4th of July

Oddly enough, for all the war movies that the American film industry had churned out over the years, only a small few involve the original U.S. war; the American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War for Independence.  So excepting those few, none of which particularly stand out as great films or as having a significant cultural impact, suitable viewing in recognition of Independence Day usually leans more towards tributes to our nation's heritage; films about the immigrant experience, the "American Dream", political activism and our democratic system.  Listed here is an variety of all those sorts, including films for the patriotic tastes of political conservatives and liberals, and some that cross the political borders in their appeal; some well-made movies and classics, and infamous howlers, but all have a distinct American flavor and salute the United States and its history.

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
There's an inexplicable lack of films portraying the American Revolution/Revolutionary War (while there's a surplus of WWII and Vietnam War movies), and the few that there are are starkly unimpressive, but when pickings are slim, you take what you can get.

THE PATRIOT  (2000, R, War/Drama)
Patriotism: Extreme, Jingoist / Quality: 5/10
One of German-born director Roland Emmerich's few non-"disaster films" (in regard to subgenre, not to be confused with "disastrous"), THE PATRIOT is one of the surprisingly few major American Revolutionary War-based films, and like Emmerich's other films, is a grotesquely idiotic action movie, although with a great deal more blood.  However, it's also disturbingly watchable, even as the issues are simplified to a kindergarten-level at best and the British military is reduced to either honor-obsessed buffoons or cunning sadists, waging war more similar to Nazi Germany than anything colonial Britain ever engaged in.

Directed by a German and a star raised in Australia; you'd think they'd be less "Ugly American."

1776  (1972, PG, Musical/Drama)
Patriotism: Extreme / Quality: 5/10
This screen version of the Tony-winning Broadway musical is more stage musical than history, but it's also one of the few major films about the actual day in history that American Independence Day commemorates.  The performances are unmemorable (a few border on just plain bad) and the production is cheesy at times, but not taken so seriously, 1776 is a fun, uneven but thoughtful commentary on history, and family friendly for the most part (our Founding Fathers' sex starvation is lightly touched upon).


JOHNNY TREMAIN  (1957, Not Rated, Family/Drama)
Patriotism: Extreme, Jingoist / Quality: 2/10
This film is the sort from which the term "Disneyfied" is derived, depicting a grossly simple-minded version of American history and the America Revolution, and it is even at times disturbing to see such a sanitized, black and white understanding of complicated events and persons.  Whatever the merit of their politics aside, this is the unfortunate understanding of American history associated with the Tea Party movement.  For Disney aficionados, Walt Disney's own daughter, Sharon Mae Disney, can be seen in the brief role of Dorcas, a friend of the main characters, Johnny and Priscilla.

REVOLUTION  (1985, PG-13, War Drama)
Patriotism: Strong / Quality: 3/10
This would-be historical epic directed by Hugh Hudson (best known for CHARIOTS OF FIRE) was one of the biggest financial flops of the 1980s, failing to gross even a full $1 million in the United States after costing $28 million to make, being rushed through production by studio executives and being lambasted by critics.  It actually has a fairly strong opening with frightening intensity in 1776 New York, but it soon becomes dreary and monotonous with a lack of focus.  It's not very entertaining, but for movie aficionados, it may be interesting.  
  

THE AMERICAN DREAM
There are many films that portray the "American Dream", the proud American belief in the underdog and the ability to rise to greatness through strong work ethic, regardless of one's origins.  This philosophy has been explored from a variety of perspectives, from the idealistic inspirational drama, to the cynicism of operatic tragedies.

ROCKY  (1976, PG, Sports Drama)
Patriotism: Very Strong / Quality: 8/10
The film that rocketed writer-director Sylvester Stallone to stardom is the ultimate crowd-pleaser and exuberant tribute to the American Dream.  Rocky Balboa, the Italian Stallion, is the great American underdog, a formerly-promising boxer down on his luck, getting by as a loan shark's thug (a job in direct conflict with his "nice guy" personality), but who gets his shot at the dream when he's picked to fight the heavyweight champion in a stunt fight.  It's energetic, none-too-taxing, feel good entertainment.


