The 12 Best Beach Movies of All Time

The Endless Summer (1966)

Bruce Brown's gorgeous, liberating documentary captured the spirit of a new subculture that was putting into action what the Beach Boys had only put on vinyl. This celluloid travelogue follows two real-life California surfers — Mike Hynson and Robert August — as they crisscross the globe chasing the perfect wave. With stops in Australia, Tahiti, Africa and a passport's worth of other pristine far-flung locales, these young adventurers are not only out to prove that it's always summer somewhere, they're also pioneers of a new kind of seeking nomadic lifestyle as they follow their hang-ten bliss to the ends of the earth.

Watch it: The Endless Summer, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes,

Jaws (1975)

Based on Peter Benchley's nail-biting best seller, Steven Spielberg's proto-blockbuster remains essential viewing whenever summer rolls around. Filmed on Martha's Vineyard (renamed Amity Island in the film), Jaws is a white-knuckle horror movie about a town terrorized by a bloodthirsty great white who turns the island's more unfortunate inhabitants into chum. Roy Scheider as the police chief, Richard Dreyfuss as a twitchy marine biologist and Robert Shaw as a fearless and surly shark hunter head out to sea aboard a rickety old fishing boat to battle nature and test themselves. A lot gets written about how Spielberg's film changed Hollywood for the worse by ushering in an era of sensational event movies, but the charge is unfair, because Jaws is as much of a master class in suspense as Tinseltown would ever deliver. Scheider says it all when he says: “You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Watch it: Jaws, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Point Break (1991)

Director Kathryn Bigelow elevated the mindless action-movie genre with this macho cat-and-mouse thriller about a cocky undercover cop (Keanu Reeves) who infiltrates a gang of surfer-dude bank robbers led by Patrick Swayze's adrenaline junkie Bodhi. The film's action set pieces crackle with third-rail electricity, the twisty plot hums along like a runaway freight train, and the acting (especially from Swayze) is far better than it needs to be in a film like this, turning what could have easily been a disposable potboiler into a surprisingly effective SoCal morality play.

Watch it: Point Break, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

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How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)

Romantic escapism doesn't come sunnier and more sultry than this adaptation of Terry McMillan's feminist novel about a successful professional woman who's unlucky in love. As Stella, Angela Bassett hits all the right notes of romantic rejection, lonely aimlessness and finally passionate rejuvenation as she heads to Jamaica to lick her wounds and rediscover her mojo in the sun. The arrival of Taye Diggs certainly doesn't hurt her disposition either, even though he's half her age. He's exactly what Stella needs.

Watch it: How Stella Got Her Groove Back, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

The Beach (2000)

After the unparalleled box-office success of Titanic, any movie that Leonardo DiCaprio chose to star in as his follow-up would have been dissected under a microscope and ripped to shreds. But this exotic thriller certainly deserved a better fate than it received at the time. Adapted from Alex Garland's page-turner, The Beach is a cracking mystery about an adventurous backpacking expat on the hunt for a little-known pristine beach in Thailand. He finds it. And it's a sugar-granulated slice of turquoise heaven. Unfortunately, he also discovers a Conradian Heart of Darkness that quickly turns his tropical paradise into a hellish nightmare. Looking at this untouched beach, though, it might just have been worth it.

Watch it: The Beach, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Y Tu Mamá También (2001)

Director Alfonso Cuarón's sensual coming-of-age import stars Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna as hormonal best pals looking for romance. They find it when they meet an unhappily married older woman (Maribel Verdú) at a ritzy Mexico City wedding. The three hop in a car and take a road trip on a quest to find a legendary perfect beach called Boca del Cielo. They all have their reasons for going, which we discover along the way. As the teenage boys both try in their fumbling ways to seduce Verdú's Luisa, it's clear throughout that she's the one calling the shots, patiently teaching them life lessons about how becoming a man means more than just hooking up. Renowned cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki captures the sun-kissed Mexican surf with a painter's eye.

Watch it: Y Tu Mamá También, on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube

Blue Crush (2002)

For decades, movies about surfing and surfers treated their female characters as little more than bikini-festooned window dressing. What makes director John Stockwell's Blue Crush worth watching is how it refreshingly moves its women from the background to the foreground. Based on the magazine article “Surf Girls of Maui” by Susan Orlean, this subtly feminist surfing adventure stars Kate Bosworth as an aspiring wave-rider in Hawaii who enters a dangerous surfing competition (alongside Michelle Rodriguez) and manages to conquer her fears. The action — not to mention the locale — is filmed so gorgeously that you might just find yourself booking a one-way flight to Maui before it's over.

Watch it: Blue Crush, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Mamma Mia! (2008)

What could be more alluring than the azure waters of Greece? How about the azure waters of Greece set to the glorious bubblegum pop of Abba? Mamma Mia! may have begun its life as infectiously splashy stage musical, but part of the reason it works even better on screen is the way the story opens up to take advantage of its idyllic Mediterranean setting. The whole thing looks like a screensaver. And then there's the wonderfully strange sight of America's most revered thespian, Meryl Streep, cutting loose, footloose and fancy free, belting out “Dancing Queen.” Seventies nostalgia never tasted this sweet … and the Greek isles never looked this enticing.

Watch it: Mamma Mia!, on Amazon Prime, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube

Chris Nashawaty, former film critic for Entertainment Weekly, is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and a contributor to Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.