Best Patriotic Movies
1. Casablanca (1942)
As time goes by, Casablanca remains one of the most unanimously adored and celebrated movies ever. There are many reasons for this, not least among them the adapted screenplay by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein and Howard Koch, which is frequently touted as the smartest and most quotable script ever written. Also, Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart have the kind of romantic chemistry you can’t put a price tag on. It makes your heart take a leap, and it feels like they might light the screen on fire. Another big reason we all love this movie so much is how proud we are of the characters in the end. Rick and Ilsa part ways for the greater good, and put a human face on the sacrifices made during wartime, even those made off the battlefield. The Greatest Generation, indeed. Casablanca’s difficult messages about seeing things bigger than yourself and doing what’s right will always resonate with audiences. Never pass up an opportunity to re-watch Casablanca. It’s even better than you remembered.
2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
You can divide the history of war films into two eras: before and after Saving Private Ryan. The most influential war movie since Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), which director Steven Spielberg cites as a key inspiration, Saving Private Ryan is one of the great directorial accomplishments in cinema. The battle scenes are as remarkable for their awe-inspiring technical wizardry and authenticity (Spielberg famously didn’t storyboard the D-Day landing scene, as he wanted genuine spontaneity) as they are for being stomach-turning and at times almost unbearable to watch. After the release of the unflinching, masterfully immersive Saving Private Ryan, so many earlier World War II films just seem quaint, phony by comparison. This filmis uniquely powerful for veterans and their loved ones.
3. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Perhaps the quintessential whistleblower film, Frank Capra’s political comedy-drama is one of the crown jewels of 1939, often regarded as Hollywood’s greatest year. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, the film lost all but one (the now defunct Best Original Story) to the likes of Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz and Stagecoach. Though Capra’s film is earnest and ultimately uplifting, it was darker than his previous work. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington deftlychallenges injustice and corruption in radical ways that scared powerful people of the time. The film was banned in Hitler’s Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain and Stalin’s USSR. When a wartime ban on American films was announced in Germany in 1942, several German theaters chose this as the last film to screen before the ban went into effect.
4. United 93 (2006)
Between making The Bourne Supremacy (2004) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) Paul Greengrass directed this masterpiece about hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001. In the months leading up this film’s release, many insisted that it was too soon to make a film about this tragedy, with some going as far as to demand Universal Pictures pull trailers for the movie from theaters. One could argue that it is never too soon to make a great and sensitive film, and Greengrass’ meticulously researched, hyperrealistic vision truly honors the memory of the victims. United 93 is one of the most emotionally overwhelming movies you’ll ever see. It is ultimately rewarding, and worth the ordeal it puts you through. Handle with care. Greengrass was nominated for a Best Director Academy Award for his work, and this searing tribute to American heroism is easily one of the most commendable films so far this century.
5. Patton (1970)
An enormous critical and commercial success upon release, director Franklin J. Shaffner’s Patton set the standard for cinematic biopics. George C. Scott’s portrayal of larger-than-life World War II U.S. Gen. George S. Patton is one of those lighting-in-a-bottle performances that is so uncanny and iconic that it is sometimes difficult to separate the two men in memory. Hollywood outsider Scott famously declined to accept his Best Actor Academy Award (the film won seven Oscars in total) in person, which made him the first actor to do so. The film was released at the height of the Vietnam War, and was criticized by some at the time as being “anti-war”, but the truth is Patton is anything but. Thanks to a gutsy and at times quite funny screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North, the film holds up surprisingly well nearly 50 years later. Patton is one of the great marvels of ultra-widescreen 70mm photography, and the opening scene of General Patton giving a speech in front of the American flag remains one of the most recognizable in film lore. Watch this movie on the biggest TV you can find, and leap at the opportunity to see in on a big screen if the occasion arises.
6. Flags of Our Fathers / Letters From Iwo Jima (both 2006)
Clint Eastwood’s ambitious two-parter, shot back-to-back, depicted the Battle of Iwo Jima from the American and Japanese perspectives. Flags of Our Fathers, based on the book of the same name, tells the story of the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who were involved in raising the flag on Iwo Jima, and the impact it made on their lives. Letters From Iwo Jima is almost entirely in Japanese, and it is even more intimate, focused and daring. With Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, Letters From Iwo Jima is one of Eastwood’s creative peaks. Watch these two films as a double feature for a newfound appreciation of one of the most insightful, humane and adventurous of all filmmakers.
7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Hands-down one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The Winter Soldier tells the story of a superhuman World War II veteran (Chris Evans) who is thawed from suspended animation into the modern world. Evans is so good in these movies, and Steve Rogers’ struggle to make sense of how his country and society at large have evolved, for better or worse, makes for enthralling drama. The Winter Soldier is uncommonly smart popcorn entertainment with something to offer just about any audience. It’s like a spy thriller of a bygone era, only with superheroes.
