Another Look at the 25 Best Conservative Movies
by Ben ShapiroOver at National Review Online, they just finished going through their top 25 conservative movies of the last 25 years. Overall, it’s a decent list. Still, there were many films left off and several that would not have made my cut. Here’s their full list, with brief comment:
25. Gran Torino: Fair enough.
24. Team America: World Police: This should rank higher, if only for Hans Blix being eaten by a shark and a parody of Matt Damon that will forever wreck his political future – a service for which we should all be grateful.
23. United 93: Again, this should rank higher, but the truth is that the story itself is conservative. Americans didn’t apologize for foreign entanglements or the American way of life on Flight 93 – they just rolled. The movie is almost a documentary.
22. Brazil: One of the most discombobulated films in movie history (discombobulation is a Terry Gilliam specialty), and while the vision of a fascistic state is vivid, imagery alone does not a great movie make. Plus, the fascistic state depicted in Brazil can just as easily be used by the left as a critique of “Bushitler”-type policies. Remember, Gilliam renounced his US citizenship over Bush’s election.
21.Heartbreak Ridge: A decent call, though the film is a bit cliché.
20. Gattaca: This is one of the best picks on the list. It gives the lie to the liberal idea that all behavior is predetermined by genetics and environment. Instead, it says, man’s potential cannot be measured by a strand of DNA.
19. We Were Soldiers: A by-the-numbers pro-military effort. But I’m happy the folks at National Review picked this over the morally ambiguous Saving Private Ryan.
18. The Edge: Sure, watching Alec Baldwin buy it may be a dream scenario for many conservatives, but this is a survivalist manifesto, not a conservative one – it’s a pure action/adventure story.
17. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: Obvious.
16. Master and Commander: It may be conservative, but it’s also quite boring. I love Peter Weir, but watching Paul Bettany sketch wildlife for well over two hours isn’t a recipe for excitement.
15. Red Dawn: Duh.
14. A Simple Plan: This movie could be said to be a study in Hannah Arendt’s liberal perspective regarding the banality of evil – the idea that deep down, everybody is capable of evil. When people act badly, bad things happen. Calling this a conservative movie is no more convincing than calling Fargo a conservative movie.
13. Braveheart: It’s a great movie, but there’s nothing particularly conservative about it. It’s an action epic with some romance thrown in. Liberals could easily caricature Braveheart’s Longshanks as a redneck, particularly after he defenestrates the prince’s gay lover.
12. The Dark Knight: Clearly one of the top conservative films ever made. Batman utilizes full scale surveillance, beats up a terrorist during an interrogation, and takes heat while doing it, all in order to save civilization from monsters who “just want to watch the world burn.”
11. The Lord of the Rings: If you don’t think this is a conservative film, listen to Aragorn’s “Men of the West” speech at the end of Return of the King, or Gandalf’s impassioned statement during the Council of Elrond that “the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West!”
10. Ghostbusters: Say what? There are a few conservative lines in this movie, but there are a few conservative lines in every movie – that doesn’t make the movie conservative. See: Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo.
9. Blast From The Past: Is this list supposed to be the best conservative movies of the last 25 years, or the movies that had the most conservative references while still kind of sucking?
8. Juno: It’s realistic, and the fact that she doesn’t abort means that it’s semi-conservative, but it’s also a manifestation of the fact that if she actually aborts the baby, the script has nowhere else to go. Jennifer Garner ends up adopting the baby as a single mom, which is no great improvement over Juno keeping the baby and bringing her up.
7. The Pursuit of Happyness: Work hard, get ahead. Conservative message.
6. Groundhog Day: Jonah Goldberg: “Murray begins the film as an irony-soaked narcissist, contemptuous of beauty, art, and commitment. His journey of self-discovery leads him to understand that the fads of modernity are no substitute for the permanent things.”
Beauty and art aren’t conservative. They’re value-free. This is a movie about the redemptive power of love – no matter how many piano lessons Murray takes and no matter how many cats he saves, he keeps living the same day over and over. He isn’t rescued by going to church or by giving charity. He’s rescued by falling in love with a girl. Sure, he improves himself in order to get her to love him too, but that’s plot filler. Just because Bill Murray learns not to be a jerk doesn’t mean this is a conservative film.
5. 300: It’s a conservative film in content but not in imagery. The perversion of history is silly – the Spartans were a bunch of fascistic thugs – but the underlying message is certainly that civilized nations cannot allow themselves to be overridden by fanatical expansionist barbarians.
4. Forrest Gump: The movie’s view of the military is conservative. Everything else isn’t. The idea of a complete dunce like Forrest Gump making his way so easily in the world demonstrates the liberal fallacy that nice things always happen to nice people – and to nice actors like Tom Hanks, particularly if they go, in Robert Downey Jr.’s memorable Tropic Thunder line, “half retard.”