THE GODFATHER  (1972, R, Crime Drama)
Patriotism: Strong / Quality: 10/10
Considered one of the "Great American Films," THE GODFATHER is the dark and stirring epic of an immigrant family, and along with its prequel, is considered the great American immigrant saga.  From the film's opening line, heard before the images even appear onscreen, "I believe in America," an epic tragedy of the dark side of the American Dream unfolds, as fortunes are made and souls are lost; what must be done is done, and who's to say otherwise?

THE GODFATHER PART II  (1974, R, Crime Drama)
Patriotism: Very Strong / Quality: 10/10
Even more strongly than its predecessor, but while both building upon and within the original, THE GODFATHER PT II exudes a beautiful American flavor.  Through the two tales, of the father and of the son, it tells the story of one family and the American Dream; the ideals and hopes of the father, who makes a new and honorable (if legally questionable) life in the United States after escaping the violence of the Dons in Italy, and the cynical losses of that legacy through the son.  PART II confirms the greatness and cultural importance of THE GODFATHER and the Corleone saga as the great American epic. 

AN AMERICAN TAIL  (1986, G, Family/Animated)
Patriotism: Very Strong / Quality: 5/10
This dark but G-rated animated immigrant's journey follows Feivel Mousekewitz's adventures as his family escapes persecution in Russia by sailing for America (where the "streets are paved with cheese" (in case you didn't catch it, the Mousekewitz's are anthropomorphic mice)), but Feivel is separated and arrives at Ellis Island by himself, where he befriends Henri, a pigeon immigrant from France, and Tony, a streetwise Italian mouse.  There are drunk politicians, Jewish persecution and crime bosses all in the anthropomorphic animal kingdom, and it's all very weird and yet oddly appealing despite a messy third act.

GANGS OF NEW YORK  (2002, R, Drama/Crime)
Patriotism: Strong / Quality:8/10 

Bill the Butcher- A True American Badass, and a Great Moustache

Set in the seething political climate of 1862 New York, in the gang warfare-riddled Five Points district of Lower Manhattan, Martin Scorcese's Civil War era epic had a famously difficult production and post-production, and a subsequently slightly mixed response (though mostly positive), but it's still a solid and heart-pounding piece of American history.  Beginning with a brutal battle between Irish immigrants and the xenophobic "Natives" (Protestant descendants of colonial era immigrants), accented by a modern rock soundtrack, the story follows the ill-fated Irish leader's son (Leonardo DiCaprio) on a mission of vengeance against the Native leader, Bill the Butcher (an actual butcher, wielding a cleaver), as the imminent 1863 New York draft riots approach.  Daniel Day-Lewis is mesmerizing in one of his greatest, of many great performances.  As the tagline holds, "America was Born in the Streets."

OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM
As Lewis Rothschild (Michael J. Fox) in THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT says, "America isn't easy.  America is advanced citizenship.  You've got to want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight."  Democracy ain't easy, and the bitterness and heated tension that fills our political briefs every day may make you feel like throwing in the towel sometimes, but movies like these remind us why its worth it.

THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT  (1995, PG-13, Drama/Romance)
Patriotism: Extreme / Quality: 9/10
Most patriotically exploitative films, or patriot-porn, have a conservative slant, thanks to the right-wing's significant advantage in the area of "tribal values", screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has proven that conservatives do not have a monopoly on patriot-porn.  THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT is the predecessor to Sorkin's later, enormously popular television series, The West Wing, but with Martin Sheen as Chief of Staff this time around, and Michael Douglas as the President, a widower who falls for an environmental lobbyist (Annette Bening) and struggles to balance business and romance while under fire from a Republican rival (Richard Dreyfuss) in the upcoming election.

Yeah, it may look patriotic, but then they go and promote gun regulations.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR  (2007, R, Drama)
Patriotism: Fairly Strong / Quality: 8/10

I wish he were holding a cigar in this picture.

