Statement on ratings: Some of the movies listed are rated PG-13 and R. Others have no rating as they were created before the Motion Picture Association of America began rating films. Keep in mind that PG-13 ratings did not begin until 1984 and some PG films developed before that date, may merit a PG-13 rating based on today’s standards. We believe your son or daughter viewing these films enables them to benefit from another medium as a resource in their study of events in history. Films, along with the course readings and discussions will give students a well-rounded opportunity to discover history. Movies go beyond the dry facts and help bring events “alive.” Be assured that the films for this course will be utilized in a way to gain historical perspective.

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Film ratings and rationale
Film plot summaries
Methods of viewing the films. (Prices accurate as of July 5^th, 2015)

1776 - (1972)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: G
- Ages 11+
- Some off-color language and humor
- Plot summary
  - The film version of the Broadway musical comedy of the same name. In the days leading up to July 4, 1776, Continental Congressmen John Adams and Benjamin Franklin coerce Thomas Jefferson into writing the Declaration of Independence as a delaying tactic as they try to persuade the American colonies to support a resolution on independence. As George Washington sends depressing messages describing one military disaster after another, the businessmen, landowners and slave holders in Congress all stand in the way of the Declaration, and a single "nay" vote will forever end the question of independence. Large portions of spoken and sung dialog are taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix DVD (non streaming) subscription
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $9.99
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon
- Instant Video - $2.99
- Purchase - $12.99

Amistad - (1997)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: R
- Ages 14+
- This film includes violence and brief nudity in its depictions of the captives’ ordeal.
- Amistad illustrates the horrors of the slave trade as it clarifies the divisive nature of the slavery issue in the United States. It exposes the tolerance of slavery by most Northerners as well as the power of the abolitionist movement. Moreover, the separation of powers in the U.S. Government, the workings of the court system, and the historical figure of John Quincy Adams are all important elements in the story
- Plot summary
  - This movie is a fictionalized account of the 1839 revolt by illegally enslaved Africans aboard the Spanish ship, Le Amistad. When the ship was seized on the high seas by a U.S. Navy vessel, abolitionists filed a court case to free the Africans. The trial and subsequent appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court highlighted to the public the evils of slavery and is seen as a major step toward turning the North against the South's "peculiar institution." The litigation involved a sitting President of the United States, a former President, and the Queen of Spain. For the captives, the outcome would determine whether they lived their lives in freedom or in slavery.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix streaming subscription
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $2.99
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon
- Instant Video - $2.99
- Purchase - $14.99

Lee Daniels’ The Butler - (2013)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: PG-13
- This film includes some violence and disturbing images, language, sexual material, thematic elements and smoking.
- Plot summary
  - Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix streaming subscription
    - YouTube rental/purchase - $9.99
    - iTunes
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon
- Instant Video - $6.99
- Purchase - $9.99

Iron Jawed Angels - (2004) may the most difficult to locate for viewing. Most films can be rented or seen with a Netflix subscription. This film may have to be purchased on Amazon, but it is a low cost compared to the price of most films on the list.

Rating and rationale for rating
- Age: 13+; No MPAA Rating (many agency’s estimate that if this HBO feature had been rated, the movie would have been given a PG-13 rating for some intense scenes of women being assaulted by crowds and treatment in prison)
- Plot summary
  - Frustrated by the failure of the United States to adopt a constitutional amendment giving women the vote, militant suffragists led by Alice Paul mount an aggressive campaign demanding suffrage. They used parades and demonstrations with striking visual messages, campaigned against the Democratic party, which would not endorse the Amendment, and engaged in sustained picketing of the White House. The demonstrations were entirely peaceful and the banners often used the words of Woodrow Wilson, who was president at the time, to argue the justice of their cause. After the U.S. entered the First World War in 1917, many people expected all citizens to join together to support the war effort. The militant suffragists refused, noting that they had not been permitted to participate in making the decision on whether or not to go to war. They also pointed to the hypocrisy of a nation that was fighting a war to "make the world safe for democracy" but which refused to allow the vast majority of its female citizens to vote.
    
