Poll: Best conservative movies in the past 25 years
posted at 6:40 pm on January 15, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
We have a great thread running on this topic, but no real resolution on ranking best movies with conservative themes from the last 25 years. Sounds like a great application for a poll, so here it is. I took my original suggestions and added those from the comments that had at least one or two statements of support. To make it as fair as possible, I’ve arranged them in alphabetical order — so be sure to read all the way through when you cast your votes.
You can select as many or as few as you like. I’ll announce the top 10 movies, as voted on by Hot Air readers, on tomorrow’s Ed Morrissey Show, complete (I hope) with video clips. Feel free to continue the debate in both threads, and tune in tomorrow for the results!
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 Next »
I don’t think it could be classified, but “The Godfather” was a better movie than a book. Lenny Montana as Luca Brasi was perfect. The lighting of the interiors made me feel like I was there.
On the other hand it was about family values.
Pelayo on January 15, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Do you mean the 1965 movie?
Pelayo on Jan 15,2009 at 8:50PM.
Pelayo:Yes.The original,I went to the Saturday matinee
as a kid!
Great movie,I haven’t seen Battleground,I will
definately check it out! Thanks:)
canopfor on January 15, 2009 at 9:01 PM
Patton!
FloatingRock on January 15, 2009 at 9:01 PM
What Bush and Batman Have in Common By ANDREW KLAVAN
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121694247343482821.html
(I just noticed that’s the same guy who wrote the great article today that Rush read.)
casel21 on January 15, 2009 at 9:03 PM
Someone spare me from searching the comments and tell me – what the heck is a “conservative movie”? We have 25 movies mostly about liberals, directed by liberals, and acted by liberals, with a handful of minor exceptions.
I don’t know what a conservative movie is, and I suspect that there is no such thing.
Jaibones on January 15, 2009 at 9:04 PM
If you run this search on Yahoo, you’ll find a recommendation of one example: “The Lives of Others” Nordlinger
bluetick on January 15, 2009 at 9:08 PM
Just yesterday saw “Gran Torino” — an amazing mive, and a fitting swan song for Clint. Not to mention the conservative themes: respect for values and hard work, sticking up for what’s right, redemption, and self-sacrifice. I cannot recommend this enough, it is brilliant, hysterically funny, and very, very poignant. I even like it better than Unforgiven.
LordDilly on January 15, 2009 at 9:10 PM
DAMMIT!! Amazing MOVIE! PIMF
LordDilly on January 15, 2009 at 9:10 PM
D’accord.
whitetop on January 15, 2009 at 9:12 PM
I have to put in a plug for a foreign film…The Winter War. It’s a movie about the 1939-1940, 120 day, war between Finland and the Soviet Union. It is very gritty and realistic, the actors are all Finns and Russians. It follows a platoon through the war and it’s all about survival. This is Red Dawn for real. When they had no anti-tank weapons the Finns came up with the Molotov Cocktail. And seeing anyone outnumbered three to one stand up to the Russians is extremely gratifying.
Deanna on January 15, 2009 at 9:12 PM
Not exactly a blockbuster, but a real gem: Crossing Delancey. It does a nice job of paying homage to hardworking, conservative values and beautifully eviscerates the unbearable lightness of pretentious Liberal elitism.
EMD on January 15, 2009 at 9:18 PM
I saw this on a big sign in the front yard of a co-op house near campus after the ’04 election:
“Frodo is dead! Bush/Sauron got the ring!”
bitsy on January 15, 2009 at 9:22 PM
I’ve been wanting to see this for awhile, but Netflix doesn’t stock it.
Mark1971 on January 15, 2009 at 9:23 PM
Whatever the circumstances of their creation there are a number of conservative themed movies.
Serenity, for example, is about a self reliant group of people living on the edge, hiding out from an oppressive government bent on control of the very nature of humanity, and I’ll stop there so I don’t spoil it for anybody that hasn’t seen it.
Heartbreak Ridge is about a group of undisciplined recruits with no respect for authority who are whipped into shape and make something of themselves.
Gattaca is about the indomitable spirit of a man with a dream who’s genes, combined with a system enabling genetic discrimination, restricts his lot in life to low level jobs such as janitorial work, but instead he subverts the system and becomes one of the most prominent and respected members of an elite institution.
