5 Best Movies To Watch On Memorial Day
by Nina Starner · /FilmMemorial Day is here, and if you're an inside cat who doesn't really want to lie by the pool or grill a bunch of burgers, you might want to sit in your air conditioning and watch a movie. So what should you watch? Good question.
Picking a movie for Memorial Day is ... sort of weird, if you take it at face value. This annual holiday is also somber at its core as it honors the sacrifices made by members of the United States military across decades. It's also, not to be flip, a three-day weekend, and the weather doesn't always cooperate across these three May days. All of this is to say that if you're stuck inside, you should pick one or all of these five movies to watch.
A note about these selections, before we get started. I went a little eclectic here, because while Memorial Day is intended as a somber holiday, most people just use it to kick off the summer season. That's why you're going to see a grouping that might feel ... unexpected. That's on purpose! This is America. Celebrate Memorial Day however you want. I suggest watching any or all of these legitimately good movies, myself.
Saving Private Ryan
We'll start this Memorial Day watchlist with a film that's widely regarded as one of the best movies ever made about the United States military ... even if it did famously lose the best picture Oscar to "Shakespeare in Love": Steven Spielberg's war epic "Saving Private Ryan," which was written by Robert Rodat ("Fly Away Home," "The Patriot") and based on an amalgamation of real stories, some of which were pulled from books by Stephen E. Ambrose. The action of "Saving Private Ryan" takes place in Normandy, France in 1944 — specifically, as American soldiers land on Omaha Beach — and focuses on a battalion led by Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks, who helped develop the movie alongside Spielberg as an executive producer). When Miller learns that three sons from the Ryan family died in the war and the fourth son, James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), is missing in action, he commandeers his battalion and they set out to find the missing soldier.
Hanks and Damon are, of course, excellent — and they're flanked by Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Giovanni Ribisi, Ted Danson, Bryan Cranston, and Paul Giamatti in supporting roles, just to name a few. As Miller and his battalion cross France to find Ryan, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat whether you've seen this movie once or a thousand times.
Jaws
"Jaws" is probably one of the best summertime movies in cinematic history, if not the defining summer movie ... and with that, Steven Spielberg gets his second entry on this list. While "Saving Private Ryan" is a sobering look at the trials and tribulations faced by American soldiers in World War II as they tried to rescue a fallen comrade from behind enemy lines, "Jaws" is ... a romp about a great white shark terrorizing a New England beach town. That's not derogatory in any way, shape, or form. "Jaws" absolutely rips. (Pun very much intended.)
Based on Peter Benchley's 1974 novel and released just one year later, "Jaws" stars Roy Scheider as Martin Brody, the police chief of the fictional resort town Amity Island. After a swimmer is attacked by a great white shark, Brody wants to close the beaches but is persuaded to keep them open by the mayor ... which, unsurprisingly, leads to way more shark attacks. When a bounty is placed on the shark's head, Brody finds himself joined by shark hunter Quint (Robert Shaw) and oceanographer Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) as they try to track the giant shark down themselves.
Even people who only recently watched "Jaws" for the first time know this movie is flat-out incredible, and it's a testament to Spielberg's undeniable vision as a director that he's able to strike fear into the audience's heart with a music cue and the mere hint of a shark. (The restraint Spielberg shows when it comes to actually showing the shark on-screen is a stroke of absolute genius.) "Jaws" isn't a military movie, but it sure is a great flick to start your summer — even if it might make you feel like avoiding the ocean for a little while.
Top Gun
Okay, so, "Top Gun" isn't exactly a searing look at a daring military rescue mission, but if you think about it, it's kind of the perfect Memorial Day movie — in that it's a movie that celebrates a branch of the military that's also a sometimes-ridiculous summertime romp. Tom Cruise, obviously, stars in Tony Scott's action drama as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a naval lieutenant sent to train at the prestigious Fighter Weapons School, also known as Top Gun, alongside other United States Navy pilots and recruits. There, he competes for the Top Gun Trophy against his rival, lieutenant Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer) and sticks close to his best friend and wingman, lieutenant junior Nick "Goose" Bradshaw ("ER" star Anthony Edwards).
You can — and honestly probably should — pair "Top Gun" with its actually good legacy sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," which hit theaters in 2022, stars Cruise and Miles Teller, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture — and either one is a good pick to watch on Memorial Day. Come for Cruise's winning performance in the original "Top Gun," and stay for the oiled-up volleyball scene.
Black Hawk Down
Ridley Scott's 2001 epic "Black Hawk Down" owes a large debt of gratitude to "Saving Private Ryan" in many respects, but it's still a worthy Memorial Day watch if you want to pay homage to military sacrifices on your day off. Based on a book of the same name by Mark Bowden, "Black Hawk Down" follows, unsurprisingly, a downed Black Hawk helicopter involved in a real historical event known as the Battle of Mogadishu (which took place during a civil war in Africa in the early 1990s). When a group that includes the 75th Ranger Regiment, Delta Force, and 160th SOAR "Night Stalkers" goes to Mogadishu to attempt to intervene on behalf of the United States, the titular aircraft, named Super Six-One, crashes due to sustained attacks from leader Mohamed Farrah Aidid. (Aidid, notably, is not seen on screen).
As the soldiers in the downed Black Hawk struggle to survive at the crash site, we watch a lot of them fall to enemy forces, all while leaders like staff sergeant Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett) and major general William F. Garrison (Sam Shepard) try to figure out how to keep their men alive. With an astoundingly large supporting cast that includes everyone from Ewan McGregor to Hugh Dancy to Jason Isaacs to Eric Bana to Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, "Black Hawk Down" is a staple of the war movie genre — and for good reason.
Do the Right Thing
Like "Jaws," Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" belongs on the same list as "Black Hawk Down" and "Saving Private Ryan" specifically because it's a perfect summertime movie for Memorial Day. It will also, incidentally, give you a lot to chew on. This movie — which is slightly controversial — stars Lee himself as Mookie, a 25-year-old resident of the Bed-Stuy neighborhood in Brooklyn who lives with his sister and shares parenting duties of his young son with his girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez). Mookie frequently finds himself clashing with bigoted pizza shop owner Sal Frangione's (Danny Aiello) oldest son Pino (John Turturro), despite being friends with Pino's younger brother Vito (Richard Edson).
One hot summer night, a bunch of young Black residents of Bed-Stuy storm into Sal's pizza shop and demand that he ensure his wall of photos is more representative of the neighborhood — it only features Italian-American celebrities — and things devolve quickly thanks to both camps. When the police arrive, tensions only escalate, and the rest of "Do the Right Thing" takes place across this long night ... and ends in tragedy.
Decades after its initial release, "Do the Right Thing" remains more relevant than ever and makes it abundantly clear that Lee is one of the most visionary and brilliant directors of his (or perhaps any) generation. "Do the Right Thing" is a rare summertime movie that's as crowd-pleasing as it is political and thoughtful, so consider checking it out this Memorial Day weekend.