Johnny Tremain
This is a classic Walt Disney live action film. It is also based on one of my favorite books, by Esther Forbes. It shows the story or a young silversmith apprentice in Boston during the days leading up to the British Army's march on Lexington and Concord where the "shot heard round the world" was fired that started the American Revolution. This film as a lot of heart and is a great way to get younger kids to understand the reason for the fireworks on the 4th day of July each year.
Ben and Me
This is another Disney film, though is in the vein of the classic animated short that brought Walt his initial success and fame. The story of a mouse, Amos, who lives with an unknown printer in Philadelphia. This mouse helps this humble printer named Ben to write some of his most important work, and invent his most famous inventions. He even takes a ride on a kite during a rather stormy day in eastern Pennsylvania. This cartoon is one of the first things I remember teaching me about Ben Franklin, our founding fathers, and founding rodents for that matter. This yet again another great film for younger kids, and younger hearts.
Saving Private Ryan
The opening scene of this film shows us an elderly grandfather figure walking with his family who obviously do not understand the how hallowed the ground they are walking on during their family vacation is. This is a commentary on how many of us do not understand the history that made us who we are today. The furtherance of the story shows us the sacrifice that one troop made to save one man and his family whom none of them know. This is an apt parallel to the sacrifices that so many men and women make in the armed forces for us who do they have never met.
Born on the 4th of July
Oliver Stone is possibly the only director who could have made a movie that both rips the United States Vietnam policy to shreds, and yet still make me love my country more by the end of it. I like this film because it shows that patriotism is not merely waving a flag, it is in the way we treat our veterans, and the way we challenge ourselves to think
The American President
The American President is your 4th of July love story. It asks what were to happen if our single president were to fall in love? Written by Aaron Sorkin ,who wrote my favorite show The West Wing, and directed by Carl Reiner it also attacks the politics of personal destruction. This film is great if for no other reason than the end speech where fictional President Andrew Sheppard defends his women, his liberal politics, and attacks "swift boat" style politics.
Forrest Gump
This one may seem a stretch for some, but for me this is a quintessential American story. It chronicles the latter half of 20th century through the eyes of a very simple man, who is often unaware of the importance of the events that transpire around him. *WARNING BUSH BASH FOLLOWING* This movie kind of reminds me of what George Bush would have been like if he had been poor and never met Carl Rove, and not Anakin Skywalkering it.
The Fog of War
This is a documentary and I wanted to put at least one on this list, and this is the one that I selected. It is essentially a conversation with Robert McNamara who was the Secretary of Defense for both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The Vietnam War was often called "McNamara's War," because of his heavy influence in the most controversial military campaign in US history(up till the present). The conversation in this film has McNamara give us 11 life lessons he learned from being one the 1960s most controversial figures. This film is fits with the 4th because it shows us that though we have made many mistakes as a nation, we can forge ahead. It also reminds us that we can always change course.
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
I was done then I had to write this one last recommendation. With the last name Smith and dreams of going to serving in Congress this is one of my favorite movies. It shows the power that one man can have in the system. It is one Frank Capra's finest films, and Jimmy Stewart's best performances. It is hardly possible to have a movie make you feel prouder to be an American.
6 comments:
"My name is Andrew Shepherd, and I AM the President." That is such an awesome speech. I feel very sad that I have only seen two of these movies. I need to get on some of them. You make me want to expand my world Colt :)
What is the other movie you have seen?
Forrest Gump.
If we weren't friends already, that comment about George Bush would have locked the status in.
I watched Johnny Tremain in school, more than once, I believe. Doesn't he get badly burned in it? That's the only part I can remember.
You will have to read Johnny Tremain to Ella at some point. It was one of the first books I read on my own and still one of my favorites.
There was a girl on my mission who I reccomended it to, and it became one of her favorite books. A couple of years later her dad told me that was one of the best things I ever did for their family because after I had reccomended stuff to her she became an avid reader for life, where before she had not. So the book really has a special place in my heart. The movie is just icing on the cake, plus it has Sebastion Cabot in it.
Good list of movies. I'll have to check out Fog of War. There was a bit on NPR the other day about Vietnam and McNamara's overall influence from the 60's through the present day. They also recommended McNamara's book, In Retrospect, in which he expands on the political climate of the times and the mistakes that were made.
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