In the spirit of American Independence Day, I decided to list some of my all-time favorite patriotic movies. I invite you to criticize my choices and add some of your own in the comments.
A few caveats. The movies do not have to take place on the 4th of July (though some do), nor do they even have to take place in America. The important thing is that the movie has to represent the ideals of America, or in the words of Superman, “Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
Oh, and one more thing, let’s try to keep the comments from getting too political. I know that not everyone’s interpretation of the so-called “American Dream” is the same, which is why this post should be read solely for amusement purposes. I repeat, this post is not intended to make a political statement of any kind.
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Independence Day
From Godzilla to the upcoming 2012, director Roland Emmerich has practically made his career out of big budget disaster movies. Whether you think this is good or bad is up to you, but I for one will always have a special place in my heart for Emmerich’s first major box office success: Independence Day.
Combining three of my favorite things – Will Smith, aliens, and a whole bunch of stuff blowing up – Independence Day really puts the “Riot” in Patriotism. From Jeff Goldblum perfectly channeling his Dr. Ian Malcolm character in Jurassic Park to Will Smith punching an alien in the face (”Welcome to earth!”), Independence Day has it all. Even Brent Spiner (a.k.a Lieutenant Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation) gets in on the action.
While Independence Day can easily be dismissed as a silly action movie, I find it oddly irresistible. I mean, how many times do you get to see the White House demolished by a giant laser?
Braveheart
“They’ll never take our freedom!“
Sure, there might be some historical inaccuracies, and, at just shy of three hours, it might be a little long for some tastes, but as far as I’m concerned Braveheart deserved every one of its 10 Academy Award nominations. While Mel Gibson’s personal life has taken a somewhat unusual turn over the last few years, there’s no denying the man has talent as both an actor and director.
Braveheart contains all of the elements of a classic patriotic story: a dynamic and courageous leader who perseveres against overwhelming odds, moments of terrible tragedy balanced by moments of stunning bravery and heroism, and a crazy Irish guy. (For all our Irish readers, that last line was a joke. Please don’t send Screen Rant angry e-mails.)
Although it takes place in Scotland in the 1300’s, Braveheart could just as easily be about the American revolution, or the French revolution, or…you know, any revolution. It’s simply an awesome movie.
Rocky
A perfect cinematic expression of the “American Dream,” Rocky is not only one of the greatest sports movies of all time, but the greatest underdog story ever told.
Based in Philadelphia (the historical center of the American revolution), Rocky practically drips with patriotic goodness. Not only is the film about Rocky getting a second chance for success in the boxing ring, but it’s about Rocky overcoming the self-doubt and fear that has plagued him over a lifetime of bad breaks.
When Rocky is still standing at the end of 15 rounds, even though he has lost the fight, he has won his redemption from a life of failures. He has shown himself, and all of us, that with a little luck and endless determination, you can achieve your dreams. To this day, the strains of “Gonna Fly Now” bring a stir to my heart and a smile to my face.
I know there are dozens more, but these three particularly speak to me when it comes to describing the American spirit of freedom. What films would you add to these?
And Happy Independence Day!
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77 Comments
Two for one?
you can have Russell Crowe as well.
Throwing Russell Crowe our way is flat out terrorrism Gottarhyme.
Dammit gottarhyme, this is unfair…
OK fine we’ll take both but you have to take ALL of the Baldwin brothers and Michael Moore.
Mwhahahaha!
*evil laugh*
Its funny how THE PATRIOT starred Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger, isn’t it?
We are invading slowly, the USA is going to be our next state.
@paul young:
I will trade you the Baldwins only if you take Kylie Minogue.
@gottarhyme – keep laughing but you get all of your TV show ideas from us and the brits. So You Think You Can Dance is the only show I can think of that you ripped off. BTW, I downloaded and watched both seasons
@gottarhyme – Um that would be a yes and just to show you how much we care, I’ll take some of the rabbits that infest your territory with her.
Hey, I think we should keep Stephen Baldwin, he’s not a complete a-hole like the others…
And Adam Baldwin isn’t related to the Baldwin brothers so we keep him too…
Oh, yeah. LOL! Thats a bargain. Done! One singing Budgerigar named kylie, Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson as well as 10000000000 rabbits coming C.O.D to the USA. :-0
Our TV has no originality anymore. Thats why I watch ‘Doctor Who’, and reruns of ‘Friends’
Also, you guys keep pinching all our Directors, cinematographers and actors! What hope have we got? Everyone who is anyone in Hollywood seems to have started on ‘Neighbours’ in Australia! With the exception of Steve Irwin, *sob*
Give us back Dean Semmler, Peter Weir, Baz Luhrmann, Portia Del Rossi, Simon Baker, Anthony La Paglia, Nicole Kidman Heath Ledger *sob*, and maybe even Dear sweet Hugh Jackman…then we’ll have a film industry over here!
ellen will never let go of portia… not after what anne heche did to her…lol.
