It’s Guy Movie Night
Today’s Project: Let him win the media wars as you suggest an action-packed-car-chasing-things-exploding thriller – a guy movie.
“What is it with men and The Godfather?” wonders chick-flick princess Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. Tom Hanks’ response? “It is the I Ching. It is the sum of all wisdom. The Godfather answers all of life’s questions. What should I pack for my summer vacation? ‘Leave the gun, take the cannoli.’”
One of the most marriage-testing conversations a couple can have takes place in the aisles of your local video store (or on Netflix, or on Amazon…). You want romance and subtitles – he wants guns and grunts.
Movies are an important ingredient of “The Husband Project”. There are many projects where you, as the wife, are called upon to put your husband’s wants and desires before your own, and in no area of marriage is it harder to “die to self’ than when picking what you’ll be watching on a Friday night.
The good news? Choosing to watch a “guy flick” with your man reaps double benefits – not only are you loving on your husband in a tangible way, you’re also doing research at the same time. The more Rambo-esqe cinema you take in, the deeper a peek you’ll have into your man’s inner life.
If you ever doubted that your husband’s deepest desire was to be your hero, just check out the kinds of movies he watches. Most male-movie fare is all about being a stand-up kind of guy, doing the right thing, no matter the circumstances. (Think Bruce Willis in Die Hard and Mel Gibson in The Patriot.)
Here is how my pastor, Scott Simmerok, put it when I asked him why he likes the kind of movies he does:
“Action thrillers and motivational/inspirational are the way I roll. Not scary stuff but suspenseful, who-done-it, and also underdog type movies when the little guy wins. Except I wasn’t a fan of Sea Biscuit and I’ll never admit to shedding a tear in that flick.”
So in the interest of public service to the wife community, I’ve compiled a list of guy movies for you to choose from.
This list is a compilation of the best dude movies as voted on by my guy friends. You may not like, or even approve of, every title on this list, but at least you’ll have a working knowledge of guy movie culture, plus a go-to guide the next time he leaves it up to you to fend for yourself at the video store.
Thanks to my guy friends for their insight and comments. They have preformed a great service to women everywhere.
Guy Movies
Anything with Al Pacino
Anything with Marlon Brando (pre-Don Juan Demarco)
Anything with Bruce Willis
Sports
Field of Dreams
“Baseball. Need I say more?” SteveWe are Marshall
“Inspiring, true, sports story,” Scott
Action
Back to the Future trilogy
Steve says,” I’ve always been interested in time travel. The only think that would have made it better would be a cameo by Molly Ringwald.”
Mission Impossible 1,2,3
Bourne Supremacy and all the sequels
The Net
Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King
“Great story, great action, worth sitting through three hours.” Karl
Violence
Gladiator
“Total macho movie, lots of action, however good plot and I love the soundtrack. This is one of the few movies where you don’t mind being the guy wearing the skirt.” Karl
Saving Private Ryan
Steve says, “Groundbreaking cinema, pro-military without being pro-war.”
The Shawshank Redemption
“Morgan Freeman and good over evil. What more could you ask for?” Charles
(Note from Kathi: While these are the hardest movies for me to watch, they do give me ample opportunity to bury my face in my husband’s shoulder.)
Humor
Young Frankenstein
“Seriously funny movie, quotes are memorable and make me laugh out loud whenever I think about that movie.” Karl
Oceans 11
Romance
(This was a trick category – if you think this falls under guy movies, you are still thinking like a chick.)
Movies Both Guys and Girls Like
This is a magical list. Every Hollywood producer is looking for that mystical intersection of entertaining males and delighting females. Here’s a group of movies that, from my research, is a pretty sure bet for both of you:
Princess Bride – Don’t let the title fool you – even the teenage boys in our home love this movie.
What’s Up, Doc?
Indiana Jones (1 and 3 – but don’t even bother with 2)
City Slickers
Field of Dreams
Shrek
Chick Flicks
Only to be watched with girlfriends and large supplies of tissues and chocolates.
- An Affair to Remember
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s
- Steel Magnolias
- Fried Green Tomatoes
- Say Anything (John Cusack declaring his eternal love with a boom box? It’s the fantasy of many a girl and the impossible-to-live-up-to standard for every guy.)
- Anything with Meg Ryan
- Anything written by Jane Austin
So tell me – what kind of movies are your guy’s favorite? And for this week’s project, are you going to let him pick, or are you going to surprise him with a movie of his choice. Let me know in the comments below, and you will be entered to win TWO COPIES of the Marriage Project (one for you, and one for your man!)
