Family Movie Nights

To help families spend time together and share common experiences, The Leadership Institute provides recommendations for Family Movie Night. Each week, a new movie recommendation and explanation is available for your consideration. Enjoy the show!

If you are looking to see where a particular movie is streaming or is available online, please visit https://www.justwatch.com

The Sound of Music
This week’s film is an iconic classic celebrating its 60th anniversary this month. In pre-World War II Austria, a free-spirited young woman named Maria (Julie Andrews) leaves her abbey as… Read More
Sounder
In rural Louisiana during the Great Depression, David Lee Morgan is the oldest son of a family of poor sharecroppers. His father, desperate to feed his hungry children, steals food… Read More
Babes in Toyland
Here’s a lesser-known Disney classic as Christmastide continues, based on the 1903 operetta of the same name. In a whimsical village called Mother Goose Land, nursery rhyme characters live together… Read More
The Kid
This week’s film is the opposite of a recent release. Charlie Chaplin’s first feature-length film is over a century old, and although it’s a silent film, it remains a charming… Read More
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Why not start the summer with a classic family musical? In early 20th century England, eccentric but unlucky inventor Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke) and his two children rescue an… Read More
The Great Escape
As it was just Memorial Day, here’s a classic film that’s a must-see for any movie lover. During World War II, Allied prisoners from across Europe converge at a new… Read More
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
As the US just experienced another solar eclipse, this week’s movie features perhaps the most famous use of an eclipse as a plot device. When mechanic Hank Martin (Bing Crosby)… Read More
A Matter of Life and Death
When Royal Air Force pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) is forced to jump from his plane without a parachute, he expects to die. So he’s surprised to wake up on… Read More
Remember the Night
Here’s one last Christmas classic as Christmastide comes to an end. Prosecutor Jack Sargent (Fred MacMurray) knows he’ll get a guilty verdict for a woman on trial for shoplifting, but,… Read More
12 Angry Men
When a group of twelve jurors retreat to the jury room to deliberate the case of a young man accused of murdering his father, all the jurors but one are… Read More
Bicycle Thieves
Here’s a famous Italian classic from the Vatican’s 1995 list of great films. In post-World War II Rome, Antonio is struggling to find work to support his family. He finds… Read More