The Fourth of July always inspires us to revisit movies about America, in particular those that continue to resonate with us and our sense of country and patriotism. We found films we think speak to the American experience in unique ways, many celebrating the core values upon which America was founded and others asking viewers to ponder the more challenging aspects of the red, white and blue. Movies about sports, presidents, race, greed, alien invasions and much more. You can stream these on Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu and Netflix.
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42 (2013)
Before he was crowned king of Wakanda, the late Chadwick Boseman slid on to the scene portraying Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. This likable biopic chronicles that historic moment along with the racism and other obstacles he faced in the process. Partially filmed in Alabama, it also co-stars Bessemer native Andre Holland as sportswriter Wendell Smith. (HBO Max)
America: The Movie (2021)
A chainsaw-wielding George Washington teams with beer-loving bro Sam Adams to take down the Brits in a tongue-in-cheek riff on the American Revolution. Featuring the voices of Alabama’s own Channing Tatum, Jason Mantzoukas and Olivia Munn. (Netflix)
American History X (1998)
A former neo-Nazi skinhead tries to prevent his younger brother from going down the same wrong path that he did in this blistering examination of white supremacy, as well as the American education and prison systems. Thunderous lead performance from Edward Norton. (HBO Max)
The American President (1995)
In Rob Reiner and Aaron Sorkin’s sentimental D.C.-set romance, a never-more likable Michael Douglas plays President Andrew Shepherd, a widower who pursues a relationship with environmental lobbyist Sydney Ellen Wade (Annette Bening) while at the same time attempting to win the passage of a crime control bill. Hearkening a bit back to the days of an older, more optimistic Hollywood, Reiner’s film seeks to portray the president as a good man seeking love just like everybody else while trying to maintain his focus during a tumultuous re-election campaign in the midst of his would-be scandalous courting of a lobbyist. Shepherd comes across well in his private life, and when put to the test as the leader of the free world, he puts great thought in making difficult decisions. (HBO Max)
Argo (2012)
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979. Ben Affleck’s enjoyable account of America’s Hollywood studio system secretly saving the day when options ran out. (HBO Max)
The Aviator (2004)
A biopic depicting the early years of legendary director and aviator Howard Hughes’ career from the late 1920s to the mid-1940s during which time Hughes became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). His aviation obsession with building the biggest and fastest planes on Earth still reflects America’s own fixation on making everything we do bigger and better than the rest of the world. (HBO Max)
Best of the Best (1989)
The Americans prepare for a showdown against Korea in a global Tae Kwon Do tournament. First they must work through their intra-squad tension before they can become the best of, well, you know. A late ’80s action masterpiece starring Eric Roberts, Phillip Rhee, Christopher Penn and the great James Earl Jones as the coach of a Tae Kwon Do team. Perfect for the Fourth of July. (Netflix)
Blow (2001)
Yes, another American Dream via drug trafficking story, this time starring Johnny Depp as George Jung, who along with the Medellín Cartel headed by Pablo Escobar, established the cocaine market in the 1970s in the U.S. The late Ted Demme shows a man who discovers a knack for business and innovation, just in the wrong line of work, as he sacrifices his integrity for the almighty dollar. (HBO Max)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Chris Evans’ debut as Steve Rogers, a rejected military soldier who transforms into Captain America after taking a dose of super-soldier serum. But wielding the shield comes at a price as he attempts to take down a war monger and a terrorist organization, all while representing and enhancing his country’s values in the war effort. You can catch all Cap movies here. (Disney+)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Orson Welles’ masterpiece depicting the rise and fall of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane remains one of the greatest films ever made. (HBO Max)
D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994)
The titular junior hockey team reunites to represent the U.S.A. in an international competition, where the world awaits the talented Ducks. Coach Gordon Bombay succumbs to the bright lights of his newfound fame at the national level, losing sight of his squad and the flag on their jerseys. (Disney+)
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Spike Lee’s adventure about four Black veterans who return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen squad leader (the late Chadwick Boseman) and the gold fortune he helped them hide. Equally exhilarating and frustrating, it delivers all the qualities we love in “a Spike Lee joint,” stuffing in as much it can to say about Trump’s America while giving longtime Lee collaborator Delroy Lindo a long-deserved moment in the sun. (Netflix)
