50 Greatest Father/Son Movie Moments

Features
By published

Horrific, humorous and heart-warming

Boyz N The Hood (1991)

To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

The Moment: What kind of father takes his kids to a rape trial? Well, Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), one of the finest movie fathers ever. He wants his kids to understand the injustices of the world, and demonstrates these injustices in that very trial scene.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: Think Ally McBeal with a child. Shudder.

The Godfather (1972)

The Moment: Don Corleone (Marlon Brando) and his youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino) have a strained relationship, which gives their chat in The Godfather extra heft. “Women and children can be careless, but not men,” says Don.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: She’d say “Men and children can be careless, but not women,” while talking about the tough jobs women have to do that men couldn’t possibly handle.

Life Is Beautiful (1997)

The Moment: Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) is banged up in a concentration camp, but instead of despairing, he focuses all efforts on helping his young son. His final act of bravery comes as he tells his son to hide in a sweatbox, ensuring that his son survives even though he doesn't.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: Ever heard of Sophie's Choice ?

The Road (2009)

The Moment: Dark days indeed, as Man (Viggo Mortensen) and Boy (Kodie Smit-McPhee) wander through a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by cannibals. In one crushing moment, Man considers shooting Boy to spare him from the flesh-eaters, proving he’ll do anything for his child…

If They Were Mother And Daughter: Same thing goes - nobody wants to see their kid eaten by cannibals.

The Lion King (1994)

The Moment: Mufasa falls into evil bro Scar’s deadly trap and sacrifices everything to save son Simba from a crushing stampede. Get your hankies at the ready.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: We'd be talking about Sleeping Beauty instead.

In The Name Of The Father (1993)

The Moment: In prison together, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite) and Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) finally develop a begrudging respect for one another – which becomes clear when Gerry tells his da’ that he wants to start fighting for their cause. A moment of sweetness before the tragedy.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: We didn't want to have to mention ITV's Bad Girls , but it's probably about right...

Back To The Future (1985)

The Moment: Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) time-travels and meets his pa, who he helps fall in love with his mother all over again. In this final scene between the two, all is put to rights and a new respect is born. Ahhhh.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: It'd be the opposite, with Marty's dad falling in love with the wrong woman...

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989)

The Moment: “Dad?” “Junior?!” “Don’t call me that, please!” If anybody can put a hero in his place, it’s his dear old dad, as Indy discovers when he rescues his father (Sean Connery) in this third Indy flick. What class.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: Junior would be put in her place as dear old mam brings up embarrassing stories from years gone by.

Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

The Moment: We all know it. The bone-crunching, soul-crushing moment when Darth Vader wheezes four devastating words – “I am your father.” The Wars verse will never be the same again.

If They Were Mother And Daughter: “I am your mother” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, mostly because Cat screamed it on EastEnders about a decade ago.

Joshua Winning

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.