FloatingRock on January 15, 2009 at 9:29 PM
Please see Amazing Grace. Fantastic. It should be shown in history classes instead of the dumb ass movie An Inconvenient Truth.
Winebabe on January 15, 2009 at 9:30 PM
I know, the list is pretty much finished but “The Right Stuff” is about as “Conservative” as you can get.
Also, “Life is Beautiful” but hey, what do I know :-)
HarryStar on January 15, 2009 at 9:41 PM
Bing. He’s a talented writer, if somewhat chatty.
Several other excellent responses. I am not completely jaded, but I’m out at the edges. It’s nearly impossible for me to watch television at this point; even sportscasts are hopelessly filled with corporation PC bullshit and leftist metrofems like Olberdouche.
My first thought is that the only recurring programming that I can think of which features a real man is Bull Riding. Everything else on television is homocentric.
Jaibones on January 15, 2009 at 9:43 PM
Bing. Movie about a Democrat Senator.
Jaibones on January 15, 2009 at 9:44 PM
Will do; thanks.
Jaibones on January 15, 2009 at 9:44 PM
Must be a slow news day….
Luckedout on January 15, 2009 at 9:49 PM
Sticking with the Lion King for pro-conservative values. Family, responsible wildlife management & land conservation, respect for elders, learned lessons, responsibility & ultimately justice rendered to the deceptive communist Scar.
batterup on January 15, 2009 at 9:53 PM
What about The Fountainhead????
Sure it is old and in black and white… but COME ON!!!!
Jared_MA on January 15, 2009 at 9:59 PM
Tender Mercies
ddrintn on January 15, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Cheech & Chong, Up in Smoke!!!
FloatingRock on January 15, 2009 at 10:00 PM
The Boondock Saints
“All evil requires is for good men to do nothing…”
darclon on January 15, 2009 at 10:01 PM
Libertarian (kidding – I think)
batterup on January 15, 2009 at 10:08 PM
It may not be a conservative film but it certainly qualifies as Republican. Also Democrat for that matter. It’s about an illegal alien who finds himself deported to Mexico, I think, and in order to get back into the country he drives a van made entirely out of weed across the border.
It’s not nearly as hilarious or scary as our government is these days, though.
FloatingRock on January 15, 2009 at 10:18 PM
I don’t think so. Failsafe was a Liberal Propaganda flick like the China Syndrome. It basically painted the picture that no matter what precautions you take, no matter how much attention to detail regarding safety and security you put into it, just having Nuclear Weapons will lead to war.
Also, the response of the President can’t really be considered Conservative. He bombed New York City to atone for the mistaken bombing of Moscow.
Now, I’m not sure what that has to do with Conservative, however, let’s assume that there was a President who ordered such a thing. Would the people understand? Would the nation? Would the world?
Let’s make it a neighborhood exercise shall we? We have a man concerned about intruders, and he sees a shadowy figure in his yard in the middle of the night. He fires at the shadowy figure to find that it’s a neighbor’s boy who was taking a short cut through his yard to get home after a cram session with the rest of the 4.0 crowd. The horrified man then shows how sorry he is by shooting his own son to prevent any animosity from the neighbors causing a blow up. Failsafe’s answer was literally that stupid. It postulated that tit for tat was an appropriate means of conducting policy decisions. Talk about stupid. Especially when it’s learned that the Russians were jamming and transmitting on our frequencies and helped cause this horrible event.
The real message the President should have given as he ordered more bombers in was this. “Next time you find your neighbor has a gun, don’t try and get him to shoot at you.”
It is absolutely a Liberal Loving Movie. The message, we have to accept damage to ourselves if we’re to live in peace. That is the liberal definition of peace. They define peace as living with someone holding a gun to our heads, so long as they don’t pull the trigger. I define peace as no gun being pointed at our heads, or anyone else.
Snake307 on January 15, 2009 at 10:19 PM
I don’t know if this is a browser issue, but I see no sign of this phantom poll.
thecountofincognito on January 15, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Favorite “2nd Amendment” (and conservative) line in Lord of the Rings…
From Eowyn: “Those without swords can still die upon them.”
baldilocks on January 15, 2009 at 10:22 PM
I enjoy looking back at great movies but movies with a conservative theme and you include things like Finding Nemo???? Weird list Ed.
