The past few years, Hollywood has made it a point to produce every kind of movie bagging on conservatives, and virtually no movies that push conservative values and affirm the conservative way of life.
It is a sad state of affairs, and though some people can simply switch off their brains and enjoy a little entertainment for what it is, some of us cannot abide the notion of giving money to people who obviously hate us.
It didn’t always used to be this way, though, and in eras gone by Hollywood used to put out movies with central conservative themes that appealed to conservatives. Believe it or not, every once in a blue moon such a film will still sneak through the writing room gatekeepers and make its way on to big screens around the country.
If you are looking for some movies with a strong conservative message, or that are just relatable to the topics, themes and values that conservatives care about you have come to the right place, and I’ll be sharing with you my list of the 20 best movies for red blooded conservatives.
The Thin Red Line
The Thin Red Line is a World War II movie, though it is probably one unlike any other you have watched. Chronicling the accounts of an army infantry company in the middle of the grueling and lengthy Guadalcanal campaign, the movie presents us a slightly fictionalized account of the proceedings as told through the musings and observations of the men who lived, fought and died in it.
Epic in scope, scale and themes, The Thin Red Line was written and directed by legendary filmmaker Terence Malick, previously thought to be something of a “hermit filmmaker” in Hollywood due to his propensity for going years and years between projects and, seemingly, never giving interviews.
Throughout the film you’ll hear the accounts through on our bound and slightly bloodthirsty senior officers down through the ranks to non-commissioned officers who lead men in battle and even privates who want nothing more than to escape the terror and horridness of the war.
The film is breathtakingly shot, beautiful on multiple levels and a surprisingly intimate and humanistic look at the shadow of war.
United 93
If you were born anytime before the mid-1990s, chances are you remember exactly where you were and exactly what you were doing on September 11th, 2001. Another day that will live in infamy, that date marks the occasion that America was attacked with enemies striking at the center of our financial and cultural heart.
The hijacked airliners that were utilized by the terrorists on that day were full of passengers, and those passengers were people with lives, dreams and ambitions of their own.
Thanks to cell phone calls and a variety of other data gathered from black boxes and other sources, the film is able to show us a real time, nearly perfect accounting of what transpired aboard United Airlines Flight 93 that day.
Showing us actions taking place in the cabin and on the ground in air traffic control centers, the film shows us evil, terror and resolve in equal measure. May the tale of the valiant civilians who fought to recapture an airplane never be forgotten, and this movie serves as a chilling testament to their heroism.
Sicario
Sicario tells us a story that is entirely, soberingly too close to the truth for most of us. After an FBI tactical team raids a suspected a cartel safe house near the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona, dozens of bodies are discovered and a booby trap kills a couple of agents.
In the wake of this, a competent but honorable and virtuous FBI agent Kate Macer is assigned to a joint DOJ and DOD task force that includes a team of Delta Force operators led by a charismatic CIA officer and his shadowy, but secretive, associate.
As operations and events unfold to bring down the Sonora Cartel, events escalate in a way that is unthinkable to the upright FBI agent Kate Macer, portrayed by Emily Blunt.
As the violence escalates and what should be law enforcement activity winds up being direct action assassinations and takedowns, the intrigue continues to spiral downward until Agent Macer is in a world of gray and grayer morality, unable to tell which way is up or out.
An ensemble cast, crackling gunfights and an intimate look at the brutality of the conflict that puts the war in war on drugs, Sicario shows us that the good guys are often indistinguishable from the bad in action alone.
Black Hawk Down
In 1993, a US military raid in Mogadishu, Somalia to capture the top lieutenants of a local warlord goes disastrously wrong when one of the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters used by the task force is shot down.
The result was one of the biggest, bloodiest and most brutal infantry battles since the close of World War II. This movie tells that story and dramatic and pull no punches fashion.
The film, adapted by peerless director Ridley Scott, is based on the book of the same name by author Mark Bowden and throughout we will watch the beleaguered task force, hobbled by bureaucratic policy, struggle to retake the initiative, prevail, and eventually just survive after the Blackhawk goes down.
Men are killed, pilots are captured, weapons are distributed and fortifications are placed as the comparatively tiny force of US soldiers and special operators faces off against a thousands-strong horde of Somali militiamen and irregulars.
While the film showcases the heroism and bravery of our fighting men on the ground, it is also a ruthless display of the brutality of war, especially one that is fought for such futile reasons as bringing law to a lawless land.
You’ll watch it for the gun fights and high-octane, real life action but it is the questions that this film raises that will keep you in bed at night pondering them.
