Independence Day Movies
by blockbuster-rewind | created - 1 month ago | updated - 1 month ago | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. The Right Stuff (1983)
PG | 193 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
Director: Philip Kaufman | Stars: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid
Votes: 65,352 | Gross: $21.50M
#25 - Chuck Yeager and the Mercury Seven astronauts literally strap themselves to engines in the hopes of doing what's never been done before, and summing up the American spirit in a single line: The best and finest of a man can still be brought out.
2. Gettysburg (1993)
PG | 271 min | Drama, History, War
In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.
Director: Ron Maxwell | Stars: Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Richard Jordan
Votes: 31,308 | Gross: $10.77M
#24 - A precision military document filmed on sacred ground, Gettysburg venerates the motives and ideals of both North and South as the two crusades collide on the hilly farms of central Pennsylvania. American history as tragedy and triumph.
3. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Passed | 126 min | Biography, Drama, Family
The life of the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer, and singer George M. Cohan.
Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Richard Whorf
Votes: 16,862 | Gross: $11.80M
#23 - As Over There composer George M. Cohan, James Cagney tap-dances through life in a musical biopic brimming with pageantry and Americana. Released during World War II, the film capitalizes on Cohan's rags-to-riches life and his songs' ability to boost morale with their embodiment of the American spirit.
4. G.I. Jane (1997)
R | 125 min | Action, Drama, War
Lt. Jordan, a US Navy topographic analyst, joins the US Navy Special Warfare Group and struggles to prove her worth in a unit dominated by men. But a cynical woman Texan senator has sold her out.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Demi Moore, Viggo Mortensen, Anne Bancroft, Jason Beghe
Votes: 87,028 | Gross: $48.17M
#22 - In Ridley Scott's kick-ass action-drama, a military wonder woman (Demi Moore) endures discrimination, misogyny, and brutal macho hazing en route to shaving her head (on camera!) and becoming an elite Navy unit's first female trooper. Top that, Rosie the Riveter.
5. Stripes (1981)
R | 106 min | Comedy, War
Two friends who are dissatisfied with their jobs decide to join the army for a bit of fun.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Bill Murray, John Candy, Harold Ramis, Warren Oates
Votes: 80,024 | Gross: $85.30M
#19 - Stripes isn't exactly the best recruitment video for the U.S. military. After Bill Murray's unemployed wiseacre, John Winger, joins up, he swiftly butts heads with his Army superiors, especially no-nonsense Sergeant Hulka (Warren Oates). But there's something very American about Winger's anti-authoritarian streak, as well as his ability to improvise a mission to save his unit. It's enough to make you cry. Almost like Old Yeller.
6. Lone Survivor (2013)
R | 121 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster
Votes: 306,730 | Gross: $125.10M
#18 - Peter Berg's harrowing action drama, based on an ill-fated 2005 Navy SEAL mission to take out a Taliban leader in Afghanistan, is both a testament to the horrors of war and a tribute to the courage of 21st-century warriors.
7. Private Benjamin (1980)
R | 109 min | Comedy, War
A sheltered young high-society woman joins the United States Army on a whim and finds herself in a trickier situation than she ever expected.
Director: Howard Zieff | Stars: Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, Armand Assante, Robert Webber
Votes: 28,689 | Gross: $69.85M
#17 - Judy Benjamin's American dream is simple: a house, a husband, a nice dining-room set. But when her dearly beloved (Albert Brooks) dies on their wedding night, she accidentally-on-purpose joins the Army...and finds that fatigue is more than just another word for uniforms. The hell of basic training—and her subsequent transformation from human Pomeranian to battle-ready private—isn't just good patriotism, it's a comedic revelation. (And guess what? It turns out camo is totally her color.)
8. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
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.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Votes: 272,671 | Gross: $182.21M
#16 - Of course, Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a paragon of American ideals. But in Steven Spielberg's elegant biopic, he's deceptively so. Honest Abe is forced to scheme, relying on grit and cunning to win the votes to abolish slavery.
