30 Absurdly Patriotic Movies to Stream for the Fourth of July[html]
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Raise a glass, America. It’s the Fourth of July—and not just any Fourth, but the 250th anniversay of Independence Day. Why not celebrate with an over-the-top, ultra-violent action spectacular exhibiting the can-explode spirit of the country we all ostensibly love?
Patriotism means a lot of things to a lot of people, and these movies, bless 'em, all at least try to exemplify shining American ideals, if with mixed results and some, uh, different ideas about what it means to love your country. They all do have at least one thing in common: explosions. Lots of ‘em. Wherever these films sit on the American political spectrum, they are all pretty much aligned on the idea that rugged individualism should be backed by heavy firepower. These are movies that don’t just say “America!” They say, “America? Fuck yeah!”
Air Force One (1997)
In the pantheon of cool movie presidents, Harrison Ford’s James Marshall stands tall. There’s a pretty solid setup here: No sooner has Marshall stated, publicly and unequivocally, that the U.S. government will not negotiate with terrorists than a group of terrorists takes control of Air Force One and threatens the resulting hostages, including the First Family. The baddies think the president has been ejected from the craft, but he’s actually hiding in the cargo hold, and there’s only one thing for him to do: get them off his plane! (It’s no way to pick a president, but I’d probably vote for him.) Rent Air Force One from Prime Video.
The Green Berets (1968)
John Wayne, best known for his work as an actor and as a World War II draft dodger, sat in the director's chair for this one—a film he passionately set out to create to counter the anti-war sentiments of the lily-livered cowards becoming increasingly disenchanted with America's role in Vietnam. David Janssen plays a reporter with concerns about the conflict, at least until he's embedded with Wayne's fictional Colonel Beckworth. At that point, we journey with them into the heart of the Vietnam War and learn that the conflict isn't complicated at all. It is, rather, a Starship Troopers-style fight between goodies (Americans) and baddies (Vietnamese commies led by a young, distinctly not Vietnamese, George Takei). The baddies don't deserve our mercy, nor due process, so best just to shoot them a lot. The movie did decent business but was almost universally panned. Rent The Green Berets from Prime Video.
Independence Day (1996)
Stupid aliens. Are you really going to blow up the White House just a couple of days shy of the Fourth of July and think America is going to let that slide? The aliens certainly didn’t count on a cross-section of American rebels, including Marine pilot Will Smith, Gulf War vet President Bill Pullman, tech guy Jeff Goldblum, alcoholic crank Randy Quaid, and Star Trek’s Mr. Data, standing up to defend our freedom to deliver cheesy one-liners. This thing was such a huge hit, it kicked off a major disaster movie resurgence in the mid 1990s, but none could top it for fun and sheer spectacle. (That includes the 20 years later sequel, minus Will Smith.) Stream Independence Day on Hulu.
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
The sometimes-great Antoine Fuqua directs this slightly cheap-looking spin on Die Hard in the White House, with Gerard Butler playing a disgraced former Secret Service agent who becomes the only one who can save the president (and the country) from the terrorists. A great cast (Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, and Angela Bassett) elevates this violent, middling, but perfectly entertaining action thriller. Stream Olympus Has Fallen on Prime Video.
American Sniper (2014)
Anyone old enough to remember the Iraq War of the aughts knows one thing: It was an entirely uncomplicated conflict involving a noble American administration putting an end to an imminent and entirely real threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). To tell this story, director Clint Eastwood naturally selected the memoir of Navy SEAL marksman Chris Kyle, a decorated soldier who wasn't quite as decorated as he always claimed, and whose unprovable or easily disprovable stories (including one about saving New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina by summarily executing dozens of looters) caused legal headaches for his publishers. The Iraq portion of the film opens with Kyle (Bradley Cooper) shooting a woman and her small child in order to stop them from lobbing grenades at fellow soldiers; he feels bad about it, which is approximately as nuanced as Sniper gets in its good vs. evil take on the war—even if the movie makes a strong case for the damaging physical and psychological toll of the war on the soldiers fighting it. Rent American Sniper from Prime Video.
Under Siege (1992)
The USS Missouri (the third U.S. Navy ship with the name) had a long and illustrious career before being towed to Pearl Harbor and made into a memorial. It’s also held a prominent (if eclectic) place in pop culture: among other appearances, it was featured prominently in the 2012 film Battleship (more on that one shortly) and was also the setting for Cher’s slightly risqué video for “If I Could Turn Back Time.” But it probably got the most screen time in this 1992 Steven Seagal vehicle. Mirroring the ship’s real history, President George H.W. Bush decommissions the ship (true) just in time for terrorists led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey to seize it for nefarious purposes (less true). Only Seagal, playing the ship’s plucky cook, can stop them (very untrue). Stream Under Siege on Prime Video.
Gabriel Over the White House (1933)
Maybe a bit of fascism, for a treat. Walter Huston plays the charming, wildly ineffective President Judd Hammond—he's more than content to coast along in his job without doing much to help a country in the grip of a Great Depression. That all changes when he crashes his car and, maybe, chats with an actual angel on his deathbed. The angel's apparent message: Take the bull by the horns, buddy, and get this country in order! He dismisses his cabinet, adjourns Congress, has a gangster summarily executed, and threatens to send the United States military to attack every nation on the globe unless they...do peace, or something. The movie is clear that we ought to see Hammond as a genial, but wise and clear-eyed father figure; he's going to do whatever it takes to drain that swamp and he's going to do it with the full support of a grateful nation, Jesus, and assorted angels. Rent Gabriel Over the White House from Prime Video.
White House Down (2013)
Given that images of the modern White House involve large swaths of literal rubble, the title here takes on an added poignance—but let's travel back to a more innocent time, shall we? Director Roland Emmerich makes his second appearance on this list, and it won’t be his last. Following efforts by the president (Jamie Foxx) to make peace in the Middle East, a cabal of white supremacists lead by James Woods launches an attack on the Capitol building (if you can imagine) that sends D.C. into lockdown. Luckily, Marine vet, Capitol police officer, and tank-top all-star Channing Tatum is on hand when Woods and company attempt to kidnap the President and take over the White House in order to start a nuclear war with Iran for revenge or something. It’s a very solid action movie, but we didn’t come here for the plot: we came for explosions and Channing Tatum’s ever-shrinking wardrobe. Stream White House Down on Hulu or rent it from Prime Video.