    The response was violent. Angry crowds assaulted the protesters and the police did little or nothing to protect them. Instead, the suffragists were arrested on false charges of blocking the sidewalk, convicted without due process of law, and sent to jail. In jail, they were confined in poor conditions and given rancid, wormy food. Their claim to be treated as political prisoners was rejected. Other inmates were incited by the guards to attack them. When some of the women protested their mistreatment, they were placed in solitary confinement. When the women went on hunger strikes in response, they were brutally force-fed. The government tried to have their leader, Alice Paul, declared insane so that she could be committed indefinitely, but its chief psychiatrist, after interviews with Miss Paul, decided that she was of sound mind. Word of the women's mistreatment got out and was publicized by the militants and their supporters. The public outcry was immense.
    
    The suffragists were applying all of the principles of nonviolent mass action: meeting violence with peacefulness; generating massive publicity; applying political or economic pressure; and making arguments that worked on the conscience of the general public and of their adversaries. The militants' campaign kept the suffrage issue in the forefront of the national consciousness and was a factor in leading President Wilson to change his position and work actively for passage of the 19th Amendment.
  - Methods of viewing
    - May be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - This is an HBO film and may be available on HBO GO or HBO NOW
    - YouTube currently has it divided into 13 parts for free (possible copyright violation)
    - Amazon purchase $5.83

A League of Their Own - (1992)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: PG
- Plot summary
  - Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna star in this major-league comedy from the team that brought you Big. Hanks stars as Jimmy Dugan, a washed-up ballplayer whose big league days are over. Hired to coach in the All-American Girls Baseball League of 1943, while the male pros are at war. Dugan find himself drawn back into the game by the heart and heroics of his all-girl team. Jon Lovitz adds a scene-stealing cameo as the sarcastic scout who recruits Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis), the baseball dolly with a Babe Ruth swing. Teammates Madonna, Lori Petty and Rosie O’Donnell round out the roster, taking the team to the World Series. Based on the true story of the pioneering women who blazed the trail, on the field an off, for generations of athletes.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix DVD (non streaming) subscription
    - YouTube rental - $7.99
    - iTunes
      - Purchase - $7.99
Amazon Instant Video
- Purchase - $7.99

The Great Gatsby - (1974)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: PG
- Ages 14+
- This film includes light romance with stories of infidelity from the characters.
- Plot summary
  - This third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel was one of the most hyped movies of the summer of 1974. Robert Redford stars as self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who uses his vast (and implicitly ill-gotten) fortune to buy his way into Long Island society. Most of all, Gatsby wants to win back the love of socialite Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), now married to "old money" Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern). Calmly observing the passing parade is Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), Gatsby's best friend, who narrates the film. Francis Ford Coppola's screenplay is meticulously faithful to the original novel, but Theoni Aldridge's costume design and Nelson Riddle's nostalgic musical score won the film its only Oscars. The huge supporting cast includes Howard da Silva, who played Tom Wilson in the 1949 Great Gatsby, and a very young Patsy Kensit as Daisy's daughter.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix streaming subscription
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $2.99
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon Instant Video
- rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $9.99

The Grapes of Wrath - (1940)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: No rating
- Ages 12+
- This film includes the reality of life in the depression.
- Plot summary
  - Driven off their Oklahoma farm during the Dust Bowl days of the Great Depression, the members of the Joad family load their belongings into a truck. Like millions of other dispossessed farmers they head to California in search of work. The screenplay is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by John Steinbeck.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - YouTube
      - Currently viewable for free on YouTube (questionable copyright violation)
iTunes – (don’t purchase in HD, it’s a movie from the 1940s)
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $9.99

Casablanca - (1942)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: No rating
- Ages 12+
- Plot summary
  - It's 1941 and the German military machine has defeated France and most of Europe. Victor Laszlo, the leader of the Czech resistance, has escaped from a German concentration camp. With Ilsa, his beautiful young wife, he flees to Casablanca, the capital of Morocco. From there he intends to travel to Lisbon and then to America where he will continue working to defeat fascism. Laszlo's prospects for leaving Casablanca depend upon Rick, a deeply disillusioned American expatriate who operates a popular nightclub. It turns out that before the fall of Paris, Rick and Ilsa had an intense love affair that ended suddenly when Ilsa disappeared. Rick is still in love with Ilsa, and she is in love with him. Rick and Ilsa must make choices that will either serve themselves or a greater good.
    