3. Metropolitan: An obscure choice, to be sure.
2. The Incredibles: I’ve read this argument before – the Incredibles represent a family with extraordinary abilities who learn that they should embrace their extraordinariness. And the opening sequence, with superheroes retreating into obscurity to avoid frivolous lawsuits, is straight out of the conservative handbook. And I tend to agree.
1. The Lives of Others: This is a rare case where I wholeheartedly disagree with William F. Buckley. Buckley reportedly said, “I think that is the best movie I ever saw,” upon seeing this film. This movie is intriguing, to be sure, but it goes easy on the Stasi (see, some of them were really nice guys!) and embraces the liberal cliché that art ennobles.
Here are my additions to the list:
1. Rules of Engagement (2000): This is one of the finest conservative films ever made. Starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, as well as Guy Pierce in an early role, it paints a perfectly accurate picture of the enemies we face in places like Yemen (citizens attack a US embassy, use women and children as human shields, and then claim victimhood when the Marines fire back). You know it’s accurate when the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee describes it as “probably the most racist film ever made against Arabs by Hollywood.” It also features one of the most conservative exchanges in any film (graphic language):
JACKSON: You think there’s a script for fighting a war without pissing somebody off? Follow the rules, and nobody gets hurt? Yes, innocent people probably died. Innocent people always die. But I did not exceed my orders.
PIERCE: There are rules, and Marines are sworn to uphold them.
JACKSON: I was not going to stand by and see another Marine die just to live by those fucking rules!
Think of it as A Few Good Men, with the Marines actually being the good guys.
2. Tombstone: It ain’t the power of the badge that makes a mission right. That’s the message of this great western from George Cosmatos. While Wyatt Earp and his brothers start off wearing the badges, pretty soon, their enemies, the Cowboys, also carry the silver stars. Who’s right? The man with justice on his side. Val Kilmer steals the show as Doc Holliday, and Sam Elliot and Bill Paxton make a great supporting cast for Kurt Russell. Doc Holliday’s description of Johnny Ringo describes our enemies to a T:
WYATT EARP: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc?
DOC: A man like Ringo has got a great big hole, right in the middle of himself. And he can never steal enough or kill, or cause enough pain to fill it up. And so he walks the earth, forever seeking retribution …
WYATT: For what?
DOC: Being born.
3. L.A. Confidential: Yes, it’s a conservative film. The hero of the movie is Russell Crowe’s Bud White, a determined detective who isn’t going to worry about Miranda rights if it means finding a raped woman in time to save her life. Guy Pierce plays the politically motivated Ed Exley, who turns out to use his political skill in the service of the good. And Kevin Spacey plays the formerly corrupt glitz cop interested only in bedding the nearest woman and grabbing a few bucks on the side. Brilliant movie from all perspectives, but with a definite message: when you’re fighting evil, the ends justify the means.
4. Taken: Jack Bauer on crack. No apologies for being pro-American. No conflicted scenes about the horror of killing bad guys or the possibility of volunteerism in the human trafficking trade. Sometimes morality is black and white.
5. Stand and Deliver: See John’s clip in an earlier post for just why.
6. The Island: Stem cell research ain’t worth it.
Here are a couple of older movies worth seeing, aside from the obvious (e.g. A Man for All Seasons, Death Wish):
The Incident (1967): A bunch of citizens on a subway are terrorized by two thugs (one of them a very young Martin Sheen), when no one stands up for good, evil triumphs.
M (1931): Probably the greatest foreign film ever made. This intense, spectacularly focused movie makes the point that when it comes to evil, there’s no excuse (mental illness or otherwise) that should let the bad guys off the hook.
I’d love to hear other suggestions.
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256 Comments
Equilibrium. A vastly underrated, anti-fascist/anti-communist gem of a film filled with lots of terrific action sequences and not-subtle-at-all digs at the aforementioned worldviews.
Sorry John, missed the disclaimer that read "any film by John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant (though English), James Cagney, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby already included."
When they were good, the good guys won, when they were bad, they paid the price. And Bob Hope did have some good roles….give me a minute…..
oops====sorry Ben for calling you John.
No lie… I thought the picture accompanying the article was of Bruce Jenner.
Re: Brazil – in the Criterion audio commentary, I believe Gilliam said the film was partly a critique of Thatcher's England (or at least where he thought it was going at the time). But the fact that it can be used by both right and left can only be a good thing (IMHO).
Re: Ghostbusters – I've read this elsewhere. Couldn't it be considered conservative because it portrays men using the free enterprise system to fight evil without the help of government bureaucracy and meddling? (I'm not nearly as eloquent as the person who originally wrote that thesis.)
