-
(#9) Paris, Texas
Wim Wenders's 1984 masterpiece Paris, Texas, notable for being Kurt Cobain's favorite film, is a family odyssey of the strangest and most beautiful kind. It begins as runaway father Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) emerges from the desert, where he's been wandering incoherently for years like a Biblical prophet.
Eventually, it's revealed that Travis went crazy after after his wife, Jane (a ravishing, enigmatic Nastassja Kinski) tried to kill him by setting their house on fire. Which she did after he imprisoned her (in their home) out of obsession and jealousy. In the interim, the couple's son, Hunter, has been adopted by Travis's brother and his wife, but when Travis comes back on the scene, father and son take a clandestine road trip to find Jane and reunite Hunter with his mother.
In the end, Travis and Jane reuniting turns out to be an impossibility, and Paris, Texas ends with Harry Dean Stanton driving away after watching his son and ex-wife embrace, The theme of reconciliation and forgiveness is alive throughout, however, and the above scene, in which father and son watch Super 8 footage of happier times, is one of the loveliest moments in cinema.
-
(#7) Wild at Heart
- Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern, Crispin Glover, Sherilyn Fenn, Diane Ladd, Harry Dean Stanton, Jack Nance, Pruitt Taylor Vince, David Patrick Kelly, Sheryl Lee, Freddie Jones, Grace Zabriskie, William Morgan Sheppard, Calvin Lockhart, J. E. Freeman, Marvin Kaplan, John Lurie, Glenn Walker Harris Jr., Gregg Dandridge
"I'm only gonna sing Love Me Tender to my wife," Sailor Ripley (Nicolas Cage) tells Lula (Laura Dern) in David Lynch's cult masterpiece Wild at Heart.
At the end of a series of misadventures, Lula gets pregnant with Sailor's child. She has the baby while he's in prison for five years, serving time for a crime he's essentially been framed for. Believing himself to be unworthy of his family, the newly-released Sailor chooses to walk away from mother and son, believing they're better off without him.
But after getting bashed over the head and having a mystical and epiphanic encounter with the good witch, Sailor returns to his love in the sequence above, in which his son beams up at him as he finally serenades his wife ala Elvis. If that isn't inspiration for the very special, very artsy child who already loves David Lynch at age five, what is?
-
(#5) The Sound of Music
- Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Nicholas Hammond, Heather Menzies, Anna Lee, Richard Haydn, Kym Karath, Angela Cartwright, Ben Wright, Doris Lloyd, Norma Varden, Maria von Trapp, Peggy Wood, Marni Nixon, Charmian Carr, Portia Nelson, Bill Lee, Gilchrist Stuart, Daniel Truhitte, Debbie Turner, Duane Chase, Evadne Baker
The Sound of Music belongs on this list because of the von Trapp children's obvious attachment to Fraulein Maria as a mother figure, even before she and Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer) officially acknowledge their love. When Maria, the world's most beloved governess, decides to return to the convent to bury her love for the Captain in chastity and the Lord's house, it seems all is lost for the von Trapp brood.
When she finally returns, suitcase in hand and singing merrily, it's almost like a nearly-divorced couple getting back together. (Even if that coldhearted Baroness is standing in the background, gnashing her teeth against the backdrop of an imminent Nazi takeover).
-
(#6) All I Want for Christmas
- Lauren Bacall, Leslie Nielsen, Thora Birch, Kevin Nealon, Andrea Martin, Ethan Embry, Harley Jane Kozak, Jamey Sheridan, Camille Saviola
All I Want for Christmas is schmaltzy and cheesy, and revolves around children who hope for renewed family togetherness. The film stars Thora Birch ... who would go on to achieve cult status playing Enid in Terry Zwigoff's fabulous Ghost World ... as a little girl who asks Santa to reconcile her divorced parents.
After a series of twists and turns, everything works out for the best, and the predictable plot fairly glows with artificial Hollywood halo-light. But what else do you want from a four-quadrant Christmas film? There's always something to be said for the novelty of happy endings. And for Airplane! and Naked Gun star Leslie Nielsen as Kris Kringle.
-
(#2) Babes in Toyland
- Annette Funicello, Ed Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Ann Jillian, Bess Flowers, Ray Bolger, Kevin Corcoran, Gene Sheldon, Jack Donohue, Tommy Sands, Henry Calvin, Eileen Diamond, Bryan Russell, Jeannie Russell, Brian Corcoran, Mary McCarty, Robert Banas, John Perri, Melanie Arnold, Jerry Glenn, Marilee Arnold, Ilana Dowding, David Pinson, James Martin
Before it was the name of Kat Bjelland's band, Babes in Toyland was a surreal, beautifully Technicolored musical extravaganza for children, featuring a lost-then-found-father/mother dynamic and some memorable psychedelic montages.
The adventure begins when dastardly Barnaby (Ray Bolger, of Wizard of Oz scarecrow fame) hatches a diabolical plot to separate sweethearts Tom (Tommy Sands) and Mary (Annette Funicello). Mary lives with an enchanted brood of children, who, hoping to reconcile her with her beau, lead her through mystical forests and into the shop of an ingenious toymaker, whose assistant creates a magic gun that destroys evil Barnaby.
In the end, Tom and Mary wed, and the film's mystical orphans have their surrogate parents intact.
-
(#1) The Parent Trap
- Maureen O'Hara, John Mills, Hayley Mills, Brian Keith, Leo G. Carroll, Charlie Ruggles, Nancy Kulp, Una Merkel, Frank De Vol, Irene Tedrow, Joanna Barnes, Cathleen Nesbitt, Crahan Denton, Ruth McDevitt, Linda Watkins, Kay Cole, Lynette Winter
In The Parent Trap, Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills, those dual faces of early technological doppelganger-dom, play twins Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick, who were separated in babyhood and who accidentally (or fatefully) meet at summer camp. One lives with dad, one with mom, and through a series of ingenious pranks, they succeed in reconciling their parents. A great supporting cast of gold-digging, aspiring evil stepmothers and sage housekeepers keeps things interesting, as does mother Maggie McKendrick (Maureen O'Hara), with her enigmatically eccentric sexiness. You can easily imagine mama going on a bender and encouraging her daughters to imbibe along with her.
The Parent Trap was famously remade with Lindsay Lohan in the role of both twins, giving a whole new generation of kids false hope.
New Random Displays Display All By Ranking
About This Tool
Divorce is a rational choice for adults, but the negative impact on children cannot be ignored. What affects children's psychology and personality is the changes in family relationships and family functions, not just the family structure. Divorce has also been a hot topic for filmmakers for many years. Whether it is continuing to date after divorce or reconciling, some movies are always used to comfort the audience with romantic and beautiful endings.
Some movies about divorce truly touched the children from divorced families. They are full of expectations for a complete family and a warm growth environment. The random tool lists 9 movies that make more children expect their parents to get back together.
Our data comes from Ranker, If you want to participate in the ranking of items displayed on this page, please click here.