Yes, we love our moms and dads, but lets face it, over the years, cinema has amassed a pretty unforgettable batch of wicked and awful parents. And so, it’s become somewhat of a Playlist tradition of late to examine and look at some of the more memorably monstrous ones (you can see our Mother’s Day feature here for example).
Today we celebrate the patriarchs who hopefully have raised us well and guided us in the right direction. What are your plans with Dad this Sunday? A game of catch? Some brats on the barbeque and brewskies in hand? Maybe a real heart-to-heart talk (or man-to-man if you’re Andy and Judge Hardy)? Between all of that and some real quality time with Pops in front of the TV (we recommend tuning in to TCM), you may want a break from the celebration of all that is great about fatherhood. If so, this is the list for you. If not, skip this and check out our list of 22 Great Father & Son Movies.
Whether you had Royal Tenenbaum or Atticus Finch for a father, today is his day. In the least, give the old man a ring for a stunted 30-second chat or a lecture about “when I was your age” topics. So what if he didn’t coach your Little League team or get you a lime-green VW bug for your Sweet 16 (darn MTV and high expectations) or remember one of your birthdays? At least he didn’t slice your hand off, break your arm and/or give you crippling alcoholism that will come back to haunt you while working on a murder case. In that spirit, let’s celebrate good old Dad with a few truly horrible fathers. If we’ve missed any of your favorites (or least-favorites), feel free to sound off in the comment section below.
James Coburn — “Affliction” (1998)
Having written some seminal works of cinema, “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull,” De Palma‘s “Obsession,” the cult revenge film, “Rolling Thunder,” Peter Weir‘s “The Mosquito Coast” and “The Last Temptation of Christ” to name a few, Paul Schrader’s career is largely defined as being a screenwriter. But his director’s body of work has outdone his writing work in terms of sheer volume. Fortune hasn’t been on his side of late, see the disaster that was “Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist,” the insanity that was “Adam Resurrected” (which admittedly is half awesome) and the controversy around “The Canyons.” But Schrader’s oeuvre that includes “Blue Collar,” “American Gigolo,” “Hardcore” and “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” is deeply underrated. One of his later era jewels is the 1997 drama “Affliction,” and it’s not an easy one to sit through. Like “The Place Beyond The Pines” recently, this is a fathers and sons story of legacy, sins and what we pass down to our children. But arguably, Schrader’s darker and bleaker film is much more emotionally brutal and bruising, as this tale shows the tragic consequences of passed down violence, alcoholism, and physical, emotional and verbal abuse. Nick Nolte plays a sheriff in a small town with too much time on his hands who has plenty of time to reflect on his nightmarish childhood. Inheriting his father’s alcoholism, history has repeated itself and he is also distant and callous to his wife and daughter who now despise him. While pursuing a murder case, Nolte is reunited with his movie family in the film, his monster of a father played by James Coburn and his younger brother (Willem Dafoe) who escaped his father’s abuse at a young age. The return of his abusive despot of a father for the funeral awakens a crippling emotional pain that only brings Nolte’s sheriff character closer to rock bottom and self-destruction. Searing and depressing as all get, “Affliction” is not for the faint of heart and if you can make it out of that film emotionally unscarred, you’re made of much stronger stuff than us. Coburn rightfully won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and is literally one of the cruelest and inhuman fathers ever committed to the big screen.