Someone on Mr. Nolte's old site suggested The Blues Brothers: two men use the free enterprise system to save a religious institution from the burden of taxation.
(I'm biased because Ghostbusters and The Blues Brothers are two of my favorite films. Period).
When Mr. Nolte was assembling his DVD library on the old site, I suggested Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. (It's like Master & Commander and Horatio Hornblower in outer space, good vs. evil, etc.)
And on that note, you could also include A&E's Horatio Hornblower miniseries as well.
Your friendly neighborhood independent,
Scott
Good analysis of the list. I didn't get if the list was supposed to based on the film itself or just the conservative message, or as you said certain lines of dialogue. Deuce Bigalow? Really? I haven't seen Rules of Engagement so I'm going to add that to my rental list.
Since you mentioned Tombstone directed by George Cosmatos may I also suggest Cobra directed by him and starring Sylvester Stallone. Sure it can be argued whether it's a good movie or not based on it's story, style, acting, etc. But it's great at depicting that there are some terrorists, criminals and scumbags who can't be negotiated with, can't be reasoned with, and can't be psycho-analyzed. Sometimes someone needs to be called in to just take them out.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN!
300
I have a bone to pick about this one. Frank Miller evidently has a problem with religious people which is fine. However when you go out of your way to change history just to make priests look corrupt it smacks of the kind of evangelical atheism that states "You are not allowed to express your Religion".
The History channel had a good account of the Ballte of (I will Butcher this spelling) Themopolae. The Spartans among other things were extremely religious and it was the Oracle that urged them to go on.
The movie also focuses on the fascistic Spartans wining the day and demeans the democratic Athenians. Had the Athenians not won the Naval Battle at greater odds the Spartans would not have been successful. There may have been some conservative themes but fighting a war does not make one conservative. Fighting for freedom does. This did not come accross to me as strongly as it did in say Braveheart.
Just my thoughts.
Here there be spoilers.
I'm voting for Serenity, although it's probably best labelled as conservative rather than liberal. The motivation for Mal and the other Browncoats (losers in a civil war) was that they wanted the government to stop telling them how to live. In the movie, it turns out that the Reavers (psychotic cannibals that are pretty the embodyment of pure evil) were the result of a failed government experiment trying to make everyone "better".
It also contains a religious character who isn't a hypocrite (Shephard Book).
I add "Lean on Me" with Morgan Freemen
Ben, you gave voice to my thoughts. I was as surprised as you at many of those picks, and the reasoning didn't make sense to me either. I wonder why more comedies weren't chosen, such as Addams Family Values and Why Did I Get Married, and more independent films like 22 Weeks and Fireproof. Jason's Lyric is an excellent movie that should have made the list as well. And no Passion of the Christ? WTF?
Ben, thank you for posting this entry. Almost every one of your comments echoed my thoughts. Overall, I think the NRO list was highly flawed in both its criteria and quality. For instance, why is Blast from the Past ranked higher than The Dark Knight? Are you kidding? Why is 300 ranked highly, but Hunt for Red October isn't even there? No John Ford movies? No Howard Hawks?
As far as classics go- The Fountainhead! Frank Capra! Ninotchka!
I still maintain Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a conservative book/movie. The evil Voldemort is out there. However, the Ministry refuses to accept it. It's a lie. They discredit Harry Potter. The media (Daily Prophet) supports the Ministry. Dolores Umbridge, in the interest of Ministry-improved education, slowly turns Hogwarts into her own little fascist fiefdom with various Educational Procalamations. It's a looking glass into Liberal thought.
Man On Fire should have made the cut.
I vote for the original non-slapsticky Cheaper By the Dozen: big family, they teach the kids to be moral and responsible, and they even make fun of a Planned Parenthood-type organization. Couldn't get away with that anymore…
I'm with Dr. Nic,
I think the exact quotes had something with the Federation and it's "meddling". Mal and crew, (aside from Jayne) always did what was right for freedom. Gave bad money back, gave stolen medecine back to the sick, and had no compunction for compassion for evildoers. And for those who don't equate "The Federation" for "The Government", Simon never says "The Federation" messed with my sister's head.
I second Equilibrium, and thanks to John Nolte for recommending it on his old blog. By the way some strong similarities to Lives of Others in there.
Can anyone explain why Rocky Balboa hasn't made it? Anyone???
Rambo (the new one) is extremely conservative in every way. Rudy is another great conservative film about hard work and perseverance.
I think there's a deeper conservative message in "Groundhog Day" that a lot of folks miss — character counts. A crucial theme of the movie is that the universe — or God, if you will — is holding Phil (Bill Murray) hostage until he gets it right. In other words, not until he checks his "if-it-feels-good-do-it" appetites and behaviors, and understands and lives a day of exquisite ethical and spiritual mastery, is he allowed to escape a "winter" of moral vacuity.
