The Best Movies to Watch on the 4th of July

<p>For those that need a little more drama in their Revolution. Though the HBO mini-series covers the period from the Boston Massacre to the presidency of Adams’s son, John Quincy, the best bits are undeniably the sparring between Adams (Paul Giamatti)

John Adams (2008)

For those that need a little more drama in their Revolution. Though the HBO mini-series covers the period from the Boston Massacre to the presidency of Adams’s son, John Quincy, the best bits are undeniably the sparring between Adams (Paul Giamatti)

For those who need a little more drama in their Revolution. Though the HBO mini-series covers the period from the Boston Massacre to the presidency of Adams’s son, John Quincy, the best bits are undeniably the sparring between Adams (Paul Giamatti) and his hot-headed brother Sam (Danny Houston) about the defense of the British soldiers responsible for the Massacre and the odd couple trip to France undertaken by Adams and Ben Franklin (a show-stealing, Tom Wilkinson) to secure support for the Revolution. “Game of Thrones” fans will enjoy seeing Stannis Baratheon (Stephan Dillane) give a wonderfully moody portrayal of Thomas Jefferson as a bipolar genius.

HBO

Captain America: The First Avenger/Winter Solider (2011-2014)

Though Cap has been an integral part of the majority of the MCU films, his first two solo films really capture the essence of what makes this version of the character great. Though "Winter Soldier" is the better film, a riveting spy thriller that just happens to have a superhero in it, it's "The First Avenger" that really makes for great holiday viewing. From Chris Evans underrated performance, the ultra-convincing special effects to create "Skinny Steve", and the WWII tone that seems ripped right from a recruitment poster, the movie delivers an American hero that even the most jaded cynic can embrace.

Paramount Pictures

<p>Is there ever a bad time to watch “The Godfather”? Maybe not, but July 4th may be a particularly good time to see it again. You’ve probably heard a million times how the movie is just a metaphor for the immigrant experience. The first line of the fil

The Godfather (1971)

Is there ever a bad time to watch “The Godfather”? Maybe not, but July 4th may be a particularly good time to see it again. You’ve probably heard a million times how the movie is just a metaphor for the immigrant experience. The first line of the fil

Is there ever a bad time to watch “The Godfather”? Maybe not, but July 4th may be a particularly good time to see it again. You’ve probably heard a million times how the movie is just a metaphor for the immigrant experience. The first line of the film is “I believe in America.” Do we need to say more?

Paramount Pictures

<p>Strip away the monster movie scares and the Moby Dick homage and what you have is a story of a New England beach town reeling at the idea of losing its livelihood: tourism on the holiday weekend. While it would be impossible to top Irish actor/playwr

Jaws (1975)

Strip away the monster movie scares and the Moby Dick homage and what you have is a story of a New England beach town reeling at the idea of losing its livelihood: tourism on the holiday weekend. While it would be impossible to top Irish actor/playwr

Strip away the monster movie scares and the Moby Dick homage and what you have is a story of a New England beach town reeling at the idea of losing its livelihood: tourism on the holiday weekend. While it would be impossible to top Irish actor/playwright Robert Shaw’s scenery-chewing tour-de-force turn as Quint, or Richard Dreyfuss’s star-making portrayal of the hipster-oceanographer Matt Hooper, Murray Hamilton notches a solid third-place prize as the shabby small town mayor (just look at that coat!) who is willing to risk a few shark attacks if it means preserving the town's economy.

Universal Pictures

<p>These days “astronaut” has lost some of its luster as a job title, but in the Kennedy era it was something straight out of science fiction. While Philip Kaufman’s reverent take on Tom Wolfe’s novel can be occasionally plodding, it is beautiful to loo

The Right Stuff (1983)

These days “astronaut” has lost some of its luster as a job title, but in the Kennedy era it was something straight out of science fiction. While Philip Kaufman’s reverent take on Tom Wolfe’s novel can be occasionally plodding, it is beautiful to loo

These days “astronaut” has lost some of its luster as a job title, but in the Kennedy era it was something straight out of science fiction. While Philip Kaufman’s reverent take on Tom Wolfe’s novel can be occasionally plodding, it is beautiful to look at and does capture the madness of men willing to be put in a tin can and shot on a rocket into space. Also, Sam Shepherd plays Chuck Yeager like a laconic 20th century cowboy to great effect.