Where is Life of Brian!!!
“I’m Brian and so is my wife!!”
lexhamfox on January 15, 2009 at 10:29 PM
Agreed. It was a sort of concept-predecessor to Terminator, in fact. The computer that controls the retaliation launch of nuclear destruction “breaks”, I guess.
Liberal nonsense.
Jaibones on January 15, 2009 at 10:32 PM
Great call, baldi. Still, despite the rapturous writing of Tolkien and the moving themes of good and evil, these movies were brought to life by a cabal of dyed-in-the-wool hard leftists. I just don’t trust them, and I hated giving them my money.
Politics aside, Fellowship was the first movie that I went to the midnight opener for; took my daughters and their friends, loved the movie to death, went out to breakfast at 4am, came home and went to work. Too fun.
Jaibones on January 15, 2009 at 10:35 PM
What I don’t understand is this, how can so many liberal movies be even mistakenly considered Conservative?
The mere presence of guns, and of people being shot, does not a conservative movie make. If so, then the list should include only the slasher horror movies like Friday the 13th. Message? Uh, Teenage promiscuity leads to big scary men coming out of the woods and slaughtering you. At least, I think that would be the conservative message. I’m not sure, because at first it’s teenagers humping that get killed, then it’s people who are out looking for the slain teenaged humpers, and then it’s people looking for the search party, the teenaged humpers having been forgotten.
I don’t like the series 24, never have much. After the first season, if we’re to accept that such a thing could happen. Jack wouldn’t be able to save the world again, he’d be followed by a thousand Amnesty International volunteers who were videotaping and reporting live his movements to make sure he didn’t violate anyone’s civil rights. The ACLU would have had him drawn, quartered, disemboweled, and beheaded by court order for all the violations he had done the first year.
The only movie in which the CIA is not portrayed as a bunch of incompetent boobs intent on world domination schemes that make Pinky and the Brain seem rational is Hunt for Red October. That’s only because Alec Baldwin, huge leftist, was portrayed as the savior of the CIA.
I’ll still categorize it as a Conservative Movie, because in it, the Russians are portrayed as even more bumbling incompetents and purveyors of an even greater evil that the bumbling fools at the CIA. However, it’s a qualified representation of Conservative views.
Die Hard? Oh, one lonely cop is the only person who grasps the significance of a situation. Gee, if only more cops were like that. Wait, we punish cops who are like that, see the tirade against 24 above.
Independence Day? As noted, only when we put aside all our prejudice and unite as a global body to attack the big scary aliens who are intent on destroying the environment can we dare go to war.
The Green Beret’s. John Wayne. Conservative Message? Easy, Communism is an evil that we must fight. The soldiers serving in Viet-Nam were not baby killing murdering scum, but good men and women who wanted to do what was right. Result? Unpopular movie with the enlightened set, and overshadowed by movies shot since that time, that portray our troops as murdering scum who loved nothing more than killing women and children before breakfast.
Platoon. Fragging of fellow soldiers was rampant, and required.
Casualties of War. Raping and pillaging of the population was common place, and only one soldier had the guts to stand up against it. (For reasons they later regretted, they didn’t cast Michael J Fox’s character as John F. Kerry. Although Michael J. Fox did do campaign shots for Kerry.)
Apocalypse Now. There were two types of people there in Viet-Nam. The insane, and those who tried to survive in the insanity. They were vastly outnumbered by the insane who loved slaughtering people wholesale. “I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.” Only when the insane failed to follow the directions of the ineptly evil political leadership, did we send in Green Beret Captain must save the world single handedly for the normally insane from the abnormally insane.
I could continue, but you get the point. the flurry of movies after the Gulf War Desert Storm were about the same. Portrayals of our troops as corrupt insane and murderous, which failed at the box office because the public had some trouble believing it, at that time.
However, Hollywood is even now, working on a Platoon type of Apocalypse now movie about Iraq and the war on Terror, bet on it.
I mean come on, they just released a movie where Tom Cruise is cast as a Nazi with a moral mission.