The film also portrays the Persians as the bad guys, when, if you look at the other cultures of the time, were perhaps the best out of all of them. In fact, the Greeks were probably some of the worst.
Damn shame Xerxes didn't crush them in my opinion.
The list is horrible! Most of these have nothing to do with conservative values, others aren't even good films. These aren't even argument provoking! How about Apocalypse Now (Redux) (arguably very conservative, arguably very liberal). How about Ben Hur or the Ten Commandments instead of bland Narnia? Anything by Frank Capra? 1984 instead of Brazil? Gettysburg… Sands of Iwo Jima/Sergeant York… Forbidden Planet…
I agree. I read the whole series and found it to be full of conservative values. Of course, my "uptight" (to put it kindly) neighbor moaned about it promoting witchcraft.
How about "The Kingdom"? Characters choose not to hide behind Washington's policies and take the search for the truth right to the epicenter…..and have to depend on their own guts and determination to get themselves out alive. Also illustrates that the war on terror is something we will have to continue to fight for generations. The other movie Peter Berg is famous for, "Friday Night Lights" also could be argued reflects many aspects of conservative values as well.
"No lie… I thought the picture accompanying the article was of Bruce Jenner"
Shannon, that is Bruce Jenner!
defenitely
The National Review list stinks. Shapiro's additions suggest a better list and list-maker. Some of the suggestions in the comments are also an improvement.
The Dark Knight: Say what? Since when is massive surveillance conservative? Besides, the movie makes it clear this kind of wire-tapping is wrong by the end.
The Lord of the Rings: Summed up best in one line: "There's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for."
Blast from the Past: Agreed. It's a fun movie, but the best of cinema?
The Island: Same as above, if slightly less so. Cool, sleek action movie that happens to have an anti-cloning theme. Conservative, yeah, but a fairly mediocre film by itself. I'd still watch it on TV though.
"The Lost City." Fidel Castro and Che Guevara are shown for what they really are: fascistic, destructive, murderous thugs. Ought to be required viewing for any moron caught wearing a Che t-shirt.
"Sweet Home Alabama." A fluffy Reese Witherspoon romantic comedy that will make you wonder how the hell it ever got released. Sure, there's some lip service for a sympathetic gay character but the heroine is a Republican Southern gal who renews her broken marriage and the villain is a Hillary Clintonesque liberal mayor of NYC.
Why not Breaker Morant? Three Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers. All this so that the English Government can show that they are "civil" in fighting an uncivil war. The accused do not relent in their belief that they acted on English authority and direction, alas, two of the three are led off to the firing squad. I am surprised that Mel Gibson has not remade this epic.
I also was appalled that Ben-Hur wasn't on this list. I agree, the list is horrible
These would be some of my picks:
"My Big Fat Greek Wedding"–all about family, 'nuff said!
"Rescue Dawn"–story of Dieter Dengler, the German-born Navy pilot who escaped a Vietnamese prison, and was decorated.
"A Man for All Seasons"–Sir Thomas More chooses to lose his life rather than his religious principles.
"Bella"–a film encompassing a prolife message as well as the healing power of faith and family.
RUDY!!!! Yes!
Sir, you're forgetting the criteria that the movie had to be released in the last 25 years. A lot of golden oldies wouldn't make it.
Breaker Morant was awesome!
This list is the kind of list that just perpetuates the idea that conservatives don't understand the culture.
Also, looking at this list, could anyone tell what it means to be a conservative?
Charles Bickford in "Guilty of Treason." A little hammy and stagey, but a great message. A Catholic cardinal who fought evil rather than expediently nibble at the edges of totalitarianism. An equal opportunity prophet, he first fought the Nazis, and then the communists who oppressed his people. He was public, and vocal, and the commies tried him for treason, even though they were the foreign invaders. He used his position as a cardinal to bring the message to his people and to the world when he could have safely hidden in his offices. What they really tried him for was speaking out against evil as represented by totalitarian oppression.
I find it interesting that there is a perceived assumption that fascism is usually identified with right-wing political movements. I believe the left are much closer to fascism than the right. At any rate Brazil was always a favorite of mine.
Flight of the Intruder, wherein an A6 crew drops some misery on Hanoi. YES!
That's one of my favorite movies.
That would change the list some, but I still wouldn't include almost anything on the list above. It's like they picked movies at random and then struggled to find something, anything they could call conservative in these movies.
I certainly agree that the NRO list was flawed, but Ben Shapiro's analysis of Master and Commander as well as The Lives of Others is astonishingly misguided. To call a masterpiece of historical filmmaking such as M and C boring demonstrates Mr. Shapiro does not have the patience for certain films, I suppose Weir needed more nude scenes and machine-gun massacres to make it more entertaining. "It was boring" is not an effective critique of a film, Mr. Shapiro. By the way, Paul Bettany's sketches are only referenced a few times in the film.
