What's your favorite Fourth of July movie?
If your long weekend includes any movie-watching that isn't in the theaters (or Will Smith), will it be something that you love to watch every Fourth of July? Either something that takes place on the 4th, or just seems so American that it's perfect for hot-dog-and-fireworks season? I've listed some possibilities below. --David
1776 (watch below): This is usually the first movie I think of. It's history (the signing of the Declaration of Independence), it's a musical, and it's more entertaining (and more involving) than you'd expect. No doubt that more people will be interested in the main character, John Adams (played by William Daniels), following the new HBO series.
The Music Man: Along with 1776, this used to be on network TV on the Fourth of July every year, and I'd try to watch one or both. Not only is the music pure Americana (band music, barbershop, etc.), but the main action takes place on July 4.
John Adams: The aforementioned new HBO series, which I haven't seen yet.
The Patriot: Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War epic, which I did see once and haven't felt the need to watch again.
Johnny Tremain: 1957 Disney movie about the Revolution. I still remember one of the songs: "Yes, we are the Sons, yes, we are the Sons, the Sons of Liberty."
Liberty's Kids: animated series about kids who live in the 1700s--pretty good, as I recall.
tom swift on July 04, 2008 at 06:07 PM
55 Days at Peking, for its two exceptional fireworks displays.
Will S on July 04, 2008 at 06:27 PM
Gettysburg.
Steven on July 04, 2008 at 10:17 PM
1. Yankee Doodle Dandy
2. Drums Along the Mohawk
3. Friendly Persuasion
4. Unconquered
5. Patton
Alan Kellogg on July 04, 2008 at 10:18 PM
I am Legend with Vincent Price.
A movie about a man realizing he's witness to the birth of a new world, and the people of that new world trying to figure out what they are, and how they'll fare in this new world. If that aint the story of the American experiment, then what the hell is it?
Steven on July 04, 2008 at 10:20 PM
And in reply to the collectivist, Marxist Steinbeck film _Grapes of Wrath_, I'll add: The Fountainhead.
Michael on July 04, 2008 at 10:47 PM
I found this thread late but I will put my two cents in.
1776, definitely but try to find the theatrical version that was released on VHS. The new "directors cut" that is available on DVD is greatly inferior, though still better than most of the drek that has come out of Hollywood in the last thirty years or so.
The John Ford cavalry "trilogy" starring John Wayne, Fort Apache, Rio Grande and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
Oklahoma! One of the greatest musicals of all time and pure Americana.
The Music Man. TCM ran both Music Man and 1776 tonight.
The Patriot is excellent.
The Alamo, the John Wayne version, naturally hits all of the same themes of any good movie about the American revolution. Those Texicans were fighting for the same things against even longer odds.
Abe Lincoln in Illinois, a biopic starring Raymond Massey and covering Lincoln's life up to his election as president gives a very good idea of the growth of the country through his personal growth. And for fans of 1776, look for a very young Howard Da Silva as Jack Armstrong. Not to be confused with Young Mr. Lincoln starring Henry Fonda which is also a very good movie but more narrow in its focus.
Jonathan on July 05, 2008 at 01:34 AM
Team America: World Police. No better way to spend the Fourth than to sing "America! F&@$ Yeah!" at the top of your lungs.
BenD on July 05, 2008 at 05:01 AM
I will also go for 1776. I try to watch it every year as part of my Independence Day festivities.
Beyond that I go for "Independence Day" for the feel good/we kick butt sentiments
The Longest Day also stirs my blood, the beginning of the liberation of an entire continent.
David on July 05, 2008 at 07:27 AM
I immediately thought of Independence Day, the human spirit best exemplified by Americans. How the West Was Won is an excellent choice, Chuck, in full Cinerama please. Maybe also Sgt. York.
Freedomlost on July 05, 2008 at 07:45 AM
I liked no make that love, most of the suggestions made here. I have one here most people have never heard of “A More Perfect Union: America Becomes a Nation” It a movie that was aired on PBS maybe once like 20 years ago and it based on the notes from the debates during the making of the Constitution.
The link is here: http://www.nccs.net/ampu.html
It a great movie and a good educational tool check it out you will not be disappointed. I bought 10 of these movies and given them out to people and I’ve haven’t had anyone who has seen it not like it.
Along with the movie above I’d go with:
The Patriot
John Adams
The Longest Day
Patton
I know this one will seem a little weird but
Braveheart-
The message of Freedom is at the heart of this movie… pardon the pun… ;~)
Bill45 on July 05, 2008 at 03:18 PM
The Patriot. Hands down. There is a scene in that Mel Gibson movie that is the most concise depiction of the reasons underlying the Second Amendment one will ever see in a major Hollywood film.
Briefly, the scene. A British officer, in violation of the rules of war, has promised to execute Mel's son, a uniformed dispatch rider played by the late Heath Ledger. Gibson's next oldest son acts to protect his shackled brother only to be shot dead in the front yard. The British set fire to the family farm then depart.
Gibson arms himself and his two younger sons -- both of whom are trained and comfortable with fireams -- and sets out to save Heath. Mel sets an ambush with the two young boys and overcomes the British holding Heath prisoner.
So, in five minutes of film we see a despotic, lawless government agent exercising total power brought to heel by an armed citizenry.
sniff
Someone tell Obama.
Loki on July 06, 2008 at 03:35 PM
"Yankee Doodle Dandy" has been mentioned, and quite appropriately, by several posters. A little-known fact is that it was the British who dubbed the American rebels "Yankee Doodles." In the slang of their time, a "doodle" was a fool--as well as a certain portion of the masculine anatomy. The Americans picked up the term and flung it back in their teeth; it became, thereby, a rallying and uniting term.
Some of the derision intended by the term can be noticed in ". . .He stuck a feather in his hat/And called it macaroni." The word "macaroni" at the time was English slang for the fancy clothing from Italy and elsewhere, that was being brought back from European travels by young English scions of the new Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s, who were discovering all the exotic things offered by the Continent. They formed societies to talk about the things seen in their travels, and one of those things was the strange and delicious food called macaroni; they called them "Macaroni Societies" Hence the origin of that term as denoting a group of fancy-pants ignorants.