Ah summer. The heat. The beach. School's out. Surf's up. It's easier to smile. It's easier to laugh. Love is found and lost. Vacations are memorable. But then the heat makes blood boil and there's murder and mayhem. Love perhaps finds a wrong course. It's all captured in the best summer movies. Here they are - in no particular order:
1. Dirty Dancing (1987)
The Houseman family takes a trip to Kellerman's resort, but Baby (Jennifer Grey) is more interested in dance instructor Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze).
2. Jaws (1975)
It's summer. And there's an unwelcome visitor in the waters off Amity Island.
3. Weekend at Bernie's (1989)
Two nerds uncover their boss's embezzlement. Cue the beach house, a dead body and some mobsters. And a lot (and I mean a lot) of laughs.
4. Summer Holiday (1963)
Cliff Richard and gang head across Europe in a converted double decker London bus. Buy at amazon.com
5. The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Businessman Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) packs off the wife and kids to the coast, only to get the hots for his new neighbour, known only as The Girl (Marilyn Monroe).
6. The Parent Trap (1998)
Whether it's Hayley Mills or Lindsay Lohan, the story of separated twins finding each other is a charm.
7. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)
Two bored and horny teenagers (Gael Garcu00eda Bernal and Diego Luna) talk a hot older woman (Maribel Verdu00fa) into traveling with them to an exotic beach. The catch? They've made it up.
8. Stand by Me (1986)
The kids are off school and there's a dead body to be seen.
9. Summertime (1955)
Katharine Hepburn stuns as a teacher on a trip of a lifetime to Venice.
10. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
A vacation opportunity of a lifetime. A threesome in the steamy heat of Barcelona.
11. The Great Outdoors (1988)
Chalk-and-cheese in-laws - easygoing Chet Ripley (John Candy) and snobbish Roman Craig (Dan Akroyd) - are forced to share a camping holiday.
12. Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
Summer camp as only Wes Anderson knows how.
13. The Graduate (1967)
It's Benjamin's last summer before he enters the real world after graduating college. What will occupy him?
14. Les Vacances De M. Hulot (1953)
M. Hulot (Jacques Tati) gets in his car and drives to the seaside, where every effort to chill out ends in disaster.
15. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
Teens start getting death threats from a hook-handed fisherman who witnessed last year's unfortunate hit-and-run accident.
16. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
A road trip with a difference. A coke sniffing granddad, a failed business man, an attempted suicide, a beauty pageant, a kid who's given up talking and a VW camper van. Enough said.
17. Caddyshack (1980)
Students like Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) take jobs caddying at Bushwood Country Club, but their eyes are on the women rather than the green.
18. Betty Blue (1986)
Casual work and casual sex by the beach for Jorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) when he meets Betty (Beatrice Dalle).
19. American Graffiti (1973)
Youth and Rock and Roll. It's 1962. It's the last summer before leaving for college.
20. The Wackness (2008)
Finding love on vacation in Fire Island thanks to therapy and weed.
21. Adventureland (2009)
What do you do when your European vacation plans go awry? You go to work for the summer in a theme park.
22. Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)
The forerunner of all family road trip and vacation movies. Mr. Hobbs endures family and a clapped out rental - all sent to try him.
23. My Summer of Love (2004)
In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona meets the exotic, pampered Tamsin. They have much to teach one another, and much to explore together.
24. Addams Family Values (1993)
The kids from the world's weirdest and kookiest family go to summer camp.
25. Friday the 13th (1980)
Camp Crystal Lake reopens. Why. But why?
26. Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
What do you do when you can't afford to pay for your lover's operation? You stage a bank robbery on a scorching hot summer day.
27. Deliverance (1972)
What would have been a great summer canoe trip ends up to be a battle for survival.
28. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)
The Griswold family's cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park proves to be much more arduous than they ever anticipated.
29. Almost Famous (2000)
A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour.
30. Dazed and Confused (1993)
The last day of high school. What will be the graduating class's legacy?
31. On Golden Pond (1981)
The story of a fractured family's lakeside vacation.
32. Summer of '42 (1971)
A coming-of-age movie about sex-obsessed teenagers during a bygone era.
33. Meatballs (1979)
Can a lackadaisical camp counselor bring a misfit camper out of his shell to give a rival camp a good going over?
34. Little Darlings (1980)
Two girls compete to see who can lose their virginity first at summer camp. Buy at amazon.com
35. Blue Crush (2002)
An action packed surfing flick where the hot surfers are girls.
36. Insomnia (2002)
Set against the 24 hours of daylight Alaskan Summer, Robin Williams and Al Pacino investigate the death of a local teen.
37. Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
You really have to see this. Beach parties. Street gangs. Kidnapping. Sky-diving surfers. And a mermaid!
38. The Endless Summer (1966)
Surfers in search of the perfect wave.
39. Now and then (1995)
u201cStand by Meu201d for girls. Buy at amazon.com
40. Do the Right Thing (1989)
Spike Lee's take on racial tensions in the black neighborhood surrounding a local pizza shop in sweltering Brooklyn.
41. The River Wild (1994)
Meryl Streep and family fight off armed robbers while white-water rafting. Enjoy the scenery!
42. Mystic Pizza (1988)
Pizzeria waitresses have their own romantic storylines during their summer in Mystic, Connecticut.
43. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
A send up of the teen comedies of the '80s. itunes.apple.com
44. The Flamingo Kid (1984)
Matt Dillon takes on a summer job at the upscale El Flamingo Beach Club striving to transcend his working-class Brooklyn roots. Buy at amazon.com
45. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005)
To stay in touch over the summer, four best friends share a pair of magical jeans, sending them to each other along with stories of their adventures.
46. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
The story of two cowboys whose love grew over a summer sheep herding in the mountains.
47. A Walk on the Moon (1999)
The summer brings a man to the moon and free love to a small farm near Woodstock, shaking up the safe, happy life of a vacationing housewife.
48. Rear Window (1954)
In a blistering Greenwich Village heatwave, a wheelchair bound photographer believes he sees a neighbor kill his wife through his window.
49. The Inbetweeners Movie (2011)
Simon, Jay, Neil and Will go on holiday to Crete. The usual idiocy, gross outness, gaucheness and awkwardness follow them, naturally. Buy at amazon.com
50. The Great Gatsby (2013)
It's so easy to forget this fabulous movie is set in the sweltering summer of 1922.
So which ones did I miss, in your opinion?