    Casablanca, one of the most popular movies ever made, is considered by many to be an artistically flawless film.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix DVD (non streaming) subscription
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $3.99
      - Purchase - $14.99
Amazon Instant Video
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $7.99

The Longest Day - (1962)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: No rating
- Ages 10+
- This film gives better view of the overall strategy of the Normandy invasion but it minimizes the carnage endured by the U.S. Army on Omaha Beach that can bee seen in Saving Private Ryan. This is a war movie with lots of death, but no gore and the full horror of war is not shown.
- Plot summary
  - This is a spectacular account of the events leading up to and through the Allied Forces' invasion of Normandy, France on D-Day (June 6), 1944 to fight the occupying Germans. The film is particularly interesting because it looks at D-Day through the eyes of all of the participants, including the Germans, who are overwhelmed by the forces brought against them. It is in fact a German officer who gives the story its title -- when he views the approaching Allied armada, he says, "This will be the longest day."
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $2.99
      - Purchase - $14.99
Amazon Instant Video
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $12.99

Thirteen Days - (2000)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: PG-13
- Ages 12+
- This film includes brief strong language.
- Plot summary
  - Kevin Costner stars in this inside look at how the Kennedy Administration responded to the discovery of offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba, and the pressurized tug-of-war that ensued between the US and the USSR during the thirteen days of the Cuban missile crisis.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix DVD (non streaming) subscription
    - YouTube
      - Currently viewable for free on YouTube (possible copyright violation)
iTunes –
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $9.99

The Hunt for Red October - (1990)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: PG
- Ages 12+
- This film includes brief strong language.
- Plot summary
  - Based on Tom Clancy’s bestseller, directed by John McTiernan and starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, The Hunt for Red October seethes with high-tech excitement and sweats with the tension of men who old Doomsday in their hands. A new technologically-superior Soviet nuclear sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius (Connery). The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. A lone CIA analyst (Baldwin) as a different idea: he think Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it – because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find him, too.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix streaming subscription
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $2.99
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon Instant Video
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $9.99

All the President’s Men - (1976)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: PG
- Ages 12+
- This film contains a substantial amount of profanity, with the “F” word used frequently. However, the MPAA gives it a PG rating and recommends it for ages 12 and above.
- Plot summary
  - History comes alive in this supremely entertaining film that garnered eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Oscar-winners Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play Woodward and Bernstein, the intrepid newspaper reporters who broke open the Watergate scandal and toppled a President. This movie describes how two young reporters from the Washington Post broke and pursued the story of the Watergate scandal (1972 - 1975). All the President's Men has become the way that many, if not most, Americans remember this important event in U.S. history.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix DVD (non streaming) subscription
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $2.99
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon Instant Video
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $9.99

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - (1939)

Rating and rationale for rating
- Motion Picture Association of America Rating: Not rated
- Ages 10+
- This film deals with the corrupt vs. ideological view of politics in Congress.
- Plot summary
  - One of the finest of all American political films, Frank Capra’s comedy-drama Mr. Smith Goes to Washington features a star-making turn by James Stewart as a freshman senator who takes on corruption in the nation’s capital. Stewart’s everyman qualities are put to excellent use as the scoutmaster whose innate sense of decency and honesty let him mount an campaign against a crooked politico played by a wonderfully smarmy Claude Rains. Stewart’s 24-hour filibuster remains an iconic Hollywood moment and helped elevate the actor to leading-man status. Mr. Smith earned 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.
  - Methods of viewing
    - Should be available to check out at a local public library at no cost.
    - Currently available with a Netflix DVD (non streaming) subscription
    - YouTube rental - $2.99
    - iTunes
      - Rent - $2.99
      - Purchase - $9.99
Amazon Instant Video
- Rent - $2.99
- Purchase - $7.99