History Movie Theatre

Has anyone ever started a history movie theatre after school? What movies would be on list?

Add your suggestions in the comments section below or to the Google Doc linked here.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Thomas on July 15, 2011 at 9:41am

Some must haves for a Movie Club:

Glory

Dances with Wolves

Wyatt Earp

to name a few.... :)

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Permalink Reply by Ann Wright on July 16, 2011 at 11:24pm

We do a movie night once a quarter. We've used 1776, Glory, Good Morning Vietnam. I'd add Iron Jawed Angels (used it while I was on a mission trip to Montana and the students loved it). Although it's hokey in part, my students love Forrest Gump. I do have to fast forward through parts, but it's a good review of the key events of the 1960s. And, surprisingly few students have seen it.

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Permalink Reply by Christina Vandenbergh on July 17, 2011 at 6:20pm

Love the idea of a school sponsored movie night once a quarter! (Even better if you can get the auditorium and big screen!)

My choices would include:

-Glory

-The Patriot (with some selective editing)

-John Adams series (long night, but maybe parts of it)

-Driving Miss Daisy

-Good Morning Vietnam

-Gods and Generals?

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Permalink Reply by HeyMrsTE4chr on July 20, 2011 at 8:13pm

I've started to list movies on my school website for my World History course. I'll have to start a list for Ancient Civ, since I didn't teach that last year & didn't have a website the year before. Maybe Troy, 300, I'm not sure what else.

I list the movie, the rating from imdb and suggest the students GO TO imdb before they decide to watch something. I'm not sure all of these are easily accessible, but it's a fun list to make! Here's some of what I did for my website:

World War II Movies

Tora! Tora! Tora! - G

Pearl Harbor bombing

Pearl Harbor - PG13

U.S. story of Peal Harbor bombing

Saving Private Ryan - R

D-day

Valkyrie - PG13

Plot to assassinate Hitler during WW II

The Longest Day - G

D-day

The Great Raid - UR

Bataan POW Rescue

Casablanca - UR

North Africa in WW II

Band of Brothers - TVMA

TV miniseries

American soldiers in WW II

The King's Speech - R

British King George VI prepares to rally his nation

Enemy at the Gates - R

Battle of Stalingrad

The Sound of Music - UR

Austria before the anschluss

Cold War World

Rocky IV - PG

All American boxer Rocky Balboa vs Soviet amateur Drago

X Men: First Class - PG13

Cuban Missile Crisis

Thirteen Days - PG13

Cuban Missile Crisis

WarGames - PG

"Would you like to play a game?"

Global Thermonuclear War & video games

The Manhattan Project - PG13

A high schooler wants to make a nuclear bomb for a national science fair

Escape from East Berlin - TV no rating

Set right after the Berlin Wall is built

Based on a true story

Iron Giant - PG

Animated movie set during the time of Sputnik

The Hunt for Red October - PG

U.S. navy vs Soviet submariners in 1984

Night Crossing - TV no rating

Escape from East to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon

Dr. Strangelove - UR

Satirizes the nuclear scare

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Bianco on July 22, 2011 at 9:25am

When I was teaching US History, my go to movie to end the year was always "Remember the Titans". It's appropriate for students of many ages, shows students how segregation affected life, and then shows them that the color of a persons skin should not equal hatred. GREAT MOVIE for MS - HS students.

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Permalink Reply by Angela Cunningham on July 31, 2011 at 10:28pm

I have divided my US History course into 9 units, and I would like to offer a movie night for each. Here is what I have so far:

Unit 1 - Founding the New Nation

Unit 2 - Building the New Nation

Unit 3 - Testing the New Nation: Gettysburg

Unit 4 - Forging an Industrial Society: Dances with Wolves & Iron Jawed Angels

Unit 5 - Empire & Expansion

Unit 6 - Prosperity & Depression

Unit 7 - The Shadows of War: Thirteen Days

Unit 8 - Making Modern America: Murder in Mississippi

Unit 9 - Building a New World Order: Forrest Gump

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Permalink Reply by Ann Wright on July 31, 2011 at 11:20pm

Good for Prosperity and Depression is the Great Debaters. I think it raises the issue of how much further the farmers could have gotten if they had been able to cross the color divide.

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Permalink Reply by Alexandra Horelik on August 26, 2011 at 11:47pm

For the first unit, my students LOVED '1776,' despite how ridiculous it can be. They had the songs stuck in their heads and the last day of class, they begged me to show one of the songs again. I couldn't believe how much they loved it!

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Permalink Reply by Heidi Renk on August 2, 2011 at 6:29pm

I have an assignment that last all year called Citizen Action Points, and one of the choices is called Global Movies. I show movies after school once in awhile that show aspects of life in other countries. Some of the movies I have shown are "Rabbit Proof Fence", "Bend It Like Beckham", "Life is Beautiful", "The Counterfeiters", "Scent of a Green Papaya", "Schindler's List (needed parent/guardian approval to attend), "Evita", "Seven Years in Tibet", "Not Without My Daughter", and "Power of One".

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Permalink Reply by Brian Michael Peoples on August 6, 2011 at 3:46pm

The Mission

The New World

Last of the Mohicans

Little Big Man

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Permalink Reply by Steve Jarvis on August 11, 2011 at 2:30am

School Ties - I actually explain this movie to help students understand how the Holocaust happened.

Avatar - Mirrors the U.S. westward movement from colonial to late 1800s. The movie obviously has a different ending then what happened in our history

Manchurian Candidate (The original with Frank Sinatra) Good display of 2nd Red Scare.

Blackhawk Down - As good as any documentary of what happened in Mogadishu.

Charlie Wilson's War (Will have to sensor spots) Gives a look at one of the factors which brought about 9/11

Legends of Bagger Vance - The scene where Junuh tells Hardy he should be proud of his father. Sums up the attitude of the Great Depression. Plus it is a very good movie.

For The Boys - Very good collage of historical events from WW II past Vietnam. (Kind of like Forrest Gump)

These are just a few of the movies I would suggest. Not sure I would actually show Charlie Wilson's War, but I do suggest to my students that they should watch it outside of school.

We do not have a movie night, but it is something I have always wanted to do.