It’s the July 4th weekend, which means that many will have four full days to sit back, relax and enjoy a movie or two. If you’re looking for something set during the Independence Day holiday, you have several options. I’m not sure if this is due to personal viewing habits, but it seems several titles that immediately popped into my head from the last 50 years are actually thrillers and chillers, using bright, patriotic backdrops as a contrast and way to explore darker themes.
Some films are incredible any time of year, but Steven Spielberg’s iconic great white shark movie Jaws (1975) makes a powerful impact during the summer season. The movie follows Amity Island’s police chief (played by Roy Scheider) trying to convince the mayor and officials that citizens and tourists are in danger from a predatory fish. It features a memorable sequence involving the shark raiding a beach and chowing on a boater’s leg during the Fourth of July.
The Brian De Palma thriller Blow Out (1981) stars John Travolta as a movie sound recordist who witnesses and gets audio of a political assassination, rescuing an escort from the scene of the crime in the process. He uses the recording to try and identify what happened, drawing the attention of the killer (John Lithgow), who plots to cover up the crime and wipe them out. It all leads to a memorably dark finale set against the backdrop of a public celebration and fireworks. For some reason, the filmmakers chose to call the patriotic holiday in the film “Liberty Day,” but there is no mistaking that it’s intended to be Independence Day.
Silver Bullet (1985), based on the Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf follows the exploits of a werewolf and is set over an entire year. The film adaptation gets cooking when the monthly slayings cause the town to cancel its Fourth of July celebrations. A paraplegic boy (Corey Haim) decides to sneak out and shoot off rockets in the night, coming face to face with the monster. The child, along with his sister (Megan Follows) and uncle (Gary Busey) end up facing off against the creature. It’s no masterpiece, but it does deliver some effective jolts and surprisingly engaging performances from its young leads.
At the end of the 1980s, there were two interesting dramas inspired by the holiday. Based upon a true story, Born on the Fourth of July (1989) from Oliver Stone (Platoon) features Tom Cruise as a man, who as the title suggests, is inspired by his birth date to join the military. He serves during the Vietnam War, loses the use of his legs, and must deal with psychological trauma, as well as a lack of proper care and assistance from doctors and the public after returning home. The film earned several Academy Award nominations and won for Best Director and Best Editing (Driving Miss Daisy ended up taking home Best Picture).
Miss Firecracker (1989) stars Holly Hunter as a tomboy from a crazy family who decides to compete in a beauty pageant. She hopes that winning will gain her notoriety and help her leave town for good. The impressive cast of this enjoyably quirky effort includes Tim Robbins, Mary Steenburgen, Alfre Woodard and Scott Glenn.
Cape Fear (1991) is a masterful remake from director Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed) that uses Independence Day celebrations to generate incredible tension. The film involves a lawyer who despises his psychotic, illiterate client and allows him to go to jail on charges of rape. While in prison, the villain spends more than a decade studying law and, upon his release, uses legal means to terrorize the attorney and his family, which includes a 15-year-old teenager (Juliette Lewis). The visually dynamic thriller features incredible performances from Nick Nolte and Robert De Niro (as the heavy), and details the threatening antagonist stalking the family though a July 4th parade and loitering on their property during a fireworks display.
Those looking for something a little more family-friendly can’t go wrong with The Sandlot (1993), a charming period effort that has become more popular in the years since its original release. It follows a group of baseball-playing boys who have to deal with a fearsome dog living in the lot next to their playing field. A notable moment involves the kids playing a night game during the holiday with fireworks going off in the background.
Of course, one can’t write an article like this without noting the all-star science-fiction smash Independence Day (1996). The story mixes disaster movie tropes in an alien invasion story. It’s very silly and the climax, in which the heroes use a computer virus to try and save the Earth, makes even less sense today than it did nearly 30 years ago. Still, it contains distinctive images (including the famous shot of the White House being blown to smithereens) and lots of action. If you’re brave, you could make an attempt at watching the ill-advised sequel, Independence Day 2: Resurgence (2016), but it’s probably best to forget that follow-up even exists.
B-movie maverick William Lustig (the Maniac Cop series) made the indie horror picture Uncle Sam (1996) about a U.S. sergeant killed by friendly fire in Iraq. His body is returned home and he returns to life, stealing an Uncle Sam costume and brutally murdering locals. Iit is soon revealed the deceased was an abusive sociopath and used his position as a means to kill. For a low-budget slasher, the picture does offer a fine cast and interesting commentary, using patriotic American iconography in a creepy manner that emphasizes a dark side to patriotism and the military.
That same year, the hit horror/comedy Scream reinvented the slasher film. One of those that followed was the stylish I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), which was from the very same screenwriter. The story involves a group of high school seniors fatally hitting a pedestrian with their car and hiding the body. After regrouping the following summer over the Fourth of July, they are hunted by a killer in a raincoat and hat who slays them with a hook. One of the main characters finds themselves trapped in an alley with a parade muffling their cries for help.
Action fans may recall that Live Free or Die Hard (2007), the fourth movie in the Die Hard franchise, involved a cyberterrorist (Timothy Olyphant) shutting off power over the eastern seaboard during the Independence Day weekend. The heroic John McClane (Bruce Willis) teams with a computer hacker (Justin Long) to save the day. Not all of the CGI work in this sequel holds up, but the comic interplay and high-energy action scenes still make it an entertaining sequel and the last Die Hard movie worth watching.
Back on the indie horror front, The Bay (2012) is an effective found-footage tale from Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (Rain Man, Bugsy). It’s about water-based isopods that mutate from human pollution and infect locals in a Maryland coastal town through their water. During the Fourth of July weekend, the government quarantines the area and those inside try to survive and escape. If memory serves, the finale isn’t perfect, but the picture is atmospheric and one of the better efforts of its kind, offering some truly creepy moments.
Finally, the hit Jennifer Aniston/Jason Sudeikis comedy We’re the Millers (2013) is set over the same time frame and involves a low-level drug smuggler who hires a woman and a pair of troubled teens to play his family in an effort to deliver merchandise to a drug lord.
So, while many of the pictures set during the Fourth of July are of a darker nature, there really is something for everyone who might be looking to get into the holiday spirit.
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By Glenn Kay
For the Sun
