This is really a great thread. I keep remembering things reading over the other things mentioned here: my dad was a Korean war vet, and he loved MASH – it was one of his favorites. Otherwise he wasn’t much of a fan of military-type movies, apart from westerns.
I tend to keep away from Sound Of Music – I’m not a fan, but it’s one of my mother’s favorites, so I defer. The last point (Bob) was especially great – even when my tastes are different, which is often, my folks always has really interesting reasons for liking what they did – they weren’t passive in their viewing, and this rubbed off in a big way.
My dad was never crazy about movies before the 50’s. He likes Rocky, Rambo, Blazing Saddles, Billy Jack, etc., and those are all great movies in my opinion too (except maybe Rambo). I think his favorite movie is Sling Blade.
My mom’s seen Metropolis, King Kong, Night and Fog, Psycho, a bunch of the classics, and still her favorite movie is Shawshank Redemption. I like it too, but still can’t see why it’s her favorite.
Ah, what a fun thread.
My dad likes WWII movies, westerns, Universal horror, newer crime movies (ex. Coen brothers), and comedies featuring anyone from the original casts of SNL or SCTV (Except Bill Murray in Wes Anderson films). I’ve tried to give him movies to watch, but he’s pretty set in his ways.
My mom likes Monty Python, 70s and 80s drive-in horror, and almost anything I recommend to her. She just watched “In the Mood for Love”, “Lady Snowblood”, and “Zerkalo” and really enjoyed them.
My dad basically really likes almost any movie made before 1950, “classics” (things like the Godfather/Dr. Strangelove/war movies) and things with Paul Newman in them. My dad objects to anything “weird”, usually pointing out the obvious about how something is weird and he doesn’t like it. “weird” is usually a synonym for “good” with me as a result.
My mom likes a pretty wide variety of things, and will pretty much watch anything that isn’t too disturbing or violent. I’ve shown her some Tarkovsky, partially because she’s in seminary school and she’s enjoyed it.
When I was just getting started with exploring Korean film, many of my recommendations came from my mother. its sort of funny since she told me to watch films like Bad Guy which seems inappropriate now, and even when I ask her about it, she denies ever telling me of such films…
I think this is pretty interesting thread, as I’ve never really given this that much thought. I know my father loves action and suspense films (e.g., War movies, Westerns, cop films, etc.)—and that definitely shaped my tastes in music (although I might have gravitated towards these films on my own). Basically, both my parents like mainstream movies—although now that they’re much older, they’ve become interested in foreign movies. (Btw, I don’t know about any other place in the U.S., but in Hawai’i, most of the people I see at foreign/independent screenings are elderly people. I’m probably one of the youngest people in the theater. I have no idea why this is.)
Only Dad – Mom’s not into movies.
The Wizard of Oz
The Great Escape
The Dirty Dozen
The Cardinal
The Sound of Music
The King and I
Guys and Dolls
Irma La Douce
Pretty much war movies and musicals.
My mom only cares for Gidget and Hallmark flicks
My dad seems to like Naked Gun, Hot Shots type comedy
neither even know who Woody Allen (much less someone esoteric) is.
not that there is anything wrong with that.
My mother liked Arthur, Working Girl, Rachel Rachel, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Game, and Tron. She liked Gwyneth Paltow and really disliked Leonardo DiCaprio.
My father liked spy movies, thrillers, and war movies. He liked John Barrymore and for some reason he disliked James Mason a lot.
@Tann
James Mason can be a great jerk (that’s the nice way of saying), imo, so I totally understand we’re you’re father is coming from. I agree with your mom about Paltrow. Love her! (I don’t get the hate for DiCaprio, though.)
my conservative mother loves Eyes Wide Shut.
my father loves war films, Mulholland Drive, Kurosawa and The Three Colors.
Mom’s favourite recent film is “A Prophet”
Dad likes the Johnny Depp pirate flicks.
my dad’s favorites were bridge on the river kwai and the sting :)
Since my father knew about Netflix Instant I always see my “recently watched” filled with erotic films. Good job, Dad.
I caught my mother watching 8 MILE few days ago and warned her. She’s now craving for Kevin Costner’s films. My mother also prefers The King’s Speech than The Social Network. I can see why.
