Which movies and shows should you queue up this Memorial Day?
Which movies and shows should you queue up this Memorial Day?
We’ve assembled a list of the best titles to stream to honor fallen soldiers this holiday weekend.
Memorial Day is a time for barbecues, taking time off to relax, and reflection. Most see Memorial Day as the start of summer, and it’s an especially exciting time for school kids who are finally free until late August or early September. But it’s important to remember that Memorial Day is also about more than fun. The holiday was first formalized as a way to remember Civil War soldiers, and ever since, it has been a chance to pause and mourn those who have laid down their lives in service to the United States.
We at The Streamable want to help readers honor Memorial Day by suggesting a list of culturally relevant movies to stream. What better way to spend the time off than to remember why the holiday exists in the first place? Check out our curated selection of Memorial Day-appropriate movies and TV shows — and where you can stream them — below. Check out our list and let us know what you think the best movies and shows to watch on Memorial Day are in the comments at the bottom of the page.
Movies
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Apocalypse Now
May 19, 1979At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, “does not exist, nor will it ever exist.” His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
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Good Morning, Vietnam
December 23, 1987A disk jockey goes to Vietnam to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service. While he becomes popular among the troops, his superiors disapprove of his humor.
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Born on the Fourth of July
December 20, 1989The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
A potent combination of Oliver Stone and Tom Cruise makes this a must-see movie. Stone won the Oscar for Best Director for the story of a real-life veteran.
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Glory
December 15, 1989Robert Gould Shaw leads the US Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates.
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The Tuskegee Airmen
August 25, 1995During the Second World War, a special project is begun by the US Army Air Corps to integrate African American pilots into the Fighter Pilot Program. Known as the “Tuskegee Airman” for the name of the airbase at which they were trained, these men were forced to constantly endure harassement, prejudice, and much behind the scenes politics until at last they were able to prove themselves in combat.
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Saving Private Ryan
July 24, 1998As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
This Steven Spielberg masterpiece features a mind-boggling cast of great talent: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Jeremy Davies, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Dennis Farina, Ted Danson, Bryan Cranston, Nathan Fillion and Paul Giamatti.
The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Film Editing, and Best Director.
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Black Hawk Down
December 28, 2001When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.
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Flags of Our Fathers
October 19, 2006There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen - John ‘Doc’ Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes - who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.
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The Hurt Locker
October 10, 2008During the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.
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Megan Leavey
June 9, 2017The true story of Marine Corporal Megan Leavey, who forms a powerful bond with an aggressive combat dog, Rex. While deployed in Iraq, the two complete more than 100 missions and save countless lives, until an IED explosion puts their faithfulness to the test.
TV shows
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M*A*S*H
September 17, 1972The 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital is stuck in the middle of the Korean war. With little help from the circumstances they find themselves in, they are forced to make their own fun. Fond of practical jokes and revenge, the doctors, nurses, administrators, and soldiers often find ways of making wartime life bearable.
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Band of Brothers
September 9, 2001Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as their journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men from paratrooper training in Georgia through the end of the war. As an elite rifle company parachuting into Normandy early on D-Day morning, participants in the Battle of the Bulge, and witness to the horrors of war, the men of Easy knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear - and became the stuff of legend. Based on Stephen E. Ambrose’s acclaimed book of the same name.
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John Adams
March 16, 2008Adapted from David McCullough’s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, this lavish seven-part miniseries chronicles the life of Founding Father John Adams, starting with the Boston Massacre of 1770 through his years as an ambassador in Europe, then his terms as vice president and president of the United States, up to his death on July 4, 1826.
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The Pacific
March 14, 2010Track the intertwined real-life stories of three U.S. Marines – Robert Leckie, John Basilone, and Eugene Sledge – across the vast canvas of the Pacific Theater during World War II. A companion piece to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers.
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Masters of the Air
January 25, 2024During World War II, airmen risk their lives with the 100th Bomb Group, a brotherhood forged by courage, loss, and triumph.