Snake307 on January 15, 2009 at 10:42 PM
“Se7en”?
artlover on January 15, 2009 at 10:43 PM
True Lies.
The good guys are good and the bad guys are bad … and muslim!
Tony737 on January 15, 2009 at 10:45 PM
Several of the movies you mentioned weren’t on the list. What’s liberal about Serenity, Gattaca or Heartbreak Ridge, for examples?
FloatingRock on January 15, 2009 at 10:51 PM
See the German film “Moatly Martha”. It is a really nice family film. Another is “For Roseanna”. Both are comedy-drama.
Johan Klaus on January 15, 2009 at 10:52 PM
I second that.
Johan Klaus on January 15, 2009 at 10:54 PM
It is available on DVD but the version from Amazon has about an hour cut and is poor quality. There is a full length version available and you can see some clips from it here…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAptR-1T_UM
Deanna on January 15, 2009 at 10:56 PM
How about polling the 25 most progressive movies?
I nominate Peter Pan for it’s main theme: “if you believe hard enough, you can fly.” I took this message to heart and knocked out my front teeth trying to fly. Fortunately, I was 4 so they grew back when I was 9. Sadly, there are adults who still subscribe to this philosophy.
bitsy on January 15, 2009 at 10:58 PM
Usually I judge the offerings by the content and quality and forget about the politics of the makers and the portrayers. Usually.
Also, with LoTR, it would have been tough to twist it into some sort of kumbayah-with-evil tome.
baldilocks on January 15, 2009 at 11:08 PM
1. PATTON
2. STAR SHIP TROOPERS
Absolutely should have been on the list if not 1&2.
C-Low on January 15, 2009 at 11:35 PM
That should be “Mostly Martha”. Too many Warsteiner Dunkel. And “Patton” should definitely be on the list.
Johan Klaus on January 15, 2009 at 11:40 PM
You’ve nominated “Requiem for a Dream”.
Not a conservative movie.
Written by Hubert Selby Jr., author of “Last Exit to Brooklyn”, a beat writer of the ‘50’s on the level of, the now discredited Norman Mailer. Selby’s “Last Exit to Brooklyn”, along with Mailer’s “An American Dream” stand at the top of the American beat literature pantheon.
Selby’s view would be more accurately described as an “American Nightmare.”
After the success of “Brooklyn”, the book, not the ‘cleaned up’ movie, Selby apparently fell into a self induced heroin lined rabbit hole, not to be heard of again for almost 40 years. Not until, that is, Henry Rollins, (Black Flag, Rollin’s Band) himself a great viewer and instigator of random violence and mayhem started his own publishing company and, apparently impressed by “Brooklyn” tracked down Selby Jr. in the mid nineties.
I believe “Requiem for a Dream” was written some time after that.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, auteur of Pi, you can expect an unorthodox film. The eager anticipation of each dope hit is lovingly displayed along with the delusional hallucinations, winning the game show, playing with the police gun. Mom takes speed and the son loves junk. The movie takes on the tone of a nightmare in its inevitable denouement.
As dope movies go, (I generally hate the genre’) Sid and Nancy, William Burroughs, the next lame movie featuring another junkie protagonist, “Requiem for a Dream” is definitely head and shoulders above the rest.
Conservative flick? I don’t see it, except, perhaps, decisions have their consequences.
By the way, love Starship Troopers, I’m a Heinleinist.
bongo on January 15, 2009 at 11:46 PM
Ein Prosit. :::clink:::
baldilocks on January 15, 2009 at 11:48 PM
I’d say “Saving Private Ryan,” but… why did Private Ryan have to end up being Matt Damon?!?!?!?!
UGH!
He was better in Team America. LOL
ToddonCapeCod on January 15, 2009 at 11:50 PM
Come on, the CIA missed the fall of the Soviet Union and 9/11 and nukes in Iraq.
I hate to break it to you, but it seems like the CIA is a bunch of bumbling incompetents.
apollyonbob on January 16, 2009 at 12:02 AM
Including Serenity hurts my heart, it really does. Is nothing sacred! I’m gonna put a list of the 10 greatest liberal movies ever together and everyone of them will either be a Clint Eastwood or Charlton Heston movie. Vengeance!
DeathToMediaHacks on January 16, 2009 at 12:07 AM
A few Action flicks that might be considered consevative.
