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Star-Spangled Patriotic Movies to Watch on July 4th Weekend

Check out these 20 red-white-and-blue films


spinner image Will Smith as Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day and Chris Evans as Captain America
(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? From Lincoln and Hamilton to the quiet heroism of Hidden Figures and Chris Evans as Captain America, we’ve got 20 great films that are just perfect for the long weekend. 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, 52, 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 61 on July 3.

Where to watch: Prime Video, Paramount+

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Air Force One (1997)

Is it too late to start a presidential write-in campaign for Harrison Ford in 2024? 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) 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, Vudu

The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)

Laurence Fishburne 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: Prime Video, Max

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, Sylvester Stallone’s Italian Stallion is forced out of retirement after a ruthless Soviet superman (Dolph Lundgren) 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, Netflix

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 Will Smith/Jeff Goldblum alien invasion spectacle 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, Vudu

Hamilton (2020)

Lin Manuel-Miranda’s long-running, impossible-to-get ticket on Broadway is exclusively available to stream on Disney+. And it’s hard to imagine a better way to experience what it means to be an American. A taped production of his historical hip-hop hit musical, Manuel-Miranda’s Hamilton (for those who have been living under a rock for the past six years) tells the story of founding father Alexander Hamilton through a modern, from-the-streets lens.

Where to watch: Disney+

Glory (1989)

Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Broderick star in this heroic account of one of our country’s more overlooked Civil War chapters — the story of the all-Black 54th regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Washington’s quiet intensity and fiery courage raise the hairs on the back of your neck in this important, urgent historical corrective from director Edward Zwick.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Lincoln (2012)

Speaking of inspiring American presidents with a flair for oratory … Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly won his third Oscar for his eerily transformative portrayal of our 16th president. Directed by Steven Spielberg, this epic in miniature doesn’t try to capture the full, cradle-to-grave sweep of Lincoln’s remarkable life, rather it zeroes in on his battle to pass the 13th Amendment, ending slavery. A modern American masterpiece.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

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Hidden Figures (2016)

Some American heroes are household names out of the gate (see Lincoln, Hamilton and the Mercury astronauts); others do their jobs in anonymity until history hopefully discovers them later. In this inspirational true-life drama about a group of female African American mathematicians who toiled in obscurity for NASA during the space race, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae and Taraji P. Henson soar below the radar as the brains behind one of NASA’s greatest moments.   

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The combination of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks would seem to be an Independence Day match made in heaven. And so it is with this harrowing and humane World War II film. Kicking off with the D-Day assault on Normandy, rendered with almost unbearable white-knuckle realism, Saving Private Ryan shows us a small group of soldiers embarking on one noble mission when all around them is chaos and confusion. Is this the greatest WWII movie ever made? Maybe, maybe not. But I have a hard time thinking of a better one.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Tom Cruise earned his first Oscar nomination for playing Ron Kovic, a real-life paralyzed Vietnam vet turned antiwar protester, in Oliver Stone’s searing morality play. Full of heartache, sorrow and righteous anger, Born on the Fourth of July is not only a showcase for its leading man, who until then had been pigeonholed as nothing more than an easy-on-the-eyes movie star, it’s also a reminder that sometimes disagreeing with your country can be the ultimate expression of patriotism.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

The Right Stuff (1983)

As divided as our nation was in the 1960s, the one thing that seemed to unite us was our quest to explore the heavens. Based on Tom Wolfe’s novelistic account of the triumphs and failures of the first wave of daredevil Mercury astronauts, director Philip Kaufman’s epic is a reminder of America’s ingenuity and ambition. A star-studded cast that includes Ed Harris, Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn and Dennis Quaid doesn’t hurt either.  

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Selma (2014)

Like all birthdays, the Fourth of July is an opportunity not only to reflect on where we’re going but also where we’ve been. Sometimes that sort of reckoning can be both painful and hopeful. Take director Ava Duvernay’s Selma — a stirring and beautifully realized recreation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery. This is a powerful and necessary film about how far we have come and how far we still have to go.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Is this the greatest movie from the banner Hollywood year of 1939? Well, with The Wizard of OzGone With the Wind and Stagecoach, it’s no easy call. But it’s definitely the most inspiring, thanks to Jimmy Stewart’s indelible performance as an idealistic young senator who refuses to compromise his homespun principles for jaded political expedience. Directed by Frank Capra, no stranger to stories about the American everyman, this is a movie that will restore your faith in democracy.

Where to watch: Prime Video, Vudu

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Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Arguably the best installment in the first wave of Marvel movies, this red, white and blue origin story about how WWII G.I. Steve Rogers became Captain America has a pulpy realism and lack of flash that feels like an antidote to the superhero adventures to come later. Chris Evans’ solo coming-out party as the patriotic Cap pits him against the evil Hydra, but it also somehow manages to feel like a lost Gary Cooper film.

Where to watch: Prime Video, Disney+

National Treasure (2004)

Is it preposterous? Sure. But this historical caper with Nicolas Cage is also a perfect popcorn movie in its own escapist way. Cage plays a modern-day Indiana Jones-style treasure hunter, armed with loony conspiracy theories instead of a bullwhip and fedora. His mission: to find America’s most sacred historical artifacts, including the Declaration of Independence, which it turns out contains clues about more than just life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

The great James Cagney stars as composer-playwright George M. Cohan in this lighthearted, Horatio Alger-like musical about a Broadway star who travels to the White House to be honored by the president. Along the way, he reflects on his past, which is brought to toe-tapping life with renditions of the jingoistic “You’re a Grand Old Flag” and “Over There,” as well as “Give My Regards to Broadway.”

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Forrest Gump (1994)

Tom Hanks won his second Oscar in a row playing this lovable 20th-century Candide, who manages to pop up at just about every important moment of his era, becoming a uniquely American sort of hero in the process. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, this best picture Oscar winner offers everything you could possibly want on the Fourth of July — generous helpings of kindness, guilelessness and boomer pop culture callbacks, with a dash of feel-good whimsy.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

1776 (1972)

Before there was Hamilton, there was 1776 — a hit Broadway musical about the struggle to declare America’s independence at the Second Continental Congress, starring William Daniels as John Adams, Ken Howard as Thomas Jefferson and Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin. Don’t go in expecting Miranda’s lyrical wizardy; this is a different kind of film entirely. But it’s witty, sharp and well worth your time.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Apollo 13 (1995)

American heroism isn’t always defined by gold medals, blue ribbons and triumphant victories. Sometimes heroism just means using your wits and a slide rule to get back home in one piece. In Ron Howard’s edge-of-your-seat chronicle of one of NASA’s near-disastrous missions to the moon, Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton play real-life astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, who managed to skirt death against all odds. They were American heroes, one and all.

Where to watch: Prime Video, YouTube

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 30, 2020. It has been updated with additional movies to watch.

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