This extra credit assignment is to write an essay that is a historical evaluation of a feature film related to American History.
This should not simply be a summary of a movie or a critical review in which you discuss whether or not it is a good film. Your focus is to tell me specific ways in which this movie has historical value and specific ways in which it is probably inaccurate. To do this well, you should focus on the following questions: (Do NOT write answers to each of these questions in order. These questions are listed in order to clarify what you should be writing about.)
What does this movie teach you about the historical period?
How accurately does the movie portray the events/trends of the period?
What issues/events discussed in class are portrayed in this movie?
What was your opinion of the movie as a whole? (Did you learn very much?)
In addition to watching the movie and giving your individual impressions, some extra research will increase your chances of getting the maximum number of points. Here are a couple of ideas:
Do some careful reading on the period, both in your textbook and, if possible, on the internet. This will help you to evaluate the accuracy of the movie.
See if you can find movie reviews on the internet in order to determine what historians think of the film. If you read some reviews on-line, make sure that you list the references. (See plagiarism policy.) Do not use ChatGPT or any other AI software to help you write the essay.
Plagiarism policy
A person is guilty of plagiarism if at any time he or she copies another writer’s words or uses his or her original idea without giving that person credit. Since there is an enormous amount of information on the internet, it is very tempting for students to simply copy things from a web site and assume that they will never get caught. Please do not attempt to do this. If you use another person’s words, put them in quotation marks and cite your source of information at the end of the paper. If anything that you write is influenced by research that you have done, also list those sources of information at the end of your paper. At many colleges plagiarism can lead to expulsion. In this class, it will result in a grade deduction. (Please keep in mind that your submitted assignment will go through a plagiarism checker before I read it.)
List of Movies Arranged by Topic
The West / Relations with Native Americans
Dances With Wolves
Cheyenne Autumn
Little Big Man
Lonesome Dove (mini-series)
I Will Fight No More Forever
Son of the Morning Star
Geronimo (1993)
The Long Riders
Wyatt Earp
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Open Range
Ulzana’s Raid
Tombstone
Young Guns
Miscellaneous Topics (1877-1920)
Edison, the Man
The Winds of Kitty Hawk (First Airplane flight)
Rough Riders (Spanish-American War)
Chaplin
Little Women
Wilson
Iron Jawed Angels (Women’s Suffrage)
World War I
All Quiet on the Western Front
Westfront 1918
Sergeant York
The Lost Battalion
1920s
Inherit the Wind
The Roaring 20’s
The Great Gatsby
Black Legion
The Untouchables
The Cotton Club
The Front Page (1931)
Chicago
Great Depression
The Grapes of Wrath
Cradle Will Rock
All The King’s Men
The Journey of Natty Gann
Our Daily Bread
Modern Times
Bound for Glory
King of the Hill
Places in the Heart
Cinderella Man
Immigration / Experience of American Immigrants
Avalon
Hester Street
Mi Familia
American Tail
Salt of the Earth
Work Conditions / Labor Movement
Matewan
F.I.S.T
Black Fury
The Molly Maguires
Sounder
Experiences of African-Americans (pre-World War II)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman
Roots (volume 6)
The Great Debaters
To Kill a Mockingbird
Freedom Road
The Help
The Color Purple
World War II
Flags of Our Fathers
Pearl Harbor
Macarthur
Patton
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Big Red One
Battleground
Midway
Saving Private Ryan
The Halls of Montezuma
The Longest Day
Windtalkers
Come See the Paradise
Snow Falling on Cedars
Civil Rights Movement / Experience of African Americans (post-World War II)
Malcolm X
The Long Walk Home
The Butler
Ghosts of Mississippi
Mississippi Burning
Selma
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
A Raisin in the Sun
Hidden Figures
42
The Cold War/ Anti-Communism
Thirteen Days
The Right Stuff
The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!
Dr. Strangelove
The Red Menace
The Manchurian Candidate (1962 version)
The Front
Guilty by Suspicion
Men in War
Pork Chop Hill
Good Night and Good Luck
J Edgar
1950s / Suburban Culture
The Best Years of Our Lives
Gentleman’s Agreement
American Graffiti
Quiz Show
Rebel Without a Cause
Blackboard Jungle
Pleasantville
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
Kinsey
Mona Lisa Smile
Vietnam War
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
Flight of the Intruder
The Deer Hunter
Born on the Fourth of July
The Hanoi Hilton
Apocalypse Now
Coming Home
Go Tell the Spartans
We Were Soldiers
The Quiet American
Hamburger Hill
Heaven and Earth
Go Tell the Spartans
1960s
The Doors
JFK
Easy Rider
Across the Universe
Forrest Gump
Hair
The Graduate
1970s
All the President’s Men (Watergate)
The Final Days (Watergate)
Nixon
Norma Rae
Network
Frost/Nixon
The China Syndrome
Argo
Lakota Woman, Siege at Wounded Knee
1980s – Present
Wall Street
Roger and Me
Zero Dark Thirty
United 93
Three Kings
Thanks of a Grateful Nation (Gulf War)
Jarhead
Philadelphia
Pirates of Silicon Valley
An Inconvenient Truth
The Insider
Traffic
Charlie Wilson’s War
A Civil Action
Primary Colors
“W”
Erin Brockovich
Black Hawk Down
The Social Network
Bowling for Columbine
Fahrenheit 911
Bob Roberts
