Today is Independence Day, and that means it is officially the greatest day of the year.
There will be plenty of ice cold beer flowing, burgers and brats on the grill, women in bikins boating around and kids tossing around footballs. However, if you find yourself with some downtime there are several great war movies throughout the years that show how awesome America is.
Countless men and women have fought throughout the centuries for America’s freedom and security. Hollywood might have a ton of problems, but making great war movies is not one of them.
Here are the greatest war stories ever put on film.
1) Band of Brothers
OK, so technically, this is a television series, but it’s hard to argue that any war film or series was more impressive. The ten-part series will have the viewer on the edge of their seat for the entire runtime, and when it ends you’ll want to hit rewind and watch the whole things again.
2) Saving Private Ryan
The legendary Tom Hanks film helped launch the career of Matt Damon, but more importantly, the film displays a brutally accurate depiction of the D-Day invasion.
3) Lone Survivor
This is one of the toughest movies to sit through and watch. Not because it’s poorly produced, but because it is insanely graphic and the deaths are hard to watch. Nonetheless, it is a great story about the will to keep fighting and the actions of a Navy Seal team.
4) Black Hawk Down
The Battle of Mogadishu is one of the most famous fights involving the United States military in the past few decades, and it changed American foreign policy in Africa for years to come. Two downed helicopters changed a risky mission to capture high-ranking war lords into a rescue mission while the enemy surrounded the American military members.
5) Red Dawn
Obviously this is not a real movie, but more of a warning to the Soviet Union that an invasion of the United States would be met with nonstop bloodshed. Patrick Shwayze leads a ragtag team of high school students as they wage guerrilla warfare on the invading militaries.