Winter is a great season to spend huddled in blankets watching good movies, but a classic summer flick will get your mind on summer camp, skinny-dipping, baseball, and those long, long weeks of freedom.
"A great summer movie has a coming-of-age story or a hot romance," said Sophie Cannon, 4th-semester psychology major. "The best ones are comedies."
From Wendy Peffercorn's lifeguard stand to Camp Hope to Robert E. Lee High School, these summer movies won't steer you wrong.
"The Sandlot"
"Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Neither does this childhood classic. Our generation grew up with Smalls, Benny, and Squints. This 1993 childhood movie about a summer full of baseball and "the Beast" will be near and dear to your heart. A group of youngsters embark on a mission to retrieve a baseball signed by Babe Ruth, which Smalls snatched from his stepfather (a scene which will make Yankee fans flinch every time). This movie will teach you the many, many names of the Great Bambino, how to win a dirty name-calling contest, and how to get yourself thrown out of the public pool like a real hero.
"Every time I watch it I just want s'more," said Curtis McCauley, a 6th-semester history major.
"Dazed and Confused"
Alice Cooper says it best in the opening scenes of this 1993 hit, "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks." This hilarious comedy follows a number of different high-school kids on the last day of school in the summer of 1976. From Ben Affleck's paddle scenes, to early keg arrivals, to Matthew McConaughey's girl-prowling escapades, this movie will have you laughing and bemoaning the fact that we never even saw the '70's.
"Heavy Weights"
What list of classic summer flicks could omit this 1995 masterpiece? It was co-written by the now-famous Judd Apatow, whose work includes "Superbad," "Knocked Up," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Anchorman." We follow the lives of a group of quirky, pleasantly plump boys at a summer weight-loss camp. The beloved owners of Camp Hope have sold the camp to exercise guru Tony Perkis, who proceeds to "perkisize" the young campers all summer long. Each scene, from the cabin ransack, to the cow chase, to the excruciatingly awkward dance with the girls camp, will warm your heart and make you long for those lost days of summer camp. Call up your buddy Seymour Butts to watch it with you.
"Wet Hot
American Summer"
If "Heavy Weights" doesn't give you your fill of summer camp, this outrageous 2001 comedy will. It's the last day of camp in the summer of 1981, and campers are faced with love, lust, NASA debris, and occasional sweater fondling. The cast includes comedic stars like Michael Ian Black, Paul Rudd, Amy Poehler, Molly Shannon, and a surprising performance by "Law and Order: SVU's" Christopher Meloni.
Tyler Leslie, a 6th-semester fine arts major, said, "I want you inside me.' It's the best line in the movie."
"Now and Then"
If you are a woman who never spent her pre-teen years drooling over Devon Sawa in this 1995 hit chick flick, you may be considered by some as horribly deprived. Viewers follow the story of four friends coming of age during the summer of 1970. This film boasts a star cast including Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Demi Moore, and Rosie O'Donnell. The girls experience a summer full of pranks, ghosts, road trips, first kisses, and occasional skinny-dipping.
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