8. Notorious (1946)
On any list of classic films, there can never be too much Ingrid Bergman. Along with Casablanca, this is the performance most essential to her legacy. Set in South America immediately following World War II, Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious is a classic romance, a nail-biting thriller and it’s also a proudly patriotic movie from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, the daughter of an infamous Nazi who is recruited by a handsome American spy Devlin (Cary Grant) to infiltrate a ring of German conspirators to clear her name. We fall head-over-heels for the complex and conflicted Alicia just as Devlin does when he catches her on tape defying her father and proclaiming her love for the United States. One of Hitchcock’s masterworks, Notorious is also quite entertaining and accessible, a great choice for anyone who is interested in learning more about classic Hollywood style and storytelling.
9. Miracle (2004)
We’ve seen so many sports biopics over the years that it’s rare for one to really stand out. Miracle is based on one of the most inspiring true stories in the history of athletics, the triumph of the U.S. men’s hockey team over the Soviet team at the 1980 Olympics during the Cold War. The strength of the true life story, along with some muscular direction by Gavin O’Connor (FX’s The Americans) and touching performances (from Kurt Russell,Patricia Clarkson and others), elevate Miracle to something that’s just plain lovable and exciting to watch. Miracle is compelling and patriotic entertainment for all ages.
10. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
After several years out of the spotlight, director Mel Gibson surprised us all with Hacksaw Ridge, a glorious return to form that was impossible to ignore. Masterfully blending an old-Hollywood stately pace and classical feel with revolutionary, immersive battle sequences, Hacksaw Ridge is one of those rare films that is at once comfortably familiar yet thrillingly new. Add to that an energetic and graceful Oscar-nominated performance by Andrew Garfield as real-life veteran Desmond Doss, and you’ve got a war picture to be reckoned with. It has a staggering emotional kick. Hacksaw Ridge is a visionary and vividly cinematic portrayal of a fascinating, inspiring American hero.
11. Platoon (1986)
Revolutionary when it was released in the wake of overblown fantasies like Rambo, Oliver Stone’s harrowingly humanistic Platoon was a landmark moment for war movies. Platoon was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won four, including Best Picture and a Best Director trophy for Stone, who based the film on his own experiences in the Vietnam War. The American Film Institute ranked this the 86th greatest film of all time. Roger Ebert named it the best film of 1986, and the ninth best film of the 1980s. Ebert’s colleague Gene Siskel likened the picture to a Vietnam memorial.
12. Glory (1989)
Edward Zwick directed Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman in this sweeping and beautifully photographed drama about one of the first military units in the Civil War’s Union Army to consist almost entirely of African-American soldiers. Glory was nominated for five Oscars and won three, including a Best Supporting Actor trophy for Washington.
13. Courage Under Fire (1996)
This Gulf War mystery drama was the second collaboration between Washington and Zwick following the success of Glory. Washington is riveting as a haunted, guilt-ridden U.S. Army officer investigating the worthiness of a female helicopter commander (Meg Ryan) for the Medal of Honor. Matt Damon is almost unrecognizable as a war medic-turned heroic addict, a role he lost over 50 pounds for. Roger Ebert called Courage Under Fire “a fascinating emotional and logistical puzzle—almost a courtroom movie, with the desert as the courtroom.”
14. MASH (1970)
Masterfully shaggy and chaotic, and also totally hilarious (such was kind of a signature for auteur Robert Altman), this irreverent black comedy depicts the antics of medical personnel stationed at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Though the picture is set in the Korean War, the subtext was about the (then ongoing) conflict in Vietnam. Starring Donald Sutherland and Tom Skerritt, MASH was a box-office phenomenon. It won top honors at the Cannes Film Festival, and it was nominated for five Oscars (losing three of them to Patton). Perhaps most notably, the movie inspired the legendary television series of the same name, which ran from 1972 to 1983, and was named the eighth-greatest TV show ever by TV Guide. MASH is ranked the 54th best film of all time by the AFI, and it’s all the way up at seventh place on their list of the funniest American films.
15.The Longest Day (1962)
Produced by legendary Hollywood executive Darryl F. Zanuck, this epic war drama depicted the D-Day landings over three decades before Saving Private Ryan. The Longest Day was shot in the style of a docudrama and featured an enormous international cast including John Wayne, Richard Burton, and Sean Connery—in his final screen appearance before he became Bond. Nominated for five Oscars including Best Picture, The Longest Day won two, for its cinematography and visual effects. Next, check out the 100 best movies of all time, ranked.
