Patriotism is a tough sell for America right now, but in the same way you don’t have to believe in immaculate conceptions to celebrate Christmas, you mustn’t be a coal-rolling flag-hugger to embrace the things the Fourth of July truly represents: that is, beers, barbecue, baseball and, of course, blowing stuff up. And when the sun goes down and your stash of M-80s has run out, it’s time to collapse on the couch with a light domestic lager and end the day with a movie.
The question is, what qualifies as an ideal Fourth of July movie? Does it need to be expressly patriotic? Must it actually take place on the holiday in question? Can it express more complicated feelings about this place 329 million of us call home? In truth, all apply. To give you a better idea of what to watch this Independence Day, here are the best picks to throw on this July 4.
Independence Day (1996)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum
Technically, it’s about mankind declaring its independence from the aliens that have come to subjugate us, but it’s the Americans that lead the way. Bill Pullman gives a more inspirational speech than basically any real president has managed since. And if Will Smith punching an alien right in its ugly mug doesn’t make your heart swell with pride, go ahead and deport yourself to Mars now.
Jaws (1975)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Sure, its main comment on America is that capitalism will kill you, but c’mon – it’s Jaws, y’all. It’s a movie about a big ass shark eating visitors to a coastal tourist town on Fourth of July weekend. If you don’t watch it around this time every year, do you even count as a citizen? Plus, it’s the 50th anniversary, so there’s that too.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston
The country was still reeling from Pearl Harbor when this look at the life of George M. Cohan — arguably the most patriotic songwriter ever — provided the salve our nation needed. It’s an aggressive, toe-tapping ode to the red, white and blue that has everything: James Cagney in full-blown hoofer mode, pro-USA sentiment as thick as hasty pudding, and musical numbers less subtle than a ticker-tape parade led by Uncle Sam.
Rocky (1976)
Director: John G Avildsen
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Carl Weathers
Historically, baseball is the country’s No. 1 pastime, but watching two guys punch themselves unconscious is a close second. Sure, the fourth Rocky movie is where Sylvester Stallone single-handedly defeats communism, but the original is the most American story, that of a working-class palooka who gets knocked down but refuses to stay there.
Top Gun: Maverick (2021)
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Cast: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Glenn Powell
It’s American military propaganda that’ll have even pinko commie leftists hooting and hollering! For real, though, the sequel to the jet-flying, sexy-volleyball-playing 1986 original is one of the best blockbusters Hollywood has produced in ages, and its zoomtastic flight sequences are more exhilarating than any fireworks display.
A League of Their Own (1992)
Director: Penny Marshall
Cast: Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna
Baseball is America’s pastime, but the best movie about the country’s foundational sport doesn’t involve Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle or Major League Baseball at all. Instead, this Penny Marshall-directed classic takes inspiration from the 1943 Rockford Peaches of the All-American Girls Professional League – a real team of all-women sluggers that briefly became a sensation during World War II. It’s more than a bit sentimental, but its well-studied nostalgia feels like slipping into a bath full of warm apple pie.
Lincoln (2012)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn
He wasn’t a Founding Father, but the GOAT president doesn’t need any singing or rapping to convince folks to sit down and watch a two and a half hour movie about him - especially when he’s played by the GOAT actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), with the GOAT director at the helm (Steven Spielberg) and a screenplay from maybe the GOAT modern playwright (Tony Kushner).
The Sandlot (1993)
Director: David Mickey Evans
Cast: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna
In the way Stranger Things successfully made zoomers nostalgic for the ’80s, this cult favorite comedy about a group of baseball-obsessed preteens in the 1960s made ’90s kids pine for an era they never actually experienced. The scene where the gang play a night game on July 4, illuminated by neighborhood fireworks, is some of the purest Americana ever caught on film.
Team America: World Police (2004)
Director: Trey Parker
Voice cast: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Kristen Miller
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s a puppet-based send-up of Bush-era imperialism, and all its flag-waving, mortar-exploding, projectile-vomiting patriotism is delivered with heavy amounts of sarcasm. But after slamming a case of White Claws and enough ribs to tranquilise a giant sloth, you won’t know the difference.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Director: Frank Capra
Cast: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains
As the years go on, Frank Capra’s dramedy about a decent man elected to the US Senate trying to do good by his constituents seems more and more like a fantasy from a bygone era. But if you want to stoke the dying embers of your belief in a functioning government where politicians stand up to corruption, there’s no better film.
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J Barry
While the title alone makes it a no-brainer, this Oliver Stone-directed antiwar flick is like ‘Born in the USA’ - it’s only ‘patriotic’ if you disregard literally everything else about it. In fact, it tells a similar story to the Springsteen song: a soldier (Tom Cruise) returns home from Vietnam, now paralyzed and disillusioned by his country and the war he was sent to fight. But hey, dissent is as American as apple pie and cheap fireworks. At least, it used to be.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Director: Joe Johnston
Cast: Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving
The whole Captain America series will have flags flying at full mast, but the original’s well-executed evocation of the 1940s remains an MCU standout, as does Chris Evans’s star-making turn as puny soldier turned supercharged mega-patriot Steve Rogers.
Air Force One (1997)
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close
It’s been a long while since Americans could feel truly proud of our Commander-in-Chief, and it’s really no wonder, given that, back in the late ’90s, President Harrison Ford beat the shit out of a bunch of terrorists who attempted to hijack his airplane. How could anyone possibly hope to live up to those standards?
National Treasure (2004)
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight
Nicolas Cage is going to steal the Declaration of Independence. Okay, so the first in this sub-Indiana Jones adventure series – about a historian seeking a hidden stash of gold that once belonged to the Founding Fathers – only really uses American history as a McGuffin. But Cage is the acting equivalent of a Roman candle, and watching him go off will have you saluting your flat screen.
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