Film Guru Lad's Top 6 Movie Dads

Hello, this is your favourite blogger RadDingo here and those who were born or lived in Australia would know that today is Father's Day (Sunday 6th). In theme with our celebration of our fathers, here's a list of the top movie dads that helped establish the dynamic onscreen relationships between father/son and father/daughter. This list will include films such as 'Star Wars' and 'The Lion King'. My selection criteria included whether they were worthy of being a role model, or if they had interesting characteristic flaws like being estranged, absent, comically inept or overly serious.

#6. Jor-El (Superman)

Our first candidate is Jor-El, (no, not the
one in 'Man of Steel'). The
original interpretation of this
character serves as a sort of
a spiritual guide to his
son Kal-El (famously known as
Superman or as his 

human alter ego Clark Kent);

after Jor-El sacrificed himself 

to save the infant 

from the destruction of 

Planet Krypton. It helps 

that even within death,
Jor-El can be seen teaching his son through holograms of his wisdom. The character was portrayed by Marlon Brando who also played another famous dad as Don Vito Corleone in 'The Godfather'.

#5. Darryl Kerrigan (The Castle)

It's no surprise that when 

you meet average people 

in Australia like Darryl 

Kerrigan. He is not only 

a loving husband and a 

tow truck driver, but is a 

kind-hearted patriarch to 

his children. This good-

natured, optimistic father 

may not be as comical 

as Clark Griswold in the 

'National Lampoon' series but is able to get along well with his children and prevent them, his wife, neighbours and himself from being forced off their homes by the Aussie government. 

#4. Cooper (Interstellar)

While not the best of the
cinematic dads, Cooper does
what is best for his own
children even drifting in
outer space to save the 

world's population from
extinction. Before this
distant relationship had
happened to Cooper, in 
the movie's first half he was 
able to maintain a decent 
fatherly bond to his children, 
yes, even his own daughter whom he calls her Murph is affectionate towards her. It would take years after his time in space that he would then reunite with his daughter when after communication through the black hole that they would see each other again.

#3. Henry Jones (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)

Judging from where Indy
gets his obsession with

artefacts from Henry
Jones is a work-detached
father who is never around
with his son because of
his time spending his

research with the Holy Grail
and the two would then
reunite as the former sets out
to rescue him from the Nazis.
Besides all the differences
that both of them had in
their previous lives, they wonderfully provide their impeccable father/son chemistry and this is because director Steven Spielberg has cast old James Bond actor Sean Connery to get on good terms with the supporting role.

#2. Mufasa (The Lion King) 

This list of the top six
characters couldn't be
completed without Mufasa
who is Simba's kingly
powerful father and is 

teaching him the ways in 

the circle of life. Though 

normally Simba does very 

little to follow in his father's 

paws until his evil

treacherous uncle Scar kills
him in the middle of the
stampede and places the guilt into Simba's head to forget this responsibility of ruling the pride lands and leave. However, this couldn't have happened when after Simba was being raised by two companions and then got older, as his ghost suddenly appears and tells him that he must take his place as king and defeat Scar in battle. The true fact within this character is that he is voiced by James Earl Jones who also does a voice of the galaxy's notorious father Darth Vader.

#1. Darth Vader (Star Wars)

And finally, our last dad to be
on this category is Darth 

Vader. Though not the 

greatest dad in the universe, 

especially when he chops off 

his son's hand to have him 

disarmed in a lightsaber duel 

or he is unaware that he 

tortured his daughter when 

he intends to find the
location of the Rebel
Alliance. Furthermore, he is 
a compelling character that 
is downright responsible for 
the main plot twist in 'The Empire Strikes Back' when he reveals himself to Luke as his own father. To his shocking discovery, Luke was then able to get away from Vader's clutches to have him at his side if not for the horrifying truth. Fortunately, Vader redeems himself in Return of the Jedi when he gives his own life to save his son from being killed by the Emperor.

Honourable Mentions

Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible (The Incredibles)

Mr. Miyago (The Karate Kid)

Homer Simpson (The Simpsons Movie)