It's been a long time since I saw it, and maybe my memory is off, but maybe Ulee's Gold would count as a conservative film?

I could think of 20 more, nearly everything by Peckinpah.

More recently, Shaun of the Dead--being a hippie slacker makes you little more than a zombie, eventually you have to grow up and become an adult. Plus, the holy grail of the film is a lever-action Winchester, a very potent symbol of masculinity and the American West.

I'm gonna go with the movie George Will called the most conservative film in recent years-- Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan.

Family before money, crime never pays, and there is no such thing as an innocent lie. Plus, great performances to boot.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

I will nominate what the liberals thought was a film about conservatives 'Falling Down' with Michael Douglas as the angry, white male.

How about Zulu? The 1970's film starred Michael Cain and I believe was set in the 1800s or early 1900s, during British colonial rule. The premise had to do with the British building a railroad, I think, through Zulu country. The Zulu attacked repeatedly and lost thousands of their fighters, and hundreds ("testing" the British flanks for weaknesses). In the end the Zulu king and his army saluted the determined courage of the Brits in song.

You gotta nominate Death Wish--it portrays a liberal pantywaist realizing that he can't rely on government to protect his family. Besides--when he died, the liberal media trashed Charles Bronson's legacy mostly because they could not get over the fact that he starred in a vigilante movie (or 4). If it ticks off the liberals, it's gotta be worth something...

Heck--one reviewer even called the Death Wish films "conservative vigilante revenge fantasies".

Yeah?

Tears of the Sun. A group of military tough guys who help Christian Africans get away from genocidal Muslim Africans. And the guys don't get them out by pussy "negotiations" or with the help of Amnesty International or any of that crap. They fight their way out. Bruce Willis (a Republican) is a particularly ruthless hard case who shows a pampered white do-gooder doctor that compassion doesn't count for shit in a war zone. Great scene where one SEAL guts a rapist out of sheer rage.

Red Dawn

The Incredibles

Gladiator

Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2

Finding Nemo - can you think of any other Disney film that has the father as a protagonist?

I'm with Dave at GR on A Simple Plan.
BB Thornton gives an amazing performance as the simple-minded brother, with a jaw-dropping scene toward the end.

That last post was me...
After coming back from Preview it forgot who I was.

Outside Providence

Ahhh, I'm not so sure about Finding Nemo. There was not a single good thing about humans in the movie. Man served as both villain and source of all evil/wrong in the world. Even sharks were portrayed as not being able to help themselves.

I couldn't sit through the whole thing.

Er... Finding Nemo had nothing to do with the "villainy" of humans, unless you are seriously putting forth the idea that the filmmakers were campaigning against the keeping of fish as pets. I am guessing you either have issues with small girls with braces or Australian dentists, or both.

This is off the top of my head and keep in mind I saw PART of the movie years ago, but if I recall correctly the dangerous places the little fishies passed through were more often than not man-made. An abandoned WWII minefield (do these even exist?), sunken ships, the harbor, the death tank (also known as the aquarium). And yes, the humans were all fish-killers. Was there a simpathetic human in the movie? No. Was there a single example of some thing humanity has done that was presented as good or helpful? No.

As I said before, from watching this movie it appears that humans are just killers and polluters. What message do children take away from this movie when they see the poor man-made struggles of our friends from the sea?

Fast Times at Ridgemont High

By and large, the fun times are followed by actual consequences, a reasonable authority figure gets his due (Mr. Hand), and as Josh McDowell might say, True Love Waits.

The most conservative movie I have ever seen is "Sometimes a Great Notion," also called "Never Give An Inch," which is really odd because it was directed by/stars Lefty Paul Newman and Henry Fonda plays the dad. Plot: a family of loggers go against the striking union and continue to work despite the obstacles and strong arm tactics the union puts them through. It was made in '71 and there are some pretty heart-wrenching moments because of the danger the Indie loggers have to face using substandard equipment. It's a really good movie I hadn't thought about in years, but this topic brought it immediately to mind.

This film portrays unions as Evil, family as the only thing you can rely on, and it shows how sometimes your principles are worth dying for. Am I the only one who's seen it?

Other recent conservative films:

We Were Soldiers
Team America: World Police
Saving Private Ryan

And there are a lot of conservative SF films:
Starship Troopers (it sucked but it had its ideals)
The Running Man
Rollerball (the original)
Fahrenheit 451
Seconds
A Clockwork Orange (in its own twisted way)
Equilibrium
Gattaca

Later,
bbeck

The original Rollerball still gets me all misty. James Caan was awesome as Jonathon.