The Lives of Others is among the most masterful dissections of Communist totalitarianism ever made. As a historian of 20th century Russia and Germany I am glad such a film exists, as it reminds people what "real, existing, socialism" actually was, not as some politicians and historians claimed it to be. And Shapiro's analysis about The Lives of Others is again way off, the Stasi comes accross as a thoroughly evil institution, and the conversion of one formerly cruel secret policeman does not change its (or the former German Democratic Republic's) overall portrayal in the film. Sometimes art does ennoble, Mr. Shapiro, although you are correct with regards to LA Confidential (that James Ellroy is a conservative helps)
Some of my recommendations from the last 25 years:
Danton (brilliant anaylsis of Robbespierre's reign of terror, with one eye on the then contemporary Solidarity crisis in Poland)
Katyn (Wajda's bitter yet necessary and impressive examination of Stalin and Beria's attempt to exterminate the Polish officer corps and intelligentsia)
Insomnia (Nolan's effective critique on the impact of one decisive moral choice)
The Emperor's Club (Strong statement against relativism in any form)
Oops. I forgot the "last 25 years" part. But I recommend the movie anyway.
Since when is massive surveillance conservative?
Since it became an effective way of hunting down our enemies.
Besides, the movie makes it clear this kind of wire-tapping is wrong by the end
No, it merely suggests that while some rules must be bent in the pursuit of the enemy, these rules must be restored when the threat is eliminated.
Ben:
Interesting commentary and some good suggestions for inclusion on the list.
BTW, in regards to "Tombstone" — in real life, the OK Corral shootout (and related unpleasantness) was all about county politics. The Earps were Republicans, the Clantons Democrats.
Hoosiers: There is my way and the wrong way. Do it my and you become champions.
Disclosure: Demi Moore is the Sexual Harasser, not the guy. The stupid power hungry b**** gets the tables turned on her and the hard worker guy wins the day.
How about Cinderella Man. Old fashioned morals. Honor, loyalty to family. Faith. Belief in one's self.
Apollo 13. Good old American ingenuity.
3:10 to Yuma. A good man does the right thing for his family. Risks life to save his family.
And how about Bronco Billy. How a group of quirky people stick together through thick and thin. Plus, a good mocking of the psychology business
Forrest Gump is a total slam on the intellectual left and the 60's. Forrest shows that smart is not the same as wise. Black Panthers, Aids, drugs, nihilism…products of youths too smart for their own and their country's good. Gump is the anti-counterculture hero.
Cinderella Man! Good call!
"Metropolitan: An obscure choice, to be sure."
Ben, you really are hilarious.
a word re Groundhog Day. Ben doesn't seem to get that winning the favor of Andie McDowell is not filler, it's the point. the perfection that Bill Murray attains finally makes him worthy of her love. all women need to hold men to the highest standards. it drives culture, economies, every valorous and meritorious pursuit, and is the romantic foundation upon which gallant chivalry is built. a deeply conservative film.
Joe Fusco's point is also well taken.
Without extensive research, here are some modern movies with much more conservative themes than those above. Independence Day, Gettysburg, Passion of the Christ, Black Hawk Down, Field of Dreams, Quigley Down Under, Addams Family, The Brady Bunch Movie, South Park the Movie, The Truman Show, National Treasure, just to name a few…
When a film maker overdoes bodily functions and sex, as in hypervomiting and defecating during sex (I know – they're just marionettes), the film turns juvenile. What is it about Hollywood that needs, absolutely needs, to be edgy in this way? A good conservative movie should have a certain level of sophistication/restraint. The old technique of implication needs resurrecting. Taboos are good for art. They force symbolism, tongue-in-cheekiness, subtlety,…instead Hollywood's taboo is inhibition. The worst sin in not judgementalism, it is being inhibited. Thus, men now proving their lack of inhibition by engaging in gay sex scenes, and women sitting on toilets giving themselves pregnance tests. Yuck.
Best conservative movie I've seen is "Mongol" about Gengis Khan.
Dad is murdered while trying to be honorable, kid grows up hard, loves his women and will do anything to save her, all while building his kingdom and expecting that among all other values – loyalty to the Khan is formeost.
Say what you will, it's all about what "progressives" and Marxists can never have: honor.
(start pt 1)Well, I don't dispute that at all.
