POP CULTURE

If Dad’s the sort who would prefer staying home and a watching a movie over putting on his new tie and going out to dinner, here are a few suggestions for a Father’s Day film festival. All are on DVD:

To Kill a Mockingbird—The signature role of Gregory Peck’s career was Atticus Finch, the small-town lawyer and single father who parented by example, eschewing violence while displaying quiet courage, and keeping vigil over those he cared about. Many people probably got their prototype for the ideal father from Robert Mulligan’s 1962 adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner—It’s easy now to dismiss as dated this topical comedy about a father—an upper-middle-class white liberal—caught off-guard by his daughter’s black fiancé (Sidney Poitier). But it wasn’t such a little thing for a mainstream, big-studio movie to take on in 1967. Besides, the movie contains the final performance of the original Father of the Bride, the great Spencer Tracy, who died less than three weeks after it was completed, and a beautiful, direct piece of acting it is.

Nobody’s Fool—In this 1994 adaptation of Richard Russo’s novel, Paul Newman had the triumph of his late career as, in a sense, the anti-Atticus: Donald “Sully” Sullivan, a handyman in a small town in upstate New York, an absentee father trying to make things up to his own son by being a presence in his grandson’s life. This comedy-drama, directed by Robert Benton, is rich in eccentric characters and lively, touching dialogue, and in addition to one of Newman’s best creations, it contains a wonderful swansong performance by Jessica Tandy.

The Rookie—This easygoing 2002 inspirational drama is about high school science teacher and baseball coach Jimmy Morris, who made his debut as a relief pitcher in the Majors at the age of 35. But much of the film is focused on Morris as a father, schlepping his adoring little son (Angus T. Jones) and baby daughter around with him, and surrogate-fathering the kids on his baseball team. We’re also shown Morris’s attempts to connect with his own distant father, played by the always-superb Brian Cox.

The Godfather—In this 1972 film and its 1974 sequel, The Godfather, Part II, we’re carefully and persuasively shown how Vito Corleone’s criminal empire grows out of his attempts to be a good father; we’re also shown how these pure intentions become corrupted, especially in his son Michael (Al Pacino). These are American masterpieces.

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back—“No Luke, I am your father…” In this, the 1980 pinnacle of the Star Wars series, Darth Vader was established as arguably the most mythic father figure in all movies, and one of the darkest. Over the course of the six films, the character passes from youthful innocence to the depths of evil to a last-minute redemption, and reminds us that fathers are human, and that sometimes they teach us by showing us what not to do, and who not to be.