Tom



In honor of Father's Day, Joel Siegel has come up with a list of movies to watch with your father. Personally, I would prefer to watch an old Abbott and Costello movie, or one of those Bowery Boys flicks, like the ones we would often watch on Sunday mornings. Or maybe one of those B horror movies they used to show on channel 5 on Saturday afternoons, before it was FOX 5 and all weekend programming that wasn't sports-related was an infomercial. WNEW out of New York City aired a program called Creature Feature on those afternoons, usually spotlighting some gothic Hammer Studios vampire movie or maybe a Japanese monster movie like Godzilla vs. Mothra. I used to love watching those movies with my father. My parents were divorced when I was very young and my sisters and I saw him every other weekend. Some may not consider sitting and watching a movie quality time with your father, but I disagree. Sitting and laughing along with Daddy at the bumbling Lou Costello or the poorly-dubbed dialogue in a Japanese monster movie was a way for me to share something with him. And nothing makes a kid feel more grown-up than to be in on the joke. Thanks, and Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

Also, for more father-related reading, check out this salon.com column, a moving reflection on an alcoholic father. Don't worry, it's not as depressing as it sounds.