Warner Bros.

<p>The fundamental crux of the great experiment that is America is a profound belief in representative democracy. The last year has shown us, through such diverse figures as Rand Paul and Wendy Davis, that the filibuster can still be used to affect chan

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

The fundamental crux of the great experiment that is America is a profound belief in representative democracy. The last year has shown us, through such diverse figures as Rand Paul and Wendy Davis, that the filibuster can still be used to affect chan

The fundamental crux of the great experiment that is America is a profound belief in representative democracy. No film captures the belief that, in this country, one man can go toe-to-toe with the powers that be and win quite like Frank Capra’s classic. And what’s more American than that?

Columbia Pictures

All the President's Men The dark side to Mr. Smith’s optimism about one man’s ability to affect change in government is the knowledge, even in Capra’s 1939 classic, that power corrupts. No instance in U.S. politics demonstrated this reality to Americans quite like the Watergate

The dark side to Mr. Smith’s optimism about one man’s ability to affect change in government is the knowledge, even in Capra’s 1939 classic, that power corrupts. No instance in U.S. politics demonstrated this reality to Americans quite like the Watergate scandal. A generation that grew up believing in positive change saw their government corrupted by the paranoia of the powerful. This landmark film, which also topped our list of greatest political films, is among other things, a celebration of Freedom of the Press.

Warner Bros.

<p>A list of movies about the American experience would be incomplete without at least one Western. While dark fables like “The Searchers” or “Unforgiven” (and, of course, HBO’s “Deadwood”) probably have more to say about America, for a good time in the

Rio Bravo (1959)

A list of movies about the American experience would be incomplete without at least one Western. While dark fables like “The Searchers” or “Unforgiven” (and, of course, HBO’s “Deadwood”) probably have more to say about America, for a good time in the

A list of movies about the American experience would be incomplete without at least one Western. While dark fables like “The Searchers” or “Unforgiven” (and, of course, HBO’s “Deadwood”) probably have more to say about America, for a good time in the Old West, you need look no further than Howard Hawks’s “Rio Bravo.” The unlikely quartet of John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson play lawmen determined to hold onto their prisoner while they wait for a federal judge to take him to trial. Martin gives a shockingly nuanced performance while Wayne gives an equally shockingly funny one. Angie Dickinson provides a firecracker of a love interest as a poker-loving con-artist on the run, and there’s even a wonderful musical number as the men while away the night guarding the prison.

Warner Bros.

While the climax of Robert Altman’s panoramic portrait of the country music scene takes place at a political rally, it has the feel of the Fourth of July celebration (until the end, of course). Altman uses the ‘70s music industry as a microcosm of America

Nashville (1976) While the climax of Robert Altman’s panoramic portrait of the country music scene takes place at a political rally, it has the feel of the Fourth of July celebration (until the end, of course). Altman uses the ‘70s music industry as a microcosm of America While the climax of Robert Altman’s panoramic portrait of the country music scene takes place at a political rally, it has the feel of the Fourth of July celebration (until the end, of course). Altman uses the ‘70s music industry as a microcosm of America and, as with other films on this list, uses the nation’s bicentennial as a way to look at where we are and how far we’ve come in pursuit of the American Dream. At a time when the American Dream is more likely to be thought of as success on “American Idol” than through entrepreneurial enterprise, this film seems more relevant than ever.
Paramount Pictures

<p>Sometimes forgotten in the blur of the sequels and the real-life cartoon that its writer/star became is the fact that the first Rocky is a very good film. For those that only remember the highlights, the plot concerns bored heavyweight Apollo Creed s

Rocky (1976)

