Family, friends, backyard barbecue. You’re going to load up on burgers, hot dogs and french fries. Naturally, you will be exhausted from celebrating Independence Day.
Time to heave your starch-laden body into a club chair and enjoy some rousing entertainment.
Here are Seraphic Secret’s suggestions: four spectacular movies that are uniquely appropriate for this great American holiday.
1. The Patriot, 2000. I know, Mel is a bit off the rails when it comes to Jews. But look, this is a fantastic film. Set in 1776, South Carolina, gritty battle scenes alternate with high-romance serving up a consistent mixture of action, adventure and unabashed patriotic fervor.
The scene where Benjamin Martin (Gibson) ambushes a British column, aided by his pint-sized younger sons, is breathtaking. Watch for the reaction shots of the children as they fix their gazes on Gibson’s blood splattered face and realize in a stunning rush of clarity that daddy is a totally murderous warrior.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_comGBmnYew&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
2. The Crossing, 2000. You’ve seen Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s famous 1851 painting of Washington Crossing the Deleware. This fine cable movie puts that episode in its proper context. Cold and dispirited, Jeff Daniels as George Washington does not stand heroically in the boat but huddles in his cloak, chilled to the bone.
Daniels might be one of our most underrated actors. His performance as Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in Gettysburg, 1993, is profoundly understated and convincing. His Washington is deeply human: dignified, stubborn, increasingly desperate, but determined to win freedom from British tyranny.
The battle of Trenton is beautifully choreographed. Pay close attention to Washington’s tight-lipped scene with the mortally wounded Hessian general. Washington’s clear moral compass is in direct contrast to the moral equivalence which is today’s fashion. A gem of a movie with an excellent script by Howard Fast from his own novel.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSxe9le3Da4[/youtube]
3. Patton, 1970. Three hours of the most original and riveting bio-pic ever produced. Francis Ford Coppola’s script captures all the contradictions of General George S. Patton’s character. Patton has the most brilliant opening scene ever filmed. Patton’s speech is a rousing, jaw-dropping ode to the necessity of violence in order to secure freedom. Some might be horrified by Patton’s mixture of pride, ruthlessness, spiritualism and piety, but like it or not, this is the kind of man who wins wars.
George C. Scott’s towering performance is so convincing that when I see footage of the real Patton I’m like: “Hey, that’s not Patton.” A testament to the mythic power of the movies.
As I said, the opening scene is the greatest, but the “slapping” scene might be my favorite. It has enough moral contradictions—i.e. great drama—to give most anyone a few sleepless nights.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZJcAeJ8YRo&feature=related[/youtube]
4. The Seven Samurai, 1954. Yes, this is a Japanese movie. But director Akira Kurosawa’s epic, the greatest movie ever made, speaks directly to the American soul about the moral imperative of a just war.
The Seven Samurai takes place in medieval Japan, a time when bandits—the terrorists of their time—roamed the land looting, raping and killing defenseless farmers.
Down at the heels Samurai warriors are hired to defend one poor village. The Samurai do not negotiate with the bandits. They do not try and appease them. Nor do they wonder about, ahem, the root causes of banditry. The Samurai set strategy and kill the bandits one by one.
Every true warrior understands there is not deterrence and no freedom without the disproportionate use of force.
The climactic battle in the rain, where mud, blood and tears mix, is perhaps, the finest choreographed battle scene ever staged.
Every skilled director in Hollywood studies this masterpiece and tries—without success—to emulate Kurosawa’s cinematic style. We all stand in Akira Kurosawa’s shadow. This is the film that compelled me to become a screenwriter.
If you love movies but have not seen The Seven Samurai, you are without oxygen.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNqQXC8Tv8U[/youtube]
I’d love to hear your picks for Fourth of July movies.
Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a joyous and meaningful Fourth of July.
Greetings
I’m an outsider looking in, who watched ‘The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance’ again last week. It is, for me, the closest to a perfect American movie I’ve seen. It works on many levels and every time I watch it, another few layers reveal themselves.
All the best for Independence Day, folks, long may you run.
Earl
Earl:
I know many film lovers who love TMWSLV. I have real problems with the cheap sets and b-look of the film. At this stage in his career Ford was no longer at the top of his game. I respect the sentiments of the film, but it doesn’t really move me.
Miranda….nice to meet another Benet fan!