Another ode to politically-liberal patriotism from Aaron Sorkin, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR is actually based on a true story this time around, about the little-known liberal side of the Reagan Era and their part in bringing an end to the Soviet Union and the Cold War.  Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks, in his most recent great performance) is a philandering Democrat U.S. Representative from Texas, who, with the assistance of a Houston socialite (Julia Roberts) and a maverick CIA agent (Philip Seymour Hoffman), spearheaded an operation to assist Afghanistan in fighting Soviet occupation in the 1980s.  This film's more bitingly cynical (reportedly watered down from the original script) than THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT though, as it indicts the U.S. for a history of quick fixes ignorant of long-term results.

MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON  (1939, Not Rated, Drama/Family)
Patriotism: Very Strong / Quality: 6/10
Frank Capra was one of the , if not the, defining filmmakers of good old-fashioned America, and no film better displays this than MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, the seminal film on American politics.  In past years, it was accused of being anti-American and pro-Communism by some conservatives and a "grotesque distortion" by some liberals, but is now praised from all ends of the spectrum.  Touting strong democratic ideals, it is plainly enduring, albeit being a prime example of so-called "Capra-corn", with some very nauseating Boy Scout moments.

BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY  (1989, R, Drama/War)
Patriotism: Strong (but Complicated) / Quality: 8/10
In spite of his reputation and apparently caustic personality, I believe Oliver Stone is a very patriotic individual with a complicated love of the United States.  Sometimes we need that kind of intense and conflicted look at ourselves and our legacy, and BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY has a great understanding of this.  It's an epic biopic of Stone's fellow Vietnam war veteran Ron Kovic (Tom Cruise), who joined the Marines to fight in Vietnam as an idealistic youth, but was disillusioned by the horrors of actual war and then paralyzed.  His story follows his spiritual journey into a dark feeling of abandonment by his nation and subsequent bitterness, before finding his American patriotism in a new form of being.

"POPCORN POLITICS"
I don't enjoy these movies much myself, with their cardboard-cutout patriot philosophies, but if you're looking for "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" kicks, you can't go wrong with these.  It's the down-home, cowboy politics that those snooty Europeans think of when they think "American," but screw them, because we booted their asses out of here.

RED DAWN  (1983/2012, PG-13, Action/War)
1984 original- Patriotism: Extreme, Jingoist / Quality: 3/10
2012 remake- Patriotism: Extreme, Jingoist / Quality: 1/10
Goodness knows how this movie got made once, let alone twice, but the concept does have a basic pulp appeal if only they didn't take themselves so seriously; both films involve the United States being invaded by Communist forces, by the Soviet Union in the 1984 version, and inexplicably by North Korea in the 2012 one (lamely "justified" by a throwaway line about Russian assistance).  Rather than showing an awesome U.S. vs. the Damn Commies War on U.S. soil, both films completely ignore what might be going on outside the podunk small town setting, so the can focus on a group of angsty high school kids waging guerilla warfare on foreigners.

Patriotic?  Yes.  Idiotic?  Very.  Racist?  Yeah, a bit.

INDEPENDENCE DAY  (1996, PG-13, Science Fiction/Action)
Patriotism: Strong / Quality: 4/10
Well, this one just comes right out and says it in the title; INDEPENDENCE DAY puts it on a worldwide scale though, as humanity fights for their independence from an alien race in 5-mile wide ships destroying entire cities.  This was the film that kicked director Roland Emmerich's career into high gear, it's a textbook example of "popcorn entertainment"; far short of intelligence and sometimes so cheesy that it becomes uncomfortable, but the explosion-laced visuals and Will Smith's charisma (in spite of bad dialogue) are entertaining.

AMERICANA
These movies cover a broader spectrum than those in the other categories, by representing an American frame of mind and self-awareness.  In Americana, you find more pop entertainment and Red, White & Blue classics, the kind for sitting back with the family for a patriotic experience, but one far less stuffy than any history or civics lesson.

