Independence Day (1996) - Episode 120

Checkmate. Come join the Rewind Movie Podcast as we celebrate our Independence Day with Roland Emmerich’s 1996 sci-fi action spectacular.

A drunk crop duster pilot with a painful memory of extraterrestrial abduction; an overqualified cable TV repairman and his elderly father; a hot shot Air Force ace, his exotic dancer girlfriend, and her cutesy kid; and a war hero President with faltering approval figures are among the sprawling cast that finally receive a definitive answer to the question, ‘are we alone in the universe?’. The response comes courtesy of on-screen devastation the likes of which audiences had never seen before, as the 90s disaster movie arms race went nuclear and then some.

German director Emmerich’s 3rd Hollywood feature tapped emerging megastar Will Smith, quirky character actor-turned-recently-minted summer movie favourite Jeff Goldblum, and versatile leading man Bill Pullman for lead roles, surrounded them with a murderer’s row of familiar supporting faces (including an inexplicably deployed Randy Quaid), and dropped them into a maximalist effects-laden extravaganza that led to extraordinary financial success. But, is it actually…good? Gali, Devlin and Matt tussle with the tentacles, position our pieces, and call our mothers. And our housekeepers. And our lawyers. Actually, forget the lawyers.

If you have a film you’d like the gang to tackle, send us an email at [email protected]. For introductions, essays, playlists, and the full back catalogue of episodes and specials, find us at rewindmoviecast.com. For specially designed merchandise, movie shirts, posters, and our famous Bingo Trope Totes and a poster based on this week’s episode cover image, head to DevlinDoesDrawing on Teemill.

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