A FOURTH OF JULY SALUTE TO PATRIOTIC MOVIES.

• Author: GEHRING, WES D.

Hollywood has a long history of paying tribute to the nation's glory.

FOR TWO GENERATIONS in my family, the required Fourth of July movie-viewing experience has been "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), the biography of patriotic songwriter and playwright George M. Cohan starring James Cagney. With two teenage daughters, the holiday now necessitates a flag-waving double bill of "Yankee" and Will Smith's world-saving turn as an American hero in the fittingly entitled "Independence Day" (1996).

Unlike the natural correlation between some holidays and a matching film genre--such as Valentine's Day and romantic comedy--there is no comparable one-on-one connection with regard to the Fourth of July. Nevertheless, there are four types which provide a high proportion: biography, populism, westerns, and, most predictably, war movies.

Most significant is the importance of World War II when discussing patriotic films. While not all Fourth of July movie screenings are connected to that conflict, a high percentage of the pivotal examples have that shared subject. There are several reasons for this preponderance of patriotic pictures with World War II ties. First, as the title of historian Michael C.C. Adams book, The Best War Ever, suggests, fighting the forces of Adolf Hitler and Emperor Hirohito was a no-brainer where patriotic wars are concerned. Unlike the moral morass associated with the containment wars in Korea and Vietnam, World War II films set a standard for patriotism which still applies, as demonstrated most recently with "Saving Private Ryan" (1998).

A second reason for the special patriotic hold of pictures from and/or about the 1940s war years addresses viewing habits. Pre-1930 silent films are largely a lost art form for most modern audiences. Thus, epics like director D.W. Griffith's still impressive take on the Revolutionary War, "America" (1924), or director John Ford's celebration of Pres. Abraham Lincoln and the building of the transcontinental railroad, "The Iron Horse" (1924), are all but unknown to today's audiences. Moreover, the pivotal American movies about World War I, both in the silent and early sound eras, were patently anti-war pictures, often keying upon the soldiers of other nations, such as "All Quiet on the Western Front" (1930), from Erich Maria Remarque's eloquent novel of German boys as soldiers, and "Journey's End" (1930), from the R.C. Sheriff play about British troops.

A third reason for the dominance of 1940s-related patriotism is that the U.S. was straggling with the Great Depression for much of the 1930s. The country's basic values were often being called into question, which is not exactly the best mind-set for making patriotic pictures. It was not until the late 1930s that a new sense of nationalism began to surface, fueled by America's weathering of the Depression and a sense of approaching war.

With these parameters, I would posit that a patriotic parade of films best begins with director Frank Capra's watershed populist work, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). A 1999 newspaper poll documented this homage to American idealism as the country's favorite political picture. Besides being a touching comedy showcase of the values upon which the U.S. is based, with Jimmy Stewart's career-making turn as the patriotic Jefferson Smith, the movie is most rewarding when it freely shows flaws such as political corruption in the system. Throughout the years, a hallmark of American populism has been a willingness to show weaknesses as well as positives of a democratic state. This is best demonstrated years later by the Capraesque "All the President's Men" (1976), which movingly illustrated how a free and open nation could uncover and ultimately attack so heinous a crime against democracy as Watergate.

Other patriotically pivotal Capra pictures would include "Meet John Doe" (1941) and "State of the Union" (1948). The former has Gary Cooper's title character initially being duped by, but then fighting, an American fascist (Edward Arnold). The latter has Spencer Tracy running for president as a Wendell Willkie-like idealist. (Willkie was Pres. Franklin Roosevelt's Republican opponent in the 1940 election. After his defeat, the former liberal Democrat Willkie acted as a presidential emissary abroad during World War II. His 1943 best-selling book, One World, was a popular articulation for liberal internationalism shortly before the founding of the United Nations.)

The Willkie mix of patriotism and internationalism in "State of the Union" was nothing new to Capra. In his 1971 autobiography, The Name Above the Title, he makes it clear that his populist movies are in the cracker-barrel Yankee tradition of Will Rogers, a personal Capra hero. As early as 1930, Rogers' character in the film version of "So This Is London" (George M. Cohan starred in the original play) observed, "There isn't much difference in people. World over [they're] just about the same [good]." The picture closes on the shared harmony of Rogers singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" while his British counterpart sings the English lyrics for "God Save the King" (both of which are set to the same music).

Capra seems to footnote his ties to Rogers with his pivotal casting and utilization of actor Harry Carey to play the president of the Senate in "Mr. Smith." Besides bearing a striking physical resemblance to...