9. Independence Day (1996)
PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind's best weapon is the will to survive.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell
Votes: 605,709 | Gross: $306.17M
#13 - Roland Emmerich's blockbuster may revel in aliens blowing up the White House, but when Bill Pullman's American president urges mankind to unite in the fight for survival, it's one of the most heart-swelling movie speeches ever. Plus, there's that scene of Will Smith punching an alien in the face! America!
10. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Passed | 129 min | Comedy, Drama
A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold
Votes: 121,393 | Gross: $9.60M
#12 - The depiction of corruption may look quaint by 2017 standards, but in Frank Capra's idealistic film, beleaguered senator Jefferson Smith proves that one man's strong moral compass (and one marathon filibuster) can reclaim the promise of America from the nefarious Beltway machine. Great principles don't get lost, Smith says. They're right here. You just have to see them again.
11. The American President (1995)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A widowed U.S. President running for reelection and an environmental lobbyist fall in love. It's all above-board, but "politics is perception," and sparks fly anyway.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox
Votes: 60,643 | Gross: $65.00M
#11 - Aaron Sorkin scripted this West Wing romance that celebrates the nobility of the American Experiment while constantly testing the integrity of its participants. After bookish President Andrew Shepherd's enemies target his environmental-lobbyist girlfriend, POTUS takes to the podium, laying out the rules and stakes of modern American democracy: America isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight, he thunders, while defending the honor of the two ladies he adores most: his love and liberty.
12. Air Force One (1997)
R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
Communist radicals hijack Air Force One with the U.S. President and his family on board. The Vice President negotiates from Washington D.C., while the President, a veteran, fights to rescue the hostages on board.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 210,128 | Gross: $172.96M
#10 - A president who doesn't like Russian warmongers but enjoys spending time with his wife and young child? Here's a wish-fulfillment political fantasy, with Harrison Ford as a bipartisan bad-ass every American can agree on.
13. Top Gun (1986)
PG | 109 min | Action, Drama
As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Tom Cruise, Tim Robbins, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer
Votes: 502,686 | Gross: $179.80M
#8 - Thanks to one impossibly cocky fighter pilot named Maverick, Reagan-era America never felt better about itself—or its military might. Tom Cruise was the grinning poster boy of red-white-and-blue individualism (I feel the need...the need for speed), defying his superiors, toying with his rivals, and, of course, getting the girl.
14. Hidden Figures (2016)
PG | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.
Director: Theodore Melfi | Stars: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner
Votes: 255,311 | Gross: $169.61M
#7 - In the dogged space race against the Soviets in the early '60s, three female African-American mathematicians overcame racism and sexism at NASA while helping solve the science that launched American astronauts into history.
15. Patton (1970)
GP | 172 min | Biography, Drama, War
The World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong
Votes: 107,960 | Gross: $61.70M
#5 - There's no question that George Old Blood and Guts Patton had rough edges, but that serrated personality—pumped with ego and ambition—may have been exactly what was necessary to bring down Nazi Germany.
16. Miracle (2004)
PG | 135 min | Biography, Drama, History
The true story of Herb Brooks, the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Soviet squad.
Director: Gavin O'Connor | Stars: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Nathan West, Noah Emmerich
Votes: 58,917 | Gross: $64.38M
#4 - Kurt Russell is medal-worthy as ice-in-his-veins coach Herb Brooks, who leads the scrappy U.S. hockey team against the invincible Soviets at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. The U-S-A chant has never been more earnest, or earned.
17. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
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.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 144,452 | Gross: $26.83M
#3 - Lincoln emancipated the slaves, but African-Americans weren't truly free until they won the right to fight for their country. In Edward Zwick's tense Civil War drama about the first all-black Army regiment, freedmen and runaway slaves volunteer to prove to white America and themselves that liberty is worth dying for.
