Great Spring Break Flicks

Officially, my final spring break as an undergrad starts today. It’s been a while since spring break has meant anything more for me than getting to squeeze more hours in at work and trying to hang out poolside once or twice. If that’s the case for you too, here are my suggestions for some movies that give you the chance to take a vicarious vacation:

Dirty Dancing: Who wouldn’t want to take a seemingly boring trip to the Catskills if they knew a whirlwind romance with Patrick Swayze and some really hot dancing would be involved? The key to his heart? She carried a watermelon.

It Happened One Night: One of my favorite old movies, It Happened One Night may be the ultimate black and white fantasy: a cross-country road trip with Clark Gable. Gable is second in my old-time actor crush book behind only Marlon Brando (circa Streetcar Named Desire). He flirts his way from Miami to New York City with Claudette Colbert, and makes ancient busses and motels seem classy.

The Life Aquatic: I’d give anything to be able to tag along on Bill Murray’s quest to find the elusive Jaguar Shark that ate his best friend. There are a lot of fantastic-looking stop motion creatures to be seen on the Cousteau-esque adventure, and the cast of characters are too quirky to resist.

My Father the Hero: As creepy as the premise of this movie is if you dwell on it (a girl tells the guy she likes that her father is her boyfriend to make him jealous), this movie is a great spring break pick. The beach setting is enough to make any of us stuck at home damn jealous, and it’s always fascinating to see a now-famous star (in this case Katherine Heigl) in a young, early role.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: It may not be a trip any of us can actually take, but the Python gang makes coconuts, rabbits, and French people completely hilarious.

Alright, that’s it for me. I’m taking a break from posting for the rest of the week to work on some things. See you next week!