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America’s 250th birthday conveniently falls on a three-day (four if you’re truly blessed) weekend, so unless you’re going on a big trip, you’re going to have some time to kill at some point.
I’ve been rewatching some of my favorite patriotic movies as of late to feel the spirit of the season, so here are seven great picks you should consider binge-watching this weekend to celebrate America.
Air Force One: This 1997 Harrison Ford classic is peak ’80s boomer slop, and that’s what makes it great. A Medal of Honor-winning president gets stuck on a plane with terrorists? He fakes an escape only to shock the world by fighting them off one by one? Russian ultranationalists are the bad guys? It’s got everything.
Red Dawn: “Red Dawn” may be the most patriotic movie of all time. Watch the original, not the remake. It channels America’s founding into the context of the Cold War, with young men fighting for their country and families with everything to lose. If you don’t get fired up watching the Wolverines, you don’t have a soul.
The Patriot: There had to be at least one Revolutionary-era pick from this list, and I went with “The Patriot,” Mel Gibson’s best work. It is July 4, and America 250, after all, so you need at least one flick that tells you how it all started. Whether you like him or not, Gibson is giving the performance of a lifetime.
Friday Night Lights: This pick doesn’t seem to fit with the others at first glance. It’s not about America per se, but it is quintessential Americana. Small-town Texas high school football. Torn ACLs. Cultural strife. Faith, family, football. If you don’t at least tear up during this one, I can’t help you. War movies show us the sacrifice, but “Friday Night Lights” shows us what the sacrifice is all for. It’s the most underrated sports movie of all time, and it’s markedly better than the television show.
Apollo 13: No other country can do what we can, and “Apollo 13” is one of the best examples of that. We also love a good “based on a true story” tale (also true of “Friday Night Lights”). The moon landing was real and was a great American achievement; suggestions otherwise are third-worldist propaganda. And “Apollo 13” is proof that even in failure, America always wins.
Argo: A relatively slept-on film, “Argo” is timely now because of Iran. The peak of this film is the ending rant from Bryan Cranston, where he tells his superior to “do your f*cking job,” something we can all relate to from some point in our lives. It’s a great tale of leaving no man behind.
Inglourious Basterds: I had to add one World War II pick to the list. I contemplated “Downfall,” which isn’t really about America at all, but serves as a great reminder of what we were fighting against. But I went with “Inglourious Basterds” because it is more directly American, and Brad Pitt turns in the performance of his career as Lt. Aldo Raine, perhaps my personal most quotable character of all time. There’s a lot of idiotic revisionism going around about World War II lately, so watch this movie to remember that yes, we were the good guys, and yes, it was worth it.
