Article written by Samuel Burnett.
Last week’s article on The Water Diviner (and my father’s less than dry-eyed reaction to the film) got me thinking about the different kind of dads that we see on the screen. Sometimes they are protectors, other times they are the comic relief, and sometimes they can even be the enemy. But, since Father’s Day is in just a few days, I thought I would take this opportunity to look over some of what I think are the best dads to appear on the screen.
Keep in mind that these characters are judged by the quality of their fatherly duties, so characters such as Darth Vader will not be appearing as his dad skills were… less than stellar.
6. Mufasa – The Lion King
While James Earl Jones’ other famous father will not be making this list due to his aforementioned lack of parental skills, I don’t think that anyone will be surprised by Mufasa’s appearance on this list. For many of us, he was this brave, larger-than-life figure that could dole out fatherly affection evenly. While he could be fierce and intimidating when the situation called for it, he was never afraid to make himself vulnerable.
For me, his most powerful scene is actually the last one he shares onscreen with his son. Simba had disobeyed his father by venturing out into the forbidden Elephant Graveyard, which nearly resulted in his death. While he and everyone expect his father to be furious, Zazu even wishing him “good luck” before leaving him with the King, Mufasa gently tells his son how frightened he was that day. When Simba, confused, asks how he could be afraid, his father replies he was afraid that he might have lost his son.
“I was [afraid] today. I thought I might lose you.”
This is followed by the iconic shot of the two lions watching the stars, Mufasa cryptically explaining the nature of death and that, no matter what, he will always watch over his son.
5. Jonathon Kent – Smallville
The prequel series to the Superman story was a YA-esque show aimed at teenagers, full of pretty young actors and actresses for the kids to gush over. So please tell me how the dads, Jonathon Kent and Lionel Luther, ended up being the most interesting characters on the show? While the latter is an amazing character, he was still a villain, so the focus will be on the former.
Jonathon Kent nearly singlehandedly made Clark Kent the man who would one day grow up to be more powerful than a locomotive. His relationship with his own father was full of regrets, which fueled his drive to ensure the same would not happen with his son.
A farmer his entire life, he had a strong work ethic and high moral values, both of which he passed onto his own son. As Clark was constantly experiencing both physical and psychological turmoil as a result of his emerging powers, Jonathon was always the solid, stable support for his son to lean on.
In short, he was the definition of a dad.
4. The Terminator T-800 Model – Terminator 2: Judgement Day
I know, I’m cheating a little here, but I don’t care. Biological dad or not, machine or not, the T-800 fits the bill of dad, and if you disagree with that statement you have clearly never seen the film.
While we were originally introduced to the terminator as a villainous monster, designed only to destroy human life, it was in the sequel that we were shown a different way of seeing the machine. Instead of aggressor, it is instead a protector, defending the boy, John Connor, against every conceivable threat, both the physical, represented by the villainous T-1000, and the emotional, represented by the boy’s actual parent, Sarah Connor.
While Sarah does care about her son, her severe PTSD has made her entirely incapable of giving the boy the warmth and parental affection he desperately needs.
Enter the T-800.
As it continues to learn more about humans, it continues to bond with John, culminating in it learning the iconic “Hasta la vista... baby” line.
As per John’s request, the terminator never takes a life, and develops human values, supporting and protecting its surrogate son.
As Sarah Connor put it:
“It would never leave him, and it would never hurt him, never shout at him, never get drunk or hit him, or say it was too busy to spend time with him. It would always be there. And it would die to protect him. Of all the would-be fathers who came and went over the years, this thing, this machine, was the only one who measured up. In an insane world, it was the sanest choice.”
3. Bryan Mills – Taken
“If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
These are the words that made the Taken franchise iconic. Just imagining Liam Neeson’s guttural whispering of the lines can send chills down your spine.
Neeson’s Bryan Miller is a man with “a very particular set of skills” and if you threaten his daughter, he will use them, and you will immediately regret your choices in life.
To put it bluntly, if his daughter is in danger, he will stop at nothing to make her safe, and he has the necessary experience and skills to follow through.
In another film, his singlemindedness, his disregard for the safety of anyone other than his daughter, and extreme willingness to utilize torture could easily make the character a villain but, in this one, it makes him necessary.
2. Joel – The Last of Us
Like Bryan Miller, Joel is a ruthlessly single-minded individual. Unlike Bryan, however, he failed to save his daughter and that loss broke him. Twenty years later, he is thrust onto the same path as a young girl named Ellie, and is forced to defend her against the threats of a dying world. Immediately, his walls are raised. No way will he risk opening himself up to that kind of pain ever again.
But, it is impossible to spend so much time alone with someone without bonding in some way and, despite his every effort, the two eventually start to form a surrogate father-daughter relationship. While neither of them was initially happy with the arrangement, by the of the story, they have each become someone that the other simply does not want to live without.
In short, they became a family.
While his decisions are often questionable, there is never a doubt that everything he does is done in an effort to avoid experiencing that crippling loss again.
He may have lost one daughter, but he will not lose a second.
1. Ray Ferrier – War of the Worlds
I know what you’re thinking? Who? Yes, I know, many of you probably don’t remember that Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise even made an adaption of The War of the Worlds, but this film stuck with me for one chilling scene.
After fleeing from the alien invaders, Ray and his ten-year-old daughter (played by the cute but cacophonic Dakota Fanning) have taken refuge in a farm basement owned by an insane man, Ogilvy.
Ogilvy’s entire family has been killed, and the loss has driven him into a manic frenzy which will, at any second, attract the aliens’ attention and will result the death of him, Ray and, most importantly, Ray’s daughter.
Ray warns him that he needs to be quiet, but Ogilvy’s mind has completely gone and he can’t hear. Ray then whispers, “Do you understand what I'm gonna have to do? I can't let my daughter die because of you.”
Ray then blindfolds his daughter, tells her to sing to herself and to ignore whatever she might hear, and then he murders Ogilvy.
Murders, not kills. There is no moment where Ogilvy initiates the fight, there is nothing to indicate that Ray acted in self-defence.
No, he murdered an insane man in cold blood to protect his daughter.
Unlike the other men on this list, Ray is not a soldier, he is not a man that has grown up in an apocalyptic hell-scape, he has no particular set of skills, nor is he a robotic machine of destruction.
Ray Ferrier is simply an ordinary man who will do anything to protect his child.
And that is what makes him the best onscreen dad.
Finally, I don’t know when you will read this, but… Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
I love you.
Thank you for being my dad.
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