20 Movie Facts Celebrating the Fourth of July (Because FREEDOM!)

So the Fourth of July is fast approaching, and you know what that means: clumsy displays of patriotism caught between the damn good idea America is, and its actual decay into a fundamentalist, dystopian-capitalist police state. Oh, and the date also means tons of jokes about us kicking extraterrestrial ass, so let’s just get this out of the way: of course we’re talking about Independence Day. Yes, yes, attack scene intermission, our doctor says we have to see it every two weeks lest we forget specific shots. Anyway, this takes us straight to the point of today’s Pictofact, in which we discuss a bunch of 4th of July-related movies for you to binge on while not celebrating the season like a true American does: drinking beer, wearing flag-patterned Hammer pants, and, erm, reading books? Exactly. This is America, dude: learn the rules.

So with love of freedom in our hearts, we’re using the Fourth of July as an umbrella term for two main types of movies. The first is the type that takes place during the holiday itself (except for I Know What You Did Last Summer, because I Know What You Did Last Summer sucks and has always sucked and will never not suck). The second is the sort of movie that captures the American spirit. So no, not whatever the pampered elite gaslights us into believing like the good little cucks of the billionaire class they are, but, you know, an actual (and badass) commitment to human flourishing. Hell yeah, guns, boobs, and Enlightenment values! Following these two categories, then, let us see some awesomely patriotic facts about awesome 4th of July movies (that, and we cannot stress this enough, are not I Know What You Did Last Summer).