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When I started researching movies that were set during fall, or mostly fall, I did not realize I would find so many. So here they are, for your viewing pleasure, all twenty two of them. You may know some, as they are quite famous, while others might be new. Here’s to the ones you don’t know so they can be a new discovery.
The one that gets the big profile photo has to be, unavoidably, When Harry Met Sally, which is a classic. But more great movies follow, in no particular order of preference.
Who doesn’t know the now legendary scene in the diner when a brilliant Meg Ryan fakes an orgasm in public? I think the lady who says “I want what she’s having.” is now as famous as Meg herself.
The story follows Sally (Meg Ryan) and Harry (Billy Crystal) as their friendship develops into something more in an irresistible romantic comedy filled with wit and laced with exceptional music.
Also starring Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, with music by Harry Connick Jr.
Click here for trailer on YouTube.
Richard Gere plays a successful Manhattan restaurateur who is used to casual romances, until he meets beautiful, vivacious and much younger Wynona Ryder. This is a touching love story and you may want to watch it with a box of tissue by your side… and maybe some chocolate.
An ever so brilliant Robin Williams plays professor John Keating who, along with English, tries to inspire his students at an exclusive prep academy to carpe diem, seize the day and live life to the fullest.
A beautiful, touching and poignant coming of age movie.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
You know this movie, right?
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay for this movie, while Robin Williams received the Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The movie also won a series of other awards and received many more nominations.
Matt Damon plays Will Hunting, an abused ex foster child, who works as a janitor at M.I.T. all the while having the brain of a brilliant mathematician. But in order to heal his past and find his potential future, he needs the help of psychologist Sean Maguire (Williams).
Also starring: Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver and Casey Affleck. Directed by Gus Van Sant.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Set in London, the movie follows blushing bride Rachel (Piper Perabo) who finds life takes a surprising turn on her wedding day. Quite refreshing, this is a fun and funny romantic comedy enriched by a talented cast.
Also starring: Lena Deadey, Matthew Goode, Celia Imrie, Anthony Head, and Darren Boyd.
I discovered this movie by chance a few years ago and it has become a favorite.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
In the movie that propelled Reese Witherspoon to stardom, we giggle and cheer along with Elle Woods, a blonde sorority queen, as she takes on the challenge of Harvard law school to try to win her boyfriend back. There she discovers a lot more about herself and just how much she enjoys being a lawyer. In pink, of course!
Co-starring: Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, Jennifer Coolidge, Holland Taylor.
You do know this movie, too, right?
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Based on a true story, the movie sees Rudy (Sean Astin), a “never good enough” boy from a blue collar family destined to follow his father and brothers in the local steel mill, fight for his dream to play football for Notre Dame.
Also starring Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Charles S. Dutton and Lili Taylor.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Sara (Charlize Theron) is a free-spirited pet groomer who lives life as it comes. Nelson (Keanu Reeves) is an executive who is living life on the edge. When a ‘chance’ encounter brings them together they will live a love story that will change Nelson’s life forever.
Also starring Jason Isaacs, Greg Germann and Frank Langella among others.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
An unusual house by the lake, a lonely doctor (Sandra Bullock), a frustrated architect (Keanu Reeves), a dog and an exchange of love letters. Will they ever unravel the mystery behind this extraordinary love story?
Christopher Plummer and Ebon Moss-Bachrach costar in this beautiful movie that is among my favorites.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan play Joe Fox and adorable Kathleen Kelly, two business competitors in the book industry as they hate each other in person but fall in love over in a chat room on the internet.
But you must know this movie!
The brilliant cast is rounded out by Greg Kenner, Parker Posey, Jean Stapleton, Steve Zahn and Heather Burns among others.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Based on a true story, this critically acclaimed movie which I also absolutely loved, follows Homer Hickam, Jr. (Jake Gyllenhaal), a high schooler who, after seeing the Sputnik satellite in the night sky (we are talking 1957), becomes fascinated with rocket science. Despite a tough father, played by Chris Cooper, and a series of mishaps, Homer realizes his dream with the help of his friends and the support of his teacher (Laura Dern).
