[The start of a new year means my annual series on historic anniversaries. Leading up to a weekend post on some of what I’m planning for my Spring semester sabbatical!]
Five films that reflect the complexities and contradictions of America in its Bicentennial year.
1) Rocky: That’s the one post where I’ve written about Rocky at any length, and what I didn’t note there is that its heroic underdog hero is a white boxer fighting on the 4th of July against a Black champion who is wearing American flag shorts. All in a movie that came out during the Bicentennial. I really love the first Rocky, but I have to admit that I love even more that the series eventually evolved to feature Apollo Creed’s son in a series of films that lean into race in America in far more thoughtful ways.
2) All the President’s Men: I said most of what I’d want to say about Alan Pakula’s political and journalistic thriller in that hyperlinked post. But I really do love that a film celebrating the role that journalists can and should play in speaking truth to power came out during the nation’s Bicentennial. Let’s just say we need it even more during our 250th.
3) Network: I haven’t previously had the chance to write about the remaining three films in this post, and these will just be quick hits on subjects that could be the focus of full posts. Network certainly makes for a compelling contrast with and thus complement to President’s Men, as it reminds us that even the most investigative and activist journalists usually work for corporations that have, let’s say, distinct motivations of their own. One more reason why we should all be mad as hell, again in 2026 even more so.
4) Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson: Robert Altman’s revisionist Western (well, one of them, alongside 1971’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller) is a mixed bag, as many of his films are for this AmericanStudier. But I can’t lie, releasing this particular film during the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Little Big Horn, which itself had been such a complex and crucial part of the nation’s Centennial in 1876, was purely and potently a stroke of goddamn genius.
5) The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings: I’ll say again that I love the first Rocky film—but it’s still more than a little telling that the 1976 sports film about an underdog white athlete became a beloved Oscar-winning eternal favorite, while the 1976 sports film about a group of underdog Black athletes (based on very real historical and cultural contexts no less) has been largely forgotten. Bingo Long isn’t a perfect film, but it’s a hugely entertaining sports movie, featuring a phenomenal cast (including the late great James Earl Jones), and still the best cultural representation of the Negro Leagues I’ve ever seen. If you see one 1976 film during this 50th anniversary year, make it this one!
Special post this weekend,
Ben
PS. What do you think?
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