Sometimes forgotten in the blur of the sequels and the real-life cartoon that its writer/star became is the fact that the first Rocky is a very good film. For those that only remember the highlights, the plot concerns bored heavyweight Apollo Creed s

Sometimes forgotten in the blur of the sequels and the real-life cartoon that its writer/star became is the fact that the first Rocky is a very good film. For those that only remember the highlights, the plot concerns bored heavyweight Apollo Creed staging an exhibition match against a working-class, white underdog to coincide with the bicentennial celebrations in Philadelphia. Creed’s Stars and Stripes intro to the ring in the final fight is one of the film’s truly great set-pieces. Also, often forgotten, Rocky loses the fight.

UA Entertainment Co.

<p>Really, do you need justification to watch “Star Wars”? Ok then, how about that it’s the story of a successful rebellion against an evil empire? Not good enough? How about the fact that George Lucas fundamentally changed America (for better and wors

Star Wars (1977)

Really, do you need justification to watch “Star Wars”? Ok then, how about that it’s the story of a successful rebellion against an evil empire? Not good enough? How about the fact that George Lucas fundamentally changed America (for better and wors

Really, do you need justification to watch “Star Wars”? OK then, how about that it’s the story of a successful rebellion against an evil empire? Not good enough? How about the fact that George Lucas fundamentally changed America (for better and worse) with this film that debuted the summer after our bicentennial? Still need more? It is the template for the American blockbuster, with its Joseph Campbell story telling, its big shiny explosions, and its simultaneous comfort with violence and coyness towards sex. Seriously, like it or not, “Star Wars” is America.

LucasFilm

<p>While real baseball fans will probably spend their day watching the full slate of day games MLB has on offer, we would be remiss in not including a film about the boys of summer. Some may prefer the male-tearjerker classic “Field of Dreams” or the se

Bull Durham (1988)

While real baseball fans will probably spend their day watching the full slate of day games MLB has on offer, we would be remiss in not including a film about the boys of summer. Some may prefer the male-tearjerker classic “Field of Dreams” or the se

While real baseball fans will probably spend their day watching the full slate of day games MLB has on offer, we would be remiss in not including a film about the boys of summer. Some may prefer the male-tearjerker classic “Field of Dreams” or the sepia-toned wistfulness of “The Natural,” but who wants to be bummed out on the 4th? Wouldn’t you rather spend your time with the sexy swagger of the best baseball movie ever made?

Orion Pictures

Red Dawn (1984) John Milius stands as a singular figure among the first generation of film school brats that he calls friends and peers. He lacked Coppola’s love of family and loyalty, Spielberg’s and Lucas’s populism and Scorcese’s Catholic introspection. What he had in John Milius stands as a singular figure among the first generation of film school brats that he calls friends and peers. He lacked Coppola’s love of family and loyalty, Spielberg’s and Lucas’s populism and Scorcese’s Catholic introspection. What he had instead was a Nietzschean sense of the world as a cold and hellish place where only the strong survive. He contributed wonderful bits to his friends’ films: The Indianapolis Speech in “Jaws,” “I love the smell of napalm in the morning” to “Apocalypse Now,” and his own “Conan the Barbarian” was a great bit of pulpy fun that unleashed Arnold on the world. In “Red Dawn,” he combined Cold War paranoia with a libertarian wet dream to tell the story of high-school kids that become the insurgency in a Soviet-occupied U.S.A. The film is risible on almost every level, and features a ridiculous number of future ‘80s stars in its cast, but it’s hard to deny as trashy fun. MGM/UA Entertainment Co.

<p>Does patriotism mean never questioning your government? Recent decades have shown most Americans that…whether it was Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, W or Obama that you hated, you can’t always stand 100 percent behind your government in good conscience. Oliv

Born on the 4th of July (1989)

Does patriotism mean never questioning your government? Recent decades have shown most Americans that…whether it was Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, W or Obama that you hated, you can’t always stand 100 percent behind your government in good conscience. Oliv

Does patriotism mean never questioning your government? Recent decades have shown most Americans that whether it was Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, W or Obama that you hated, you can’t always stand 100 percent behind your government in good conscience. Oliver Stone harnesses Tom Cruise’s intensity (in an early dramatic role for which he was Oscar-nominated) in a biopic of veteran turned paraplegic Vietnam protestor Ron Kovick.