Demolition Man, Conan the Barbarian, The lost Battalion, Con Air, Reign of Fire, Under Seige, Walking Tall.
Dreadnought223 on January 16, 2009 at 12:09 AM
In all seriousness, why isn’t “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” listed? The 5th book/movie in the series is the epitome of Liberal Think. Refusal to accept the existance of an enemy, check. Newspaper spreading lies and innuendo against anyone not in lockstep with the Group Think, check. Enacting endless decrees/laws to fix things, quiet opposition, and encroach dictatorship, check.
hadsil on January 16, 2009 at 12:25 AM
I recommend “The Killing Fields” because it shows the naked tyranny of unchecked Communism and the importance of not giving up hope.
DL13 on January 16, 2009 at 12:28 AM
Too bad. I can’t think of anything liberal about it so unless you can enlighten us….
FloatingRock on January 16, 2009 at 12:28 AM
Late to the game – but what about “A Time to Kill”?
tdau1997 on January 16, 2009 at 12:34 AM
…I’m a big fan of FarScape too, and I don’t recall anything liberal about it either. Babylon 5 is conservative as well. They didn’t tuck their tails between their legs and run away from the Shadows, they stood their ground and fought. They didn’t submit to the authority of the HomeGuard, they gave them the boot. They didn’t accept EarthGov propaganda and adopt it for their own, they countered it with the truth.
Star Trek Next Generation, which I’m also a fan of, (though not as much as I used to be now that there are better sci-fi shows around), is probably more you’re speed. Picard always begs for peace until their shields are totally obliterated and only then does he finally return fire. In most cases the Enterprise would certainly be destroyed and all hands lost except that the writers always include a magnificent stroke of luck that miraculously saves the day, which rarely happens in real life. In reality they wouldn’t have survived the first season.
FloatingRock on January 16, 2009 at 12:44 AM
What’s more, the liberals are the bad guys in Serenity.
FloatingRock on January 16, 2009 at 12:51 AM
The CIA makes mistakes, certainly. However, what do we give them to work with? The fall of the Soviet Union was impossible to even consider, so any information that they got that could have suggested an outcome, was probably ignored as planted dis-information. The Soviet’s didn’t know how bad it was until the very end.
9-11? The Terrorists were all in the nation for months ahead of time. The CIA has been prohibited from watching television from the US since Watergate.
WMD? You saw the information we had. Trucks leaving out the back gate of a compound as the inspectors were going in the front gate. Intercepted conversations about special trucks, and when pushed, they gave a location where some prohibited missiles were kept. Hans Blix and his minions found them, and said they were prohibited, but they were also old. The Iraqi excuse, oh we didn’t know they were there.
DIDN’T Know? Are you joking? Were you ever in the Military? Every army on earth spends half their time counting. We count weapons and other sensitive items at least every day. We have a counter check every single month performed by an officer. ARE you kidding me? The trucks we found were not used for Hydrogen. Tests conclusively proved that the trucks would have provided such a small amount of hydrogen and it probably wouldn’t have been able to lift a party balloon much less a weather balloon.
We didn’t find the stockpiles. True and granted absolutely willingly. We did find the foundation to create more. Also, the CIA reports on human rights abuses, including the rape rooms, the death squads, and the executions and tortures were dead spot on. Those claims have been proven absolutely, but of course the Left doesn’t bother to admit those correct assertions.
I don’t think Leon Panetta is the one to reform the CIA though. After all, it was another Clinton Crony Gorellic who helped build the wall that prevented the CIA from talking to the FBI after all. That was not even considered by the Clinton Cronies who made up the 9-11 commission.
Snake307 on January 16, 2009 at 12:53 AM
Additionally, when they created the communities of nations, the first thing they did was determine the principals that the people who joined must agree too. Human rights, or species rights I guess we could call it. Fair trade, and when someone violated those, and tried to harm their neighbors, they decided that rules, and laws mattered.
Also, take a look at the war that Delenn ended on her own planet. In the end, she creates a new Government, with the Worker caste being in control. Her argument, an absolutely Conservative view. Religion and the Military should serve the people, not command the people. Liberals believe that Religion except for their own, should be abandoned by the people, prohibited and the military should be abolished. Their own religion is obviously Global Warming, or is it Global Climate Change this week? I can’t keep up with the constantly changing name of it anymore.
