Last Updated on 12 June 2024
I searched far and wide for lists of best Independence Day or Fourth of July movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and covering all time, not just a decade. The lists were generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).
I was able to find 25 lists. I took the 25 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. I ended up averaging the rankings each movie got (there were 61 that were on at least 2 lists) and dividing that average by a factor of the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists. The complete spreadsheet is attached at the bottom.
The movies that were on the most lists (out of 25) were:
- Independence Day (1996) – 24 lists
- Lincoln (2012) – 19 lists
- Born on the Fourth of July (1989) – 18 lists
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) – 18 lists
- National Treasure (2004) – 16 lists
- Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) – 16 lists
- Jaws (1975) – 15 lists
- Top Gun (1986) – 15 lists
- Saving Private Ryan (1998) – 15 lists
Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created:
- IMDb User Ratings – 11 Jun 2024
- Town & Country Magazine – 10 Jun 2024
- WCCLS – 3 Jun 2024
- Good Housekeeping – 20 May 2024
- FunBoy – 16 May 2024
- Cosmopolitan – 14 May 2024
- GearMoose – 5 Jul 2023
- Collider – 4 Jul 2023
- Dexerto – 4 Jul 2023
- Digital Trends – 4 Jul 2023
- Westside Current – 4 Jul 2023
- The Wrap – 4 Jul 2023
- DirecTV – 2 Jul 2023
- CafeMom – 1 Jul 2023
- Screen Rant – 1 Jul 2023
- PureWow – 29 Jun 2023
- AARP – 28 Jun 2023
- Esquire – 28 Jun 2023
- Wide Open Country – 26 Jun 2023
- TimeOut – 8 Jun 2023
- ScreenCraft – 10 May 2023
- Oprah Daily – 24 Jun 2022
- Country Living – 3 Jun 2022
- Elle – 31 May 2022
- The Script Lab – 2 Jul 2016