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Movies to Watch on Memorial Day

Feeling patriotic? Salute American sacrifice by watching the best Movies To Watch on Memorial Day honoring the military. Affiliate links used.

MOVIES TO WATCH ON MEMORIAL DAY

Black Hawk Down
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor (Actors)

Black Hawk Down – Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, The Martian) is an undeniable visual genius and his pummeling action film puts a who’s who of celebrity grunts (Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor among them) through their “war is bad, I say!” paces. The subject is the 1993 Mogadishu raid, a military incident of thankless sacrifice. Watch | Buy

Tora! Tora! Tora!
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • E.G. Marshall, James Whitmore, Sô Yamamura (Actors)

Tora! Tora! Tora! – Another 1970 classic challenged the way most war movies were made in old Hollywood. “Tora! Tora! Tora!” attempted to tell the battle stories from two sides, the Japanese and the American, in a sympathetic touch that perhaps owed a bit to the changing cultural tide over the Vietnam War.

Clint Eastwood would attempt a similar storytelling experiment by breaking the narrative into two movies: “Letters From Iwo Jima” and “Flags of Our Fathers.” Watch | Buy

Ken Burns: The Civil War (Commemorative Edition)
  • Factory sealed DVD
  • David McCullough, Sam Waterston, Jason Robards (Actors)

Ken Burns: The War – If you fancy a little learning on your holiday, you can binge watch documentarian Ken Burns’ sprawling 2007 series “The War.” The seven episodes run 14 hours and follow the lives of WWII service men from Minnesota, Alabama, California and Connecticut as they’re sent abroad in various military campaigns. Watch | Buy

We Were Soldiers
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear (Actors)

We Were Soldiers – This Vietnam War epic tells the story of the Battle of Ia Drang, which pitted 450 U.S. soldiers against thousands of well-armed Vietnamese troops. Watch | Buy

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The Way Back – After escaping from a World War II labor camp, a band of soldiers undertake a journey to traverse Siberia, the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas. Watch | Buy

Saving Private Ryan
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon (Actors)

Saving Private RyanEight U.S. Army Rangers penetrate German-held territory during World War II to find and bring home a soldier whose three brothers have been killed. Watch Buy

Flags of Our Fathers
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford, Adam Beach (Actors)

Flags Of Our FathersThis riveting World War II drama recounts the story of six U.S. soldiers who raised the American flag atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi. Watch | Buy

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • James Badge Dale, John Kransinski (Actors)

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi –  Members of an elite security team battle to save the lives of trapped U.S. Consulate personnel under attack by armed terrorists in Benghazi, Libya. Watch | Buy

Lone Survivor
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch (Actors)

Lone Survivor –  In 2005 Afghanistan, Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matthew “Axe” Axelson (Ben Foster) deploy on a mission of surveillance and to take out Taliban leader Ahmad Shah.

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Though spotted by goatherds, Luttrell and his team decide not to kill them. But one of the Afghans alerts a group of Taliban fighters to the invaders, and a terrible battle ensues, in which the SEALs find themselves hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Watch | Buy

Patton
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young (Actors)

Patton Multiple Oscar-winning depiction of the controversial World War II U.S. Army commander – was he a visionary strategist or an ego-driven hot head? Awarded Best Picture and Best Actor (George C. Scott). Watch | Buy

Hacksaw Ridge
  • Amazon Prime Video (Video on Demand)
  • Andrew Garfield, Richard Pyros, Jacob Warner (Actors)

Hacksaw Ridge 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. Watch | Buy

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