This page will provide a list of movies and TV Shows along with ratings that correspond to units of study that we'll be covering in our class. Students should obtain permission from parents to view any movie rated R or any TV show above the rating of TV-14
-The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Rated R: Three trappers protect the daughters of a British Colonel in the midst of the French and Indian War.
-The Crucible (1996) Rated PG-13: A Salem resident attempts to frame her ex-lover's wife for being a witch in the middle of the 1692 witchcraft trials.
-The Patriot* (2000) Rated R: Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.
-TURN: Washington's Spies (2014-2017) Rated TV-14: A Long Island farmer bands together a group of childhood friends to form an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence.
(Mr. Walden note: Turn is one of my favorite TV shows)
-John Adams (2008) Rated TV-14: The life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.
-Amistad (1997) Rated R: In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
-12 Years a Slave (2013) Rated R: In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
-Gettysburg (1993) Rated R: In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.
-Gods and Generals* (2003) Rated R: The rise and fall of confederate general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, as he meets with military success against the Union from 1861 to 1863, when he is accidentally killed by his own soldiers.
-Lincoln (2012) Rated PG-13: As the Civil War rages on, U.S President Abraham Lincoln struggles with continuing carnage on the battlefield as he fights with many inside his own cabinet on his decision to emancipate the slaves.
(Mr. Walden note: this is a fantastic movie)
*These films or TV shows have some glaring historical inaccuracies but I believe them to be educationally valuable or at least still fun to watch
-The Revenant (2015) Rated R: While exploring the uncharted wilderness in 1823, frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) sustains life-threatening injuries from a brutal bear attack. When a member (Tom Hardy) of his hunting team kills his young son (Forrest Goodluck) and leaves him for dead, Glass must utilize his survival skills to find a way back to civilization. Grief-stricken and fueled by vengeance, the legendary fur trapper treks through the snowy terrain to track down the man who betrayed him.
(Mr. Walden note: This is a fantastic movie that shows the brutal realities of the American Frontier prior to widespread settlement of the area. Fur trappers and mountain men were the first American Pioneers, and the fact that this movie is even somewhat based on a true story is an insane testament to many founding figures of the American West)
-Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (2007) Unrated (it was a TV film): In the 1880s, after the U. S. Army's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, the government continues to push Sioux Indians off their land. In Washington, D.C., Senator Henry Dawes (Aidan Quinn) introduces legislation to protect Native Americans rights. In South Dakota, schoolteacher Elaine Goodale (Anna Paquin) joins Sioux native and Western-educated Dr. Charles Eastman in working with tribe members. Meanwhile, Lakota Chief Sitting Bull refuses to give into mounting government pressures.
(Mr. Walden note: I'm not a huge fan of this film, but there is an exchange near the beginning of it between General Nelson Miles and Chief Sitting Bull that I make sure to show my students. It perfectly lays out the moral and social complexities of the US Expansion into the Western frontier.)
-The Alamo (2004): In 1836 Gen. Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) organizes a rebel army to liberate Texas from the brutal rule of Mexican dictator General Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarría). Though vastly outnumbered, Gen. Houston's volunteer army includes such folkloric figures as Jim Bowie (Jason Patric) and Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton). As Santa Anna's forces advance on San Antonio, the legendary general and his men prepare for a final heroic standoff at a battle-worn mission called the Alamo.
-Tombstone (1993) Rated R: Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Morgan and Virgil, have left their gunslinger ways behind them to settle down and start a business in the town of Tombstone, Ariz. While they aren't looking to find trouble, trouble soon finds them when they become targets of the ruthless Cowboy gang. Now, together with Wyatt's best friend, Doc Holliday, the brothers pick up their guns once more to restore order to a lawless land.
-Hell on Wheels (2011-2016):The Civil War is in the past, but former Confederate soldier Cullen Bohannon can't put it behind him. Fresh are the horrific memories of the death of his wife, killed at the hands of the Union soldiers, an act that sets Bohannon on a course of revenge. This contemporary Western tells the story of his journey, a story that rides on Union Pacific's construction of the first transcontinental railroad. Bohannon's westward travels take him to a lawless melting pot of a town called `Hell on Wheels', which moves with the construction of the railroad.
I tried my hardest, I can't really find much set during this time. I'd reccomend looking up documentaries on:
-The Spanish American War
-Robber Barons
-Yellow Journalism
-1917 (2020) Rated R: During World War I, two British soldiers -- Lance Cpl. Schofield and Lance Cpl. Blake -- receive seemingly impossible orders. In a race against time, they must cross over into enemy territory to deliver a message that could potentially save 1,600 of their fellow comrades -- including Blake's own brother.
