How to Celebrate the 4th of July/Independence Day (Specifically, Via Movies)

Posted on by CM, 2 Tim 1:7, Fdr. of Project Pursue Wisdom

No – I did not die of the CCP Virus/COVID-19. Yes – I realize I missed too many weeks to count. (Mr. Spock tells me it’s been eleven weeks – thank you, Mr. Spock, what would I do without you?) And I cannot express how sorry I am to have missed interacting with you all as well as my Darling Project. Suffice it to say it’s been a rough several months and I found myself in an unforeseen yet extended writing (and unfortunately, reading) slump. But, lo and behold! I’m out of the mire and back for good. I shall send a Very Grateful Thank You to all of you – who have been and are so gracious and forgiving and encouraging and taking the time to read this. Take all the virtual coffee/tea/Oreo cookies/barbecue chips/pizza/Insert-Your-Favorite-Food you want.

Lessons From The Mire:

  • DUNE is literally the most difficult book I’ve tried to review (note the word tried). After trying to cover all my rather undetermined thoughts on it I decided to take a long break.
  • I personally experienced an Astonishing (to me) Act of Kindness when an anonymous man gave me and my co-workers $50 each in an envelope labelled “From Jesus” in red next to a cross. Take note that this person did not dress especially “upper-end.” My thoughts: “he must have worked hard for this money,” “why did he gave us a total of $150?” “mental note to self – do this for someone someday” “How I wish I could have gave it back to him and let him know I really don’t need it but perhaps he can give it to someone else who does?”
    • Needless to say, it was a First for me.
  • Musicals are amazing. I’m forever indebted to The Story Sponge for her recommendations and introducing me to them.
  • Music is amazing in general. And singing makes the heart soar. Vocal training is difficult and it’s not pretty while in process, but I’m working on it, after five plus years of dropping it. I thank the YouTube channel New York Vocal Coaching and Justin Stoney for his short/accessible/brilliantly done online videos – go check it out at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcxo5COqhVc84JYS_bRdLyg
  • Gene Kelly is THE GUY when it comes to dancing. I saw Singin’ in the Rain – everyone was great in it of course, but I was speechless at Kelly’s ability, and I died laughing while watching Donald O’Connor’s “Make ‘Em Laugh.” I think I like Kelly more than Fred Astair’s in Holliday Inn.
  • I have it on my list to watch more MGM and R&H musicals.

My favorites are towards the top. This is currently just a bare bones list since I’m short on time. I intend to insert more information next week. 🙂

Gold List – Here Be the Best

  • John Adams
  • Johnny Tremain
  • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
  • The Patriot
  • And I can’t resist – Captain America: The First Avenger

Silver List

These almost made it to the top, but not quite simply because I had to make a cut-off point.

  • America – Imagine The World Without Her
  • Band of Brothers
  • Sergeant York
  • Hacksaw Ridge
  • Saving Private Ryan
  • Fury
  • Glory
  • Gods and Generals and Gettysburg

The following are in no particular order.

Group A of Honorable Mentions

  • Red Dawn (the 2012 version starring Chris Hemsworth please, thank you)
  • Top Gun
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Air Force One
  • Independence Day (the original only – I disown the “sequel”)
  • Forrest Gump

Group B of Honorable Mentions

I have not yet watched these but wish to someday.

  • 1776
  • Hamilton the Musical (I’m not really very sold out on this one yet, but thought I’d mention it)
  • National Treasure
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy
  • The Music Man
  • Zero Dark Thirty

Happy Independence Day!

34 thoughts on “How to Celebrate the 4th of July/Independence Day (Specifically, Via Movies)”

  1. Ooh! Nice movie list! 🙂 I’m glad to see you’re back, though! (Also…sorry about the hardship that is Dune…I’ve been recommended it and am curious now…)

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  2. Okay I don’t really watch movies but my classic is Liberty Kids. (Homeschool family and the oldest child?? YEs, we’re still watching stuff fit for seven-year-olds. Because that’s what we do in big families. :D)

    Also Hamilton ❤ ❤ ❤ but I'm a music geek :))

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    1. You know, I’ve heard of Liberty Kids, but never watched it. Johnny Tremain is a classic though, so if you like classics – highly recommend it. 🙂

      Ahh! See- I knew it. Another recommendation for Hamilton. Rap is not my thing. And I’m really not sure what our Founders would think of the language in it… But I think I will need to listen to at least some of it for a more whole opinion on this matter. Thank you for your lovely comment, Emma! 🙂

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      2. I love the book Johnny Tremain!!