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Kevin Costner’s epic western war film almost feels underrated now than 30 years have passed, but it remains a gorgeously shot and staged adaptation of Michael Blake’s book of the same name. Costner plays a Union Army lieutenant who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, as he encounters and befriends a group of Lakota Indians. It won seven Oscars, including one for John Barry’s lush musical score. (Netflix)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The second and most beloved of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy finds the Joker terrorizing Gotham City to set up a showdown with the titular hero. Much more than your average superhero movie, Nolan drew inspiration from crime films like “Heat” and “The Godfather Part II” in this adventure that weighs the moral and political implications of mass surveillance during a war on terror. (HBO Max)
Dave (1993)
To avoid a potentially explosive scandal when the U.S. President goes into a coma, the White House staff secretly hires an affable temp agency owner (Kevin Kline) with an uncanny physical resemblance to take his place in this Ivan Reitman comedy. Kline plays both roles, and while we certainly wouldn’t cast a ballot for his President Bill Mitchell, we’d definitely think about Dave, who breathes new life into the Oval Office, showing that sometimes all Americans want is to relate to their Commander-in-Chief on a personal level. (HBO Max)
The Departed (2006)
A remake of the Korean crime film “Infernal Affairs,” it deftly tells a complicated story of undercover operations keen on infiltrating the Boston mob, thanks to great lead performances from Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. Martin Scorsese’s crazy-entertaining American crime saga features all sorts of little comments on the country via business, police, violence and more. “When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals,” Jack Nicholson’s mob boss tells a child. “Today, what I’m saying to you is this: When you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?” (Netflix, HBO Max)
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
Sidney Lumet’s critically acclaimed drama about a1972 robbery and hostage situation at a Chase Manhattan branch in Brooklyn (featuring a brilliant performance from Al Pacino) is considered an anti-authoritarian story, seen as culturally significant in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal. (HBO Max)
Election (1999)
A high school teacher meets his match in an over-achieving student politician in Alexander Payne’s dark comedy that shows American politics and the tactics some use to gain power extend from the federal level all the way down to modest races for school president. Wonderfully written and performed. Cast features Matthew Broderick, Reese Witherspoon and Chris Klein. (Netflix)
Fight Club (1999)
An insomniac office worker (Edward Norton) and an eccentric soap-maker (Brad Pitt) form an underground fight club that evolves into much more in David Fincher’s pitch-black adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s satirical novel of the same name. An acerbic commentary on materialism and corporate America, this has since become a cult classic. (Amazon Prime)
The Founder (2016)
Michael Keaton stars as businessman Ray Kroc, creator of the McDonald’s fast food chain, in this highly acclaimed biopic. Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch co-star as McDonald’s founders Richard and Maurice McDonald. Solid biopic anchored by a top-notch Keaton, who continues his impressive resurgence. What’s more American than McDonald’s? Maybe the way it was founded, according to this movie. (Netflix)
The Immigrant (2013)
An innocent immigrant woman is tricked into a life of burlesque and vaudeville until a dazzling magician tries to save her and reunite her with her sister who is being held in the confines of Ellis Island in James Gray’s 1921-set drama starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner. (HBO Max)
Independence Day (1996)
Aliens invade the planet and blow us up, and the Americans try to figure out how to blow them up before they can blow us up once and for all. Sometimes, you just gotta watch some stuff blow up real good on the Fourth of July. Bill Pullman’s legendary speech along with Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum smoking victory cigars makes it all the better. (HBO Max)
The Irishman (2019)
Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour crime saga had every reason to end up a bit sleepy and bloated, and perhaps that’s true in spurts, but the bulk of “The Irishman” reminded us all just who runs Hollywood. Netflix? OK sure, but Martin Scorsese seemingly stepped back into the wheelhouse of fast-paced and violent gangster stuff, only to bring us a more meditative look at mortality, sin, regret and America. (Netflix)
JFK (1990)
Oliver Stone’s all-encompassing examination of the assassination of John F. Kennedy follows a New Orleans DA who discovers there’s more to it than the official story. A technical marvel filled with one theory after another, it shows Stone at his peak as a filmmaker and has a rich sense of history, not in the textbook tone. Kevin Costner’s lead performance has a strong streak of patriotism in it, while he and the film prove that in American history, when people ask the right questions, good things can happen. (HBO Max)
Joker (2019)
In Gotham City, a troubled comedian is disregarded and mistreated by society, sending him on a downward spiral of revolution and bloody crime and transforming him into the Joker. Todd Phillips’ polarizing take on the D.C. Comics character seeks to spotlight our country’s failure to treat mental illness. A smash hit, it also reflects American audiences’ fixation on villains, for better or worse. (HBO Max)
Judas and the Black Messiah (2020)