Snake307 on January 16, 2009 at 1:04 AM
Excellent points.
FloatingRock on January 16, 2009 at 1:09 AM
Hey Dread, I agree …
Demolition Man rips apart big govt liberal do-gooders who wanna control every aspect of your life. Smoking is outlawed, beef is outlawed, hell ya can’t even curse without getting ticket from a machine mounted on the wall! Great movie. Funny lines …
“Now let’s go down there and blow this guy.”
“AWAY! Blow this guy, AWAY!”
“Whatever.”
“Whatever??? There’s a big difference.”
Walking Tall shows what happens when a casino moves into town (Remake anyway, never saw the original). Drugs, crime, real jobs move away. Happening right here in my town, Dover DE.
—————————————–
What about The Terminator?
That seems to me like a metaphor for today’s terrorists. Those terrorists are out there, they can’t be bargained with, they can’t be reasoned with, they don’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear, and absolutely will not stop, EVER, until we are all dead, converted or enslaved.
Tony737 on January 16, 2009 at 1:16 AM
Unforgiven
Hoosiers
Glory
Red Dawn
Saving Private Ryan
White Christmas
PCU
300
Braveheart
True Lies
Rocky
The Matrix
And…To Kill a Mockingbird, since it was the Republican Party that freed the slaves and defended them against southern Dixiecrats.
RightWired on January 16, 2009 at 1:48 AM
Demolition Man ripped apart the big govt libs who wanna control your life. You can’t smoke, you can’t eat meat, hell you can even curse without getting a ticket from a mcahine build into the wall!
Funny lines:
“Now let’s go down there and BLOW this guy!”
“AWAY! Blow this guy, AWAY!”
Tony737 on January 16, 2009 at 2:08 AM
I think Team America, World Police is actually a pretty good conservative movie. The humor in it is so obscene most of the church-going conservative crowd isn’t going to be interested in it, but the ultimate message is that despite the mistakes we’ve made in the war on terror, we still have to fight it, because nobody else will.
Hint: If you’re not sure you can take it, just fast-forward past the puppet sex scene.
joe_doufu on January 16, 2009 at 2:08 AM
Narnia, The Dark Knight, Lord of the Rings, 300 and Gran Torino. My favorite movies all have conservative themes.
YoungAmerican on January 16, 2009 at 2:57 AM
The Last of the Mohicans. In this movie there is a scene that addresses tyranny. There is nothing politically correct about James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales.”
Done That on January 16, 2009 at 5:03 AM
In the end, we’re left with some good movies, but nothing like the classic greats. Hondo for example. Good guy and stands behind his word. The fact that he’s harder than woodpecker lips is also awesome. Midway, Patton, and lest we forget one of my all time favorites. Big Jake.
No liberal can enjoy Big Jake. Taking the law into his own hands, John Wayne eschews Diplomacy and negotiation. Then he plans on lying to the bad guys and killing them, without any warning or concerns about the criminals civil rights. You may also note his closest friend is an Indian. This destroying the racist conservative theory.
In answer to the question what they’ll be hunting.
Jake: Men.
Sam: I don’t hunt Indians Jacob, I don’t hunt my own people. Surely you remember that.
Jake: They kidnapped my Grandson. I don’t know what color they are, and I don’t care.
Perfect Conservative message. Your race isn’t the issue, your behavior is.
Snake307 on January 16, 2009 at 6:16 AM
Not on the list:
Demolition Man is far more conservative than any of the movies listed.
fossten on January 16, 2009 at 6:51 AM
Team America is not a conservative movie. Yes it does make fun of Hollywood celebrities, but it also sharply criticizes the Bush Administration for causing too much collateral damage and favoring a foreign policy which is endless.
You guys should add the 40-Year Old Virgin (Pro-traditional lifestyle and advocates for sex until marriage) and Ray (Anti-drug and pro-self reliance) to the list.
Frank T.J Mackey on January 16, 2009 at 8:03 AM
Not on the List: Rocky IV – Better the original, but it is too old (as am I!)
gridlock2 on January 16, 2009 at 8:35 AM
I remembered another line from “The Incredibles” that should be a classic.