That’s just two things:
What kind of movies does your guy like?
When are you going to watch a movie he would like this week?
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I know I’m late to this, but I’m just catching up on email. Hubby likes the Rocky movies.
Hi Kathi,
I got an email saying I won for this day! Yippee!! But it wasn’t actually from you (and didn’t have any of your links in it). Just wanted to make sure the email was legitimate before I sent my address??? Thanks for the help.
Lindsey Bell
He picked “in Time” we both liked it but thought it needed more action lol
Really? Yucky movies? You drive a hard bargain! I think we should stick to the snacks. Ha! Ha! Just kidding….
So i rented this cool action packed movie called Killer Elite with Jason Statham….I tried my very best to follow, but I did make it. Turns out at the end he says it was great seeing it AGAIN!! You believe that? H rented it on demand last week :/ oh well…liked it enough to sit through the whole thing again before he even mentioned it! Love my life
Being an MP, any war, military or police action flick is an instantaneous favorite for my husband. And of course we have at least one copy of all of them on either DVD or VHS or both (lol).
I watched GI Joe on my husband’s iPad IN BED last week when my parents were staying with us for seven long days. Does that count as “taking one for the team” in the movie department?? I sure hope so!!
My hubby loves the Bourne Supremecy series!
Read this right before my hubby got home so I staked out the tv guide to see what was on. After dinner he asked if there were any shows to watch on the DVR, so I said…No, but James Bond is on! His eyes got so big! And then he did this hilarious little happy dance. I think this challenge is officially a success 🙂 haha
the old Hawaii 5-O on DVD
My Husband LOVES those really really old BORING westerns! Guess I have to give in for a night huh? LOL!
My hubby loves war and western flicks. He will be out of town for work, but I’ll let him choose when he gets home. I usually fall asleep anyway. 😉
duh, meant to say we watched it last night!!
my hubby likes action scifi stuff, we watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes – it was great!
Fortunately I prefer the action movies to chick flicks so my hubby loves that. I don’t like horror movies but those aren’t his favorite anyway. We just got Green Lantern via Netflix so we’re watching that next. @ Heidi, my hubby likes strategy board games too. His fav is Awful Green Things From Outer Space. I’ve played it a few times with him, ug. That would be showing him true love to play that with him this weekend, lol.
My hubby likes comedies and action flicks. And yes, I definitely need to let him choose. He’s always so great about letting me pick the movies!
I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but what I found missing from your list is The Matrix. It is the opposite of what I find entertaining in movies, but it would be my pick if I am putting my interests aside for the sake of my husband’s movie enjoyment.
My husband loves the comic book type of movies: like Xmen, GI Joe – he wants to see the new Avengers movie coming this year. And a bunch of the ones you mentioned. But if I really want to show the love to my husband, I’ll spend the evening playing a strategy board game with him, like Risk, Stratego, or Killer Bunnies. Yes, that’s right, Killer Bunnies. It is a hilarious, very LONG and kind of complicated game, but it’s his fav!
My husband likes a wide range of movies. Among his all time favorites are Shawshank Redemption, Band of Brothers (TV Series), and most things with Tom Cruise. I LOVE Shawshank too! He loves war movies and I usually never want to watch them so maybe Saving Private Ryan this week…
My husband likes all kinds of movies (he’ll even watch chick flicks with me and disney with our girls). He has many favorites… so I will stop by the red box and pick a good guy flick just for him.
My Hubby like sports, action and violence. He also likes anything that has a deeper meaning to it, The Blind Side. We usually do Friday evenings as movie night. I usually let him pick what he wants (when he is gone, which is a lot, my daughter and I watch what we want). So Friday night we will be watching some guy flick. 😉
My husband likes the typical “guy” movies. He’s big into thrillers and suspense movies but has given up watching them because I scare do easily. We watch one episode of Criminal Minds and I have bad dreams. Pitiful. So being the wonderful man that he is, he is okay with just watching comedies (my favorite). I owe it to him to watch something he likes and maybe we can meet in the middle and watch an action filled movie! I’ll ask him what HE wants to watch and help urge him to pick one of his guilty pleasure movies.
We’ll do that on Friday night as our in home date night! Great idea!
Rambo-yuck! What a great idea! And just to be clear, I actually have to stay in the room, the whole time? Sounds like a great time to clean the bathroom or anywhere other than the living room to me!