My parents are not that good with English so that’s why they don’t mind watching films with profanity and even sex scenes as long the story is good and relevant.
oh, my dad’s completely mad for the godfather and I can remember the first time I asked my mom about clockwork orange and she said it was the first porn ever – think she never really saw it, though.
My interest in cinema started with my father, who loves horror and sci-fi films of the ‘50s and ’60s, such as THEM! or THE DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS. (I have 50+ books on old-school monster movies that he passed down to me.) He also really likes anything to do with rock n’ roll of the ‘50s and ’60s, such as A HARD DAY’S NIGHT or Waters’ CRY-BABY. I can’t say I ever developed the same love for those types of films, but his passion certainly made me aware of many films beyond contemporary Hollywood, and that awareness cultivated a curiosity about movies that led me down my own paths. Other films my dad loves:
MIRACLE MILE
HOUSE OF WAX
THE FIVE THOUSAND FINGERS OF DR. T
FORBIDDEN PLANET
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
THE MARRYING MAN (yep, the one with Kim Basinger)
My mother, on the other hand, currently loves the new THE PARENT TRAP, SECRETARIAT, and AUGUST RUSH. My parents, now in their 60s, are no longer married.
Those lists suggest that my father is the more adventurous filmgoer, but actually the reverse is true. These days, I can’t get my dad to see anything except special-effects movies like SUPER 8, while my mom has joined me at the theater for many various things, including LA VIE EN ROSE, the recent doc BUCK, Zhang’s THE ROAD HOME, THE NAMESAKE, and even several Iranian movies, including BARAN, DAUGHTERS OF THE SUN, and Kiarostami’s TEN. She liked nearly all of them, even the Kiarostami. She’s an intelligent person who is capable of enjoying challenging movies even though she doesn’t actively search out those opportunities. Instead, she generally chooses to treat movie-watching solely as escapist opportunities. Nothing wrong with that.
My dad’s favorite film was either Reign of Fire or Waterworld. Yes, he seriously liked them. But he did get me into the Mad Max films so I guess that’s ok.
My mother loves “The Untouchables.” She used to call Andy Garcia that nice young Latin man.
I’m Pakistani but never grew up watching any Pakistani films because they’re not easy to find, I guess? But I always grew up with Bollywood and so I’m incredibly warmed up to Shahrakh Khan and other staple actors/actresses of that genre. It wasn’t until a few ago years ago that I started watching older Bollywood (like 60’s bollywood) and I think that’s because I just started watching it with my parents. So Bollywood has always been close to my heart because it’s something my parents and I will watch together spoken in a language we all grew up with and more emotive of our culture. (What you have to understand about Pakistanis is that we feel a kinship with Bollywood just as Indians do and it’s more like shared property than it being just Indian cinema. The idea of Bollywood being exclusive to Indian culture would insult, I think, any Pakistani.)
@ Mikhael Tarigan, I know how you feel. My dad speaks English as well as anyone else (my mom speaks it decently herself) but they came from traditional families and so they’re awkward with sex (not profanity though! ahaha). But my dad’s only awkward with sex, I think, if the whole family is there. And so for that reason, my dad and I really bond over watching classic, Golden-age cinema because the scripts are really good and crisp and the acting superb, all without the awkwardness of sex-scenes!
My dad and I also tend to bond over war-movies and documentaries. And oh, Clint Eastwood!
But the one thing he’ll watch that I can’t get into are westerns. His favorite is “The Good, The Bad, The Ugly”. That movie, even though I haven’t seen it in its entirety, is the only one I can enjoy (but that’s probably because of Clint Eastwood ;D)
My dad likes mostly American movies, no subtitles or thick accents. He tends to stay away from horror, hard sci-fi and anything ultra-violent. However he does likes the original Planet of the Apes and most time travel movies but other than that, he doesn’t like sci-fi much, loves hetero romance movies too (I say hetero for a reason, I dragged him to see Brokeback Mountain years ago hehe. Not that he’s a total homophobe). Ironically The Shawshank Redemption is his favorite movie.
