With the Independence Day holiday coming up fast, it seemed like a good time to talk about some of the best movies with a patriotic theme of all time, along with a handful of television shows sprinkled in for good measure.
There are classics like "Born on the Fourth of July," "Patton" and "Saving Private Ryan." Don't forget comedies and sports movies such as "Private Benjamin" and "Miracle." Actions films like the "Top Gun" and "National Treasure" films are patriotic. And of course, you can't beat a good film about the space race with the Soviet Union with "The Right Stuff" and "Apollo 13."
There are also a number of classic limited series on TV, such as "Band of Brothers," "From the Earth to the Moon" and just about anything from Ken Burns including "The Civil War" and "Baseball."
With the holiday week, we'll be taking a little extra time off before coming back on July 11 with an episode that discusses the upcoming fifth season of "What We Do in the Shadows." Co-host Bruce Miller also has interviews with members of the cast.
About the show
Streamed & Screened is a podcast about movies and TV hosted by Bruce Miller, a longtime entertainment reporter who is now the editor of the Sioux City Journal in Iowa and Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises based in Madison, Wisconsin.
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Episode transcript
Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:
Welcome everyone to another episode of Streamed and Screened and Entertainment podcasts about movies and TV from Lee Enterprises. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer at Lee and co-host of the program with The Patriot of the Cinema, Bruce Miller, editor of the Sioux City Journal and the long time entertainment reporter. Bruce. That is so good. I can I have that as a calling in cards or anything?
Yep. Get them printed up. Patriot of the Cinema. I think that that's a good thing. You know, it's funny because during war years, patriotic movies do really well. People love that kind of stuff. And then in non patriotic times, good luck. Good luck. World War II, build with that. Now we're fighting aliens. That seems to be the the common enemy.
But it is interesting how they will touch a vein. You're in there. We have one that that has some ties to Iowa. Saving Private Ryan. Oh, yeah. Is based on a family. And I mean, there's there. It's not. It's not one for one. It is not a biography of that at all. But you can relate to it. And then you see.
Yeah, you know what? I can I can get this. I understand this, but there are a lot of you'll see them now when you watch on TV, especially on those channels where they're trying to push the stuff, you're going to see a ton of them that they bring out 1776, which is unwatchable. Basically comes out all the time this time of year because they think, Oh, you're in the mood for a patriotic film.
Let's look at those old declaration of the Independence guys. And it's slow. It wasn't even a hit when it was out. So the idea that you would go back to that, but one that you probably have watched in recent years that is fun in this way is the live taping of Amell Ted Deutch from odd Wait. And that, I think, is a great patriotic film to watch because it really does point out that these are fallible men and women, that they can make mistakes and we shouldn't look at them like they're statues or pictures on the back of money.
Yeah. So I think Hamilton is a good one If you're going to look for one this time of year to look at. Go back to it, because that's the gold standard for those kind of Broadway capture films. They did a beautiful job with that. Yeah. And that was a really good introduction for me because obviously I knew about the performance, but I hadn't seen it to that point.
So to see it on Disney Plus and my kids, we watched it with the kids and the kids loved it. There's still they still play the soundtrack all the time. And we took them to see the the touring version of Hamilton about a year ago. You know, with the the TV version, it has the subtitles that you can then read along with if you think the rapping is too fast.
And I think sometimes when you see it again in a theater, you miss some of the raps because either the sound isn't all that good or they're going too quickly. And at least when you go back to the the Disney Plus version, you can read it if you need to. It's great for old people, which is amazing in my crowd.
So there you are. Yep. So at the 4th of July holiday, we're going to go through here and just talk about some of our favorite patriotic films. And what else do you have? All right. Top Gun one and Top Gun two. Oh, absolutely. Right. Yep. It's a good I'm I'm on my list, Both of them. Those are. I don't even know which one I like better, because Top Gun two is one of the rare instances where where the sequel might be better than the original, I think.
Well, but you know what? You needed the one to understand the two. Right. We wouldn't it Val Kilmer out. How kind of vibrant he is in the first one. And then you see him near death in the second one. You kind of need to know both. So I don't know that Maverick stands alone, but I'd watch him together as a double feature.
Yeah, they're great. And I think what makes those films especially good is when you watch the original, they don't really say that you know, it's the Russians or the Soviets or anything, but, you know, and it's kind of the same thing with Maverick where they don't tell you who it is. But, you know, and it kind of makes it timeless, too, because you're not necessarily pinning it on any one nation.
