Top 10 Movie Thunderstorms
As a tried, true, proud Midwesterner there are few times of year that get me excited quite like those days in May when the sky turns dark mid-afternoon, distant thunder rumbles, the blessed aroma of rain fills the air, and weathermen on all the local channels fire up their doppler and prepare to cut in every five minutes to break down the action.
In that spirit, today I present my Top 10 Movie Thunderstorms. A disclaimer: first, this list is wee bit subjective. To start, I’m not entirely certain everything on this list is technically considered a “thunderstorm” but they are all close enough. Second, as is typical of most of my Top 10 lists, these aren’t necessarily the “best” (because this category is so random I don’t think the “best” could be determined anyway) but personalized and based primarily on my own relationship to the moments.
10. Caddyshack
Nature Announces Intentions. Man Arrogantly/Gleefully Defies Nature. Nature Shows What’s What.
9. Jurassic Park
Re-proves the longheld theory that if taking a weekend vacation to an island where dinosaurs have been re-created, you should try to pick a weekend where a tropical storm isn’t in the forecast.
8. Born On The 4th of July
You wouldn’t necessarily figure Oliver Stone for an Audrey Hepburn-movie reference but a little ways into his opus about Vietnam vet Ron Kovics (Tom Cruise), the youthful version of the protagonist who has stayed home from his senior prom on account of messing up his chance to squire pretty Kyra Sedgwick has a change of heart and dashes off to the dance in a driving rain where he finds his one true love to the sounds of, yes, Moon River. Sigh. Who knew Ollie was such a romantic?
7. Breakfast at Tiffany’s
So the kiss-in-the-rain wasn’t in the book? So what? And Capote went wah-wah-wah all the way home.
6. The Perfect Storm
My favorite moment in Wolfgang Peterson’s box office smash from 2000 is just before our intrepid fishermen aboard the Andrea Gail are set to enter the storm of the century that provides the film its title. All six men stand at the edge of the boat, gazing at the terrifying meteorological spectacle itself, on the very cusp of which they stand. It is an altogether quiet moment, save for one crack of thunder, and then Clooney’s captain orders them back inside. All the 775 foot high waves to follow can’t match it.
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29 Comments
That’s a great list! Especially love “Wizard of Oz” and “Breakfest at Tiffany’s”. I also like rain scenes in “The Two Towers” and “Take Shelter” but I don’t think there are actual thunders there
I love this top 10! For no reason I love a good thunderstorm! It doesn’t have a thunderstorm in it but I always like to watch Night of the Living Dead or Young Frankenstein during a summer thunderstorm…
This is a good list. Any mention of that scene in Caddyshack will have me saying… RAT FARTS!!!
I guess I’m going to be the one to say it… how is TAKE SHELTER not on this list?
I second Take Shelter!
Point taken. The thunderstorm in “Take Shelter” is a good one and I loved that movie. It didn’t occur to me when I was making this list, though, and that’s because I think I view that thunderstorm more as a hallucination of the character and for this list I was going more for real storms.
If that makes any sense.
Great list! Especially after a massive thunderstorm we got a few days ago. My hubby and I woke up in the middle of the night and actually went down to the basement just in case!
Glad to see ‘Jurassic Park’ on here, as if the storm wasn’t scary enough, they had a giant T-Rex to contend with!
Boo! Picaboo!
???
Cool list … Caddyshack, Back to the Future and The Wizard of Oz are definitely my favorites!
This list is hilarious. I tip my cap. Including Psycho was inspired.
Great list. My favorite has gotta be Back to the Future. Of course, I’m a huge Back to the Future fanboy.
Fun list, Nick! I have been really enjoying the last week of stormy weather around here. My favorite part of spring.
Mine too. Definitely. I always feel bad for people who are affected in a negative way by tornadoes, though. I suppose I just want severe thunderstorm warnings and maybe a tornado watch. The tornado watch is always dramatic. I just don’t want anything to happen beyond it.
Hi, Nick and company:
Exceptional list. Well done!
I particularly like the thunderstorm in ‘The Big Sleep’ and the hinted interlude between Bogart’s Marlowe and Dorothy Malone.
I also enjoy the thunderstorm at the beginning of ‘Hellboy’ and the storm augmented storm in ‘The Road to Perdition’.
The Road to Perdition thunderstorm is a good one. I realized, too, from your comment I forgot to namecheck Dorothy Malone in my post. Corrected. Thank you!
Hi, Nick:
You’re welcome.
Though you may want to check again.
Ms. Malone’s glasses were Pince Nez. Without ear lugs. Not horn rimmed. Though horn rimmed glasses keeps more in the male fantasy of the naught librarian.
Pince Nez? Interesting. Was “The Big Sleep” subtly subverting the cliche?
“CGI ain’t got s*** on this muslin sock.”
I can’t even with you and your quotable quotes. And by “I can’t even”, I mean carry on, by all means.
(The first thunderstorm that came to mind is the one in The Sound of Music. Make of that what you will.)
Ha! Thank you, sir. And Sound of the Music. I’ll allow it.
Great choices but for me nothing can top Back to the Future. One of the most exciting sequences in cinema ever!
…I love it too. I think it’s great because it is so pivotal to the plot and crucially the ending.
Aww man, I love Twister! Maybe I shouldn’t be admitting that so freely! It does have an epic thunderstorm!
Jurassic Park always wins for me. It’s got a freaking T-rex in it!
Me too but I have a soft spot for every film starring Bill Paxton – a true unsung Hollywood hero!
I actually have a larger soft spot for “Twister” than I led on in this post, although I think a lot of that has to do with the locations.
What an original list Nick…good stuff. I love a good Hollywood rain scene so storms act as a nice extension of that. Terrific choice for number…what else could be there. Great to see Back to the Future. It’s wonderful how the storms play key parts in the plots of the films.
Thanks, Dan! I appreciate that!
This is a fun list. As a fellow Midwesterner I blush to admit I’ve never given the topic any thought before, but I think my personal list would have to include the thunderstorm in “The Natural”. Nature giving vent to Roy’s grief at his father’s death and offering up the tree he would make his famous bat from.
“The Natural”! Nice choice! That one honestly never even occurred to me.
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