His poem about the settlement of the West, “The Ballad of William Sycamore,” is also very good. Tom Russell did a nice musical version.
Dear Mr. Foster: Benet’s short stories are also wonderful, “King of the Cats,” “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” “The Place of the Gods,”which is sometimes called “By the Waters of Babylon.”
Dear Robert: Another film, which has George Patton as a character and which Ma’ayan Ariel might enjoy, in about 10 years, when she’s going through her horse-crazy phase, is MIRACLE OF THE WHITE STALLIONS (1963.)
Dear Robert
We watch Sgt York, Gary Cooper, 1939.
Our favorite lines:
They are saying grace Mother York say, “Thank You Lord for these victuals and help us to be beholden to nobody.”
“What we did over there warn’t for buyin and sellin” When York if offered endorsement money and a movie conract.
I was thinking the same thing this morning. What movie could my wife and I watch to celebrate the fourth? The movie I thought was most relevant was the light musical comedy “1776”. Which begs the question, why aren’t there any dramatic movies which examine and celebrate the actual signing of the Declaration of Independence? Are the concepts too obtuse? Were the compromises too gut-wrenching in light of the civil war?
K:
The HBO mini-series Adams is a fine dramatization of the events leading up to and after the signing of the Declaration. Highly recommended.
l was just about to suggest that. I’d watch the series, but I lent it to a friend and she hasn’t returned it yet. That series is wonderful; my favorite episodes are the first two.
I’ve always thought “The Alamo” was a good example of American spirit…that “we don’t care if we’re going to lose, we’re going to resist you” kind of spirit. Not really linked to the 4th, but a fantastic WWII movie….A Bridge Too Far. I loved Patton, but as a retired Army anti-tank guy…the site of the “German” American M-48s charging across the north African plain always disappointed me. A Bridge Too Far is not only a good story, they are also very exact with the equipment they use.
James:
Thank you for your service.
I have to admit that Bridge Too Far always struck me as somethng of a pacifist film. Just a gut feeling in the way each side is portrayed.
I watch Yankee Doodle Dandy on the 4th and The Quiet Man on St Patrick’s Day. YDD may be a little fictionalized (okay, a lot) but it’s got Cagney dancing and singing to the point that Cody Jarret would plug him without thinking twice. How many actors today are as versatile as Cagney?
As great as Scott’s performance was the real Patton was even tougher in real life. Think how much the second half of the 20th Century would have been different had Patton been allowed to drive to Berlin and keep the Russians out of Germany and Czechoslovakia. Operation Market Garden killed any slim chance Eisenhower would ever get my dad’s vote. Patton would have been a terrible politician but he understood the political future of Europe.
Johnny:
There is no actor working today who is Cagney’s equal. Just for the record I’d like to point out that the most versatile and talented and long-lasting actor in Hollywood history has to be Mickey Rooney. His body of work is astonishing.
Patton was certainly no diplomat. But diplomats do not win wars. In fact, most diplomats create the conditions in which prolonged wars fester instead of short decisive wars that are far more humane. Take a look at the farce in Libya. That war should have been over in 3 days, tops.
Dear Robert: Do you remember the Paris Peace Talks? During the Vietnam war? They spent MONTHS, while people were dying, discussing INTERIOR DECORATION!!!!They were debating the SHAPE OF THE TABLE. It left me with a contempt for diplomats that I have yet to completely outgrow!!!
My idea of a St. Patrick’s Day film is THE INFORMER.
Robert, I didn’t like that slapping scene at all. That soldier was probably a genuinely sick man.
I think CASABLANCA is a great, splendid, marvelous, wonderful old tearjerker, but it’s been SHOWN TO DEATH. For anyone who agrees with me, I recommend PASSAGE TO MARSEILLE.
My favorite 4th of July films have already been reviewed on this website, SINCE YOU WENT AWAY and SO PROUDLY WE HAIL.
Miranda:
1. The slapping scene is historically accurate. It almost destroyed Patton’s career.
2. You’re not supposed to like it.
3. That’s why I like it.
Robert – A scene after the slapping scene always stayed with me. In it, Patton and his aide are alone on the hallway of this magnificent palace – it is around Christmas and he has the most powerful monologue – paraphrasing “I cannot believe that this little slap has had such a powerful impact – so minor in its action and so profound it its result?
