Summer Blockbusters

Summer is almost over.

But rather than catch one last wave (because the only thing I surf is the Internet), I thought I’d take one last hold of summer with a look at Summer Blockbusters.

Jaws has been given near-universal credit for being the first official Summer Blockbuster in movie history.  And many say, some 36 years later, it’s still the best.  So let’s go with that and ask ...

If Jaws is the greatest Summer Blockbuster of all time, what are the rest of the dozen best?  What are the Two Through Twelve of the greatest Summer Blockbusters?

Star Wars

Released 05/25/77

Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, and James Earl Jones (voice) 

Directed by George Lucas

While Jaws may have been the first Summer Blockbuster, this maiden franchise film was the first (at least in my memory) to whip fanboys into a repeat-viewing lather, long before the term fanboy even existed.  To this day, I remember the length of the line to see this film in the two-screen theater in the town where I lived.  While the age of the technology used is visible, the magic is still there with every viewing.

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Released 06/12/81

Starring Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and Paul Freeman

Directed by Steven Spielberg

After the first two Star Wars films moved countless FX-heavy (hapless?) imitators into outer space, Spielberg went the other way with an homage to the serials of the 1930s, and he cast Han Solo himself (Ford) in the lead.  The action here is exciting and even its scariest moments are kid-friendly (with the possible exception of the melting Nazi heads).  It’s great family fare from Spielberg.  Speaking of which …

E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial

Released 06/11/82

Starring Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, and Drew Barrymore

Directed by Steven Spielberg

Having already knocked 3 out of the park in his previous 4 at-bats (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1941 [the whiff], and Raiders of the Lost Ark), Spielberg left 1930s adventuring behind and, rather than go into space, brought space home in this tale of a young alien separated … by light years … from his family.  The added sentimentality really adds to this FX gem.  (READ: It made me cry.  There, I said it.)

Ghostbusters

Released 06/08/84

Starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, William Atherton, and Ernie Hudson

Directed by Ivan Reitman

When ghosts run amok in the Big Apple … who ya gonna call?  (My apologies.  I believe I am legally obligated to ask that question whenever this film is the subject of review.)  The FX in this sci-fi comedy are good, but not so good as to take away from the sharply humorous script, which is perfectly crafted to showcase the incomparable Bill Murray.  Ray Parker Jr.’s title tune was the big soundtrack hit, but I’m partial to “Cleanin’ Up the Town” by The Busboys.

Back to the Future

Released 07/03/85

Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Only in the 1980s would the method of time travel be the stainless steel, gull-winged vehicle of excess, the DeLorean.  Fox, carrying his first film at the peak of his TV (Family Ties) success, is perfectly cast as Marty McFly, the teen who travels back in time to 1955 and accidentally prevents his parents from meeting, thus threatening his own existence.  Success was this film’s density … uh, destiny.

Die Hard

Released 07/15/88

Starring Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald Veljohnson, Paul Gleason, William Athertonm Alan Rickman, and Alexander Godunov

Directed by John McTiernan

Bruce Willis was another TV (Moonlighting) success story, but his transition to film took slight missteps with Blind Date (1987) and Sunset (1988).  But the third time was a phenomenal charm.  Willis plays a lone NY cop in an L.A. high-rise that has been seized by terrorists.  What makes the film so great is that Willis is not so much an everyman, but rather a wisecracking hipster that women love and men envy.  Plus, Alan Rickman, in his first film role (!), plays one of cinema’s all-time great bad guys, Hans Gruber.

Jurassic Park

Released 06/11/93

Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough

Directed by Steven Spielberg

When my wife and I watched this film together for the first time (on video), she mentioned to me that when she saw it in theaters, she thought – at least for a moment – that Spielberg actually had the ability to bring back dinosaurs.  It sure looks it and feels it here.  Well-executed on-camera and off, this is a story about humanity’s hubris, wrapped in an amusement park-gone-berserk dinosaur movie.  The magic scene for me is when Neill and Dern first see live dinosaurs in the wild.

The Sixth Sense

Released 08/06/99

Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni and Collette

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Two words: Who knew?  This unexpected smash from rookie director Shyamalan is all about a boy (Osment) who sees dead people, and the doctor (Willis) who helps him.  The whiplash-twist at the end of the movie was the talk of everyone who saw it, but unfortunately, Shyamalan has yet to recreate that magic (although he’s tried … and tried).

The Dark Night

Released 07/18/08

Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Is there a better superhero movie?  I don’t think so.  Building off the fantastic Batman Begins, director Nolan reassembles the principal players to continue the Batman trilogy.  But for all of its casting and technical excellence, this film belongs, in total, to Heath Ledger.  His interpretation of the Joker erases all of Caesar Romero’s 1960s camp and all of Jack Nicholson’s 1980s bombast to take crazed to dark (and wonderful) new depths.

Toy Story 3

Released 06/18/10

Starring the voices ofTom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Don Rickles, Michael Keaton, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, and Estelle Harris

Directed by Lee Unkrich

While E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial brought me to tears when I was young, this one brought me to tears when I wasn’t so young.  What I love about this film – and the Toy Story franchise, and Pixar – is that story is as important as visual magic or celebrity voices.  In this installment, Andy is grown and ready to part with his toys.  Oh man.  I can’t even type it without welling up.

Batman

Released 06/23/89

Starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Robert Wuhl, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough, and Jack Palance

Directed by Tim Burton

As has become tradition, this last film on the list is my guilty pleasure entry, but not because it’s not worthy.  It is; at least, it’s worthy to be in the discussion.  Prior to Burton’s interpretation of the Dark Knight, Batman was either fanboy fodder or a punchline in the BIFF-WHAP-POW memory of a generation or two.  Burton ended that.  Plus, Prince’s soundtrack – while not Purple Rain quality – was miles better than most of the “Various Artists” compilations churned out in the 1980s.  But while Batman is in the discussion, there are (generally) better films that more deservie to be on this list (Aliens and Terminator 2: Judgment Day to name two).  But I chose this strictly for nostalgic purposes.  Batman was the front end of the LAST double feature I ever saw … at an honest-to-God drive-in movie theater.  (The other film was Lethal Weapon 2.)  And as it was in the twilight of the drive-in experience, the squawk boxes my parents used to hang from the window were replaced by an FM frequency and my sweet car stereo system.  Did I mention how good that Prince soundtrack is?

This list was far more difficult than I expected it to be.  In fact, what I thought was my “narrowed-down list” had 22 films listed!  (It’s almost shameful what I had to cut to get this down to 11.)  Regardless, this list certainly doesn’t cover them all, and I’m sure your Two Through Twelve is different – not better or worse, just different – than mine.