Universal Pictures

<p>While this film is set during the French and Indian War, it is simmering with the tensions that would eventually lead to Revolution. As Indian raids intensify and the French army marches through upstate New York, the colonist feel increasingly abando

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

While this film is set during the French and Indian War, it is simmering with the tensions that would eventually lead to Revolution. As Indian raids intensify and the French army marches through upstate New York, the colonist feel increasingly abando

While this film is set during the French and Indian War, it is simmering with the tensions that would eventually lead to Revolution. As Indian raids intensify and the French army marches through upstate New York, the colonist feel increasingly abandoned by an empire more invested in protecting its interests than its people. Perfectionist director Michael Mann takes the framework of James Fennimore Cooper’s novel, shovels in a love story and uses it to tell the story of an embryonic nation realizing its need to stand on its own two feet. It also turned intense Anglo-Irish character actor Daniel Day-Lewis into a sex symbol.

20th Century Fox/Warner Bros.

<p>Though often written off as a “stoner flick,” this achingly poignant and blisteringly funny take on the last day of school for a bunch of small town kids in 1976 is closer to “Breaking Away” than Cheech and Chong. While not set on the Fourth itself,

Dazed and Confused (1983)

Though often written off as a “stoner flick,” this achingly poignant and blisteringly funny take on the last day of school for a bunch of small town kids in 1976 is closer to “Breaking Away” than Cheech and Chong. While not set on the Fourth itself,

Though often written off as a “stoner flick,” this achingly poignant and blisteringly funny take on the last day of school for a bunch of small town kids in 1976 is closer to “Breaking Away” than Cheech and Chong. While not set on the Fourth itself, the summer of our Bicentennial looms large over the proceedings. The film examines the mores of kids in dead-end small towns in the moments before their dreams are tempered by the realities of adulthood – and it did it in a way that “Friday Night Lights” clearly learned from.

Gramercy Pictures

<p>At his worst, Ron Howard’s films can feel vacant, filled with nothing but bland optimism. When given the right material, though, that sunny California outlook is exactly right. With “Apollo 13,” Howard was able to capture the feeling of a time when s

Apollo 13 (1995)

At his worst, Ron Howard’s films can feel vacant, filled with nothing but bland optimism. When given the right material, though, that sunny California outlook is exactly right. With “Apollo 13,” Howard was able to capture the feeling of a time when s

At his worst, Ron Howard’s films can feel vacant, filled with nothing but bland optimism. When given the right material, though, that sunny California outlook is exactly right. With “Apollo 13,” Howard was able to capture the feeling of a time when space exploration was new and exciting -- and dangerous. He pulls off the delicate trick of creating tension in a story we already know has a happy ending.

Universal Entertainment

<p>I guess we have to mention this one, right? The movie is thunderously stupid, but like a big, shiny, slobbery Golden Retriever, you can’t help but scratch behind its ear</p>

Independence Day (1996)

I guess we have to mention this one, right? The movie is thunderously stupid, but like a big, shiny, slobbery Golden Retriever, you can’t help but scratch behind its ear

20th Century Fox

<p>One approach to dealing with patriotism in the era of cynicism is to mock those who confuse it with jingoism. No one did that with more maniacal glee than pranksters Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who made a bad-taste masterpiece to cap off the “Age of

Team America: World Police (2004)

One approach to dealing with patriotism in the era of cynicism is to mock those who confuse it with jingoism. No one did that with more maniacal glee than pranksters Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who made a bad-taste masterpiece to cap off the “Age of

One approach to dealing with patriotism in the era of cynicism is to mock those who confuse it with jingoism. No one did that with more maniacal glee than pranksters Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who made a bad-taste masterpiece to cap off the “Age of Terror.”

Paramount Pictures