Movies that make me think of my dad

Written by Matt Long

When I look over my collection or think about re-watching movies, there’s something special about the movies that remind me of the people I love. It’s my dad’s birthday today, which got me thinking about the movies that remind me of him. Even though he’s a big movie and music fan whose tastes were passed onto me, he doesn’t consider them to be big passions anymore, but there are tons to choose from anyway. Here are a few movies that will always make me think of my dad.

One of the great horror comedies of the ‘80s was the featured movie at a memorable Long family movie night.

An American Werewolf in London (1981) (with bonus National Lampoon’s European Vacation (1985))

When I was about 8 or 9 years old, my dad was tasked with going alone to the movie store to pick out movies for the family. The ones he chose for family movie night were An American Werewolf in London and National Lampoon’s European Vacation. I was probably excited to have a horror movie on the docket, and we had already watched at least Christmas Vacation and possibly Vacation too, so I was happy to see more of the Griswold family, even if I probably barely knew what Europe was at that time.

I don’t think we got more than twenty minutes into European Vacation before the nudity and adult jokes were too much for the family, so that VHS got taken out of the movie and replaced with An American Werewolf in London. I don’t think my mom was super happy with my dad already by that point, and American Werewolf was a bold choice as the back-up for saving the evening.

For literal years after that, I was haunted by occasional dreams featuring the images from the “hospital bed in the forest” movie clip. I don’t know if I was ever scared of werewolves, but the eeriness of the dream sequences and that still-amazing transformation sequence stuck with me for years.

Watching it now, I’m struck by how much nudity and adult jokes this movie also had, so I’m surprised we made it all the way through. I don’t remember exactly if this movie is what sparked my lifelong love of horror movies, but it was my most memorable early encounter with one of my favourite genres. Thanks for taking big swings here, Dad!

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

I always loved that transition time between Halloween and Christmas, and I loved the festivities and traditions, especially the annual movies and TV specials that you only watched at that time of the year. My dad passed down his memories of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas me, and it became a yearly tradition. We watched the same VHS tape every year throughout my childhood with recordings of A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Garfield Christmas (1987), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), and Frosty the Snowman (1969). Those four specials in sequence, along with commercials for shows like Touched by an Angel (1965), became an important part of Christmas for me.

But, of course, the meaning of A Charlie Brown Christmas didn’t elude me, and my dad made sure I watched Linus’ explanation of the meaning of Christmas. He’s always had a strong value system, guided by his love for his family, so Linus explaining clearly his belief in the meaning of Christmas made sense as something he would want me to listen to.

The Austin Powers trilogy

I went to see The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Goldmember (2002) in theatres with my dad when I would have been eight and eleven years old, respectively. I might have been a little young, but these were silly vehicles for smart parodies of old movies made by a Canadian legend, so they were right up my alley, and its depictions of a sex-crazed potential pest have surprisingly held up well over the years.

I didn’t go see a lot of movies with my dad in theatres—that was more something my mom liked to do—but I love that we went to see these movies together and had a great time laughing along. I still remember being confused at the opening of Goldmember and thinking that we had maybe gone into the wrong movie, my concern elevated by Tom Cruise being featured in the opening. I knew my dad couldn’t stand Tom Cruise, so I was relieved when it turned out (spoiler alert) not to be Tom Cruise after all, but in fact, our beloved Austin Powers (I might be wrong about that, it’s been a while since I’ve actually watched that third entry).

Stand By Me (1986)

*Stand By Me* remains one of my favourite movies, going on 25 years since I first watched it.

This quintessential coming of age story was recommended to me by my dad when I was in either grade five or grade six. I watched it and loved it immediately, as I’m sure he knew I would. The absurdity of the storytelling passages like the blueberry eating sequence made me laugh, I was pulled in by the drama of their journey in search of a body, and most importantly, I was drawn in by the poignant reflections of the meaning of young friendship.

It’s hard to say if the heart of this movie comes from Stephen King or Rob Reiner (rest in peace), but the way Reiner adapted King’s work always ended up with amazing results. A movie that was already nostalgic for a former time now gone now has the added layer of looking at a world where kids were free to run around free for a couple of days, free from cellphone and supervision.

Twenty-five years later, that last line still speaks to me like it did when I was a kid. You never do have friends like you did when you were young, do you?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Jumping a few years into high school, by that point I was jumping way deeper into my cinephile journey, trying to watch the classics that I had heard about, the movies I remembered seeing trailers for, and the movies people in my life were recommending to me.

There were plenty around this time that my dad recommended, but buying the DVD for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and watching it over and over in high school stands out as one of my favourite of his recommendations. He loves pointing out actors in unexpected places, and Cuckoo’s Nest is one of the best movies for that.

Jack Nicholson quickly became one of my favourite actors, so I’m sure I saw The Shining at his recommendation after (and actually, that could have been the right movie to choose for this subheading, but I won’t promote the movie about the dad trying to murder his family as a key movie in this article), and from there the recommendations continued with Cape Fear (1991), Taxi Driver (1976), and more. But this empathetic portrayal of mental illness must have been one of the first “serious” movies he recommended to me. Its blend of drama and comedy likely influenced my worldview, and I suspect its lessons were important to my dad too.

Dirty Work (1998)

This isn’t strictly a movie that my dad recommended to me, though I can remember us renting the DVD and watching it sometime during the 2000s. I watched it a few times over the years, but it didn’t stick in the rotation like other comedies of the era.

Over the last ten years though, my dad has become a huge Norm Macdonald fan. One of my favourite things is receiving links to YouTube clips of Norm’s appearances on Conan’s shows or random stand-up clips or whatever else he’s finding and thinks to send over to me. When Vinegar Syndrome released their amazing restoration of Dirty Work in 2025, I rewatched it again with a new appreciation for Norm. Along with the option of watching the “Dirtier Cut,” there was no way now to separate my love of this movie with my dad’s love for Norm. After all, they’re both a couple of old chunks of coal and both were born and raised in Quebec only fifteen months apart. Just like how a lot of people think of Norm as the funniest person they know, that’s how I think about my dad.

Abbey Road (1969)

A bonus memory is not a movie memory, but my dad also passed down his love of rock music to me once I fell in love with rock in grade six. I distinctly remember the first or one of the first times listening to the Beatles Abbey Road driving toward downtown Oakville one winter evening with the metallic excellence of I Want You (She’s So Heavy) blaring. I felt overwhelmed by the assault of sound at some point, to be honest, and I know I asked him to turn it down (yep, that’s how fun I was), but I love that album and always think of him and turn it up when I listen to it.

Happy birthday, Dad! I love you, and thanks for everything.