So it could be just whatever you watch a 30 years from now. And whoever, whoever the villain of the time is in world politics, you can just say it's them. They're the ones that were fighting. Well, okay, so then we're in the mode of Tom Cruise. What about Born on the 4th of July? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's a classic.
Born on the 4th of July. He was one of those two that Oliver Stone, because he he had also done Platoon. So staying within that theme of of the Vietnam War and just kind of different perspectives of course so. Absolutely fabulous movie. Yeah and hey Tom Cruise does a great job He's very good and very believable. You know, we don't just see him as a gung ho kind of military man in this one.
He's also an activist. And you can see other sides of things. The Vietnam War had so many sides to it, so many angles to it that to call a movie the Vietnam movie, is just impossible. And we'll still be dissecting that for years to come now, because it isn't just a one shot thing. And I think that's where a lot of people get kind of, oh, wait a minute here now, aren't we patriotic?
What's wrong with us? It's because during World War Two, they were gung ho on the American effort and all of those films had to have some kind of, if you will, a supportive statement that that guided it and deservedly so. When you look at the Vietnam War, people were questioning it all the time and wondering, should we really be there and what's the point of all this?
So it's a different war, a different kind of a situation, but I think it is a good one to look at. What about a a war movie, but a little bit more on the fictional side, like a Red Dawn from the 1980s. Red Dawn is BOND Yeah. And that that skews to a younger audience, too. Gives you a chance to see you know and look at just even last year where we saw all quiet on the western front how really young we realized those kids were in that situation.
And that's why Red Dawn does, too, is it shows you that sometimes we're sending children off to war. I remember that movie, too, and I loved it at the time. It's been a while since I've seen it. I should go back and watch it. But at the time it really it kind of scared me too, because it felt so real.
Because, you know, at the time you know, I never really thought the Russians or the Soviets would invade us, but it wasn't completely out of mind either. I mean, that's certainly within the realm of possible loyalty. And I think that added some reality to it. And on top of it, it didn't necessarily have a happy ending, like some of our heroes from the movie didn't make it to the end.
And these are kids. And it was you know, it was a tough movie to watch at times. Yeah, it was. Had a lot of adventure, too, depending on where you are in that in your life, you see it in different ways. You know, as an older person, you start like, those are my kids. These are like, they could be my children.
You know, as a kid, you're like, That could be me. So it's a different perspective. Okay, what's on your list? Let's hear some more. You mentioned Saving Private Ryan, which was on my list, but now I know we're talking mostly about films, but I do want to tie in here with Saving Private Ryan and the brothers and the brothers in the Pacific.
Now, the Pacific, I didn't find as good as Band of Brothers, but Band of Brothers is maybe one of the best limited series ever. I mean, is there anything better than that about World War Two? The people who were in it were nobody's, you know, the at the time. Yeah. And now you can just go through and go, Oh my God, that's old Mike.
Oh, look who's there. They're there. There's a bunch of them in it. And so if you go back for a second view now, it is long. It is. I did ten parts. 12 parts. It's a lot. And we don't see that anymore because we're so used to six parts and out or eight in and out. But it's worth it.
It's worth the, the set. I think it's a good a good film. And Tommy was involved in Tom Hanks is involved. And it was it was really good. Now, related to Tom Hanks is another arc that I'm going to throw at you. And it starts with the right stuff, which is, of course, a look at. Yep. And then Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks.
And then, of course, Tom Hanks parlayed Apollo 13 into From the Earth to the Moon on HBO, gets that series. And then even more recently, even though it's completely fictional for all mankind on Apple TV. Plus, I love those space movies. And for me, from a from a patriotic stance, it's the rivalry between us and the Soviets to get to the moon, to get into space.
It's just a really great story. As in Hidden Figures, Many women played a part in this and was kind of like not a subplot any of those. So there are lots. The space race was clearly the Sixties story to tell, and I think when the Cold War was on, this was the way that we were fighting those battles.
We'd be first. You know, we'd haven't mentioned a comedy at all. A comedy? I would give a Benjamin, Sir. Private Benjamin That's a really cool look at how a spoiler woman, for lack of a better term, is thrown into this situation and becomes much better as a result of it and comes out of it and yet you can laugh along with her and you see her grow and you see that she's doing it in service to our country along the lines of comedy.
Would you throw stripes into that mix also? You could, but I don't know that that would out as patriotic. It's just more fun. Yeah. If if you want to do a military comedy, there you go. It might work a little bit better. Well, and then if you look at other ones, Clint Eastwood, he had a whole raft of patriotic like films that he did.