What the heck, Ellen can come here. Gay marriage is welcome in Australia.Plus, she can dance, and she’d be a laugh at BBQs.
@gottarhyme – Now where would a thriving film industry film in Austrailia? You had your chance with the self-titled jackman film and it didn’t work. There’s only so much red rock, crocodiles, venomeous snakes, and coral reef we can look at
Hey! The MATRIX films were all filmed in Sydney, as were the ‘Mission Impossible’ films.
We all don’t live in the centre of Australia, you know!
Although, I do eat kangaroo. Very tasty, and low in fat.
Lol I’m the odd man out here I guess I’m more than Happy to take Mel Gibson and Russel Crowe. I like their movies and I imagine they would be fun as hell to hang out with lol.
brent spiner:i understand your tweet about”slowly edging back towards the water,”just after you blocked me(after putting up with my abuse for a long time,i might add).your tweet about “edging back towards the water”is obviously a mysterious message to some one out there.me.what does your message about “the water” mean.there are only two refferences in your performance art story that are about the water.the one that feels right though,is “the pacific at night a dark and inviting mistress.”that’s me. makes sense. p.s. why are all those fans of yours so thick whitted? they all seem to understand technology quite well,but as far as the real world is conscerned,they’re retarded.you’ve been taking advantage of those types for years.you’re a crude scam artist.
Umm what?
The ‘Dark mistress of the sea’ ?
I take your obscure references, and raise you a midnight swim in a bottomless tub of doom.
We are playing dungeons and Dragons, right?
Methinks the lady is suffering delusions of ‘nobody cares’. LOL!
to gottarhyme i’ll forgive you your ignorance because you obviously dont know any thing about brent spiner.you’re obviously interested in the matrix and mission impossible (p.s. you should leave those cute kangaroos alone before kim walyer and i have you thrown in jail for animal cruelty). the obscure message i spoke of is from brent spiners’ performance art story that brent wrote on twitter.it says”the pacific at night a dark and inviting mistress.”you dont know this because you obviously haven’t been reading brent spiners’ tweets on twitter.you have no interest in brent spiner.fine. however,brent spiner VERY LIKELY READS THESE GOOGLE ALERTS since brent has no life outside of “showbiz.”and yes,i am suffering from delusions of “nobody cares”because some one actually does. p.s. this message board was being used for communication to people who are more important than you.good bye.
When did this turn into the Brent Spiner twitter update???
WTF this is some weird ass stuff
@christine – What are you talking about? 1st gottarhyme has said nothing about brent spiner. 2nd are you talking about brent spiner that played Data in Star Trek TNG? You realize this is a 4th of July movie article?
Every Wednesday we have open discussion and that seems like a better venue to talk about this particular subject. Unless he has a major role in a major movie coming soon that we are unaware of, I don’t think you’ll ever see an article dedicated to him.
Tuskegee Airmen
Glory
Courage Under Fire
The Patriot
Saving Private Ryan
Sargent York
Forrest Gump
Watching Glory right now.
“I run for president. I didn’t win though”
A prophetic line. Washington’s character didn’t have that opportunity but men like him gave my race this opportunity and it has come to fruition. May the Lord bless all men and women of uniform.
christine, how does that joke go? Whatever you’re on, where can I get some? Yah, I think that’s fitting…
I just want to apologize for Christine. She is a very sick woman who has some type of delusional fantasy about Brent Spiner. Apparently Brent does not share the affection. This has driven Christine to the point of insanity. Friends of Brent’s are very familiar with Christine. We are aware of her, Brent couldn’t care less. Christine, girl, take a breathe and take a pill.
Who the freakin heck is Brent Spiner??
Hey, Ken J. Brent Spiner is an actor best known for his role as the android Data on Star Trek the Next Generation. And, just to tie it in to the actual topic of conversation…He played Dr. Brakish Okun in Independence Day. You can forget about Christine, she pulls this crap all over the internet. Folks have been begging her to seek professional help for years to no avail.
How did this end up on screenrant with other people who knows of her also finding the same article on screenrant? I’m so confused… lol
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