        Same, I’ve never enjoyed rap until I heard Hamilton actually. it’s like the worst music genre aside from country in my opinion haha) and I only listen to the clean versions of the songs. But I can totally understand how you feel about it! It’s sort of like a historical-fantasy novel…some people really aren’t okay with it, and some people find that it brings the story to life in a new way.

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        1. I have not yet read the book. But the movie was fantastic. Plus it was such a treat to see Mr. Walt Disney (yep, THE one) to introduce the movie and the background behind why he decided to make it. 🙂

          Ahh! Gotcha! I’m think I’m usually lenient when it comes to historically inspired songs and stories and books. As long as it has either a great story to tell or reveal, or it can communicate the spirit of the original story. (Such as The Greatest Showman – lots of creative liberty taken there, but the spirit of the thing is so infectiously amazing!) And, I do watch movies with (at times quite awful) language in them, but it was just a bit shocking to me that they felt like they had to put f-bombs in a musical, for goodness sake… Anywho, I’ll like you (all) know when I get a chance to listen to at least some of the songs… 🙂

          Since we’re talking about Hamilton – Have you seen JOHN ADAMS? It really is the best mini-series (on-screen treatment ) of the Founding I have ever seen. The biography from which it was based is wonderful as well!

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          1. I watched it a long time ago and I remember being really freaked out because of the burning scene. hehe The book is way better in my opinion!! (But the movie is also great!)

            I actually haven’t seen The Greatest Showman. 🙂 Maybe I’ll give it a try.

            Actually, I avoid language pretty seriously I’m everything I consume. I would definitely recommend listening to the “clean” versions on YouTube.

            Here’s a list of a few great songs:
            1. Nonstop
            2. Helpless
            3. Dear Theodosia
            4. Wait For It
            5. The World Was Wide Enough

            🙂

            I think my mom watched that!!

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            1. I highly recommend listening to The Greatest Showman if you can’t watch it.
              My favorites:
              1) A Million Dreams https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9r5PFZihC4
              2) Rewrite the Stars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yO28Z5_Eyls
              3) Never Enough
              4) Tightrope https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He5NctQPXK8
              5) From Now On
              Honestly though I love every single song. “The Other Side” song repeats the D— word in the song, but that’s the only language I recall from the album. 🙂 The movie is phenomenal. Visually, the dancing, everything.

              Thank you for this list!! I’ll go check them out. ❤

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  3. Did someone mention pizza?! 😄
    Also oreos.
    *crams food in mouth*

    In all seriousness, I’m SO glad you’re back and have recovered from your writing slump!!! 😊 I was starting to miss your posts…but now you’re back! HURRAY!! *throws confetti*

    Aw, that person that gave you the money! That’s so sweet! 😭❤️

    Musicals are amazing. YES, THEY ARE. I completely agree. 😀

    This is such a cool post idea, CM! Love it!

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    1. Hey! I knew you’d like it! 🙂
      Seriously. I recently became addicted to Oreos. Especially appreciate the fact that they’re not too sweet.
      Why, thank you, Eden! 🙂 Sorry for the unannounced absence. I’m working on several posts and we should see one out in time on Wednesday. 🙂
      I know, right?! I’m not sure if I want to keep it or just maybe do the same to some other stranger…..
      When you said “YES, THEY ARE. I completely agree. 😀” are you referring to my comment about Gene Kelly and Singin’ in the Rain or about singing and music in general? 🙂

      Thanks, Eden for reading! 🙂 I appreciate your beautiful comment as well!

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      1. It’s okay! We all need to take breaks sometimes. 😊 Looking forward to your other posts!

        Oh, well, I was actually just agreeing with you that musicals are amazing. 😀

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  4. This is great! I LOVE Glory and Hacksaw Ridge, and I will need to be adding several of these other movies to my watchlist! (Some of them were already on there, I just haven’t gotten around to them yet.) National Treasure is something that my sisters and I watched over and over again as kids. It’s cheesy, but also surprisingly enjoyable. 🙂
    I watched Hamilton this weekend, (along with, you know, like 2 million other Americans) and even though I still think it is overrated, it’s actually a pretty good musical with some impressive stagecraft, phenomenal acting and a powerful story. While I liked it, I still don’t understand why EVERYONE is crazy about Hamilton and NO ONE even knows what Bandstand is??? But anyway…

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    1. Thank you, Story Sponge! Oh great! Someone else who loves complex war movies 🙂 . Haha – it’s been so since I’ve seen National Treasure that I really can’t remember what it’s about. Except I liked it and when I read the synopsis on it I thought – sounds like a good Independence Day movie to me! 😛

      😀 I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it! I confess I have not yet listened to Bandstand – BUT I WILL. 🙂 I love Laura Osnes’ voice. And I completely understand you – WHY DID THEY NOT NOT RELEASE A RECORDING OF BANDSTAND?!