I'm not fond of making any kind of conservative-specific list, period. It's buying into the divide and conquer politics that the Alinsky-Left embraces and takes things down to their level. Conservatism at its core embraces the eternal things and acknowledges the reality of consequences that come with certain actions instead of force-fitting plot points to make a political point. It's a recipe for darn good storytelling that doesn't require any kind of political apologetics because the work will stand on its own as its own argument and last the test of time. (end pt 1)
(start pt 2)
By categorizing movies as conservative or not-conservative, I can see that action pushing people on the other side away from work that deserves to be universally embraced – it's the exact opposite of one of the larger goals at work on sites like this, right? I mean, aside from the plenitude of candidates it could choose from, how obnoxious would a list of 25 Most Liberal Movies (from say, The New Republic) be to people who read this site? As it is, the list only serves to demonstrate that conservatives haven't bothered to put up a fight in the larger cultural arena for the past quarter century and are largely blind and tone-deaf to the needs of putting up persuasive counter-examples in the culture we're stuck with at the moment.
Truth _and_ beauty. That's what we need know. End of story.(end pt 2)
We really can't post relatively complex thoughts in the comments, can we?
Passion of the Christ (2004) : The Lord shows us how to think and how to act.
Oh Disclosure, what a conversation that started in Poi Sci class. The feminists were aggrieved that the first movie about sexual harassment was about a woman being the villain. I asked them if they had ever watched Lifetime.
I agree that conservativism is much deeper than a couple of policy points. To me, a conservative is what used to be called a classical liberal — rational, just (the golden rule), believing in the rule of law — not the cult of personality, respect for individual rights (coupled with an acknowledgement of the responsibility that goes with it).
I think too many people have fallen for the idea that conservatism is just opposition to liberalism. It's been 20 years since anyone has explained conservatism without merely criticizing liberal policies.
On the movie list, I think they are mistaking non-overt-liberal as conservative: "Gee, the main character is a drug addicted army deserter who burns our flag, but he reads the Bible one night! It's a conservative movie!"
Finally, while some conservative ideas can be found in films, I agree that our inability to cite truly conservative movies (in the last few years) is pretty clear proof that we're being slaughtered in the culture wars. Liberalism has become a reflex in movies.
I agree with most of the comments on these.
A couple of thoughts.
20. Gattaca: – It was just not a good film. I could barely stay awake.
18. The Edge – While not a great film, I think it could be said to be conservative. The betraying, weak artist versus the man who produces for a living. The common theme, "What one man can do, another can do." To me that quotes fits a conservative belief in self-reliance.
9. Blast From The Past: – I grant you the first half-hour was not great. The rest of the film makes up for it. If nothing else, this exchange is enough.
Troy: You know, I asked him about that. He said, good manners are just a way of showing other people we have respect for them. See, I didn't know that, I thought it was just a way of acting all superior. Oh and you know what else he told me?
Eve: What?
Troy: He thinks I'm a gentleman and you're a lady.
Eve: [disgusted] Well, consider the source! I don't even know what a lady is.
Troy: I know, I mean I thought a 'gentleman' was somebody that owned horses. But it turns out, his short and simple definition of a lady or a gentleman is, 'someone who always tries to make sure the people around him or her are as comfortable as possible.'
Eve: Where do you think he got all that information?
Troy: From the oddest place – his parents. I mean, I don't think I got that memo from mine.
While I found a lot to love in the movie, for those who didn't that and the character's dedication to his parents should be more than enough to make it a modern conservative film.
Wish you'd gone without the obvious spoiler in the latter half, but yes. A thousand times yes.
"If you can't do something smart, do something right."
The Outlaw Josey Wales
Gods and Generals
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
What part of THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS do some of you not get? if it was ALL-TIME it would be a different list entirely, and probably NOTHING from the last twenty-five years would be on it. In that case, Dirty Harry would be my numero uno pick.
Though it's actually a bad movie, I still love it, so my vote – last twenty-five years, remember? – goes to Soldier starring Kurt Russell and Jason Scott Lee.
Sandra: "What are you going to do?"
Todd: "I'm going to kill them all, sir."
What conservative hasn't felt that way, oh, about a hundred times a day for the past twenty-five years?
You took the words out of my mouth. LOM really underscored how determined, compassionate, and smart individuals are more effective school reformers than cumbersome Big Government.
Pretty good list and many of the suggestions are good.
I would add, Rambo, Rocky Balboa, Big Trouble In Little China, Secondhand Lions, And Serenity, of course.
Pretty good list and many of the suggestions are good.
I would add, Rambo, Rocky Balboa, Big Trouble In Little China, Secondhand Lions, And Serenity, of course.
Thank You for Smoking, anyone? That was the first movie I thought of. So funny and right-wing that I can't believe it even got made, but I assume NRO is mad at Christopher Buckley these days.
I would also second Independence day, and add Armageddon.
I think I "oopsed" about my choice (above). Other than that mea culpa, I really agree with you about the last twenty-five years. Which probably explains why I had a brain fart and listed a fifty year old movie. Again, oops.