Starship Troopers
Starship Troopers is a radically divisive film: To one set of viewers, it is an unforgivable, heinously terrible send-up of Robert A. Heinlein’s greatly beloved novel that lends the film its name. To another set of viewers, it is a cheeky, subversive and delightful B-film that revels in its veneer of cheapness. The trick is, both of these groups are right!
If it wasn’t for the constantly invasive fake advertisements for federal service and news appearing throughout the film, you’d be forgiven for thinking you accidentally walked into a melodrama following a group of high school students trying to navigate the trials and tribulations of young adulthood.
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The group of friends naturally want to sign up for Federal service in order to obtain full rights as citizens when, oh no, a giant asteroid launched by bugs strikes earth, kills millions and wipes out their hometown.
What follows next is a romp that goes from one corner of the galaxy to the other as the friends enter differing branches of federal service.
Breakups occur, deaths happen, people seemingly come back from the dead and all the while hapless infantrymen armed with automatic rifles manage to square off against arachnids half the size of houses. The movie is awesome, and you should watch it.
First Blood
An undisputed classic, First Blood tells the tale of the iconic John Rambo in his first big screen appearance.
Rambo is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and now seemingly without purpose and disoriented in an ungrateful country that has no place for him he wanders and hitchhikes from town to town trying to visit old friends and veterans like him.
Entering the town of Hope, Washington, Rambo is berated, mocked, belittled and eventually ordered away by arrogant Sheriff Will Teasle.
After Rambo refuses to go, he is arrested and faces increasing abuse at the hands of the police. Unknown to the sheriffs, they are dealing with a former Green Beret and Medal of Honor recipient, and Rambo soon proves his merit for earning both after he escapes from custody and flees into the woods.
The sheriff’s department pursues, and as they persecute their hunt against Rambo he escalates his personal war against those who have mistreated him.
First Blood is an understated but poignant film, and though most remember it for the roaring, suburban battle that is the finale in the film’s final act, it shows us in stark relief how a country treated the veterans that were forced to fight a war they never wanted in the first place.
300
This film launched the Spartans of ancient Greece into the popular imagination and soon produced a fountain of memes.
You may or may not be grateful for that, but this over-the-top, fantastical and excruciatingly gory silver screen adaptation of comic virtuoso Frank Miller’s original comic was one of the very first films of its kind, spawning imitators by the cartload and a sequel.
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The tale is one that will be well known to any professional or amateur historian of military history though legitimate history buffs are likely to wail in despair at how badly this film’s fictionalized account of real events is portrayed.
Set during the Persian Wars, the film follows stoic King of Sparta Leonidas and his understrength bodyguard force of 300, hand-picked Spartans as they try desperately to hold back the colossal army of the would-be god Xerxes.
The story is one of valor in the face of overwhelming odds and the brave acceptance of fate and circumstances as the sacrifice of the 300 at the Hot Gates serves to ignite the fires of liberty that unify Greece in defiance of the henceforth unstoppable Persian army.
No Country for Old Men
Based on legendary author Cormac McCarthy’s 2007 novel of the same name, No Country for Old Men is a riveting, bleak story about the world moving on and leaving the old and outmoded behind in the face of the terrible, fabulous new nihilism.
This is a nuanced movie with a considerable amount of texture, and though the film predominantly centers around money taken from a botched cartel drug deal and the man who took it desperately trying to hang on to his ill-gotten loot against an enigmatic and unstoppable pursuer, the genuine protagonist of the film is a small town, elderly sheriff trying to catch both of them.
Confronted with increasingly gruesome violence and events that seem to be beyond the grasp of both himself and law enforcement at large, the real moral of the story is how such a man comes to grips with such things.
This film is nothing short of hypnotic, with a surreal, dreamlike quality it will only further endear viewers to it. Darkly beautiful, shockingly violent and masterfully paste and shot this film is a masterpiece that belongs in every home library.
Dirty Harry
The flagship film from an iconic, conservative Hollywood legend and part of this list’s “Clint Trifecta”, Blockbuster mega-smash Dirty Harry is the movie that made Clint Eastwood an undeniable legend, turned the Smith & Wesson model 29 into an unforgettable icon and thrilled audiences across the nation when it first premiered.
The plot of the movie follows San Francisco Police Department Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan as he pursues a psychotic spread killer by the name of Scorpio, a ruthless sniper who picks his victims with no discernible rhyme or reason, and promises he will continue unless paid off by a huge ransom.
Inspector Callahan must deal with the inscrutable killer and a bureaucracy that seems purpose designed and built to keep the criminals one step ahead of the good guys.
This film more than any other cemented the concept of the anti-hero: the ultimately good protagonist who nonetheless might not be a very good person, one who is anything but keen to play by the rules and will stop at nothing until the job is done.
