"Inspiring Patriotic Stories"
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What You Need To Know:
SOMETHING TO STAND FOR is a stirring, inspiring, superb documentary. Mike Rowe, who produces and wrote the script, infuses his movie with an energetic style. He celebrates liberty, patriotism, duty, honor, and sacrifice. However, it fudges some historical facts. SOMETHING TO STAND FOR also has some re-enacted war violence, a few light obscenities and a humorous, somewhat off-color biographical story about animal husbandry. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger and older children. That said, SOMETHING TO STAND FOR WITH MIKE ROWE is worth seeing on the big screen.
Content:
More Detail:
SOMETHING TO STAND FOR WITH MIKE ROWE is a lively documentary for July Fourth that tells multiple re-enacted patriotic stories about the Founding Fathers, several America soldiers who took part in various famous battles, two Medal of Honor winners, an American President, two Supreme Court Justices, and some advice that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave to a young black female singer that impacted her life. Patterned after newsman Paul Harvey’s REST OF THE STORY history program, SOMETHING TO STAND FOR is a stirring, inspiring, superb movie that should spark a renewed spirit of patriotism across America, but it fudges a few historical facts and has some re-enacted war violence, a few light obscenities and a humorous biographical story about animal husbandry that warrant caution for younger and older children.
TV personality, raconteur and motivational speaker Mike Rowe tells the stories in his usual informal, passionate manner. After introducing the movie, Rowe opens with the story behind the battle that forced the ruler of the small Muslim nation of Tripoli, modern-day Libya, to stop waging war on American ships and kidnapping American sailors. In 1805, Lt. Pressley O’Bannon led a small platoon of eight Marines against a port city in Tripoli. What Rowe neglects to say is that O’Bannon and his Marines also had an army of 500 mercenaries. There was also another American, U.S. Army Lt. William Eaton, who was named General over the land campaign against Tripoli and the port city. However, it was O’Bannon, his eight Marines and about 50 Greek mercenaries who took the main artillery battery guarding the city. Also, it was O’Bannon who raised the American flag over the city.
Other stories Rowe tells are the stories of two Medal of Honor recipients who risked their lives, a story about a Major General in the Civil War who faced a future American President in a planned duel 20 years before the war, and a story about three forgotten members of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence. There’s also a segment about the Forgotten Soldier at Arlington Cemetery in Washington, DC, a humorous story about two future Supreme Court Justices, the story behind the tearing down of the Berlin Wall, and a story about some advice that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., once gave to a black actress before he was assassinated.
Rowe also visits several of the country’s monuments and Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C. He also briefly interviews two veterans and a woman involved in sprucing up the Lincoln Memorial.
SOMETHING TO STAND FOR is a stirring, inspiring, superb documentary. Mike Rowe, who produces and wrote the script, infuses his movie with an energetic style. He celebrates liberty, patriotism, duty, honor, and sacrifice. One of the best stories is the story of two teenage soldiers whose brave actions on the field of battle delays a major British bombardment of a fort protecting Baltimore in the early 1800s. Without their actions, the British may have captured Baltimore, and the United States may have lost the War of 1812.
SOMETHING TO STAND FOR has a strong moral, patriotic worldview with strong redemptive elements of sacrifice and service. However, it fudges a few historical facts. SOMETHING TO STAND FOR also has some re-enacted war violence, a few light obscenities and a humorous, somewhat off-color biographical story about animal husbandry. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for younger and older children. That said, SOMETHING TO STAND FOR WITH MIKE ROWE is well worth seeing on the big screen.