And he did the two parter thing where he showed one side and then he showed the other side flags of our fathers and the letters from Iwo Jima. Right. So he has his kind of, if you will, patriotic theme is like Spielberg has his. Yep. You can you can kind of trigger these Oliver Stone they're they all the almost behind that as a way to at least identify their filmmaking skills or to highlight them.
I don't know. What about some of the historical Lincoln like oh yeah Lincoln is one of my all time favorites because Daniel Day-Lewis always always dug in and would become the character. And honestly, after you see that, you think, I can't imagine anybody else as Lincoln. And we've had so many Lincolns over the years. But man is Lincoln is the way I want him to be, not to take this too far off topic, but is Daniel Day-Lewis the greatest actor ever?
The man retired because he he just couldn't do it anymore. The way he throws himself into it, he may not be the greatest, but he was the most selective. And he knew that if he was going to choose to do something, he was going all in and he didn't do. You know, you don't see some crap films on his resume where you go, Oh, that was a dog.
He shouldn't have done that. He waited. Yeah. And that I think that the real hard part for some of these actors today is they think that, you have three in your out, you know, you can have three flops and then if you don't have a good hit after that, you're down doing something that you don't want to go and you never did that.
And so I think the idea that he retired was maybe a great move. It's like Johnny Carson. He left and didn't do anything after that that you would say, Oh my God, look what happened to him. He looks so old or He doesn't quite have it anymore. But I know Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the treasures of the American cinema and not three Oscars.
Not at right. If you look at somebody like Jack Nicholson, Jack Nicholson has a very stellar career. But Jack Nicholson was playing Jack Nicholson a lot of those times. He did disappear in the character like Daniel Day-Lewis did. Sure. If that means anything. Okay, Peyton. Okay. What most about Peyton? I remember that big flag that he stands in front of.
Yeah, right. It's been a while. Oh, yeah. The flag. That was what George See, Scott played Peyton, Correct. I the personality. I think he was just more of the personality for, for, for me. I mean, it's been a really long time since I've seen Peyton, but it was one of those that it would just keep on showing up on either cable and I would just every time would come on, I would have to watch it because I just I was sucked in by the performance and how intense he was as a general.
Again, it's one of those things where you think I want the character to be like that because then it explains a lot of things. And maybe George C Scott was just doing his version of it, and Peyton wasn't like that at all, but it certainly plays well and it made the movie this huge hit. It was a big hit at the time it came out and people were, look at that.
It was like there was a 1970. Yeah, it's the Vietnam era, basically. And we're seeing a military film and we're saying, Oh my God, it's so great. That really took something that took some work to make that pass through all that all of that time, and then let you see what it's like behind the scenes. So he has Peyton is a real good one.
Great one. There's a lot of patriotism in sports to miracle. Yeah. Do you count that as one? Yes. I could get the I get the Olympic kind of thing. But I think with Miracle, because you're talking about the 1988 Olympics, which was, of course, around the time of the boycotts, because the U.S. boycotted the the Summer Games and then ultimately the Eastern Bloc boycotted the 84 Summer Games in L.A. You look, there was a time before professional athletes before like Western professional athletes went to the Olympics.
So it was about amateurism. And it was this one opportunity where a bunch of amateurs in a sport that the US doesn't even dominate in. I mean, we've got a lot of of great American hockey players, but they don't stand up with the Canadians or the Europeans or the Soviets or anything like that. So to be able to go out on your home ice and and to be able to beat the Soviets during the height of communism and all of that, I think that's a highly patriotic movie.
You know, though, isn't it funny how they've tried so many times to use that that kind of formula in another in another setting, you know, and and bring it around and it it doesn't work as well as that. You imagine Olympic films and Bud Greenspan would do an Olympic film every time there was an Olympic year. Mm. 16 days of glory.
I mean you throw them out there and those are always and it was a tough day for so-and-so and you know, and, and you do get that kind of moment where you think, Oh my God, this is bigger than what we think it is. It's not just somebody out there running as fast as he can. There's more on the line now.
TBS borrowed that concept and does these little kind of vignettes. It drives me crazy when they do it with American Idol, where everybody is supposed to have a story and our we're judging you on your story, not necessarily on your talent, but they've done that now. That was kind of what drove all of his documentaries, is that it was the story.