18. Apollo 13 (I) (1995)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, History
NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise
Votes: 315,632 | Gross: $173.84M
#2 - An ode to a bygone era of space exploration and American optimism, Ron Howard's riveting nail-biter about the doomed 1970 mission to the moon, starring Tom Hanks as astronaut Jim Lovell and Ed Harris as not-on-my-watch Mission Control director Gene Kranz, reminded Americans what they can accomplish when failure isn't an option. Houston, we have a problem wasn't a cry for help. It was a call to duty.
19. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,496,645 | Gross: $216.54M
#1 - Steven Spielberg's tribute to the Greatest Generation places you in the boots of the D-Day soldiers who fought and died—and others who lived to wonder in the face of such loss, Why me? The story of Tom Hanks' Captain Miller and his team's efforts to find and retrieve Matt Damon's GI, who has lost all his brothers in other battles, is fictional. But the valor of the real soldiers who carried the banner of American ideals into the firefight is nonetheless reflected in this story. It puts you where they stood. Where they bled. Where they fell. But something good and decent rose from their sacrifice.
20. 1776 (1972)
G | 141 min | Drama, Family, History
A musical retelling of the American Revolution's political struggle in the Continental Congress to declare independence.
Director: Peter H. Hunt | Stars: William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard, Donald Madden
Votes: 10,307 | Gross: $6.10M
21. Monumental: In Search of America's National Treasure (2012)
PG | 84 min | Documentary, History
Follow Kirk Cameron across Europe and the U.S. as he seeks to discover the people, places and principles that made America the freest, most prosperous and generous nation the world has ever known.
Director: Duane Barnhart | Stars: Kirk Cameron, Todd Akin, Sue Allan, David Barton
Votes: 858 | Gross: $0.18M
22. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
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.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Votes: 272,671 | Gross: $182.21M
23. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
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.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 144,452 | Gross: $26.83M
24. John Adams (2008)
TV-14 | 71 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.
Stars: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, John Dossett, Stephen Dillane
Votes: 36,635
25. April Morning (1988 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, History, War
On the morning of April 19, 1775, the American Revolution began with the "shot heard 'round the world".
Director: Delbert Mann | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Blakely, Chad Lowe, Robert Urich
Votes: 782
26. All for Liberty (2009)
PG-13 | 86 min | Drama, History, War
It is 1775. Henry Felder, a Swiss-German colonist, lives with his family in the British colony of South Carolina. After many years of struggling with corrupt British rulers, Felder is urged... See full summary »
Director: Chris Weatherhead | Stars: Bettina Beard, Delfloria Brown, Halle Brown, Richard Bryant
Votes: 67
27. George Washington II: The Forging of a Nation (1986 TV Movie)
190 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of George Washington as the first President of the United States of America and his 8 years running his country. The trials he faces dealing with mobs and riots while keeping the country together.
Director: William A. Graham | Stars: Barry Bostwick, Patty Duke, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Bekins
Votes: 209
28. George Washington (1984)
480 min | Biography, Drama, History
The early life and career of the American General and President through his participation in the Revolutionary War.
Stars: Barry Bostwick, Patty Duke, David Dukes, Jaclyn Smith
Votes: 526
29. Harriet (I) (2019)
PG-13 | 125 min | Action, Biography, Drama
The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman's escape from slavery and transformation into one of America's greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.
Director: Kasi Lemmons | Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Janelle Monáe, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn
Votes: 30,725
30. Selma (2014)
PG-13 | 128 min | Biography, Drama, History
A chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s campaign to secure equal voting rights via an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, in 1965.