No honorable mention for Roadhouse lol?
I'm partial to Gary Cooper. Several good ones are High Noon, Sergeant York, Lives of a Bengal Lancer and The Fountainhead.
Actually, the "Big Government" in Serenity is the Alliance not the Federation, the star-spanning government of Star Trek.
Otherwise, your review of Serenity is correct. Even more so than the original TV show (Firefly), the movie proudly wears its conservatism on its sleeve.
The irony is that Serenity/Firefly creator Joss Whedon is adored by critics and Hollywood insiders, who are quite liberal.
An additional irony is that Joss doesn't consider himself a conservative.
Talladega Nights is iffy. I couldn't tell whether that movie was a genuine homage to the South or a satire.
Man, you must have read this excellent column, "What Bush and Batman Have in Common":
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12169424734348282...
An excerpt:
There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.
And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society — in which people sometimes make the wrong choices — and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.
"The Dark Knight," then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year's "300," "The Dark Knight" is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.
Rocky Balboa(in fact most of Stalone's movies): Rocky's speach to his son is classic conservative America. (Loosely quoted)"It's not how hard you hit but how many times you get up after getting hit. Life gives you no breaks, you have to keep fighting to get anything you want."
I think it was a mix of both, but all us good Southerners can laugh at ourselves. Plus Junior was in it, you cant go wrong with him. But I dont think it was disrepectful to the South.
Yankee Doodle Dandy, and before you say, that's apolitical, consider this bit of dialogue from the film (after George M. Cohan discovers America has entered WWI):
It seems it always happens. Whenever we get too high-hat and too sophisticated for flag-waving, some thug nation decides we're a push-over all ready to be blackjacked. And it isn't long before we're looking up, mighty anxiously, to be sure the flag's still waving over us.
Also, you notice the beginning of Cohan's life is not exactly an easy life, not with the family needing to work in vaudeville all the time, but they do it without complaint. Sounds conservative to me, doesn't it?
In addition, there's John Milius's film The Wind And The Lion. When Teddy Roosevelt discovers an American family is kidnapped in Morocco by a Berber chieftain, his response is simple: either the family lives or the chieftain dies. And when it's brought to his attention that sending the Marines in to get the family back will be illegal, his response is beautifully simple:
Why spoil the beauty of the thing with legality?
Starship Troopers.
Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Wind And The Lion and Cop Land.
No Country for Old Men is a masterpiece of moviemaking as well as being profoundly conservative. Normal run of the mill guys answering the call to be lawmen standing up against evil is specifically American in its conservatism. And they aren't guaranteed of winning or even of understanding why evil does what it does. They just know it is the right thing to do to carry a torch against the darkness. The movie makes no attempt to excuse evil behavior. SPOILER ALERT: The main evil character tries to make evil look like nothing more than chance until the innocent wife refuses to call heads or tails in the (almost) final scene thereby making it clear that evil is a result of choices and not chance. The Wilford Brumley speech near the end is worth watching over and over again as it makes clear that even if at the end of your life you are crippled and your coffee pot is full of 7-day-old coffee, you will be most fulfilled if you indentify and fight evil.
Conservatism will always have identifying and fighting evil at its core, and liberals will rarely get it right. The Dark Knight, which was excellent and should have been nominated for best picture, was a slightly less profound treatment of the same theme.
What, no 'Open Range'?? Makes 'Tombstone' look like 'Mona Lisa Smile.'
Let me nominate Pixar's 'Cars' while I'm at it. An ode to the internal combustion engine in all it's leaded, muscle car glory. Southern types from Mater to The King to the CEO of Dynaco are depicted as grounded, good-hearted people. (As opposed to, say, how a flick like 'Talladega Nights' regarded the NASCAR crowd.) The entire picture at its core is about remembering the old ways, literally. Doesn't get more conservative than that.
That's a brilliant thing to say. Had Xerxes crushed the Greeks, there's a good chance Western civilization wouldn't exist.
By the way, Master and Commander had a lot more than the doctor sketching wildlife in it. To say that the movie was two hours of that is a blatant lie.
The most obnoxious thing is a person feeling the need to post a two-part, self-important, overly complex answer to a question nobody asked just for the sake of seeing one's own words dragging on endlessly for two relatively pointless paragraphs.
You're such a genius. Did it hurt bending your arm around at the angle required to pat yourself so forcefully on the back?
#1 conservative movie? Two words for you –
DIE. HARD.
Nuff said.
Well considering that the Persians let conquered lands govern themselves for the most part (The Satrap, or Governor, would still have to pay a tax to the Persian Emperor [Think of an individual state in the U.S. being a Satrap, and the Federal Government being the Persian Emperor]), I am pretty sure that Western Civilization would have still existed. Maybe it would be better because the Persians would have probably beat the sexual deviancy out of the boy-hungry Greeks.
