Movies That Take You Back to Summers of Your Youth

 


You know those movies that strike a note with your own childhood summer break antics? Some of them are modern-made but the themes are familiar and universal. Others were made back in the day. 


Let's look at movies that remind us of childhood summers. 


NOW AND THEN
A fantastic nostalgic film that any kid from the early 70s/late 60s totally relates to! Four girlfriends reconvene when one is having a baby and they get nostalgic about the old days. This has a killer soundtrack, and they managed to capture 1970 so well that it's a way-back machine of summer activities and friendships. 


STAND BY ME
I think of all the children ensemble movies, this one and "The Goonies" strike a chord as best rendered. Four boys decide to spend their summer chasing down a legend of a kid who was hit by a train. Hoping to find the body, they also begin to realize how this last epic youthful adventure is a launch into a new phase of life.

THE SECRET GARDEN (1993 IS BEST)
This is seriously the most identifiable film for me. A little girl loses her parents who weren't there to really raise her anyway. She was sent to a relative's home in England from India and everything is foreign and nothing is hers. She only wants a plot of ground to grow on. She not only revives the neglected gardens of her dead aunt, but revives her cousin and uncle whose hearts frozen with her death and the death of her garden.

THE GOONIES
I probably don't need to tell this plot, but I will. I did this a few times as a kid. My mom was an historian and told me about a diary of a Revolutionary War soldier that was hidden in the Virginia Room at the Fairfax Library and told of where they buried the cannons with their gold (payroll). I spent many summers searching. In this fantastic flick, kids about to lose their seaside town to developers find a map in an attic and decide to chase the pirate treasure. It's full of twists and turns and typical adolescent terror and longing. Just a super feel-good flick!

THE SANDLOT
A nostalgic movie made in the 1990s portraying a group of boys in the summertime of 1962 who live to play baseball. 

A CHRISTMAS STORY
Set in the 1940s, this adorable and funny tale is about a boy who dreams of getting a BB gun for Christmas and all the obstacles of obtaining one as his mother believes, "you'll put an eye out."


WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
A poor boy has one great chance at something awesome when he wins a golden ticket allowing him a tour of the local mysterious chocolate factory.

HOME ALONE
When an 8-year-old boy has had enough of his pestering brother and his family's busy neglect, he wishes them away. When they forget him and take off on vacation, his wish comes true. But is it what he really wants?

THE PARENT TRAP 
When two girls go to summer camp, they find out that they are twins separated as babies by divorced parents and raised in separate worlds. They decide to meet the other parent by pretending to be the other girl and going home to the missed parent.


SNOW DAY
This ridiculously adorable film is about a girl who wishes for a snow day and gets it. The only obstacle to her fun and antics is the snow truck man who wants to clear the streets. 

HOOK
A busy businessman takes his family to a childhood adopted home only to find out that he was Peter Pan but had no memory of it. When his children are abducted by Captain Hook, he must reenter his childhood world and save them.

EXPLORERS
A boy obsessed with 1950s scifi movies has a dream and sees a machine in his mind, so he draws up a schematic and gives it to an inventor friend. 

You likely know some others that you enjoy putting on when you're feeling nostalgic. Make some Tang or Kool-Aid, open a can of Pringles, or simply get yourself a nostalgic collection of childhood candy ---



Comments

  1. It’s “you’ll shoot your eye out”.

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