Director: Ava DuVernay | Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 95,475 | Gross: $52.08M
31. Constitution Alive (2015)
History
Join Christian historian David Barton and former Texas legislator Rick Green as they advocate for the original intent of our founding documents in this one-of-a-kind, 4-DVD set on the ... See full summary »
Director: Rick Green
Votes: 10
32. Foundations of Freedom: What Makes America Different? (2015)
Not Rated | 82 min | Documentary
Throughout history, the global landscape has been marked by instability. Nations on every inhabitable continent have seen governments rise and fall, some over twenty times in the span of a ... See full summary »
Director: Tom Newman
33. Foundations of Freedom: God and Government (2015)
Not Rated | 82 min | Documentary
This generation of Americans is taught that our government was established as a secular institution. But the founders believed God was a part of everything, including government. So what ... See full summary »
Director: Tom Newman
34. The American Heritage Series (2009)
TV-G | Documentary
Discover the forgotten and astonishing story of our nation's founding in the American Heritage Series. For centuries, we were taught a providential view of American history that presented ... See full summary »
Director: David Barton
Votes: 24
35. The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2013)
TV-PG | Documentary
Professor Gates describes the history of the African American people by talking to historians, authors, and the people who made history.
Stars: Henry Louis Gates Jr., Vincent Brown, Bernard E. Powers Jr., Peniel E. Joseph
Votes: 291
36. The Crossing (2000 TV Movie)
89 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the Hessian forces at Trenton.
Director: Robert Harmon | Stars: Jeff Daniels, Roger Rees, Sebastian Roché, Steven McCarthy
Votes: 2,191
37. The Tuskegee Airmen (1995 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, History, War
The true story of how a group of African-American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest United States fighter groups in World War II.
Director: Robert Markowitz | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance
Votes: 7,087
38. A Nation Adrift (1995 Video)
TV-PG | 59 min | Documentary
This is the true story of how God's sovereign hand guided the founders of America. It takes you on a journey...from Christopher Columbus to Jamestown...from Valley Forge to the ... See full summary »
Director: Brian Barkley | Star: Tom Kane
Votes: 34
39. The Patriot (2000)
R | 165 min | Action, Drama, History
Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs
Votes: 293,521 | Gross: $113.33M
40. Freedom (II) (2014)
R | 94 min | Drama, Music
Two men separated by 100 years are united in their search for freedom. In 1856, slave Samuel Woodward and his family escape from the Monroe Plantation near Richmond, Virginia. A secret ... See full summary »
Director: Peter Cousens | Stars: Cuba Gooding Jr., Sharon Leal, David Rasche, Kimberly Nichole
Votes: 2,209
41. The Jesse Owens Story (1984 TV Movie)
174 min | Biography, Drama, History
This is the compelling story of Jesse Owens, a man who overcame racial barriers to become one of history's greatest Olympic athletes by disproving Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan athletic superiority through his success in track and field.
Director: Richard Irving | Stars: Dorian Harewood, Georg Stanford Brown, Debbi Morgan, Barry Corbin
Votes: 276
42. Pocahontas: Dove of Peace (2016)
Not Rated | 35 min | Documentary, Biography, History
Pocahontas is the true story of an amazing young woman who became an ambassador between two nations.
Director: Jarrod Anderson | Stars: Isaac Ignacio Bennett, Randall C. Benton, Felipe Chavez, Sean Edwards
Votes: 12
43. Cesar Chavez (2014)
PG-13 | 102 min | Biography, Drama
A biography of the civil-rights activist and labor organizer Cesar Chavez.
Director: Diego Luna | Stars: Michael Peña, America Ferrera, Rosario Dawson, John Malkovich
Votes: 3,619 | Gross: $5.55M
44. American Experience (1987– )
TV-PG | 120 min | Documentary, Biography, History
A series showcasing documentaries on American history.
Stars: David McCullough, David Ogden Stiers, Michael Murphy, Oliver Platt
Votes: 2,204
45. A Capitol Fourth (2006 TV Special)
Not Rated | 90 min | Family, Music
This patriotic concert, featuring the cute puppet Elmo of Sesame Street, is performed on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. It's free and open to the public with no ... See full summary »
Director: Paul Miller | Stars: Jason Alexander, Kaitlyn Ruth Bayne, Michael Bolton, Kevin Clash
Votes: 17
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