By George Haerle
For The Daily World
We all know the best parts of the Fourth of July are the gathering of family and friends, feelings of patriotism on a warm summer day, fresh watermelon … oh, who am I kidding? The Fourth is the most fun with slightly carcinogenic meat, a cornucopia of beer, and risking blowing off your opposable thumbs playing with things that go boom in the sky.
Unfortunately, most of the patriotic irresponsibility doesn’t really start until the sun starts to set and the ribs are finally off the grill. So, to help pass the time, here are my four favorite all-American movies to watch while stuffing your face and waiting to unleash your cached arsenal of colorful explosives.
“Captain America:
The First Avenger”
This is a great holiday throwback for those of you who recently saw “Avengers: Infinity War.” It’s significantly more light-hearted, and manages incredibly not to be overbearingly patriotic despite the lead character’s origin as a purveyor of wartime propaganda. Chris Evans’ Captain America is the embodiment of what we as citizens would like our country to represent: honor, integrity and indomitable spirit. Hugo Weaving is also delightfully hammy as Red Skull, the uber-Nazi radical.
“Team America:
World Police”
Though definitely not for the kids, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s 2004 all-puppet comedy is surprisingly relevant and still hilarious. Seriously, replace Kim Jong Il with Kim Jong Un, and you could make this movie today with the same amount of relevance and laugh-out-loud impact it had 14 years ago. As a warning, it also might be seem more laugh-out-loud offensive than it was back then, with some jokes sure to trigger a twitch in anybody with particularly politically correct sensibilities.
“Air Force One”
Harrison Ford plays U.S. President James Marshall, a Vietnam veteran, pitted against a scene-chewing Gary Oldman as a particularly entertaining Russian villain who has hijacked the titular presidential plane. Ford gets to sort of play out “Die Hard” on a plane in a sometimes ham-fisted and ridiculous 1990s action movie. It’s full of cliches, but still manages to be entertaining mostly thanks to both Ford and Oldman. Still pretty fun to watch 20 years later.
“Independence Day”
This large-scale alien invasion extravaganza includes some of the most fun performances in the careers of its star-studded cast. Bill Pullman’s name is practically synonymous with his famous speech in the third act, Will Smith is in his prime and Jeff Goldblum — who’s just damn entertaining in everything — is doing what he does best. Along with a few slightly less-than-serious performances and some pretty sweet practical effects, action scenes and set pieces, “Independence Day” also oozes the ’90s in terms of aesthetic and style, making it a fun blast of nostalgia for anybody who remembers seeing it on the big screen when it came out.
So, have a safe holiday, try not to lose any fingers, and remember to call in sick extra-early on the fifth. Blame it on some bad potato salad.
George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.