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      1. Complex war movies are wonderful.
        Indeed! National Treasure is a very good Independence Day movie.
        Oh, the fact that they haven’t made the Bandstand recording readily available is a tragedy. They had it for an extremely limited time to rent on Playbill, but now it’s nowhere to be found. At least we still have the music to listen too! I hope that someday they realize how much we all want to watch it and release it. I mean it’s not running on Broadway or anything. What do they have to lose by letting us watch it???

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  5. Confession: I skimmed this post when it first came out but then didn’t actually comment/like because I didn’t have access to my WordPress account.

    Then I came back, skimmed it again, and commented.

    I’m sorry for not remembering everything in your incredible post, but what I did see:

    – Johnny Tremain is highly underappreciated. Everyone go read it.
    – Dune is hard to review (I should try, though), but I love it.
    – Hamilton is lovely, if you can handle some language/innuendos. Haven’t seen it yet but the soundtrack is great.

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    1. Response Confession: I completely understand what you mean and I do exactly the same thing. Unfortunately I’m been behind for months now… It’s all good 🙂 I’m still happy with comments that are not within the same week!

      So in short, thank you for taking the time to comment! 🙂 I appreciate it when you can, and understand it when you cannot.

      Haha – I don’t really count this as a real post. But it’s a nice list. I intend to go back to it and put in links/images/comments. (And next July I shall link to the edited version….)

      – YES. I know I need to read Johnny Tremain. I love that movie though!! Have you seen it? It was so cool to see Mr. Disney present it himself.

      – Gah. Dune. I don’t feel like talking about it yet… did you notice my link above in a response to Lemon Duck’s comment that included my Goodreads review? (It’s two comment boxes down) Have you seen Lawrence of Arabia? Really recommend it if you’ve read Dune.

      – As ya’ll’s encouragement – I do intend on listening to it. I shall let you know when I do! 🙂 (It will probably be in a post…)

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      1. I did see the link! I’ll have to take the time to read the whole thing at some point. (Thank you to Goodreads, who lets non-users read linked reviews. Instagram won’t even display profiles to me anymore.)

        I haven’t seen the Johnny Tremain movie — is it any good? Or Lawrence of Arabia. I have a long list of movies to see and would love to get to both of those at some point.

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        1. 🙂 Great! Let me know what you think of it. It’s not complete, but it’s my initial thoughts.

          Oh yes! Johnny Tremain the movie is great! I don’t know how it compares to the book but I loved it. Same for Lawrence of Arabia. DUNE’s Paul is basically a shadow of Lawrence. (Seriously. There are so many similarities it’s not funny.)

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  6. You’re back!!!! Hurrah!!!! (Also I realised I wasn’t following you and THAT’S why your posts never showed up in my feed… *facepalm* It has been remedied.)
    Slumps are no fun. I’m glad yours seems to be over-ish? I was really looking forward to your Dune review, for sure; are you still going to write it, do you think? It’s okay if you’re not, of course.

    I prefer Fred Astair to Gene Kelly, but I will grudgingly admit that yes, Kelly is an excellent dancer (and oh my goodness, Singin’ in the Rain is FABULOUS). Have you seen any other Fred Astaire movies besides Holiday Inn? Like any of his with Ginger Rogers? (Also have you seen Anchors Away? It’s not my favorite movie, but Kelly’s dancing is great in it too. And it has Frank Sinatra. Who is also not my favorite, but a lot of people love him.)

    Johnny Tremain!!!! Is that a movie? Does this mean it’s a good movie? If so I REALLY want to watch it. I love the book so, so much. Have you read that? (And if you have…what do you think of Rab?)
    And Captain America: The First Avenger. That’s such a good movie. Very patriotic. I don’t even like superhero movies, but it’s great. (As is Winter Soldier, of course.)
    And MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. OH! I always thought that was a famous movie, but no one but my sister and I EVER seems to talk about it? That movie is the best and I never even thought how perfect for Independence Day it is, but yes. I need to rewatch it, if only I could find a copy! One of James Stewart’s best, that I’ve seen (and in my opinion :P) anyway.

    Ooh, you’ve never seen National Treasure? That one is just so fun. I really hope you enjoy it. And, if you’re super into American Revolution history (which I was as a kid), it’s incredibly fun to pick up on all the little history things…and the way it weaves them into the story is SO CLEVER. It’s a movie that made me so happy the first time I watched it.

    Anyway, I’m so glad you’re back!

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