Poll: Patriotic Movies for Independence Day

Results of 772 votes:

1. 1.
   

   Saving Private Ryan (1998)

    

   #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?"…
2. 2.
   

   Independence Day (1996)

    

   #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 he…
3. 3.
   

   Top Gun (1986)

    

   #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 …
4. 4.
   

   Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

    

   #15 - Definitively answering the question "Who's strong and brave, here to save the American Way?," Marvel Studios' first stand-alone adventure of Steve Rogers isn't simply patriotic in name…
5. 5.
   

   The Right Stuff (1983)

    

   #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: &quo…
6. 6.
   

   Team America: World Police (2004)

    

   #6 - The South Park creators' puppet satire tracks a team of star-spangled bad-asses on missions of mass destruction. It's a deadpan portrait of American swagger that apexes with the fist-pumping anth…
7. 7.
   

   Patton (1970)

    

   #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…
8. 8.
   

   Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

    

   #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 marat…
9. 9.
   

   Lincoln (2012)

    

   #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 …
10. 10.
    

    Rocky IV (1985)

     

    #9 - Nearly a decade after he became America's most beloved underdog, Rocky Balboa faced Dolph Lundgren's politburo punisher, Ivan Drago, the embodiment of robotic Communist zealotry writ (very, very)…
11. 11.
    

    Air Force One (1997)

     

    #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 ev…
12. 12.
    

    Gettysburg (1993)

     

    #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.…
13. 13.
    

    Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

     

    #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 capital…
14. 14.
    

    1776 (1972)

     

    #14 - Two and a half hours of musical man-splaining about the merits of continental emancipation could have gone down like bad molasses, but this sprightly drama (starring William Daniels as the origi…
15. 15.
    

    Stripes (1981)

     

    #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…
16. 16.
    

    Miracle (2004)

     

    #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" c…
17. 17.
    

    Glory (1989)

     

    #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 Arm…
18. 18.
    

    Apollo 13 (1995)

     

    #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 Ha…
19. 19.
    

    Hidden Figures (2016)

     

    #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 Ameri…
20. 20.
    

    Lone Survivor (2013)

     

    #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 cour…
21. 21.
    

    G.I. Jane (1997)

     

    #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 …
22. 22.
    

    Superman II (1980)

     

    #21 - The second Man of Steel film captures one of the superhero genre's most haunting hours — Zod (Terence Stamp) and his sidekicks rip apart the White House and drive the helpless president to "…
23. 23.
    

    Seabiscuit (2003)

     

    #20 - With America's spirits—like its 1930s finances—in a deep depression, a small, slightly broken racehorse (and his team of equally damaged humans) became an unlikely champion and a unifying symbol…
24. 24.
    

    Private Benjamin (1980)

     

    #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 t…
25. 25.
    

    The American President (1995)

     

    #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 Sh…