From its unforgettable opening, to the thrilling middle act and unforgettable finale, Dirty Harry is a legendary film.
Gran Torino
The next stop on the Clint Trifecta is Gran Torino, a film that Clint Eastwood both starred in and directed. The film centers on the life of an elderly Korean War veteran struggling to come to grips with a world that has seemingly left him completely, utterly behind and alone.
Our veteran, Walt Kowalski, has recently lost his wife, his family (and particularly his sons) doesn’t want anything to do with him, and his extended family believes that he is dead already for all intents and purposes.
A hard, uncompromising and deeply unsentimental man, Kowalski’s racist thread is plucked when the formerly middle class and entirely white neighborhood he has lived in for much of his life begins to be overtaken by Asian immigrants.
However, in time Kowalski begins to sympathize with his neighbors, and comes to bond with one of the young men in the neighboring family who is coming of age.
Forced to deal with the predations of gang activity, including gang members part of his own family, Kowalski makes it his personal mission to arm and equip the young man with the skills and the confidence to face the increasingly sharp teeth of the world.
Touching, tragic and defiantly hopeful and equal measure, Gran Torino is one of Eastwood’s masterpieces.
Unforgiven
The final entry in the Clint Trifecta is a legendary Western and suitable send-off to the genre that launched director and leading man Eastwood’s career.
Unlike the typical westerns of previous decades, this is not one where the cowboy rides off into the sunset on a white horse content with the good deeds that he has done, all the while the credits roll on a villain who got what he justly deserved.
This is an unflinching, harsh look at what was likely to be much closer to reality during the so-called halcyon days of the Wild West.
The tail is one of revenge, murky morality and a tenuous (if at all present) redemption. Eastwood stars as retired gunslinger and outlaw William Munny.
Now working on a small farm and struggling to raise his two children in the aftermath of his wife’s death, a “young gun” approaches Munny with an offer: a share in the bounty if he helps the young gunslinger collect on a man that mutilated and maimed a couple of local women.
What follows next is a sobering, and shocking story. The old, retired outlaw and gun hand seems to shamble from one fight to the next, surviving more by Providence than anything else.
The young gunslinger finds out that the romantic notions of the gunfighter lifestyle are not everything that he had imagined, or hoped. In the end, sometimes the bad guys are given carte blanche by the powers that be and the hero is just the antagonist of another story who somehow made it to the end, and is now desperately striving for redemption.
Full of amazing dialogue, better actors and thunderous gun fights that really sell the damage inflicted by the weapons of the day, Unforgiven is a western that cannot be missed by any red-blooded fan of the genre.
No Safe Spaces
No safe spaces is a documentary, one released in 2019 in the midst of what was probably the genesis of the ongoing assault on free speech, free thinking, and the relentless bubble wrapping of our nation’s supposed institutes of higher learning.
This film follows the travels of Dennis Prager and Adam Carolla as they interview college students, college faculty and other people regarding such things as political censorship, exposure to dissenting opinions and the ever precious freedom of speech.
Made in an era before cancel culture had truly spread its membranous wings over the nation, it now serves as a darkly humorous harbinger of what was to come.
Various events concerning the above in our era were covered, including university treatment of well-known faculty who spoke out against their increasingly draconian and unconstitutional practices along with what few liberals remain in the public eye who are against the tactics and techniques employed by their brethren.
Make it a point to see this film before it is erased forever. That is, you can count on it being erased if the leftists get their way!
Red Dawn
For those of us who lived through and properly understood what was at stake during the Cold war, the thought of annihilation or, even more chillingly, invasion was never far away from our thoughts. Red Dawn is a movie that illustrated in bold and unflinching the tale what the latter scenario would look like, and is likely the film that first codified the notion of prepping in the minds of a fair portion of the readership.
Set in the aftermath of a somewhat nebulous World War III scenario, the trajectory of the United States of America depicted in the film is significantly different from the one we enjoy today in reality.
NATO is no longer a thing, the United States is increasingly isolated on the world stage and gets backed into a corner geographically after the entirety of Mexico besides to go unabashedly communist.
The film then centers around the trials and tribulations of a group of Colorado teenagers who look up from their desks on one sunny school day to see Russian paratroopers landing all over town.
The Russians crackdown, civilians flee or are killed and eventually the young folks band together into a dedicated, capable and ruthless resistance movement. Outgunned but rarely out maneuvered, the American guerillas put the Red Army to the test and try to free their hometown from its grip.
Die Hard
Die Hard is a standout American action movie, and also undeniably a Christmas film, no matter what the haters and leading man Bruce Willis have to say.