Once everybody is Super, then nobody is.
My first thought was how the liberals work so hard to make sure that every child feels special.
MarkTheGreat on January 16, 2009 at 8:35 AM
That is some amazing poll. And the fact that there’s no link or address to it makes it even all the more fascinating. Is someone hitting the bong at HA?
Coronagold on January 16, 2009 at 8:59 AM
Demolition Man isn’t up there? It was a PERFECT send up of the fascist liberal fantasy nanny-state.
The Dennis Leary rant was teh pwnage.
TABoLK on January 16, 2009 at 8:59 AM
I don’t think as a whole Farscape could be considered conservative, but they definitely take a good shot at the UN by making the Peacekeepers the bad guys.
BohicaTwentyTwo on January 16, 2009 at 9:21 AM
Am I the only one who didn’t think An American Carol was anything special? I was expecting something more funny and instead I got something that felt like it wanted to be a documentary and I was going to be tested on the subject matter.
I got maybe one or two really good chuckles then it got really preachy. I was watching this thinking, “no wonder people think conservatives can’t be funny.”
Pcoop on January 16, 2009 at 9:30 AM
Quit saying Patton! It’s too old to qualify!
Abby Adams on January 16, 2009 at 9:39 AM
Also, I just want to again throw my support behind Gattaca.
If you haven’t seen it, you should. It is a great example of genetic engineering at its dehumanizing worst. Promotes the accomplishments of the individual. Jude Law, Ethan Hawke, and Uma Thurman.
Abby Adams on January 16, 2009 at 9:41 AM
I am surprised that John Adams from HBO didn’t make the list. Being that it was about the workings that gave birth to our great country. A movie that gave us a look at what was a stake and what our forefathers knew what would happen if they did not succeed. Thank God they did succeed.
USMCDevilDog on January 16, 2009 at 10:04 AM
American Carol was only special because there are so few movies that make fun of the group which most deserves our contempt and ridicule – Islamists.
But you’re right, only a few chuckles. And I liked the preachy parts, but I’m part of that choir- I thought Jon Voight was very moving as George Washington.
Best conservative movie – 300. Gets right down to the most basic conservative principle of all- live free or die. And that “Persians” are barbarians – they were then, and they still are now.
CarolynM on January 16, 2009 at 10:39 AM
I think my husband put it very well in his heroes section on his my space page:)
I have to agree per MOVIES, Superheroes vs Real Life Heroes. I will take the Real Thing like LONE SURVIVOR that was made into movie.
I would watch a movie about these American Patriots too.
http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/01/shadow-wolves-in-hunt-trackers.html
Dr Evil on January 16, 2009 at 10:46 AM
Several suggestions have strained the 25-year time frame, and yet no on has mentioned Star Wars (the 1977 original, Episode IV). Evil global government plot foiled by live-free-or-die rebels.
I’d also point out the fate of Alderan, which Princess Leia points out “is peaceful, we have no weapons”. I assume this lesson was unintentional, but the Gipper taught us “Peace through strength”. Too bad Alderan didn’t have Reagan.
And, finally, Han teaches us that there’s a difference between capitalist and “purely mercenary”.
RegularJoe on January 16, 2009 at 11:27 AM
I too am part of the choir, but I wanted to laugh at the other side, not be told why their wrong. I can watch Hannity whenever I want to do that.
Pcoop on January 16, 2009 at 11:35 AM
sorry for the typos.
Pcoop on January 16, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Riiiiight. The movie where morality is the providence of sociopaths and the criminally insane.
Count to 10 on January 16, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Literally. “Bar bar” is Greek for “bla bla,” or gibberish, a foreign language. Their version of “barbarian” is what the called anyone who didn’t speak Greek, but specifically referred to the Persians.
(I first thought 300 was a war movie, given the way the Spartans act like US marines, but after further reflection, I think it is more of a highschool football movie, about an underdog team with a corrupt school board.)
Count to 10 on January 16, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Looking at the list, I’m having a hard time discerning the thread of “conservative themes”. I mean, Spiderman? Se7en?
ChenZhen on January 16, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Oh HELL YES.
