Movies to celebrate Independence Day

Happy 4th! Enjoy the parades, picnics, and fireworks, but make time to remember the courage of the the brave men who had a vision of a country based on equality and freedom. They failed in many important ways, but they knew that they could not envision all that the country would need and so they built in two great ideas: the checks and balances of the government and the ability to amend what would become the founding document.

Here are some movies to celebrate our country’s birthday.

Independence Day Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum star in one of the all-time great popcorn pleasures. Aliens attack the earth and it takes a quirky engineer, a plucky President, and a heroic military pilot to save the day. What does that have to do with the 4th of July? Listen to the President’s stirring pep talk. (And skip the sequel)

The Patriot There are many films about the Civil War, but not many about the Revolutionary War. Mel Gibson stars in this uneven but stirring film about a farmer pulled into the rebellion.

1776 I love this film, based on the Broadway musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, with almost all of the stars from the acclaimed stage production, including William Daniels as the “obnoxious and disliked” John Adams, Ken Howard as a dashing Thomas Jefferson, and Howard Da Silva as Benjamin Franklin. It is frank about the devastating compromise made on enslavement.

Learn more about the Founding Fathers. The most acclaimed musical of the last 20 years is “Hamilton.”

Ken Burns’ new series about Benjamin Franklin is one of his best.

Paul Giamatti is outstanding as John Adams in the HBO miniseries.

And don’t forget Schoolhouse Rock!