YANKEE DOODLE DANDY  (1942, Not Rated, Musical/Drama)
Patriotism: Extreme / Quality: 6/10
Released in 1942, in the midst of WWII, this musical biopic about legendary Broadway actor George M. Cohan is one of the most unabashedly patriotic movies ever made, and also grossly sentimental and considered a grand American classic by many.  The apparent hypocrisies of film scholars who lambast sentimentality but adore YANKEE DOODLE DANDY aside, for those well-versed in the Golden Age of Hollywood, there's a great entertainment value to see gangster film great James Cagney tap dance his way through flamboyant musical numbers.

Whether you're conservative or liberal, pee jokes are just funny.

FORREST GUMP  (1994, PG-13, Drama/Comedy)
Patriotism: Strong / Quality: 7/10
This saga of a simpleton examines the American nation's coming of age through the tumultuous years from the post-war 1950s through the early 1980s, and despite some accusation of being undeserving of a Best Picture Oscar-win against PULP FICTION and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, it is one of the most universally-appealing films ever made.  It's saturated with strong elements of Americana throughout, yet its makers have repeated time and again that the film is non-partisan, which is a highly-defensible description, but  it has been claimed fiercely by conservatives and liberals alike as a cinematic standard for their values; to conservatives, it's a story of the endurance of conservative values and an indictment of 1960s counter-culture, while liberals have seen in it a story of irony and cynicism toward anti-Communist crusading and conservative culture.  In other words, no one wins, but everyone thinks they do.

If you don't see the appeal, it's probably because you see the appeal in Communism.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER  (2011, PG-13, Action/Science Fiction)
Patriotism: Very Strong / Quality: 7/10
There's actually several strong candidates for comic book superhero adaptations appropriate for Independence Day viewing, such as SPIDER-MAN and sequels, IRON MAN, SUPERMAN: THE MOVIES and the list goes on, but even still, I think this one is obvious.  It's not quite on the level of Marvel Studios' greatest hits, but it's ultra-patriotic, pulpy fun, with an old-fashioned sense of shameless American pride.


RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK  (1981, PG, Action-Adventure)
Patriotism: Fairly Strong / Quality: 10/10
You simply can't go wrong with the Great American Hero, Dr. Henry "Indiana" Jones, Jr., and while any film in the series works (even the fourth one; come on, it's not that bad), RAIDERS is the best one (although I'll listen to arguments for THE LAST CRUSADE).  This is great American pulp, with the roguish archeologist trotting the globe, and fighting fascism as he goes along on the hunt for Judeo-Christan artifacts and beating the hell out of Nazis.

 NATIONAL TREASURE (2004, PG, Action-Adventure)
Patriotism: Very Strong / Quality: 6/10)
Nicholas Cage (just a little bit before everyone realized that he's actually insane) stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates, a historian/treasure hunter in pursuit of an ancient Templar treasure supposedly safeguarded by America's Founding Fathers.  Riddled with historical, and very non-historical, trivia throughout, it's unabashedly ridiculous, but also pretty fun as a poor man's Indiana Jones.

THE SANDLOT  (1993, PG, Family/Comedy)
Patriotism: Fairly Strong / Quality: 9/10
Only one scene directly addresses the holiday itself, but for whom does the memory of playing (baseball or whatever else) under the fireworks-illuminated sky does not resonate?  Outside of this scene still, THE SANDLOT emanates warmhearted Americana in its ode to baseball and long summer days and nights.

JAWS  (1975, PG, Adventure/Thriller)
Patriotism: Fairly Strong / Quality: 10/10 
JAWS doesn't always come to mind when considering patriotic movies, but consider; the original summer blockbuster is all about the red, white and blue; lots of red blood, spurting into the blue ocean, while swimmers are ripped to pieces by a Great White Shark.  More obviously, the Fourth of July holiday plays a major part, as well as the great American "everyman against the behemoth" themes.