The film is unique in that it started the trend of making action movies more about the relatable and more realistic “everyman” protagonist instead of the hulking, muscle bound heroes of typical 1980s action cinema.
The tail follows one NYPD cop, John McClane, taking a last minute flight and erstwhile Christmas vacation to see his estranged wife in Los Angeles. His wife, ambitious and competent, now works for the Nakatomi Corporation in their gleaming high-rise headquarters.
Unfortunately, terrorists (in actuality thieves using a terror attack as cover for a heist) led by the intelligent, manicured and composed Hans Gruber seize control of the building and take all of the employees hostage during their Christmas party.
McLane soon realizes that it is up to him, and no one else is going to save the hostages, and his wife, except him.
Tense, exciting and action-packed, McClane is nonetheless very human in the film and it shows. He gets hurt, he is scared shitless, and he struggles mightily against a situation that his training has not prepared him for, and does it all to save his wife, the mother of his children.
Endlessly quotable and rewatchable, Die Hard is a true action movie-lovers action film.
Man on Fire (2004)
The second film adaptation of the novel of the same name, Man on Fire is a stark and introspective look at what good can come out of a broken life and what forces can give way to redemption.
The film follows John w Creasy, former United States Force Recon Marine and CIA SpecAct division operative as he tries to glue the many pieces of his life back together after retirement. With a mountain of skeletons in his closet, hideous alcohol dependency and crushing guilt it all becomes too much and Creasy attempts suicide, only to fail.
Forced to confront both himself and his life, his American friend living in Mexico City (who just so happens to run a bodyguarding agency) gets him a supposed cakewalk job protecting the daughter of a Mexican automaker.
During a kidnap attempt, Creasy manages to kill several of the kidnappers and wound others, but the girl is taken anyway. Badly wounded, Creasy succumbs only to be rescued and revived.
What follows next is a coldly furious story of revenge as Creasy puts his considerable abilities to use tracking down, capturing and interrogating the kidnappers, determined to find the girl no matter what.
Directed by Tony Scott, brother of Ridley Scott, Man on Fire is a wonderfully shot and highly stylish film that does not shy away from showing what Creasy does when it needs to be done while on his mission.
The film also shows us that redemption is possible, no matter how far away from it you might feel, though paying the price might cost you everything.
Seven Samurai
A stunningly beautiful and incredibly intricate film when first released, the story of Seven Samurai has since been adapted, copied or even lifted wholesale and welded into the structures of other films, such has been its influence.
The tale of Seven Samurai centers on a 16th century village in Japan. The farmer villagers, poor, and barely able to grow enough food for themselves are sadly looted by local armed bandits again and again until the villagers themselves are on the brink of starvation.
With no other options, the village patriarch tells his fellows to hire masterless samurai known as ronin, seven of them, to defend the village from the bandits, paying them with their very last grains of rice.
The masterless samurai, not necessarily good men themselves, decide to accept payment in the form of food and lodging, moving into the village and getting to know the villagers as they train them for battle.
Featuring beautiful cinematography and expert patience in developing the setting, the story and the characters the film’s finale explodes into hectic violence that proves to be worth the wait. In the end we are left to ponder the worth and character of the protagonists we spent so much time getting to know.
Braveheart
One of those legendary films that is endlessly rewatchable and quotable, Braveheart is a film with a title that precedes itself.
Directing and starring Mel Gibson, the movie takes a few liberties with the historical account of brave and fierce Scottish warrior William Wallace as he struggles to unite and free his people from the predations, and taxation, of King Edward the First of England.
Dealing with such epic themes as a struggle for freedom, becoming a leader of men and dealing with love both lost and found, Braveheart is a story of battle, clashing ideals and rivalries that both persist and fall away in the face of a common enemy.
Braveheart was a gargantuan Blockbuster when it premiered and in general is only increasingly fondly recalled in the mind of the public as the years go on.
As mentioned, history buffs might take some grievance with the film’s portrayal of events that are otherwise properly codified in the annals of time, but so far as you can set that aside you can get ready to enjoy a momentous film that is sure to stir the blood of any conservative.
The Book of Eli
Films concerning the apocalypse, the end of the world and events leading up to the end of the world were all the rage going into the second decade of the 21st century, but one of them, 2010’s The Book of Eli, distinguished itself from the crowd in many ways.
Starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis, all of the genre tropes are there but with several twists and a surprise ending that you might not see coming.
The film follows a man, Eli, somewhere near the Pacific coast of the America that was, the country having been scoured into total ruin by an unspecified disaster, implied to be nuclear war as evidenced by the gargantuan craters pock-marking the barren landscape.
