No matter what the weather’s like outside, a classic summer movie hits the spot. These sizzling films feature everything we love about the hottest months on the calendar, from beaches and bonfires to family vacations and summer flings. So if you’re cooped up inside the house and dreaming of summer outings, you’ll benefit from popping in one of the 5 best summer movies of all time!
1 Jaws
MCA/Universal Home Video
Be prepared to swear off swimming in natural bodies of water after rewatching Jaws. (We can only assume you’ve already seen this American classic directed by Steven Spielberg.) In the toothy tale from 1975, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, andRichard Dreyfuss star as three men tasked with tracking down a great white shark after it attacks beachgoers in the fictional New England summer resort town of Amity Island. Despite the fact that you’re more likely to be struck down by lightning or killed by fireworks than gobbled up by a shark, you may have flashbacks to this film every time you put your toes in the water. For more flicks that will freak you out, here are The 18 Best Horror Movies on Netflix Right Now.
2 Dirty Dancing
Lionsgate
Featuring the late Patrick Swayze in one of his most iconic roles, 1987’s Dirty Dancing is the kind of movie that will make you wish that all of your summers ended with an over-the-top, super romantic dance performance. Jennifer Grey co-stars as “Baby” Houseman, a young woman who falls for a dreamy dance instructor while spending the summer of 1963 at a Catskills resort with her family. And when that final unforgettable dance scene kicks off, you’ll definitely know why “nobody puts Baby in a corner.
3 Wet Hot American Summer
Eureka Pictures
Forget about canoe trips and singing “Kumbaya” by the fire when you head back to 1981 with the 2001 comedy Wet Hot American Summer. The parody of so many summer camp movies features a star-packed cast—including Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, and more—as a group of counselors who may be even wackier, weirder, and wilder than the ones you had at camp.
And if you get a laugh or two from this film, then be sure to follow it up with the story’s eight-episode Netflix prequelseries Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015) and sequel series Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017). For more laughs, here are The 30 Funniest Movies of All Time and Where to Stream Them.
4 National Lampoon’s Vacation
Warner Bros. Pictures
Watch Chevy Chase in all his glory as Clark W. Griswold, a man set on taking his family on a cross-country road trip from the Chicago suburbs to Calfornia’s Wally World, “America’s Favorite Family Fun Park.” If you’ve ever ventured on a similar expedition with your crew, you’ll get a kick out of everything this family faces while trying to convince themselves that getting there is half of the fun. And this 1983 story is just where the Griswolds get started. Follow the first film with European Vacation (1985), Christmas Vacation (1989), Vegas Vacation (1997), and the newest installment in the franchise, simply deemed Vacation (2015).
5 Point Break
20th Century Fox
How can a movie that stars Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze not be great? In 1991’s Point Break, Reeves plays Johnny Utah, a former football player-turned-federal agent who’s on the trail of a group of bank robbers. When the criminals turn out to be surfers led by ultimate endless summer-seeking beach-bum Bodhi (Swayze), Utah goes undercover to infiltrate the gang and finds himself caught up in adrenaline-fueled adventures, an unexpected romance (thanks to a character played by Lori Petty), and some mind-blowingly big waves.