My mom on the other hand is more like me: loves hard sci-fi, is fine with subtitles and is willing to make risky film choices (she wants to see Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty and the new Almodovar flick).
My dad likes mostly American movies, no subtitles or thick accents. He tends to stay away from horror, hard sci-fi and anything ultra-violent. However he does likes the original Planet of the Apes and most time travel movies but other than that, he doesn’t like sci-fi much, loves hetero romance movies too (I say hetero for a reason, I dragged him to see Brokeback Mountain years ago hehe. Not that he’s a total homophobe). Ironically The Shawshank Redemption is his favorite movie.
My mom on the other hand is more like me: loves hard sci-fi, is fine with subtitles and is willing to make risky film choices (she wants to see Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty and the new Almodovar flick).
My mom is obviously more adventurous by a mile. They are still married.
I swear that my dad has a man crush on Kevin Costner. He loves ‘Field of Dreams’, ‘Dances with Wolves’ & ‘Waterworld’. He also likes ‘Brother, Sun, Sister Moon’, ‘Michael’ and ‘Little Big Man’. And Sci-fi stuff.
My mom likes ‘Midnight in Paris’, movies that involve the craft of cooking such as ‘Julie and Julia’, ‘Pretty Woman’, ‘Steel Magnolias’ and musicals.
I spend more time with my mom and she will watch just about anything except for horror. We watched ‘Synechdoche, New York’ recently. And I have to say if it wasn’t for my mom I would have no clue how to pronounce it or that it was even a real place.
My parent’s taste in film and the film experience with them has greatly influenced me. I can’t tell you how many times I watched ‘The Witness’ or ‘Dune’ as a kid.
…
My dad will watch and enjoy just about anything he saw before he got married and had kids, which is apparently when his mind closed to new things. He also loves Liam Neeson.
My mother only reads books as far as I know.
This is a hilarious topic, especially if you know my DAD. If any of these come on, he’s glued to the TV:
The Patriot
Legends of the Fall
Gladiator
A River Runs Through It
Cinderella Man
No Country For Old Men
We Were Soldiers
Signs
The Village
The Sixth Sense
Secret Window
Couldn’t tell you the last time my dad went to a movie.
Jazz said: “Btw, I don’t know about any other place in the U.S., but in Hawai’i, most of the people I see at foreign/independent screenings are elderly people.”
I grew up in Santa Cruz and this was the case at the arthouse theater there. And now living in LA, I’ve noticed a lot of the foreign films I see have older people in the audience. Of course it depends on the movie but generally speaking, it appears seniors like the non-mainstream flicks. I think one reason for this is that for foreign films, they have subtitles so if you have bad hearing, it doesn’t matter because you can read the subs to get the dialogue. I know some theaters have hearing-impaired devices (like headphones, etc) but it’s not the same. My grandmother has difficulty hearing dialogue in the theater so she’ll usually wait for the DVD so she can have the captions on. But for foreign films, she’ll go to the theater because she knows there will be subtitles that she can read (although I should say that my grandmother always enjoyed foreign films, even before her hearing started to go)..
@Santino
That’s an interesting theory—and one that never occurred to me. My immediate reaction was to dismiss it, but I think you might have a point. On the other hand, I also notice that in English speaking, independent films the same phenomenon occurs. (I need to ask my parents about this.)
Santino, I agree and I also grew up in Santa Cruz. I suspect young to middle age americans often work, are tired and want light entertainment. Older folks (and college students) like to use their brains.
Bob Stutsman
Learned to love those soft-spoken romantic movies thanks to my mother, like one of her favourites and it became one of mine, Enchanted Cottage. Learned to love from my dad, those hard-edged westerns and war movies, like Patton. He had served under Patton and thoroughly loved G.C. Scott’s take on him. He liked anything with a moral focus, like Twelve Angry Men or High Noon. However, every child has to rebel sometime, too, and assert his or her own personal take. I nearly got thrown out of the car by my dad, for example, for criticizing Sound of Music on the way home after we had all seen it. But I was already becoming, at a young age, the type of young film snob who eventually will join with other film snobs at a much later date. So, we have no need to just repeat our parents tastes, but to expand on them and make it into something of our own.