Top 4 Fourth of July Films
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#1 – INDEPENDENCE DAY No surprise here. Roland Emmerich’s doomsday tale about aliens invading Earth is perhaps one of the best summer action films in recent history and its cast and replay every year reminds us every year when it plays on TNT or FX. Great one-liners and the first time we have seen the White House completely destroyed in a vision of hell. This film is what showed the world Will Smith and made him a mega-star. Favorite Scene: The point when all the ships were positioning around the globe. Such a classic use of UFO invasion taken to a complete new level. Favorite Actor: Judd Hirsch (Julius Levenson) Favorite Quote: “You don’t actually think they spend $20,000.00 on a hammer, $30,000.00 on a toilet seat do you?” |
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#2 – 1776A great musical about how we got independence from the British. Containing pretty much all the main players from the Continental Congress, 1972 American musical film directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone was adapted from his libretto for the 1969 stage musical of the same name. Portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics were taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second Continental Congress. The song score was composed by Sherman Edwards. The film starred William Daniels and Howard Da Silva.
Favorite Scene: The signing of the Declaration of Independence Favorite Actor: William Daniels (John Adams) Favorite Quote: “A second flood, a simple famine, plagues of locusts everywhere, or a cataclysmic earthquake, I’d accept with some despair. But no, You sent us Congress! Good God, Sir, was that fair?” |
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#3 - THE LONGEST DAY A1962 war film based on the 1959 history book The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan, about “D-Day”, the invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, during World War II. The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, the US, Britain, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich’s Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. “For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day. The longest day.” Favorite Scene: The storming of Normandy beach Favorite Actor: John Wayne ( Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort) Favorite Quote: “[pointing] The war’s over there!” |
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#4 - THE PATRIOT The Patriot is a 2000 epic war film directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Robert Rodat, and starring Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger. It was produced by the Mutual Film Company and Centropolis Entertainment and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film mainly takes place in South Carolina (and was entirely filmed there) and depicts the story of a war hero swept into the American Revolutionary War when his family is threatened. The protagonist, Benjamin Martin, is loosely based on real Continental Army officer Francis Marion and other Revolutionary War figures. The Patriot was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Sound, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Music Score. Favorite Scene: The one where Mel Gibson’s Ben Martin tells Jason Issac’s Col. Tavington character and stares him down and says, “real soon.” Favorite Actor: Mel Gibson (Benjamin Martin) Favorite Quote: “Before this war is over, I’m going to kill you” |