We (aka me watching with my hubby as an act of love) just finished the 4 part mini-series Lonesome Dove. We’ll probably move along to Return to Lonesome Dove. Lots of people die in this movie but it is a cowboy classic, and he loves it.
My hubs choice was Full Metal Jacket. He gets the movie choice 8-9 times out if 10. Boy, do I love him.
My husband does like the action/thriller movies and has been making suggestions to try to get me to go see one…but the thought of spending the price of two movie tickets and a date night on one seems quite torturous to say the least 🙂 However, I do love my husband and it would be a nice gesture. Some of the ones I’ve seen in the past have not turned out so bad. And I’m sure he’s had to go into more than a few “chick flicks” with the same thoughts. So, I plan to “google” around today and come up with a movie for us to see on Friday night….and will go into this “challenge” of the project with a positive attitude!
Hubby is a comic book guy so he likes all the Super Hero flicks. Dan is in Afghanistan now (just 3 months left!), but the week before he left we watched X-men Origins and Captain America.
When he gets back we will be seeing The Avengers. It comes out just 2 weeks before he’s home and the day he leaves Afghanistan I’m planning to buy tickets for our date!
Fortunately I dig a lot of ‘guy movies’ so I get points for watching and mostly enjoying them, but I draw the line at the war stuff. Some things you just can’t unsee.
My man loves all things Star Wars. We’ll be seeing the 3d version when it opens this weekend.
I think we’d have to watch Road House, or some long show on the Discovery channel, Science channel etc. Our movie nights are usually Friday or Saturdays so I’ll have to start checking the tv guide for some good choices!
My husband likes a wide variety of movies – lots of action , some silly, and even the occasional Matilada, the children’s movie :o)
I will diagres about Say Anything – we have watched that together many time and my husband even OWED it on VHS when we met. Swoon!
Friday will probably be the first chance we get to sit together and watch a movie – after pondering it this way… I am looking forward to it!
You forgot two other chick flicks…The Lake House and Last Holiday… 🙂 And if your guy is a geek (like mine) The entire Harry Potter series, and all the Star Trek movies, and the original three Star Wars movies (starting with chapter four- not those pre-quels!)
I love to watch almost everything hubby does except the ones where I loose IQ points. A good Bruce Willis one for you gals would be Unbreakable. Love it and he’s a “superhero”. We will see what he picks tonight… But he’s sick and might just want to sleep! 🙂
I think you forgot the Crocodile Dundee movies (“You call that a knife? hehe THIS is a knife!”)
My husband has a wide variety of movies he likes. So I’ll be letting him pick this Friday evening.
My guy likes The Lord of the Rings, action, and Star Wars/Star Trek/Stargate sci-fi. He is in the process of watching the Battlestar Galactica TV series on Netflix. He is currently out of town on business, but will be back in time for Friday movie night!
He was so very excited to get full control of movie night & I am ashamed to admit – surprisingly, I actually enjoyed Conan.
Lord of the Rings on Friday night
My husband loves movies with deep philosophical interpretations. What we need to watch are Matrix 2 and 3, as I FINALLY saw Matrix with him during Christmas break. I’ll be out of town, but I’ll make sure we watch at least Matrix 2 before Valentine’s Day.
He loves war movies and cop movies. He also likes batman, green lantern and the likes. I can handle those, too. We will watch whatever he wants. I am just rooting for superhero movies! Lol
Blackhawk Down is my man’s all-time fave.
Some others he’ll watch over and over again: Shawn of the Dead, The Godfather (the first or second, NOT the third), Air Force One (but he worked on it, so he picks it apart), and Caddyshack.
ooey, gooey, bloody horror movies. yuck. Start the Husband project with my MOPS group Friday.. sigh.. I see one of those yucky movies in my future..
My husband likes funny movies like The Hang Over so I will let him pick a movie to watch tomorrow night
I never thought of Shawshank Redemption as violent, more like movies both guys and girls like. But it’s been a long time since I last saw it, maybe I’m selectively forgetting the violence.
My man likes the action/thriller movies, and I can tolerate those as long as Liam Neeson or Matt Damon is in them. I just have trouble following them. But that’s ok, just give me some eye candy and I’ll make it through! 😉
I’ll let him pick Wed night when the kids are in church. I’m confident he’ll pick in what I consider a “safe” category if I’m going to watch with him. We’ll see!
Hey Kimberlee – Shawshank is one of my top three favorite movies of all times – I LOVE it. But there is an implied rape scene and a hanging. Maybe I’m a bit squeamish 🙂