Movies that celebrate summer

It is officially summer and that got me thinking of some of my favorite movies that celebrate the sun, the unbearable heat, and vacations.  Here are my  favorite 10 movies that celebrate summer.  What are some of yours?  Maybe I’ll have to revise my list if you remind me of better ones 🙂

1. Summer School (1987).  It’s Mark Harmon.  That should be all I need to say.

2. Movie poster shows a woman in the ocean swimming to the right. Below her is a large shark, and only its head and open mouth with teeth can be seen. Within the image is the film's title and above it in a surrounding black background is the phrase "The terrifying motion picture from the terrifying No. 1 best seller." The bottom of the image details the starring actor and lists credits and the MPAA rating.Jaws (1975).  Ruined the beach for me for a long time.

3. Dirty Dancing (1987).  Who didn’t want to spend a summer with Johnny Castle when they first saw this?

4. National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983).  Who doesn’t remember the summer road trips with family?  Let me know if any of you have a story as good as this one 🙂

5. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005). I didn’t read the book but I was charmed by the 4 friends in this movie.

6. Summertime (1955). A movie that celebrates summer vacations, Venice and Katharine Hepburn.

7. An Affair to Remember (1957). It starts on a vacation and the romantic last scene has snow falling in the background.  I still need to see the original.

8. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003). If only I had been able to convince my husband we needed to buy a fixer upper while we were on vacation in Italy!

9. Weekend at Bernie’s (1989).  Probably the only list where you will find this movie listed above Stand By Me.  For a summer cheesefest you really can’t go wrong with this one.

10. Stand By Me (1986).  Was I the only one surprised to find out that  Stephen King could write such a sweet and heartwarming coming of age story?

EDITED TO ADD- Grease (1978)  You were all so right! It was completely wrong to leave Grease off this list!  I’d probably add it in at 5 or 6.

23 thoughts on “Movies that celebrate summer”

  1. Stephanie D. says:
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    Stephanie D.'s avatar

    Dirty Dancing is one of those movies that brings me back to my early teens – sleepovers where no one got any sleep, playing the soundtrack over and over again, and dancing in huge t-shirts and socks.

  3. Kay says:
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    Kay's avatar

    Oh, you’ve got some of my favorites here. Vacation is priceless. I’ve always wanted to go to Wallyworld! Dirty Dancing – Patrick Swayze – ’nuff said. Loved it. And I had forgotten about Summer School. Oh, I loved that one. And, yes, Mark Harmon. He’s aged very well. My husband thinks we watch NCIS for the crime part. LOL

  4. rhapsodyinbooks says:
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    rhapsodyinbooks's avatar

    I shamelessly just had to rent Dirty Dancing yet again which I watched last night! I’ve only seen it 800 gazillion times…. Grease is another good summer movie – I’ll probably be renting that next!

    • stacybuckeye says:
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      stacybuckeye's avatar

      I never really think of Pretty Woman as a summer movie. Maybe it’s because the weather always looks summery in LA 😉

  7. Heather says:
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    Heather's avatar

    Great picks! I’d also add Grease. Parent Trap is a good one and Nobody’s Fool with Eric Roberts and Rosanna Arquette is a good end of summer movie, imo! Great post!

    • stacybuckeye says:
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      stacybuckeye's avatar

      Makes me want to run to Italy! Maybe we could all pool our money and have a book blogger vacation home over there!

  10. caspette says:
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    caspette's avatar

    Love the comedy ones Weekend at Bernies and National Lampoons Vacation. Also you cant go past Jaws. What would I add to the list hmmm probably not much. Oh probably an animated one, anything by pixar really but we watched Madagascar last night and its got beaches and tropical islands so lets go with that one.

    • stacybuckeye says:
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      stacybuckeye's avatar

      Still haven’t seen the 1st half! Tahnks for reminding me. It came out a few weeks after Gage was born and it was not a high priority, LOL!

  13. Jenners says:
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    Jenners's avatar

    Summer Rental (with John Candy) and Wet Hot American Summer (if you’ve never seen it, you will not believe the cast … tons of now famous people who were in it before being famous). Totally strange movie but funny as heck if you have a skewed sense of humor.

    • stacybuckeye says:
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      Now I’m going to have to find Wet Hot American Summer. I think I’ve seen the poster. Is it John Cusack?

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