Jaws: Thirty-one years ago, next month, Jaws forever changed the way Hollywood would get in shape for bikini season. Not only did it prove that teenagers could almost single-handedly turn a summer thriller into a genuine blockbuster, but it also demonstrated the efficacy of opening such titles in hundreds of theaters, over a single weekend, instead of a mere handful.
American Graffiti: Word-of-mouth turned this film into a monster summer hit in 1973, and its success allowed George Lucas to realize his dream of making an intergalactic western. Loaded with stars-to-be and filmed in less than a month, Graffiti would provide a time-capsule of life in exurban America on the eve of the Vietnam War and advent of psychedelia. All that and Wolfman Jack, too.
Dirty Dancing: Frances "Baby" Houseman has the time of her life in this romantic coming-of-age drama. Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze's dance routines, while hardly dirty, ultimately break down the walls separating snobby upper-middle-class Catskills vacationers and the blue-collar summer "help." Despite Roger Ebert's single-star review, it remains an extremely popular film.
Field of Dreams: What list of summer DVDs would be complete without a movie that combined those warm-weather pastimes: baseball and farming? They built it, audiences came and grown men wept. (Kevin Costner would also play a Boy of Summer in the wonderful Bull Durham. Ask any real ballplayer, though, and it's likely his favorite baseball movie will be Major League.)
Lifeguard: Sam Elliott played a thirtysomething SoCal beach boy, who, like Peter Pan, didn't want to grow up and face the mundane challenges of manhood. A 17-year-old Kathleen Quinlan competes for his attention with his high school sweetheart, played by Anne Archer, who encourages him to act his age.
The Vacation Films: National Lampoon's Vacation, European Vacation and Vegas Vacation have become synonymous with every American family's worst nightmare of a summer road trip.
Summer in New York: If there is a worse place to be stuck in August than Las Vegas, it has to be New York City. In Spike Lee's Summer of Sam and Do the Right Thing, and Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon, the pressure cooker that is New York overheats and explodes right before your eyes.