Movies

The Most Star-Spangled 4th of July Movies

born on the fourth of july
Universal Pictures
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The Most Star-Spangled 4th of July Movies

By ETonline Staff

3:20 AM PDT, July 4, 2019

From Yankee Doodle Dandy to 1776, Hollywood has made its fair share of rousing Fourth of July films. We've got a more eclectic quartet of films for you, all of which contain scenes and themes that take place on and around our nation's Independence Day.

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'Born on the Fourth of July'

born on the fourth of july
Universal Pictures

In Oliver Stone's 1989 Vietnam war epic based on the true story of Ron Kovic, Tom Cruise delivers a brave, no-holds-barred and Oscar-nominated performance as Kovic, a patriotic, small-town teen who enlists to fight abroad, only to have his jingoistic perspective changed dramatically by a bullet that puts him permanently in a wheelchair. The film opens up in the '50s with a great, nostalgic scene in which a young, bright-eyed birthday boy Kovic watches a Fourth of July parade filled with sparklers, fire trucks and pretty majorettes -- only to be somewhat taken aback by the vision of war veterans missing their limbs. Powerful stuff.


'The Patriot'

Columbia Pictures
Mel Gibson and the late Heath Ledger play father and son in this heavy-handed but entertaining 2000 Revolutionary War drama from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich. Set in South Carolina in 1776, Gibson plays a peaceful farmer and French-Indian war vet who is forced to fight when the British invade and kill one of his seven sons. Accused of distorting historical accuracy in the name of dramatic license, The Patriot nonetheless provides some rousing battle sequences and a sense of history on the day we declared our independence.

'Independence Day'

20th Century Fox
How can you not include this blockbuster on the list? With giant spaceships looming over every major city around the globe in this 1996 hit, Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman must determine just how to survive destructive, insurmountable alien forces and take them down before they wipe out human civilization completely. Of course, the humans are able to rally their forces on Independence Day, will Pullman as president giving a rousing "let's get 'em" speech before the explosive finale. Good thing the alien software is compatible with ours!

'Miss Firecracker'

Corsair Pictures
Can small-town girl Holly Hunter win the Miss Firecracker beauty pageant and make her escape from her dinky little Mississippi town? In this spunky 1989 indie comedy based on a 1984 play, Hunter delivers a winning performance as Carnelle, a woman whose lack of poise or grace is counter-balanced by her brash disposition. Thinking the pageant will be her ticket out, Carnelle learns that sometimes you can only rely on yourself when the chips are down. Mary Steenburgen, Tim Robbins, Scott Glenn and Alfre Woodard also star.

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