TheUnrepentantGeek on January 16, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Why isn’t “The Kingdom” on here????
jediwebdude on January 16, 2009 at 12:50 PM
The failsafe scenario could have never happened. No way. I was in SAC on a B-52 crew and there was layer after layer of safeguards. There were too many people involved, most who did not even know each other, that were involved in the decision to launch.
Johan Klaus on January 16, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Yes, it is a great movie. But they PC’d it up. When Magua is asked in the movie why he hates Col. Munro so much, he says it’s because Munro’s soldiers killed his family in a raid. But in the book, it was because Munro had had Magua punished for stealing.
rivlax on January 16, 2009 at 1:44 PM
Ditto whoever said TEAM AMERICA should be in there.
lexhamfox on January 16, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Drillbit Taylor had a conservative message, too.
evenfarer on January 16, 2009 at 2:06 PM
There’s one film you folks did not post, and it SHOULD be on that list….
GODS & GENERALS!
This is a must see for any one who wants to learn some REAL HISTORY concerning the so-called “civil war”!
Confederate on January 16, 2009 at 3:06 PM
God’s & Generals was a miniseries, not a movie, per se. But…
BEST. MINISERIES. * E V A H *.
RegularJoe on January 16, 2009 at 3:11 PM
there is only one conservative movie in that list: thank you for smoking. team america probably counts too. red dawn is conservative, but silly. ditto for
.
maybe the incredibles, though that’s more of a libertarian movie (best line? “you didn’t save my life! you ruined my death!” very ayn randian.)
it seems that the criteria is very loose here (see snake307′s comment above). basicly anything with military realism or a christian theme gets on the list, even if it is leftwing politically.
this is the sort of appalling illiteracy i see too often. i remember having a frustrating conversation with the young conservatives chapter president who thought that v for vendetta was a conservative movie because … i guess because it was anti-government or something?
i saw someone above nominate the matrix, by the same film makers. the general thrust of the matrix is this: the freedom and domestic tranquility of the first world is an illusion imposed on the individual by a hegemonic oppressor class so they may better exploit you utterly. in battling it, it is okay to kill ostensibly innocent “sheeple” because they are just manifestations of the oppressive order. in the prequel, called the animatrix, it is revealed that the oppressive machine race arose from humble beginnings as worker and servant robots who undertook a workers revolution from mecca after decades of brutal oppression at the hands of their masters. the sequels then proceed, with the racial and class identity of the machine race so situated, to prescribe diplomacy as the resolution to the existential conflict.
but, it’s a “conservative” movie by many conservatives lights because … the special effects were friggin awesome!? because it was a commercial success?
starship troopers is mentioned. r. heinlein was indeed a conservative (though not by the lights of many today i’m sure. try reading stranger in a strange land) but the movie adaptation was a bone dry satire on heinlein’s novel, essentially branding it as fascist in implication.
eh on January 16, 2009 at 3:31 PM
even back then, the left/right polarity was established by lucas. the empire was identified economically as the trade federation.
han solo became a mercenary after leaving the imperial officer corps out of disgust with the empire’s enslavement of kajik (or whatever chewbacca’s homeworld is called) and never went back to smuggling after embracing the idealism of the rebellion.
his decision to turn around and help the rebellion destroy the death star was his final rejection of capitalism.
face it: conservatives are never the heroes in popular culture or literature because conservatives don’t make movies. there isn’t a hollywood blacklist; there would be perhaps if there were anyone to blacklist. to the extent there are conservatives in hollywood, they produce unwatchable crap like an american carol and pulp action flicks. or they’re game show hosts.
eh on January 16, 2009 at 3:48 PM
good one.
eh on January 16, 2009 at 4:02 PM
I second that. Wonderful performances, beautiful production values, and an inspiring message.
doppelganglander on January 16, 2009 at 4:14 PM
Forgive the trivial comment, but I was recently surprised watching “Bee Movie.” Here a collectivist activist uses the U.S. court system to his advantage to change the whole ecology and then has to admit his stupid actions cause the destruction of the world! Hmm sounds like Algore!
Christian Conservative on January 16, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Cast my vote for Team America! F*** Yeah!
BiasedGirl on January 16, 2009 at 4:28 PM
Comment pages: « Previous 1 2 3 Next »