America: Films to Define A Nation
An informal group of films to tell the story of America’s cultural history arranged roughly in chronological order by time period of subject matter
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- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsColin FarrellQ'orianka KilcherChristopher PlummerThe story of the English exploration of Virginia, and of the changing world and loves of Pocahontas.
- DirectorNicholas HytnerStarsDaniel Day-LewisWinona RyderPaul ScofieldA Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsDaniel Day-LewisMadeleine StoweRussell MeansThree trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
- DirectorPeter H. HuntStarsWilliam DanielsHoward Da SilvaKen HowardA musical retelling of the American Revolution's political struggle in the Continental Congress to declare independence.
- DirectorRoland EmmerichStarsMel GibsonHeath LedgerJoely RichardsonPeaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
- DirectorClyde GeronimiJack KinneyStarsBing CrosbyBilly BletcherPinto ColvigIn a small town, a brewing romantic rivalry with a local tough and a school-teacher culminates in a terrifying ride in the night.
- DirectorJohn G. BlystoneBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonNatalie TalmadgeJoe KeatonA man returns to his Appalachian homestead. On the trip, he falls for a young woman. The only problem is her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.
- DirectorCharles BurnettStarsBeau BridgesCarl LumblyBill CobbsFacing a life of servitude in the Antebellum South, a young slave named Sarny meets Nightjohn. He teaches her to read and write, and together they set to free other slaves - until one planned escape is discovered.
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsEdward ArnoldWalter HustonJane DarwellA nineteenth-century New Hampshire farmer makes a pact with Satan for economic success, then enlists famed orator Daniel Webster to extract him from his contract.
- DirectorStephen SommersStarsElijah WoodCourtney B. VanceRobbie ColtraneIn Missouri, during the 1840s, young Huck Finn fearful of his drunkard father and yearning for adventure, leaves his foster family and joins with runaway slave Jim in a voyage down the Mississippi River toward slavery free states.
- DirectorJoseph L. MankiewiczStarsGene TierneyWalter HustonVincent PriceA simple Connecticut farm girl is recruited by a distant relative, an aristocratic patroon, to be governess to his young daughter in his Hudson Valley mansion.
- DirectorFrank LloydStarsSterling HaydenAnna Maria AlberghettiRichard CarlsonModerate Jim Bowie leads rebellious Texicans--and Davy Crockett--in a last-ditch stand against his old friend, Santa Ana.
- DirectorSteve McQueenStarsChiwetel EjioforMichael Kenneth WilliamsMichael FassbenderIn the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsNicole KidmanKirsten DunstElle FanningThe unexpected arrival of a wounded Union soldier at a girls school in Virginia during the American Civil War leads to jealousy and betrayal.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsDaniel Day-LewisSally FieldDavid StrathairnAs the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
- DirectorJohn GrayStarsRob MorrowLance HenriksenDonna MurphyApril 14, 1865. As four year of Civil War draw to a close, our country again faces unforgettable tragedy: the assassination of the President. Starring Lance Henriksen as the Great Emancipator and Rob Morrow as assassin John Wilkes Booth, this riveting recreation of The Day Lincoln Was Shot (from Jim Bishop's landmark book) is a thrilling and detailed chronicle of the plot, murder and manhunt that changed America forever. To avenge what he called the Confederacy's "noble cause," Booth conspires with his motley followers, rages and boasts, and aspires to a place in history as a Great Man. The weary Lincoln, longing for a just peace, meets with his Cabinet, steals precious time with his family and dreams - literally - of the death of a President. Minute by minute, killer and victim edge closer to the burst of gunfire at Ford's Theatre that stopped Lincoln's heart - and shattered the country's soul.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsOprah WinfreyDanny GloverYada BeenerA slave is visited by the spirit of a mysterious young woman.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsBrad PittCasey AffleckSam ShepardRobert Ford, who has idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the resurgent gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsGeorge O'BrienOlive BordenLou TellegenThree outlaws come to the aid of a young girl after her father is killed.
- DirectorJohn FordStarsJohn WayneClaire TrevorAndy DevineA group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.
- DirectorEdwin S. PorterStarsGilbert M. 'Broncho Billy' AndersonA.C. AbadieGeorge BarnesA group of bandits stage a brazen train hold-up, only to find a determined posse hot on their heels.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsVincent PriceEllen DrewVladimir SokoloffMaster swindler James Reavis painstakingly spends years forging documents and land grants that will make his wife and him undisputed owners of the entire territory of Arizona.
- DirectorHenry KingStarsTyrone PowerAlice FayeDon AmecheThe O'Leary brothers--honest Jack and roguish Dion--become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.