-All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) Rated R: War breaks out in Germany in 1914. Paul Bäumer and his classmates quickly enlist in the army to serve their fatherland. No sooner are they drafted than the first images from the battlefield show them the reality of war.
(Mr. Walden note: This is probably my favorite war movie of all time.)
-Joyeux Noel (2005) PG-13: With the advent of World War I, Europe is thrown into a brutal and vicious chaos as men are forced to kill or be killed. While blood soaks the battlefield as Christmas approaches, the men in the trenches of the Western Front face a transformation, however fleeting, toward peace and goodwill. Against all odds, four unlikely individuals from opposing sides (Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Gary Lewis) bond during this bloodless respite to experience the hope and goodness in humanity.
-They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) Rated R: Using state-of-the-art technology and materials from the BBC and Imperial War Museum, filmmaker Peter Jackson allows the story of World War I to be told by the men who were there. Life on the front is explored through the voices of the soldiers, who discuss their feelings about the conflict, the food they ate, the friends they made and their dreams of the future.
-The Highwaymen (2019) Rated R: Former Texas Rangers Frank Hamer and Maney Gault come out of retirement and join forces to try and apprehend notorious outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow.
-The Great Gatsby (2013) Rated PG-13: Midwest native Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) arrives in 1922 New York in search of the American dream. Nick, a would-be writer, moves in next-door to millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and across the bay from his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) and her philandering husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton). Thus, Nick becomes drawn into the captivating world of the wealthy and -- as he bears witness to their illusions and deceits -- pens a tale of impossible love, dreams, and tragedy.
-The Untouchables (1987) Rated R: After building an empire with bootleg alcohol, legendary crime boss Al Capone (Robert De Niro) rules Chicago with an iron fist. Though Prohibition agent Eliot Ness (Kevin Costner) attempts to take Capone down, even his best efforts fail due to widespread corruption within the Windy City's police force. Recruiting an elite group of lawmen who won't be swayed by bribes or fear, including Irish-American cop Jimmy Malone (Sean Connery), Ness renews his determination to bring Capone to justice.
-Saving Private Ryan (1998) Rated R: Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Surrounded by the brutal realties of war, while searching for Ryan, each man embarks upon a personal journey and discovers their own strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honor, decency and courage.
-Schindler's List (1994) Rated R: Businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives.
Downfall (2005) Rated R: In 1942, young Traudl Junge (Alexandra Maria Lara) lands her dream job -- secretary to Adolf Hitler (Bruno Ganz) at the peak of his power. Three years later, Hitler's empire is now his underground bunker. The real-life Traudl narrates Hitler's final days as he rages against imagined betrayers and barks orders to phantom armies, while his mistress, Eva Braun (Juliane Köhler), clucks over his emotional distance, and other infamous Nazis prepare for the end.
Dunkirk (2013) Rated PG-13: In May 1940, Germany advanced into France, trapping Allied troops on the beaches of Dunkirk. Under air and ground cover from British and French forces, troops were slowly and methodically evacuated from the beach using every serviceable naval and civilian vessel that could be found. At the end of this heroic mission, 330,000 French, British, Belgian and Dutch soldiers were safely evacuated.
Oppenheimer (2023) Rated R: During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witness the world's first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history.
Life is Beautiful (1997) Rated PG-13: A gentle Jewish-Italian waiter, Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni), meets Dora (Nicoletta Braschi), a pretty schoolteacher, and wins her over with his charm and humor. Eventually they marry and have a son, Giosue (Giorgio Cantarini). Their happiness is abruptly halted, however, when Guido and Giosue are separated from Dora and taken to a concentration camp. Determined to shelter his son from the horrors of his surroundings, Guido convinces Giosue that their time in the camp is merely a game.
Hacksaw Ridge (2016) Rated R: The true story of Pfc. Desmond T. Doss (Andrew Garfield), who won the Congressional Medal of Honor despite refusing to bear arms during WWII on religious grounds. Doss was drafted and ostracized by fellow soldiers for his pacifist stance but went on to earn respect and adoration for his bravery, selflessness and compassion after he risked his life -- without firing a shot -- to save 75 men in the Battle of Okinawa.
-Bridge of Spies (2015) Rated PG-13: During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks), recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel (Mark Rylance), the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.
-Thirteen Days (2000) Rated PG-13: For thirteen extraordinary days in October of 1962, the world stood on the brink of an unthinkable catastrophe. Across the globe, people anxiously awaited the outcome of a harrowing political, diplomatic and military confrontation that threatened to end in an apocalyptic nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. Thirteen days captures the urgency, suspense and paralyzing chaos of the Cuban Missile Crisis.