This extra credit assignment is to write an essay that is a historical evaluation of a feature film related to American History. 
This should not simply be a summary of a movie or a critical review in which you discuss whether or not it is a good film. Your focus is to tell me specific ways in which this movie has historical value and specific ways in which it is probably inaccurate. To do this well, you should focus on the following questions: (Do NOT write answers to each of these questions in order. These questions are listed in order to clarify what you should be writing about.)
What does this movie teach you about the historical period?
How accurately does the movie portray the events/trends of the period?
What issues/events discussed in class are portrayed in this movie?
What was your opinion of the movie as a whole? (Did you learn very much?)                                                                            
In addition to watching the movie and giving your individual impressions, some extra research will increase your chances of getting the maximum number of points. Here are a couple of ideas:
Do some careful reading on the period, both in your textbook and, if possible, on the internet. This will help you to evaluate the accuracy of the movie.
See if you can find movie reviews on the internet in order to determine what historians think of the film. If you read some reviews on-line, make sure that you list the references. (See plagiarism policy.) Do not use ChatGPT or any other AI software to help you write the essay. 
Plagiarism policy
A person is guilty of plagiarism if at any time he or she copies another writer’s words or uses his or her original idea without giving that person credit. Since there is an enormous amount of information on the internet, it is very tempting for students to simply copy things from a web site and assume that they will never get caught. Please do not attempt to do this. If you use another person’s words, put them in quotation marks and cite your source of information at the end of the paper. If anything that you write is influenced by research that you have done, also list those sources of information at the end of your paper. At many colleges plagiarism can lead to expulsion. In this class, it will result in a grade deduction. (Please keep in mind that your submitted assignment will go through a plagiarism checker before I read it.)
List of Movies Arranged by Topic
The West / Relations with Native Americans
Dances With Wolves                                                   
Cheyenne Autumn
Little Big Man                                                                                                               
Lonesome Dove (mini-series)
I Will Fight No More Forever                                           
Son of the Morning Star
Geronimo (1993)                                                      
The Long Riders
Wyatt Earp                                                                   
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Open Range                                                                  
Ulzana’s Raid
Tombstone                                                                   
Young Guns
Miscellaneous Topics (1877-1920)
Edison, the Man                                                                                    
The Winds of Kitty Hawk (First Airplane flight)
Rough Riders (Spanish-American War)                   
Chaplin                                                                                                                         
Little Women                                                                                                    
Wilson
Iron Jawed Angels (Women’s Suffrage)
World War I
All Quiet on the Western Front                           
Westfront 1918
Sergeant York
The Lost Battalion
1920s
Inherit the Wind                                    
The Roaring 20’s
The Great Gatsby                                   
Black Legion
The Untouchables                                
The Cotton Club
The Front Page (1931)                                  
Chicago
Great Depression
The Grapes of Wrath                           
Cradle Will Rock
All The King’s Men                           
The Journey of Natty Gann
Our Daily Bread                                                            
Modern Times
Bound for Glory                                
King of the Hill
Places in the Heart                        
Cinderella Man
Immigration / Experience of American Immigrants
Avalon                                                                         
Hester Street                                         
Mi Familia
American Tail                                                   
Salt of the Earth
Work Conditions / Labor Movement
Matewan                                                          
F.I.S.T                                                 
Black Fury
The Molly Maguires                   
Sounder
Experiences of African-Americans (pre-World War II)
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman                    
Roots (volume 6)        
The Great Debaters
To Kill a Mockingbird                                                     
Freedom Road              
The Help
The Color Purple                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            
World War II
Flags of Our Fathers                           
Pearl Harbor                                                     
Macarthur                                                        
Patton
Tora! Tora! Tora!                           
The Big Red One           
Battleground
Midway                                                                                    
Saving Private Ryan           
The Halls of Montezuma
The Longest Day                            
Windtalkers
Come See the Paradise                           
Snow Falling on Cedars
Civil Rights Movement / Experience of African Americans (post-World War II)
Malcolm X                                                                                                       
The Long Walk Home                   
The Butler
Ghosts of Mississippi                                   
Mississippi Burning                   
Selma
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner                           
A Raisin in the Sun                   
Hidden Figures
42                                                                    
The Cold War/ Anti-Communism
Thirteen Days                                                                
The Right Stuff
The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!                    
Dr. Strangelove
The Red Menace                                                       
The Manchurian Candidate (1962 version)
The Front                                                                                                                                 
Guilty by Suspicion
Men in War                                                                                                                              
Pork Chop Hill
Good Night and Good Luck                                               
J Edgar
1950s / Suburban Culture
The Best Years of Our Lives     
Gentleman’s Agreement       
American Graffiti             
Quiz Show                           
Rebel Without a Cause            
Blackboard Jungle
Pleasantville                          
Man in the Gray Flannel Suit      
Kinsey
Mona Lisa Smile
Vietnam War
Platoon                                                                                     
Full Metal Jacket                   
Flight of the Intruder
The Deer Hunter           
Born on the Fourth of July           
The Hanoi Hilton
Apocalypse Now           
Coming Home                                                                           
Go Tell the Spartans
We Were Soldiers
The Quiet American                  
Hamburger Hill
Heaven and Earth    
Go Tell the Spartans
1960s
The Doors                            
JFK                 
Easy Rider                
Across the Universe
Forrest Gump                        
Hair                 
The Graduate
1970s
All the President’s Men (Watergate)                   
The Final Days (Watergate)
Nixon                                                       
Norma Rae
Network                                                   
Frost/Nixon
The China Syndrome                                     
Argo
Lakota Woman, Siege at Wounded Knee
1980s – Present
Wall Street                                    
Roger and Me                                            
Zero Dark Thirty    
United 93
Three Kings                                                                              
Thanks of a Grateful Nation (Gulf War)                   
Jarhead
Philadelphia                                                                               
Pirates of Silicon Valley                            
An Inconvenient Truth
The Insider                                                                               
Traffic                                                                                                             
Charlie Wilson’s War
A Civil Action                                                                           
Primary Colors                                                                                      
“W”
Erin Brockovich                                
Black Hawk Down                                  
The Social Network
Bowling for Columbine                            
Fahrenheit 911                                              
Bob Roberts