The Fourth of July means fireworks, cookouts, parades, questionable hot dog decisions and at least one person in the neighborhood setting off something that sounds wildly illegal.
But once the grill cools down and the sky stops exploding, there is another American tradition worth honoring: watching a movie that captures some version of the country’s spirit. Sometimes patriotic. Sometimes chaotic. Sometimes deeply critical. Sometimes featuring aliens blowing up the White House because subtlety took the holiday off.
Here are five of the best July 4th movies to watch this Independence Day.
Independence Day
No Fourth of July movie list is complete without Independence Day, the 1996 blockbuster that turned an alien invasion into one of the loudest, proudest and most gloriously ridiculous summer movies ever made.
Will Smith punches an alien. Jeff Goldblum saves the world with a laptop. Bill Pullman delivers a presidential speech that still makes people want to run through a wall while holding a sparkler.
Is it subtle? Absolutely not. Is it perfect July 4th viewing? Completely.
Jaws
Steven Spielberg’s Jaws is not technically about Independence Day, but the holiday is baked into the movie’s DNA. Amity Island is depending on July 4th tourism, the beaches are open when they absolutely should not be, and capitalism is somehow scarier than the shark.
That’s what makes Jaws such a perfect July 4th movie. It has sunshine, crowds, small-town politics, summer dread and one of cinema’s greatest monsters lurking just below the surface.
Also, if you are going to the beach this weekend, maybe watch it after you get home.
Born on the Fourth of July
Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July is the serious entry on the list, and one of the most powerful films ever made about American identity, war and disillusionment.
Tom Cruise stars as Ron Kovic, a patriotic young man who enlists in the Marines, is paralyzed during the Vietnam War and eventually becomes an anti-war activist. The film uses the holiday not as decoration, but as irony, asking hard questions about sacrifice, myth and what love of country actually means.
It is not backyard barbecue viewing, but it is essential Independence Day viewing.
REELated:
“Why is he in his underwear?” First clip from Supergirl
The Sandlot
If Independence Day is the fireworks movie and Jaws is the beach panic movie, The Sandlot is pure summer nostalgia.
Set in 1962, the film captures the magic of childhood, baseball, neighborhood friendships and long hot days when the only real schedule was getting home before dark. Its Fourth of July sequence, with the kids playing under a sky full of fireworks, remains one of the most warmly remembered moments in the movie.
It is funny, sweet, endlessly quotable and still one of the best arguments ever made for the idea that baseball and summer belong together.
Captain America: The First Avenger
For something unabashedly patriotic but still fun, Captain America: The First Avenger gets the job done. The film introduces Steve Rogers not as a perfect superhero, but as a skinny kid from Brooklyn who hates bullies and refuses to quit.
That old-fashioned sincerity is what makes the movie work. It has World War II adventure, comic-book spectacle, vintage propaganda imagery and a hero whose patriotism is rooted less in flag-waving than in basic decency.
Plus, sometimes on the Fourth of July, you just want to watch someone throw a shield at Nazis. Fair.
Honorable mentions
National Treasure deserves a nod for turning American history into a full-blown Nicolas Cage scavenger hunt. Air Force One remains peak “get off my plane” presidential action. Rocky IV is technically more Cold War than Fourth of July, but if James Brown singing “Living in America” does not qualify, what are we even doing here?
Whether you want aliens, sharks, baseball, superheroes or something more sobering, the best July 4th movies all have one thing in common: they understand America is complicated, messy, inspiring, terrifying, funny and occasionally saved by Jeff Goldblum with a PowerBook.
Happy Fourth.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
