Top Pick Movies for Memorial Day Weekend, 2020- Dr. Diane Howard, Interviewer, Reviewer, Publicist
by DrDianeHoward | created - 11 months ago | updated - 11 months ago | PublicThis U.S. federal holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honors men and women who have died while serving in the military. Diane Howard, Ph.D. (Performances Studies), entertainment editor, interviewer, publicist reviews top redemptive, family movies & TV for content and artistry for a range of viewers to understand more about American history. (https://dianehoward.com/)
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1. Unbroken (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Biography, Drama
After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Director: Angelina Jolie | Stars: Jack O'Connell, Miyavi, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund
Votes: 153,076 | Gross: $115.64M
2. Unbroken: Path to Redemption (2018)
PG-13 | 98 min | Biography, Drama, History
The next amazing chapter of Olympian and World War II hero Louis Zamperini's powerful true story of forgiveness, redemption, and amazing grace.
Director: Harold Cronk | Stars: Samuel Hunt, Merritt Patterson, Bobby Campo, David Sakurai
Votes: 2,658 | Gross: $6.22M
3. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,261,449 | Gross: $216.54M
4. Lincoln (2012)
PG-13 | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
As the American Civil War continues to rage, America's president struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on the decision to emancipate the slaves.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Votes: 248,101 | Gross: $182.21M
5. Glory (1989)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
Robert 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.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman
Votes: 125,425 | Gross: $26.83M
6. 1776 (1972)
G | 141 min | Drama, Family, History
A musical retelling of the American Revolution's political struggle in the Continental Congress to declare independence.
Director: Peter H. Hunt | Stars: William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard, Donald Madden
Votes: 7,719 | Gross: $6.10M
7. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors, not knowing that the allied forces are planning to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 206,510 | Gross: $44.91M
8. God Bless the Broken Road (2018)
PG | 111 min | Drama, Family, Romance
While grieving the loss of her husband, a financially struggling widow meets a race car driver.
Director: Harold Cronk | Stars: Matthew Derek Davis, Arthur Cartwright, Adam Agee, William Matthews
Votes: 926 | Gross: $2.85M
9. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people, and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer
Votes: 450,142 | Gross: $67.21M
10. Taking Chance (2009 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 77 min | Drama, War
Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming.
Director: Ross Katz | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Tom Aldredge, Nicholas Art, Blanche Baker
Votes: 13,202
11. The Tuskegee Airmen (1995 TV Movie)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, History, War
The true story of how a group of African American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest US fighter groups in World War II
Director: Robert Markowitz | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance
Votes: 5,821
12. World War II: When Lions Roared (1994 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 194 min | Drama, History, War
This TV Movie is about the Tehran Conference between FDR, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin. It shows the interaction between the three leaders at the close of the Second World War.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, John Lithgow, Ed Begley Jr.
Votes: 469
13. Greatest Events of WWII in Colour (2019)
50 min | Documentary, History, War
A series of colorized archive footage of important events during World War II.
Stars: Derek Jacobi, Geoffrey Wawro, James Holland, Saul David
Votes: 6,346
14. The Long Road Home (2017– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Biography, Drama
American forces occupying Iraq are ambushed in a Baghdad neighborhood.
Stars: Michael Kelly, Jason Ritter, Kate Bosworth, E.J. Bonilla
Votes: 2,665
15. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 228,268 | Gross: $12.10M
16. The Patriot (2000)
R | 165 min | Action, Drama, History
Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs
Votes: 257,659 | Gross: $113.33M
17. Gettysburg (1993)
PG | 271 min | Drama, History, War
In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.
Director: Ron Maxwell | Stars: Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang, Richard Jordan
Votes: 26,310 | Gross: $10.77M
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