Sometimes a Great Notion has one of the most difficult death scenes ever; it's really hard to watch. But Ken Kesey and Paul Newman aren't high on the list of people who would have engrained conservative values. The conflict at the heart of Keseys' book is Eastern intellectualism vs. Western individualism, not liberal vs. conservativism. It's been a while since I've seen the movie, but I don't think the union folks are evil--they're just the dolts in the way.

Still, I agree that the film goes out of its way to avoid the usual liberal pap. As another example, the third brother is an evangelical Christian in a very positive portrayal.

It's not a perfect film, but supposedly the book was unfilmable and Newman got a lot of props for trying. Jaeckel (the evangelical brother) got an Oscar nomination, too.

Wait. Fahrenheit 451 is conservative? On what planet? Bookburning is a traditional liberal boogeyman. You can--and I certainly do--argue that liberals are well down the path of banning thought these days, particularly in higher ed. But that only evens things out.

Saving Private Ryan and Team America are largely apolitical, with next to no subtext. We Were Soldiers, yes, but it's a god awful piece of garbage on repeat viewing. There's a much better movie in that story somewhere.

Ya know maybe I'm crazy (no I'm a little tipsy) but I loved Nicholson's " you can't handle the truth!" speech at the end of A Few Good Men.

As a budding conservative it had the oppposite effect than intended. Memory may fail but I agreed with most of what he was saying - ok here it is

" Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don't want the truth because, deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall, you need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand at post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to."

I know I was meant to be scandalized but I agreed then and now. Gosh those liberals are prescient!

Geoff, I have "Rollerball" on DVD. It's one of my favorites.

And Cal, I'm glad I'm not the only one who'd seen that movie, and while we may disagree in part, that death scene was possibly the biggest tear jerker ever.

And YES, "Fahrenheit 451" is extremely conservative, which is why Mel Gibson tinkered with remaking it for a while. (Ray Bradbury himself is a conservative.) The world in 451 is controlled by the government on both the economic and social levels, drug abuse is common, interactive television is there to provide a "family" for you and give you the illusion of importance, and any information that might spur individual thought and shake up the utopia is destroyed. That's liberalism in its pure state. People automatically connect the book burning with fascism because of the Nazis, but that wasn't the point Bradbury was attempting to get across. Everybody's equal, everybody's important, everything is perfect, and all it costs you is your individuality.

Later,
bbeck

I liked Nicholsons's speech too, but that movie was made by two of the biggest, most annoying liberals in Hollywood: Rob Reiner and That Douchebag from The West Wing. Well acted and paced, but sanctimonious and gooey. The Marine Corps was made to look like a collection of martial fanatics brainwashed into violent obedience. It rarely occurs to Hollywood that there are some remarkably big brains in the military, and that tough decisions are sometimes made out of necessity, not malevolence.

I've always agreed 100% with the sentiment of Nicholson's speech, which bothers me a bit since he was defending the indefensible. Don't get me wrong, hazing, properly applied, does serve a useful function in the military, but what happened in that story was simply over the line, which is why I have a problem with Col Jessup using such a noble argument to defend it.

I liked the end of the Caine Mutiny - with the thoroug lambasting of the fuzzy-headed liberalish officers.

"Ray Bradbury himself is a conservative"

I don't think Bradbury can be categorized as either conservative or liberal. When he speaks well of Reagan (and he does) it's with a note of surprise.

As for liberals eschewing individual thought--this always amuses me. Both liberals and conservatives think that the other subordinates the individual to the group in some way--and both are right. But there's just no way that "group think" can be automatically tagged as liberal.

I do agree that Bradbury wasn't specifically taking aim at conservatives or liberals, though. But it's not a conservative film.

Both liberals and conservatives think that the other subordinates the individual to the group in some way--and both are right. But there's just no way that "group think" can be automatically tagged as liberal.

*eye roll* Spoken like someone who doesn't even know the difference between conservatism and liberalism.

But it's not a conservative film.

Geez, Ace, do you have a new troll or something?

Cal, you obviously are wholly unfamiliar with the vast differences between liberal philosophy and conservative philosophy, hence I don't even know why you read Ace's site...except perhaps to learn the differences. Be that as it may, I'm not going to sit here and try to convince someone who can't see the obvious in something as easily discernable as a movie. You're just not worth the effort and neither is the topic.

Later,
bbeck

LOTR portrays good values.
Galadriel tells Frodo [paraphrasing]'even the smallest person can change the course of world events.'
Gandalf tells Frodo he must rely on himself alone and his own good judgement to succeed against evil.
All the free peoples of Middle Earth must fight over and over to preserve their lands and freedoms from the Orcs, scheming wizards, and the Dark Lord himself
LOTR does not deify multiculti diversity.
Elves and Dwarves do not understand or like each other. But, they put their differences aside and work together for a higher good. From this choice to cooperate for the sake of shared values, the different races learn trust, respect, and friendship.