<p>We're watching forrest gump too</p>
<p>If you believe the allegory stuff, how about The Wizard of Oz?</p>
<p>My class is watching movies too. My main recommendations were 1776 and Forest Gump. Thirteen Days (about the Cuban Missile Crisis) is also pretty good.</p>
<p>dr strangelove about the cold war</p>
<p>The bridge on the river kwai, the great escape and lawrence of arabia. Not really U.S. history related movies but they're all to do with WWI or WWII so my teacher thinks we should see them. Although right now we're watching Empire Records :)</p>
<p>the Ken Burns civil war series</p>
<p>(all 9 hours were required for my Civil War and Reconstruction Era course at Yale this semester, and i can see why. it's a really interesting informative documentary, and it's pretty fun to watch, too...)</p>