Click here for trailer on YouTube. (Sorry for the commercial)
Based on the best selling novel by Anna Quindlen, the movie is a mother-daughter and father-daughter story of family love, struggle and self discovery. It follows Ellen (Renée Zellweger) who, not long after she finally gets her big career break in New York, is forced to return home to care for her ill mother (Meryl Streep), as her father (William Hurt), a popular college professor who was nearly a famous writer, is too self involved to take care of things himself.
Tom Everett Scott and Lauren Graham costar.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
In this classic, award winning movie, Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda come together in a father-daughter story that will touch you to your core. Or maybe it has already touched you. When it was first released, I watched this movie over and over. It is time I watched it again.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
In this coming of age/back to school story, brilliant but rebellious Max (Jason Schwartzman), a 10th grader at an elite academy, is constantly up to something that might get him expelled…. Until he falls for Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), a first grade teacher.
Bill Murray, Seymour Cassel and Brian Cox costar.
Click here for trailer on YouTube.
I never get tired or watching the romantic adventures of sophisticated New York fashion designer Melanie Charmichael (Reese Witherspoon) as she returns to her Alabama home to get her estranged, hot husband (Josh Lucas) to sign the divorce papers so she can marry her new, also hot, fiancee (Patrick Dempsey).
Candice Bergen, Mary Kay Place, Fred Ward, Jean Smart, Ethan Embry and Melanie Lynskey round things out fabulously.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
After returning to San Francisco from WWII, young G.I. Paul Sutton (Keanu Reeves) finds that he has little in common with the woman he hastily married before going to war. In an attempt to make things work despite his disillusionment, he takes a job as a traveling salesman and heads north. A chance encounter with the daughter of a wealthy vineyard owner in the California Wine Country will change his life forever.
The kind of love story dreams are made of.
Giancarlo Giannini, Anthony Quinn, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Freddy Rodriguez and Debra Messing costar.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
In this critically acclaimed movie set in 1950 Connecticut, housewife Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) has the perfect life: beautiful house, wonderful children, handsome and successful husband (Dennis Quaid). But is life really perfect or is all that idyllic perfection just an illusion? Cathy will have to look deep inside herself and choose whether living a lie or following her heart.
Viola Davis, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson and James Rebhorn costar.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Jeff Daniels, Anna Paquin and Dana Delany tell the story of estranged father (Daniels) and daughter (Delany) who heal their relationship as they adopt a flock of orphaned Canada Geese and then teach them to fly so they can return home.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
A coming of age story set in 1957 Alabama. Ally Sheedy, Virginia Madsen, Phoebe Cates play three young sorority women in segregated Alabama who try to find love and what their future could be about just when integration begins at their college (Randolph) and the civil rights movement explodes all around them.
Treat Williams, Don Michael Paul and Kyle Secor costar.
Click here for trailer on YouTube.
In this coming-of-age drama, Brendan Fraser plays David Greene, a working-class teen with a secret whose talents in football win him a scholarship to an exclusive prep school, where he soon develops friendships with his upper class dorm mates. But the ties are broken when one of the students reveals his secret and forces him to take a stand that will touch everyone’s lives.
The movie has a star studded cast that includes young Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Randal Batinkoff, Ben Affleck and Amy Locan among others.
Click here for trailer on YouTube.
A group of seven friends, recently out of college, face the challenges of adulthood as they struggle with career, love and commitment.
A classic of the 1980’s, the movie has an all star cast that features Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy and Mare Winningham.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
A terminally ill woman (Susan Sarandon) has to face leaving her children in the care of the new woman (Julia Roberts) in her former husband’s (Ed Harris) life. This is the story of the unlikely friendship that develops between two strong and exceptional women in a movie that is both hilarious and poignant.
Jena Malone and Liam Aiken costar.
Click here for trailer on IMDb.
Some of my all time favorites are included here. I would love to know if this list helps you discover an unwatched gem! Let me know in the comments. And if you have more suggestions of movies that have autumn as the background, do let me know.
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