As we continue our four-month celebration of the summer movie season, it got me thinking of movies I correlate most to these warmer months. Of course, any summer blockbuster makes one think of the season in a pretty superficial way, but I'm talking about the films that get under the skin, that reek of nostalgia, summer breaks, getting into trouble, baseball, and romances. I thought of summer camp and movies like Meatballs or Wet Hot American Summer (two films that didn't quite make the list, but look ... even Earnest Goes to Camp failed to make the cut). I even thought of cheesy, likable Mark Harmon comedies such as Summer School. In the end, however, these 10 films -- for reasons I hope to sufficiently explain -- come to mind most.

American Graffiti

Once upon a time, George Lucas made American Graffiti. This movie is a slice of my parents' generation, but I'm stealing as a keepsake because I fell in love with it and made it my own, too. It's gone on to influence a whole slew of films, like Dazed and Confused (which would be the lighter, stoner version), but nobody has really managed to best it or even come close. What happened to this filmmaker?

Body Heat

In the pantheon of the most sweltering, sweatiest films of all time Body Heat can be firmly placed in the Hall of Fame section, just across the musty corridors where plaques for movies like Cool Hand Luke and A Time to Kill drip saltily. Lawrence Kasdan's terrific directorial debut is a great modern film noir featuring a sultry femme fatale in the form of Kathleen Turner (who, I swear to you, was once a total babe). She turns up the heat on William Hurt who (as it goes in film noir) isn't sure whether or not he can trust her. As he gets caught up in her dangerous games, he is only sure of one thing, really. He wants to sleep with her. Bad.

A Bronx Tale

Robert De Niro's film about a kid growing up in the Bronx and having to choose between two paths -- his hard-working, blue collar "sucker" of a dad (De Niro) or the charismatic wise guy who runs the neighborhood (Chazz Palminteri) -- takes place over many years and seasons. But what resonates most for me are those summer breaks depicted in the film when "C" grows up most. For most kids, the summer is when there's nothing to do but get yourself in trouble, and because there is so much trouble to go around there are so many opportunities to lose yourself in it. This film makes me think of those long extended breaks from school in the most nostalgic, best way possible.

Dazed and Confused

Richard Linklater's classic stoner comedy opens on the closing seconds of the last day of school in 1976 and what follows is a night of ceremony, celebration, and coming of age, chock full lows and totally mellow highs. In many ways it owes a lot to American Graffiti, but so do a lot of lesser films that didn't make it on this list. It stars everyone in the world.

The late Sidney Lumet's film about a real-life bank robbery attempt is a classic and one of my all-time favorite films. Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal's (John Cazale) planned heist goes awry pretty much from the start when their partner flakes out on them (right before they enter the bank). Before they know it they have a collection of colorful hostages and a surly police sergeant (the great Charles Durning) all over them, not to mention a lack of air conditioning on a day  in New York so scorching, its liable to drive the whole city crazy (and it nearly does). Pacino is as outstanding as he's ever been, and John Cazale is both scary and darkly hilarious.

Do the Right Thing

This is my second-favorite Spike Lee film, but it makes the list because it is another film about a long, blistering day in New York; the kind of day that makes people go crazy in a city already boiling with racial tension. In hindsight, the ice cube scene between Spike Lee and Rosie Perez is pretty gnarly though. We don't need to see that, Spike.

Jaws

In many ways, Jaws is the ultimate summer film. Our very own Eric D. Snider already laid out why the iconic megahit is such a big deal but consider just the following:

1. It takes place during the summer.

2. Much of the action occurs on a beach.

3. It's the first summer blockbuster and became the blueprint for evil, mustache-twirling studio heads.

4. It scared the living creeps out of me as a kid in a pretty memorable way, the specifics of which I will not detail here.

So yes, Jaws is not only legendary summer fare, it's pretty much at the top of the heap.

The Sandlot

I'm showing my generation here but I can't help it. When I think of the summer, I think of the Great Bambino and homemade s'mores in a tree house; Smalls getting some much-needed tutelage from Benny the Jet; Michael "Squints" Palledorous and his nine kids with Wendy Peffercorn. I think of The Beast.

One of the great aspects of the summer coming-of-age genre is that they seem to start off about the excitement of summer itself, and then that excitement begins to wane in the shadow of our characters' life experiences, which in turn opens the door to the unknown, the future. And it always seems like with whatever promise the future may hold for our heroes, it comes with some sort of sacrifice, some bittersweet victory enveloping a deeper sadness. It's what gives the best of these stories weight. And Stand By Me stands with the best of them.

Y Tu Mama Tambien

This raw, yet delicately observed road trip into sexual exploration is one of Alfonso Cuaron's finest hours as a filmmaker. I love the way he depicts sex, especially early in the film. Sex is not a commercial here. And it doesn't have a soundtrack. And it doesn't look choreographed. The young men of Y Tu Mama Tambien are not professionals. They are just beginning to discover the possibilities of a world they may not be entirely ready to accept. Setting the story against the backdrop of an economically torn country somehow evokes a poignancy most films of sexual exploration lack -- mainly because it feels so genuine and so of this world.