You didn't know about this. You know, it could be a runner who's able, but nobody's going to say anything because they don't want to spoil the day. And he gets out there on the day and he's running like a lightning bolt and he wins and then they tell you all the trouble that goes into that. Those are fascinating films to watch because you really don't know what's going on until they spell it out for you.
And he did a he had a very successful run of those kinds of films. And largely there were a lot of Americans that were featured because it's financed by American resources. So, yeah, Olympics are always good, always good for that kind of stir of patriotism that we feel. And come on, don't you don't you cheer for the Americans when you see the Olympics on?
Of course. Of course. Yeah. I'm you know, I'm I'm the kind of a yell out foul ball when it's not an American. So get out what else you have on your list and the others glory with Oh, yeah, with Denzel. I thought that was great. I have Gettysburg and I have a national treasure. Yes, that's on my list, too.
That's an interesting one, because you hit on what's come on. It's a mystery kind of, you know, Da Vinci Code ish kind of thing. But the idea that you get to visit some of those spots are what make it kind of fun to see. I really enjoyed those. Is a history buff, too. And my kids like them. And I've kind of used that as a gateway to introduce them to Indiana Jones.
Also, which I don't think it's quite as patriotic, no national treasure, but it's the same idea of like an archeologist kind of person who's into relics. So it's just from from a as a gateway into Indy for my kids. The National Treasure Series, I think is good and it's pretty low key. It's pretty kid friendly one I do not like.
Are you up for that? Sure. The Patriot. Okay. With Mel Gibson? Yeah. I think it's really heavy handed. And I think after I don't need this, you know, Liz and I. Yeah, I didn't blow it out for you. Yeah, I. I'd have to go back to my review because at the time I remember going we are they ever trying to manipulate us And frankly that's what all political ads are now is a manipulation.
So whenever you see any of these ones, who's got the bigger flag? That's what they're looking for. Who can who can sound like the bigger patriot and you know what? Patriotism is not something that you can put on. It's something that's in you does make sense. It does not sound like I'm reading from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations or something deep thoughts that nobody is running to see.
I see that so much with with politicians where they try to out patriot each other and like I am behind America more than you are, and I will salute more than you will. And no, and you know what? I remember the VFW and the American Legion man would walk in a parade on the 4th of July and they would salute.
And you felt every bit of their pride and the effort that they put into their country. And I don't know that that's at all what politicians are selling. You sound I'm against this this sponsored by the Adria. It's for Miller campaign. That's right. That's right. You know, it is it is really different. And I think we have not yet seen that great 4th of July movie, a 4th of July movie where maybe it's a small town that they're putting together, a small town celebration.
And you get a sense of what it means to be that kind of America and how it how it shuffles down. I mean, look it now, I said earlier, it's aliens were fighting and you'll see the Independence Day and you'll see all those kinds of, you know, I special effects kind of films where is that really it? I don't think that's it.
I don't think it's ahead Independence Day on my list for no other reason than it was. I don't know if it was a patriotic as much as just we're trying to save the world, but and it's titled Independence Day. So it's one day if you just kind of bring out for Independence Day. It's interesting and we'll see a lot of it.
Yeah, it'll be run like crazy over the 4th of July holiday, especially since now the 4th of July falls close to the middle of the week. Right. We'll have a whole weekend full of these. You know, they're going to be showing them wall to wall from Friday until Tuesday. So we'll see what happens. But, you know, we talked a little bit about, you know, World War two movies, Vietnam movies we're starting to see in the last decade or so movies with their more modern kind of wars, post-9-11 films like The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark 30, American Sniper.
Any thoughts on those? They're hard to watch because they are so real for us because we experienced a lot of it on the news. You know, we'd see these kinds of things and the whole bit with Taliban and all that. Are we are we through it? I don't know. And all of the 911 films that come about, you know, I think a lot of that is real, very difficult for those of us who've lived through it, to really sit and see it as something other than and, you know, one I'd like to push out there if you really want to look at a sense of history.
Ken Burns does such incredible documentaries about just every aspect of American life and the ones that, you know, he just did one about the Holocaust his last year, the U.S. in the Holocaust, and he's done the Civil War, he's done baseball, he's done Nashville, he's done, you name it. And he he touches on various aspects of our lives.
And I think inherent in all of that is a sense of patriotism. Yeah, he is a real proponent of, you know, who we are and what we learn. And where does this lead us? What what will we get from this? And that old line about how don't ignore history because you're doomed to repeat it. You know, I think he's reminding us, pay attention to your history.