I would also add Batman Begins to this list. The theme of this movie is that you can use any tragedy in life if you choose to, that you are not the product of your environment, and evil is exactly what it is.
Seconded. Serenity not being on that list is criminal.
"The ends justify the means" is a conservative value? I don't think so. The quote "You have to break eggs to make an omlette" is usually attributed to Lenin for a reason.
I think you have to put the sci-fi/Western hybrid Serenity in the top 25. A fascist uber-government of corrupt utopians bent on controlling everyone, espousing an "ends justify the means" dogma. Good intentions paving the road to hell, and that same government then covering up its blunders at all costs. An outnumbered bunch of renegades who have no one to rely on but each other. Sacrifice. Honor. Good stuff.
What makes a movie Conservative? Mostly because it’s not liberal. Modern day liberalism is:
1.Anti American Greatness
2.Anti Western Civilization
3.Anti Judeo Christian Values
4.Anti nuclear family.
5.Anti law enforcement
6.Anti Military(pacifist)
7.Anti Male
8.Anti Individual Effort
9.Anti Black and White morality
10.Anti Southern
Thus for a movie to be conservative it should be
1.Unashamedly Patriotic or
2.Pro Democracy/Capitalism or
3.Respect Christians or
4.Show husbands and fathers in a positive light, as well as the family or
5.Be sympathetic to the difficulties of being a cop or soldier or
6.Show the dangers of collectivism and the ability of all people to improve their lot.
7.Clearly demonstrate that there is good and evil. That it’s not shades of gray.
8.Show Americans of all regions have positive and negative qualities.
Having laid out my reasons I submit:
1.Taxi Driver
2.Patton
3.Return of the Jedi
4.Ghost
5.Wrath of Khan
6.Liar Liar
7.Apollo 13
8.The Right Stuff
9.The Firm
10. Jerry Maguire
11. Rocky
12. Die Hard
13.Steel Magnolias
What? No "Final Sacrifice"? Must be because you were in it, right Ben. "Rowsdower!"
Liar Liar had a very positive message. When one of Jim Carrey's clients called asking for legal advice because he had been arrested, the lawyers advice to the crook was "quit breaking the law, a**hole". Throughout the film, Carrey's character learned that his life was better as he was forced to be honest. Happy ending insinuating that mother and father were finding their way back to each other, rather than everybody living happily ever after with step parents. Sounds like a socially conservative movie to me!
I vote for Casablanca. It's full of conservative values like sacrificing your own happiness for the greater good. Rather than indulge himself, Rick urges the love of his life to go back to her husband because he wants what's truly best for her.
Uh, you guys did hear about Gay Dumbledore, right??
Harry Potter, all seven books and all movies, represent the finest in conservative values. Best of all, they are deeply influential to millions of children, giving them a kind of vaccine against the poison of the left.
When Voldemort says to Harry, in the very first film (Sorcerer's Stone) "There is no good or evil, Harry. There is only power!" he is simply saying what every leftist believes in their poisoned heart. And who stands against the left's idea that there are no values, no right or wrong, just the greedy grasping of power over others?
Harry Potter, that's who.
How about the 25 most liberal films of the past ten years so we can have a field day making fun of them?
What about "The Fountainhead"? Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal.
"Independence Day"?
"Mars Attacks"?
THE INCREDIBLES especialy becuase of the sleezy lawyer and as well all know what a buch of scoundrels these lawyers can be and resides the villian SYNDROM is a liberal
Uh — how about The MAtrix, folks?
It is directly based on Plato's Allegory of the Cave — a society run by a totalitarian state that controls every aspect of their thoughts, dreams, and lives. Fought by a group that has been released from the darkness in order to see the truth, and they need to convince others that their lives, no matter how comfortable, are a lie because they are so controlled. The computers represent the government-will-give-you-everything state of liberalism/socialism, while the fighters are the ones who speak truth to power and who see renewed energy in their cause by a God-like figure called Neo (religious faith brings power and conviction).
A Bronx Tale (Robert DeNiro/Chaz Palminteri(?))
A son pulled in two directions: by the hard working bus driver father who says there no such thing as a free meal, and the gangster who has the glitz and glamour but tells the boy to not follow him and stay in school, make something of himself. Actually the messages are basically the same but Chaz P. is doing a "do as I say not as I thing," and ends up paying for his sins
Well, part of the idea was "last 25 years" – which lets out favorites like: The Final Option (Who Dares Wins) and ffolkes (North Sea Highjack) by a whisker. So, I'm offering up the hilarious take on The Magnificent 7/7 Samari: The Three Amigos where a trio of Hollywood doofs manage to find their inner man and save a Mexican town.
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