Shaka King’s explosive historical drama chronicling Bill O’Neal’s infiltration the Black Panther Party leading to Chairman Fred Hampton’s assassination features some of the year’s most electrifying filmmaking, thanks to the performances of Oscar nominee Lakeith Stanfield and Oscar-winner Daniel Kaluuya. (HBO Max)
Killing Them Softly (2012)
Brad Pitt stars as an enforcer hired to restore order after some dopes rob a mob-protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Set against the 2008 recession, this is a biting commentary on the dog-eat-dog nature of America. (Netflix)
Lincoln (2012)
As the Civil War continues to rage, President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves in Steven Spielberg’s rousing biopic that earned Daniel Day-Lewis a third Oscar for best actor. Wise and virtuous as the Lincoln we’ve always learned about in grade school, Spielberg’s Lincoln is also a cunning political player who takes measures you might not expect behind the scenes to ensure he gets the votes he needs to take a country’s vital next steps, in the face of tremendous political adversity. (HBO Max)
Magic Mike (2012)
Channing Tatum stars as a male stripper who teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women and make easy money. Despite what you might think, guys, this flick is for you, too. From “Ocean’s Eleven” director Steven Soderbergh, it follow’s Mike’s American Dream aspirations of starting his own business for a better life, having to work odd jobs here and there to make ends meet only to fall victim to the greed of other opportunists who reject the path of an honest living if it means they reach the mountaintop before you do. (HBO Max)
Mississippi Burning (1988)
Two FBI agents with wildly different styles (Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe) arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of civil rights activists in 1964, as the investigation is met with hostility and backlash by the town’s residents, local police and the Ku Klux Klan. While roundly criticized by many for its fictionalization of history by Black activists involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the brutal confrontation of the South’s past seems like a breath of fresh air compared to more schmaltzy efforts to do so these days. Its detractors make sound points about the fact that Hollywood could use less Civil Rights Era stories told exclusively from the perspective of white people, but this managed to entertain while still asking tough questions of the region’s history. (HBO Max)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
James Stewart stars as a naïve man appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate,, and while his plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn’t back down in Frank Capra’s hopeful and beloved drama. (HBO Max)
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
A Secret Service agent finds himself trapped inside the White House in the wake of a terrorist attack and works with national security to rescue the president from his kidnappers. If you believe America kicks butt in the face of adversity, this might do the trick. (Netflix)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
A revenge movie staple, this stars Eastwood as a Missouri farmer-turned-feared gunslinger who goes on the hunt for the Union soldiers who murdered his family. A solid entry in the revisionist Western genre, to which Eastwood contributed multiple masterpieces. One of your dad’s all-time favorite movies, probably. (Netflix)
The Patriot (2000)
Roland Emmerich doesn’t typically do “history” all that well, but if you enjoy this as a straight action movie, we think you’ll dig it quite a bit. Mel Gibson plays an American swept into the American Revolutionary War when his family is threatened. And the dude is pretty skilled with a tomahawk and a musket. This served as a greater introduction to newcomer Heath Ledger’s, who’d starred in “10 Things I Hate About You” the previous year. (Netflix)
The People vs. Larry Flynt (1997)
The story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt (who died in 2021), and how he became a defender of free speech. Woody Harrelson stars, with “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus” director Milos Forman guiding it behind the scenes. (HBO Max)
Red Dawn (1984)
At the dawn of World War III, in the west mountains of America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town and their country from invading Soviet forces. Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Lea Thompson star in this action flick from John Milius. (HBO Max; the remake is on Hulu)
Reds (1981)
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States. Warren Beatty won the Oscar for directing this acclaimed epic co-starring Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton and himself. (HBO Max)
The Right Stuff (1983)
The story of the original Mercury 7 astronauts and their macho, seat-of-the-pants approach to the space program features a terrific ensemble cast and wonderful cinematography. Directed by Philip Kaufman, it’s filled with great singular scenes and moments, including when John Glenn (Ed Harris) mouths off to the president to defend his wife. An intense, funny and melancholic movie about a group of people whose inspiring focus gave the country something to stand on. (HBO Max)
Rocky franchise
