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(Left to right) Will Smith in "Independence Day" and Chris Evans in "Captain America: The First Avenger."
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection; Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
After the last burger’s been flipped and the final Roman candle has fizzled out, what could be better than settling in with a movie to remind you of the real meaning of the Fourth of July? This watch list will put you in the spirit. Happy Independence Day, America!
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
When the world feels in the danger zone, Tom Cruise zooms to the rescue, reviving his flyboy character and America’s spirits. It’s jet fuel for patriotic feelings, with Jennifer Connelly, 53, as his age-appropriate sweetie and Val Kilmer’s Iceman reporting for duty. Best of all, what made it a hit were grownup viewers, who led the audience that gave Cruise the biggest hit of his career — and he turns 63 on July 3.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Paramount+
Note: Paramount+ provides a discount to AARP members and pays AARP a royalty for the use of its intellectual property.
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
Laurence Fishburne, 62, heads up this inspiring, semi-fictionalized account of the first all-African American Army Air Forces squadron during World War II, playing hotshot pilot Hannibal Lee. Despite the U.S. military’s initial misgivings about sending the Black aviators into combat, their remarkable success rate in the air and their unimpeachable cool under pressure soon give them a reputation for bravery that can’t be ignored. Thanks to Fishburne’s steely, granite-jawed heroism, The Tuskegee Airmen is a moving tribute to the real men who loved their country even if it didn’t always love them back.
Where to watch: Max, Prime Video
Rocky IV (1985)
Hands down, the greatest — and giddiest — entry in the franchise after the original, Rocky IV is peak Reagan-era wish fulfillment with a bunch of left hooks and haymakers thrown in for good measure. In the final days of the Cold War, the Italian Stallion (Sylvester Stallone, 77) is forced out of retirement after a ruthless Soviet superman (Dolph Lundgren, 66) kills his nemesis-turned-pal Apollo Creed in the ring. And you know what that means: It’s payback time! Rocky IV is unapologetically jingoistic, but it’s also a fist-pumping knockout, and the strapping, stoic Lundgren is the easily the film’s most impressive special effect.
Where to watch: Prime Video
Adventureland (2009)
The Fourth of July is fueled by sensory nostalgia: the sight of a long-ago fireworks displays on hot summer evenings, the smell of a backyard barbecue, the sounds of a firetruck festooned in red-white-and-blue bunting as it leads a small-town parade. Greg Mottola’s coming-of-age comedy understands all of this. Jesse Eisenberg plays a recent college grad working a summer job alongside Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, 50, and Ryan Reynolds at a rinky-dink amusement park in 1987. Adventureland is a reminder that sometimes the worst gigs we’ll ever have are remembered as the best of times.
Where to watch: Paramount+, Prime Video
Air Force One (1997)
Is it too late to start a presidential write-in campaign for Harrison Ford, 81? We have no idea how he’d handle the economy or foreign affairs, but if director Wolfgang Petersen’s rousing action epic is any indication, we can at least be sure that he wouldn’t take any guff from a resourceful bunch of international terrorists (led by Gary Oldman, 66) who hijack his aircraft with his family on board. As President James Marshall, Ford is equal parts decency and deadliness as he single-handedly takes on the baddies at 30,000 feet and dishes out some star-spangled vengeance.
Where to watch: Prime Video
Independence Day (1996)
Don’t mess with the stars and stripes — or blow up the White House, for that matter! That’s the rah-rah message that turned this tongue-in-cheek alien invasion spectacle with Will Smith, 55, and Jeff Goldblum, 71, into one of the biggest summer blockbusters of the ’90s. Come to see Smith punch an alien in the face; stay for Bill Pullman’s stirring Fourth of July speech as the American president.
Where to watch: Prime Video, Hulu
Hamilton (2020)
It’s hard to imagine a better way to experience what it means to be an American than by watching this taped production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s historical hip-hop hit musical, which tells the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton through a modern, from-the-streets lens.
Where to watch: Disney+
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