Independence Day has inspired filmmakers to celebrate American history and capture the essence of freedom and patriotism on the Fourth of July.
Historical dramas like Lincoln, Glory, Gettysburg and The Alamo venture into the nation’s fight for freedom. Other classics include Amistad, which shines a light on America’s past and the complexities of the slave trade, and the toe-tapping musical comedy Yankee Doodle Dandy.
Take a look at the selection of films that offer a day of reflection and celebration.
-
LEE DANIELS’ THE BUTLER, (aka THE BUTLER) – 2013
Image Credit: Anne Marie Fox/©Weinstein Company/Courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Lee Daniels; starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, John Cusack, Jane fonda, David Banner, David Oyelowo, Colman Domingo, and Mariah Carey.
As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man’s life, family, and American society.
-
LINCOLN – 2012
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved./courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln and Daniel Day-Lewis as President Abraham Lincoln.
As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
-
THE ALAMO – 2004
Image Credit: Touchstone/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by John Lee Hancock; starring Kevin Page, Jordi Molla, Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Quaid and Emilio Echevarría.
Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna’s forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas
-
GODS AND GENERALS – 2003
Image Credit: Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Ron Maxwell; starring Stephen Lang, Robert Duval, and Jeff Daniels.
The rise and fall of confederate general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, as he meets with military success against the Union from 1861 to 1863, when he is accidentally killed by his own soldiers
-
COLD MOUNTAIN – 2003
Image Credit: Miramax/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Anthony Minghella; starring Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renée Zellweger, Natalie Portman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Donald Sutherland.
In the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart
-
GLORY – 1989
Image Credit: TriStar Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Edward Zwick; starring Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, Cary Elwes, and Andre Braugher.
Robert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
-
AMISTAD – 1997
Image Credit: Everett Collection Directed by Steven Spielberg; starring Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
-
GETTYSBURG – 1993
Image Credit: New Line Cinema/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Ron Maxwell; starring (standing l-r): James Lancaster, Royce Applegate, Tim Ruddy, Richard Jordan, Ivan Kane, Tom Berenger, Kieran Mulroney, Cooper Huckabee, (seated l-r): Stephen Lang, Martin Sheen and Bo Brinkman.
In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.
-
DANCES WITH WOLVES – 1990
Image Credit: Orion Pictures Corp/Courtesy Everett Collection Directed and starring Kevin Costner; featuring Graham Greene and Mary McDonnell.
Lieutenant John Dunbar, assigned to a remote western Civil War outpost, finds himself engaging with a neighbouring Sioux settlement, causing him to question his own purpose.
-
BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY – 1989
Image Credit: Universal/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by Oliver Stone; starring Tom Cruise Byran Larkin and Raymond J. Barry.
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country for which he fought
-
COMING TO AMERICA – 1988
Image Credit: Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection Directed by John Landis; starring Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy, Paul Bates, James Earl Jones, and Garcelle Beauvais.
An extremely pampered African prince travels to Queens, New York and goes undercover to find a wife that he can respect for her intelligence and strong will.
-
1776 – 1972
Image Credit: Everett Collection Directed by Peter H. Hunt; starring Howard Da Silva, Blythe Danner and William Daniels.
A musical retelling of the American Revolution’s political struggle in the Continental Congress to declare independence
-
HOW THE WEST WAS WON – 1962
Image Credit: Everett Collection Directed by John Ford, Henry Hathaway and George Marshall; starring Debbie Reynolds, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, John Wayne, and Henry Fonda.
A family saga covering several decades of Westward expansion in the 19th century, including the Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the building of the railroads
-
AH, WILDERNESS! – 1935
Image Credit: Everett Collection. Directed by Clarence Brown; starring Aline MacMahon, Spring Byington, Wallace Beery, Albert Hackett, Eugene O’Neill and Frances Goodrich.
Story of small-town life in turn-of-the-century America, and a young boy’s problems facing adolescence
-
YANKEE DOODLE DANDY – 1942
Image Credit: Everett Collection Directed by Michael Curtiz; starring Jeanne Cagney, James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Rosemary DeCamp.
The life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.