We realize we could stop now and just start ranking Rocky movies and let that serve as the defining “Movies About America” list, so we’ll just pick the first five, all of which are streaming on Amazon Prime and Hulu. But fans tend to zero in on “Rocky IV” this time of year. After a robotic Soviet super-boxer kills his friend in the ring, Rocky Balboa comes out of retirement and travels to Russia for revenge and the honor of his beloved U, S and A. While it’s hard to buy America (or even Rocky at this point) as an underdog in any story, actor/director Sylvester Stallone and the franchise are just so darn convincing, creating perhaps the sole film we’d prefer to watch every Fourth of July. But honestly, you’re just as fine starting at the beginning and working through the classic American underdog story that won best picture in 1976 and launched one of the great film franchises of all time. (HBO Max)
The Social Network (2010)
David Fincher’s masterful take on Aaron Sorkin’s Oscar-winning script about the origin of Facebook remains one of the best films of the 2010s. Eminently rewatchable, especially through a 2021 prism with all what Mark Zuckerberg’s website has become, it stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake and Rooney Mara. Probably says more about America than we’d care to admit, both in how the scope of social media has grown the last 11 years, and how we will sacrifice precious relationships in pursuit of power and status. (Netflix)
Team America: World Police (2004)
“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for whatever reason, opted to make a crass political comedy using marionette puppets, and the world seems better for it. A Broadway actor is recruited by an elite counter-terrorism organization keen on policing the world in uncertain and violent times. In their own way, Parker and Stone say plenty about America’s insistence on butting in when it shouldn’t, sparing no one including outspoken liberal actors like Alec Baldwin and Sean Penn the filmmakers obviously can’t stand. The soundtrack delivers huge laughs, mocking overly patriotic hard rock and country music. (Amazon Prime)
The Terminal (2004)
An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there. Steve Spielberg’s underrated immigrant tale finds Tom Hanks as a foreigner who arrives in the land of opportunity to discover it’s anything but under certain circumstances, and there’s enough bureaucratic red tape to make you wish you never made the trip. Hanks’ Victor looks past those obstacles to see the good in others and the country as we learn why he came in the first place. (Netflix, Amazon Prime)
A Time to Kill (1996)
A young Mississippi lawyer and his assistant defend a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, inciting violent retribution and revenge from the Ku Klux Klan. Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of John Grisham’s popular novel stars Matthew McConaughey, Samuel L. Jackson and Sandra Bullock. Perhaps a bit heavy-handed at times for some, we still consider this a thoughtful look at race, justice and violence in the American South. (HBO Max)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Paul Thomas Anderson’s odyssey about business, religion and family focuses on an oil baron’s obsession with eliminating his competition in those categories at all costs. Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a towering and Oscar-winning performance as Daniel Plainview, a man who reflects the best and worst aspects of capitalism and the American dream. It certainly doesn’t speak for every American businessman, but it seeks to find the root of the the greed and ugliness that drives some in a cutthroat world. (Netflix)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
The story of even people on trial stemming from various charges surrounding the uprising at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. From writer/director Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network,” “Molly’s Game”). Features Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, Eddie Redmayne, Mark Rylance and Jeremy Strong. Scored multiple Oscar nominations, including best picture. (Netflix)
Uncut Gems (2019)
We’re still catching our breath after Josh and Benny Safdie’s latest whirlwind New York City adventure, this time through the eyes of jeweler and compulsive gambler Howard Ratner, played to perfection by Adam Sandler in what many consider a career-best performance. He makes bets that get him into big trouble with the wrong people, and he deserves all the horrible things coming his way, so why are we rooting for Howard? Someone find out how the Safdie brothers mix raw adrenaline into their film stock because few filmmakers create anxiety with as much ease as they do with each film they make (see “Good Time,” also on Netflix). Watching their movies feels like you’re driving on the interstate at 100 miles per hour with an empty tank with no exit for gas in sight. We do not recommend “Uncut Gems” if you have high blood pressure. (Netflix)
Under Siege (1992)
Steven Seagal’s best movie? He plays an ex-Navy Seal turned cook who is the only person who can stop a group of terrorists (led by Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Busey) when they seize control of a U.S. battleship. From Andrew Davis, the director of “The Fugitive,” so you know it rules. We can confirm, it does. Plus, it was filmed aboard the USS Alabama in Mobile! (Netflix)
World Trade Center (2006)
Two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in Oliver Stone’s reverent, underrated tribute to New York City’s first responders. (Netflix)
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July 03, 2021 at 07:00PM
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51 Movies about America you can stream for the Fourth of July - AL.com
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