Eleven years ago, my father passed away.  That year, Father’s Day was still two days away.   Since his passing, we have shared, as our Daily Post, his Top Five Movies on June 17th.  We are once again doing that, but we also giving some other dad’s some Father’s Day attention.  The following comments, stories and recollections come from the very talented UMR contributors.

Natalie F. – “Not sure why he loved this movie so much, but the first movie I think of one I think movies and my dad is The Fox and the Hound. He watched that movie all the time while growing up. He liked Westerns too but Fox and the Hound was his favorite. Maybe it was that he grew up on a farm.”

Mallory E. – “My dad was not a movie person. Movies were more of a mom thing in my childhood. But I do remember my dad making me watch countless hours of WWE.”

Emma G.  – “My dad loved and still loves the original Star Wars movies. He wants nothing to do with the prequels or the latest movies. He taught me numerous Star Wars songs on my violin. Good memories of Luke, Han, Leia me and my dad.”

Jessica E. –  “Lots of dad memories. On the television side we loved watching Mork and Mindy, Cheers, Little House on the Prairie and especially Taxi together. On the movie side he loved Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Swiss Family Robinson. He was also fascinated by the Vietnam War, so movies like Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Good Morning Vietnam really interested him. He was a teenager when the Vietnam War was happening, which is probably why those movies fascinated him so much.”

Bob – “My own father was as big a movie buff as I but unfortunately for the most part we had very opposite tastes so that watching films together would lead to flaming rows at times. If I presented hard facts to support my own preferences he would [Trump like!] accuse me of manufacturing them and his dogmatism about the perceived defects in my own idols drove me to pretend that idols of his were also “rubbish” even though on a few occasions I idolised some of his favourites myself, such as The Duke. Still in hindsight I miss all those quarrels so children of Cogerson “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may!”

Natalie R. also known as GoC1 (Granddaughter of Cogerson) – One story I have with my father is we went to go see “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at around 8-9 in the morning the week it came out. Considering it was too early for snacks and drinks he only let us get popcorn and water (bummer I know). So we got all our stuff together and to our seats and started watching the movie. About 30 minutes in, this kid behind us THREW UP, but it wasn’t into something…it was on to me and my dad!! It was very gross. So we left, cleaned off, and went home.  After about a week or so we went back but he made sure it was right in the back where no one was behind us. The movie was really good once we finished.  Still to this day anytime my dad and I go to the theaters, he makes sure we sit as far back as we can.

Carl U.  – “Growing up in Germany, movies were not a huge part of our lives. My dad rarely went to movies, but he did not miss Bonanza when it came on tv. One of the few movies that made a huge impact on me and Germany was Jaws. I remember the audience jumping three feet in the air during certain scenes. Not related to my dad, but when I was in the service we used the movie Glory as a way to show how combat was…..even though that movie took place during the Civil War….the actions and things that happened on a battlefield were still relevant over 100 years later.”

Helakoski – “My mom and her mom loved Doris Day movies. Many weekend evenings was spent with the four us, them, me and Doris watching Day movies. Rock Hudson, James Garner and Rod Taylor movies were our favorites. For some reason they mainly had us watch her rom-com movies versus musicals. My dad was almost anti-Doris Day. I vividly remember him shaking his head in disapproval as another Day Movie was being watched. He was a huge Paul Newman fan. I think he watched Butch Cassidy, The Sting and Cool Hand Luke the most. Pretty sure he liked horror movies like a The Exorcist and The Omen, but he never watched those movies around me. Good memories for sure.”