United States History from 1877
to the Present Day
An Online United States History Course
Feature films used in this course
Apollo 13
Filmed in 1995, Apollo 13 is the true-life story of events surrounding the flight of NASA's three-man space capsule that experiences major malfunction of critical components in the spacecraft such as oxygen. It appears that the craft will wonder into nothingness unless officials and technicians can send instructions to the crew on how to fin the problems. Directed by famed actor turned movie mogul, Ron Howard, does masterful job of creating suspense even though most views know the outcome. It stars Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon.
Stagecoach
War Horse
War Horse is an epic story that has been a book, a Broadway play, and a movie. The book and the play tell a story form a horses view point, but the film does nto delve into the mind of the horse, but rather allows historical events to impact the horse and the people who care for him. Joey, the horse, makes a storied journey from Ireland to France and back in the years of World War I.
Steven Spielberg is the director and inspiration for bringing the horse to life on the big screen.
Jeremy Irvine plays Albert Narracott, a horse wisperer, who trains the horse to take a plow and perform duties in war.
The Hollywood western leaves something to be desired in the modern day. Often rightly criticized for it treatment of humans and animals. Many have shunned its genre. Stagecoach directed by John Ford and stars John Wayne, The Ringo Kid, and Thomas Mitchell, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1940 for this part as an alcoholic doctor forced to come to grips with his illness. Gunfights, Indian attacks, the Calvary riding to the rescue, and shootouts on Main Street are just some of the conventions that became features in most westerns. John Ford directs the action in his favorite western desert. The movie made John Wayne a featured actor and elevated westerns to a prominence in the time period.
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a compelling film about the hard life of Oklahoma farmers during the dust bowl of the Great Depression. Starring Henry Fonda as the everyman, Tom Joad, the family travels to California to seek a better existence. Jane Darwell, who portrayed Ma Joad in the 1940 John Ford classic move based on the book by John Steinbeck, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. John Ford uses his beloved western desert where he also filmed Stagecoach as the backdrop for much of the action of the film.
While the film is not true to the original book, it does stand on its own as a great film.
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Academy Award winning 1946 film, The Best Years of Our Lives, follows three returning veterans from World War II as they return to their homes in Boone City. Each soldier has been deeply touched by the war and carry some extra baggage because of what has happened to them. While they have been at war, life has gone on for their families and these men have missed much. This was a break-through film because it featured one of the first theatrical vies of post-traumatic stress disorder, challenges to the handicapped, and divorce. It was named Best Picture by the Academy and is placed highly on the list of best movies of all times by most reviewers. It features composer Hoagie Carmichael as a tavern owner and father figure to his young Navy nephew.
Comedy, Drama, and action fill the screen in this black and white film masterpiece.
This film has often been listed on one of the top movies of all time. I won many top awards.
The film is shot in black and white, which is the media that John Ford most loved to work with in his career. It is also show in the desert Southwest which is a favorite place of Ford.
Selma
The feature film, Selma, depicts one of major events in the American Civil Rights Movement. It occurred on March 17, 1965 at the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
The civil rights movement has seen the passage of the several legislative pieces that made many feel that the movement was over and complete. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. felt, as many did, that much more had to be accomplished. The Southern Christian Leadership Council planned to march from Selma to Montgomery at the Alabama state capital. They were met by Alabgama National Guard Troops who used force to disperse them. Many people were injured and some died.
Later President Lyndon Johnson sent in federal troops to excort the group on a ten successful march.
Planet of the Apes
Much has been written and published on the allegory of the 1968 film Planet of the Apes (and later movies and TV/cartoon shows). The film covers the women’s movement, political climate, racism, animal testing, evolutionary theory, nuclear testing, and environmental pollution, just to name a few.
It is a film starring Carleton Hesston and Roddy McDowell, along with many fine character actors that depicts three astronauts who test the theories of time-travel as they jettison into space to discover brave new worlds of the future in bodies that appear to be as they were when they left Earth.
As they are forced to gut the mission do to electrical failures on their space ship, they discover a world run by thinking, talking apes. They soon become the hunted and mistreated animal on the planet. They soon occupy the lowest rungs of the society as they are caged in zoo-like areas and experimented upon in laboratories.
