sucked, watch these movies and pretend one of the characters is your dad.

The point is, these are the movies your dad loves. And even if you're not a Dad, they're fun to love, anyway.