Learn what happened so that then you don't make the mistakes again. I really wasn't thinking too closely about those Ken Burns documentaries because I was more in movie mode. But when you bring it at the Civil War, baseball, the one about country music, even though there are three separate subjects, they are very much intertwined in a sense, because it is about, you're right, patriotism, the fabric.
You know, baseball is is being like the fabric of America and one of those things. So, yeah, no, I love all those. You dropped me in front of a Ken Burns ten part documentary, and I'll see you in a week and then you're you're waiting. Well, wait a minute. I got to hear that voice because there are certain voices that always have to be in on these.
Wait a minute. Does he have them? And it's a very predictable kind of format, but he always has interesting tidbits that you never knew when he did. Ben Franklin, the Roosevelts. I mean, things that you go, Oh, really? I didn't know that. How come I have a knowing this all these years? And I think it's a matter of just digging in and finding this stuff and putting it in perspective.
What does this mean for the world at that time? Baseball is a real good one. With that, where he talks all about the players and what their place was and how important they were to, you know, maintaining morale in our country, black baseball players and what their struggle was like. There's a lot lot there to to unpack. But I think Ken Burns, if we're going with somebody who can really capture our times and our people and he doesn't like to do anything that's that current.
So you asking like, well, what would you do? It's about Trump. What kind of a Trump document he said is too close? We can't that we need to have perspective to be able to look back on these things and then see what we learn from that. That's yeah, that's fascinating. Maybe that's why some of these newer war movies should have been fewer of them to begin with.
But you just we haven't gotten enough time in between. And and we are seeing even now like a return to, you know, World War One and some of those earlier ones which we had kind of moved away from those early war. But we've we're kind of moving back almost to those just a little bit. You know, one fascinating thing, too, that you bring up with Ken Burns and those documentaries, if you remember in the baseball documentary, one of the guests, one of the figures talking about the history of the game was somebody that was I think he's always wearing a red sweater.
I don't know if you remember that guy in he kind of became known as like that red sweater guy in baseball. His name is Daniel Okrent. Right. He's an editor. I think they listed him in his he's an editor. He actually invented fantasy baseball. Oh, my gosh. He's the guy him in some friends of his created this thing called like they had a Rotisserie League Baseball thing.
That was the genesis to all of modern sports. So if you like, even if you're getting into some NFL fantasy football thing, you know, during the football season, it can all get traced back to that guy that was on Ken Burns Baseball. Did he make a dime of it? I don't know. No, I don't think so. I made those best ideas yet.
Know where. Right, Exactly. Exactly. Any other any other films you want to touch on before we head out? There are I mean, a number of just just Google patriotic films you like. I say, the World War two ones are fascinating because you'll find a story about a wife who's at home and what she has to deal with and the struggles and the pressures.
And that is very fascinating to see how they played that out or somebody going off to war, even something as simple as White Christmas. If you go back and look at White Christmas, where they're going to help this this fellow soldier there, their commanding officer, give him a better life. And you see that tie that something like the military does bring where you go white Christmas patriotic.
And it is it is a patriotic bill. So look at that kind of that period and look at those kinds of things they did. Even though they're singing and dancing, it could be a patriotic film. All right. Well, on that note, I think we'll sign off. Yep. Salute you all. Enjoy the 4th of July holiday. Throw some burgers and dogs on the grill, grab a cold one.
Fireworks. I love fireworks. It's the best thing ever. And you know they're not Eric. And I know. And a little trivia for you, Bruce. It will be my 15th wedding anniversary. Oh, my fourth. My wife and I got married in the 4th of July. We got married on the 4th of July. So 15 years this year. Oh, yeah.
So how do you celebrate? We usually go see fireworks. Okay, so we do that. But yeah, no, it's. We got married. We we had our ceremony, we had a reception, and then we. We drove out and watch fireworks. My wife, I was still in my tux. My wife is still in her wedding dress. Little girl comes up to her.
Did you get married today? And it was. It was fun. Oh, wow. But, you know, you can never forget it. So I've maybe that was that was that her choice? She said, let's get married on the 4th of July. It was my choice so I could never forget. So I was a kid. Well, you can always say these fireworks are just for you.
That's right. Exactly. Well, happy nursery and have a great 4th of July. We'll be back next week and we'll be talking to the cast of what we do in the Shadows. If you're a fan of the vampire show on Fox, we've got scoops for you about the next season and you are going to be surprised about what's coming.