In Eli’s possession is a book, though the contents of the book are a secret he guards from everyone. Though a ferocious warrior and seasoned survivor, Eli is very different from the other denizens of the wasteland in that he is honorable, decent and kind.
However, another man is seeking the book that Eli carries, the ruler and would-be warlord of a town by the name of Carnegie.
Once he learns of the book in Eli’s possession he stops at nothing to get it and as the film winds on we wonder if Eli can persist in his quest while hanging on to his humanity when the world shows him time and time again that all such things are already dust.
The Grey
The Grey is a beautiful, harrowing and haunting movie that follows a group of Alaskan oilfield workers, led by John Ottway as portrayed by Liam Neeson, who are stranded in the middle of a beautiful but utterly lethal wilderness after their plane crashes.
Facing injury, starvation and constant assault by wolves who pursue them, all must set aside their egos, deal with their personal demons and struggle mightily in their attempts to survive.
This sounds very much like typical stories of disaster already told and told again throughout the years in Hollywood, but The Grey distinguishes itself in the texture that it gives its characters.
Set against the backdrop of beautiful landscape shots, protagonist Ottway in particular is an interesting character, struggling with existential crisis in the wake of his wife’s death and his brooding resentment of the men he is charged with protecting who are both his physical and intellectual inferiors.
However, under the circumstances some men rise to the occasion, surprising both Ottway and the audience while others show their once-bombastic worth to be little more than a show. The Grey is a masterwork of survival cinema that is well worth a watch.
Taken
Taken is a film that plays on feelings all parents understand instinctively. Liam Neeson again stars, as a man, a father, with an estranged wife who nevertheless loves his daughter, very, very much.
When his daughter and her friend vacation in France they run afoul of local human traffickers and are kidnapped. But fortunately for his daughter and unfortunately for the bad guys, the father is a man with a particular set of skills that make him a nightmare for people like them.
Relying on deductive skills and intelligence gathering capabilities that make Sherlock Holmes look like Mr. Magoo, the man begins rolling up the carpet on the kidnappers, dismantling their organization while killing and interrogating anyone he can catch that had anything to do with his daughter’s disappearance.
The trail of intrigue eventually leads him to the upper echelons of international power players with very deviant tastes.
This film requires a little bit of suspension of disbelief as, supremely skilled or no, Liam Neeson was no longer a young man but we nonetheless see him beating the God-fearing hell out of the bad guys.
But we can all relate to the imagined infusion of unstoppable strength that such rage would give us for the sake of our own kids should anyone harm them. A guilty pleasure, but one with a hopeful premise.
Conclusion
Even today it isn’t all bad news with Hollywood, and though conservatives and conservative characters are treated as punching bags in many movies the sun has not fully set on the big screen for us yet.
Above is a list of 20 modern and classic movies that are sure to satiate any conservative cinephile’s desire for a fun, exciting or introspective flick.
Tom Marlowe practically grew up with a gun in his hand, and has held all kinds of jobs in the gun industry: range safety, sales, instruction and consulting, Tom has the experience to help civilian shooters figure out what will work best for them.
What about the 1984 version of Red Dawn?
YES, SIR!! I agree 100%.
I’m sorry a lot of those movies I like
And I’m not a conservative I think it’s funny that this Author has labeled these films as “conservative” films with conservative values???
Thank you! I’d forgotten all about some of these movies, and they were all really good. I’ve seen a couple more than once, but I know I’ll end up going down this list and watching every single one for at least the second time.
Strike Braveheart. About the only accuracy in the film was that the man existed, fought Edward the First, and that he was Hung, Drawn and Quartered. Everything else in the film is complete and utter BS (par for the course of writer Randall Wallace).
Rob Roy, would be a much better choice.
The “300,” a CGI atrocity would be a better comedy. Another film where the only thing it gets right about the Battle of Thermopyle is the names of the protagonists.
Most of the list I’ll agree, are stirring movies, but there’s a few that wouldn’t make my personal list of Blood Stirring Patriotic Movies.
Rob Roy was great. I wasn’t watching for these movies’ historical value, although I do like the story to be correct when it’s supposed to have some.
I absolutely love those movies. Thank you
I believe I’ve seen all these movies, and although I liked every one of them, some I absolutely loved.
Dirty Harry wont play the Hugs for Thugs,or Kid Glove treatment of Crinimals stops a Bank Robbery and kills Scorpio in the end knowing fully well he would be found Not Guilty by Reasons of Insanity saving the Boy who was Fishing He wont drop his gun when scorpio tries to use the boy asa Hostage
The Count of Monte Cristo with James Cabazeil