It has to be from God! AN ENTIRE WORLD AT WAR and I’m not in it?
God will not allow it!
While I have never really studied the Patton Persona – (BTW before leaving for North Africa I believe his division practiced in the CA desert – Ft Irwin? – I do believe Scott captured his persona.
Well, the samurai (Kanbei, Gorobei, Kyuzo, Katsushiro, Heihachi, Shichijiro, and Kikuchiyo—I say with some pride I have their names memorized) knew the “root causes” of the banditry: ronin like themselves who hadn’t clung to their pride as samurai. Kurosawa was actually from a buke (samurai clan), and it must’ve been a pretty old one, because he seemed better-acquainted than typical with how the samurai code had changed (it got a lot more strict after 1600, when the Tokugawa clan took over—Seven Samurai is set during that transitional era, when it had basically become impossible for samurai to find new masters).
Pax ad Israelum:
Okay, you’ve got me beat. I do not have the Japanese names memorized. I am humbled.
Indeed, Kurosawa was from a Samurai family, so much so that when his career went into a prolonged drought, he attempted hara-kiri. Kurosawa’s memoir, Something Like an Autobiography, is absolutely fascinating. Unlike most directors he is painfully direct and honest. In contrast to, say, Raoul Walsh’s autobiography, Each Man in His Own Time, which is a grand read, but has almost no relation to truth, Kurosawa prided himself on absolute fidelity to history and critical self-analysis.
We are watching Gettysburg right now, and watch it every year. So many great performances–Kevin Conway, Sam Elliott, Jeff Daniels. We also watch The Patriot and love National Treasure and Independence Day. I have on occasion watched Yankee Doodle Dandy.
I didn’t know about The Crossing, I’ll have to look that one up.
In the past few years I’ve stopped wishing people a Happy Fourth. I now say “Happy Independence Day!” I also post the text of the Declaration on my blog each year. Don’t want to forget why we celebrate!
And, speaking of celebrating, did you see Dennis Prager’s suggestion for an Independence Day ritual? I think he has some really good ideas there.
Happy Independence Day to the Avrechs and the Americans in the Seraphic Secret family.
Dr. Carol:
I love Gettysburg in spite of Martin Sheen’s weak performance. As you know, I think Sam Elliot’s turn as Col. Buford is perfect and my admiration for Jeff Daniels as Joshua Chamberlain increases with each viewing. The defense of Little Round Top is riveting, thrilling and frightening; when Daniels orders the bayonet charge, my skin actually prickles.
Happy Independence Day to you and yours.
Happy Fourth to the Avrech family, too! I just finished leading my car club on a short drive; now it is a BBQ at a friend’s across town –
On the way back from the drive I heard the funniest line from a comedienne on the radio – she said “If you hear someone say that <i>War Is Not The Answer </i> tell them “Have a happy Fourth! – how did we win independence – from a Yahtzee game?”
On <i> The Patriot</i> while it has been years since I saw it a riveting scene was when the British put all the remaining townspeople in a barn – then set fire to it.
On <i>Patton</i> I read that George C Scott became so much in character at the set – even when he wasn’t on – he would carry that swagger stick. I think it is one of his finest roles. Years ago (so many of my stories these days start with that preface 😉 ) – but while in the Army I took a day trip to Louxembourg City (I think it is the capitol of Louxembourg) and I walked from the train station a good couple of miles up the rue Général Patton to the American Cemetery. There amid a sea of crosses and Stars of David – he lies – in front of the men he commanded that liberated that very area just a few years ago. .
Bill:
When I see that dopey War is Not the Answer sticker my inner homicidal maniac emerges. I have several friends who managed to survive Auschwitz and they can testify that war is the only answer.
Here are some suggestions:
National Treasure 1 and 2
Von Ryan’s Express
Casablanca
Exdem:
I know this is going to get me in a world of trouble, but I hate, I mean really hate Casablanca.
Ducking for cover.
Robert – as my late Limey friend would say “It don’t make you bad!”
It’s not a movie, but I recommend Stephen Vincent Benet’s poem “Listen to the People,” which was read over nationwide radio in July 1940.
I posted a long excerpt from the poem, and a link to an on-line copy of Life Magazine in which the whole thing appears, here.
David:
Never heard of it. Thanks so much. It’s a lovely and appropriate poem.
Another great Benet poem is Nightmare at Noon.