Earlier this week, festival staff were invited to share what their favorite Independence Day-themed film was and why their selection still resonates with them. Below is a collection of their reflections on Fourth of July films of the past today.
Top Gun (1986)
Therese Mlynarczyk, Development Director
Probably one of the more bizarre quirks of my childhood was that Top Gun was my all time favorite movie growing up. I challenge you to find a seven year old who knew “Danger Zone” like I did. It was my dad’s favorite movie and watching it was something we could do together. I recently re-watched Top Gun and it’s strange that some of my own personal values have changed in the past twenty years.
Maverick, who was so cool, funny, and smart, became arrogant, selfish, and reckless and I found myself annoyed at this film I loved. Maverick walks in, is handed a position at an elite flight school against everyone’s better judgement, he wins over the girl who is not only his instructor, but also way out of his league by nothing more than his cunning charm, and he almost has no consequences for his actions. I was annoyed at eight year old me for not having higher standards and I was annoyed at thirty year old me for ruining a childhood favorite.
The one part of the movie that still had that same magic from when I was kid was Goose. I love Goose. He’s funny. He’s actually charming in the way you want Maverick to be. He’s a family man. He backs his partner even when he is wrong. Goose is the kind of guy you want beside you. Re-watching this movie felt like losing Goose all over again. I had seen this movie countless times. I knew it was coming and yet I couldn’t prepare for it. Neither could Maverick.
All of a sudden I wasn’t watching the same movie I had watched as a kid. This movie that was so lighthearted and fun growing up was now heavy and serious. But something else happened as I watched. Maverick stopped being an arrogant asshole and started being a grieving friend, a character far too common for our real armed forces. The men and women serving our country in the military continue to sacrifice far more than is fair for us to ask of them. Maybe this film doesn’t hold up as well thirty-four years later, but it does still make you realize the severity of the sacrifice of our veterans. Top Gun will forever be special for me, and I assure you my dad and I will be first in line for Top Gun: Maverick.
Live Free or Die Hard (2007)
Kyle Friedberg, Video Content Producer
Die Hard has been one of my father’s favorite action movie franchises since the first in 1988. So when Live Free or Die Hard came out in 2007, I gladly went to the theaters with him to see it during the opening weekend.
While the fifth sequel in the franchise went off the rails, this one is still grounded in reality, at least somewhat. John McClane is sent to bring a hacker in who was a suspect of the FBI. During this he encounters a group of cyber criminals who are working to erase the United States back to zero. So naturally it’s up to the super-cop John McClane to take them down.
This movie follows the summer action blockbuster checklist:
- Driving cars into helicopters? Check!
- Super choreographed martial arts scenes in precarious environments? Check!
- All of the classic Die Hard one liners? Check!
Of all the movies in this franchise, I’m going to say this one aged pretty well thirteen years later. Sure some of the technology is dated, but it’s a solid action movie that also further explores the mysterious McClane family.
The Great American Fourth Of July and Other Disasters (1982)
J. Spencer Greene, Lead Features Programming
I devour anything associated with Jean Shepherd, the writer of A Christmas Story. His writings are the closest to perfection we will ever come to total recollection of every aspect of every moment in childhood. His works are not just presented as a factual account, but the epitome of recreating the detailed emotional remembrances, as children interpret the nonsensical world around them.
I used to relish the days when PBS’s American Playhouse was still around, because they produced several of Jean Shepherd’s works. This film follows an older Ralph from A Christmas Story as he recalls his memory of a particular Fourth of July from his high-school years in Hollman, Indiana. Ralph plays the sousaphone in the high-school band to the instructions of the baton-twirling drum master Wilbur Duckworth. Ralph is grudgingly set up on a blind date, only to find himself in the company of the gorgeous Miss Junior Corn Blossom, who rejects his advances. On the Fourth of July, Duckworth causes a power outage by twirling his baton onto an electrical line during a parade; the town drunk Ludlow Kissel sets off an enormous firework that explodes under his own porch; and Ralph’s father entertains the neighbors with his annual dramatic display of fireworks.
Independence Day (1996)
Jonathan C. Legat, Festival Operations Director
“Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will join others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. ‘Mankind.’ That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can’t be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it’s fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom… Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution… but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!”
– President Thomas Whitmore
This speech meant a lot to me simply in the context of this amazing film. I recall watching this on July 4th, at Mann’s Chinese Theatre. I remember the way the theatre erupted with thunderous applause as Parts of LA were being devastated by Alien’s Super Lasers. This film has always had a large place in my heart. This speech means more to me today, as I watch as an ‘alien invasion’ of a pandemic rages across the globe. While “hopefully” not an extinction level event, we are faced with something that threatens us as a species.
It would be amazing if we, as ‘mankind’, could see past our own selfish needs/desires to unite, in the largest ‘compassion’ battle in the history of mankind. Realize that masks (while not comfortable) are not about ‘You’ breathing comfortably, but that they are about loved ones of families you don’t even know, and may never meet. That if ‘The Greatest Generation’ could plant victory gardens, and give up certain foods/comforts to aid our soldiers overseas, that we could, as a Nation, hell, as a Globe, wear a piece of cloth to help prevent the spread of something that may have next to no medical impact on you, but could mean the life of people you don’t know.
“We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive!” Thank you, Bill Pullman.
Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
Tricia Legat, Cinema Centennial Program Director
When I was little, my Aunt and Uncle possessed only one kid friendly VHS in their entire movie collection. Thus my early childhood contained repeated viewings of the film, Yankee Doodle Dandy.
This biographical film about George M. Cohan made quite the imprint on my younger self. The movie I remember was a bright musical, with exciting dance numbers, and catchy patriotic songs, that made me proud of where I came from. Years later, I see it again and I’m taken aback. The technicolor patriotism of my youth having faded into a somber black and white.
I highly recommend you watch this movie. In listening to Cohan’s songs again, I find myself nostalgic. Not for America past, but for the bright version of its future I once saw as a kid.
But should old acquaintance be forgot
“You’re a Grand Old Flag,” George M. Cohan
Keep your eye on the grand old flag…
