Movies about taking on The Man?

February 8, 2018 2:56 PM

Hi - I'm trying to come up with a list of movies that are about people coming together to take on their oppressors. Star Wars is an obvious one, but Norma Rae and Braveheart would work too. The more inspiring the better. Any others that come to mind?
posted by Anonymousness to Media & Arts (61 answers total)

9-5
posted by Iris Gambol at 2:58 PM on February 8, 2018 [7 favorites]

Made in Dagenham
First Wives Club
posted by phunniemee at 3:02 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

And you may enjoy my previous question.
posted by phunniemee at 3:03 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Matrix, of course. How much more oppressive can you get?
posted by giraffeneckbattle at 3:04 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Red Dawn! A childhood classic...
posted by machinecraig at 3:11 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Gladiator
posted by 4ster at 3:15 PM on February 8, 2018

Erin Brockovich
posted by cooper green at 3:16 PM on February 8, 2018 [6 favorites]

The LEGO movie.
posted by Kafkaesque at 3:19 PM on February 8, 2018

Silkwood
North Country
The Help
Red Dawn
V for Vendetta
Spartacus
Lawrence of Arabia
The Ten Commandments
The Hunger Games
Michael Collins
Good Night, and Good Luck
Gandhi
The Planet of the Apes trilogy

Those are just off the top of my head. Some might fit your theme better than others.
posted by xyzzy at 3:21 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Pom Poko. A scrappy band of...er...raccoons fights back against heartless greedy land developers with their wits and massive magical testicles. Yeah.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:22 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Starship Troopers is about a scrappy cadre of fascist co-ed soldiers in a battle against ugly, bug-like aliens. But seriously, Harlan County USA.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:30 PM on February 8, 2018

Newsies is a musical based on the New York City newsboy strike of 1899.
posted by foxfirefey at 3:34 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

The Goonies is about a band of scrappy misfit kids who prevent foreclosure on their parents' houses by pursuing a harrowing adventure that results in the mortgages being paid off with pirate treasure.
posted by XMLicious at 3:41 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Over the Edge!!!
posted by Ufez Jones at 3:42 PM on February 8, 2018

The Lord of the Rings movies
posted by delight at 3:44 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Animal House
posted by bondcliff at 3:45 PM on February 8, 2018

Lagaan!
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:46 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Empire Records - Damn The Man, save the empire!
posted by Syllables at 3:50 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Ufez - Over the Top?
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 3:53 PM on February 8, 2018

Ernest Goes to Camp
posted by infinitewindow at 3:55 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Street Fight
Harlan County USA
The Battle for Algiers
posted by brookeb at 4:11 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Hidden Figures
posted by clew at 4:21 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Billy Jack
posted by thelonius at 4:22 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Trolls
posted by Morpeth at 4:25 PM on February 8, 2018

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest is one of the great anti-institution stories.
posted by wjfitzy at 4:31 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Princess Mononoke
posted by bettafish at 4:46 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

School of Rock.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:48 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Also, I haven’t seen either of these films yet, but Selma and Pride both qualify unless the descriptions are desperately misleading.
posted by bettafish at 4:49 PM on February 8, 2018

The Breakfast Club
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:52 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

No set in Pinochet's Chile.
Pride about gay activists supporting striking Welsh miners.
Trumbo about the McCarthy era.
posted by Botanizer at 5:06 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Cutter's Way"
posted by baseballpajamas at 5:09 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Born in Flames
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 5:11 PM on February 8, 2018

The Stoning of Soraya M.
posted by irish01 at 5:22 PM on February 8, 2018

Snowpiercer!
posted by cakelite at 5:25 PM on February 8, 2018

Battleship Potemkin. It’s a classic Soviet silent film.
posted by FencingGal at 5:27 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Angel Unchained hippie commune against a town of rednecks, with a biker gang to the rescue. An early 70s gem.
posted by MovableBookLady at 5:31 PM on February 8, 2018

Of Course, Real Genius
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:32 PM on February 8, 2018 [3 favorites]

Vanishing Point
Cool Hand Luke
Shawshank Redemption
Sneakers
Point Break (for both sides of fighting the man)
Pump up the Volume
Heathers
RoboCop

Good lord, so many others. I feel like most of GenX popular cinema could apply here.


(Note:in all cases, the originals, not the remakes)
posted by swngnmonk at 5:41 PM on February 8, 2018

Another vote for Made in Dagenham
When I saw it the entire cinema applauded as it ended
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 5:55 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Jim Henson's "The Tale Of The Bunny Picnic." I'm not kidding. It's a thinly-veiled parable about workers and middle-management coming together to stand up to bosses.
posted by daisystomper at 6:40 PM on February 8, 2018

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
posted by gudrun at 6:51 PM on February 8, 2018

Newsies!!!!
posted by Hermione Granger at 6:52 PM on February 8, 2018

Another one - Matewan
posted by gudrun at 6:57 PM on February 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

They Live, turns out The Man is aliens.
posted by Wavelet at 7:03 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Dallas Buyers Club -- in the mid-80's when being diagnosed with HIV was a death sentence, a man with HIV takes matters into his own hands to find treatment for himself and others, fighting the FDA in the process.
posted by elmay at 7:28 PM on February 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

Tank Girl!
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:29 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

A Clockwork Orange
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:36 PM on February 8, 2018

Dirty Dancing? (I feel like this movie is the answer to everything)
posted by Sassyfras at 9:04 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Chicken Run
posted by brujita at 9:08 PM on February 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

Suckerpunch!
posted by Vaike at 10:13 PM on February 8, 2018

Places in the Heart with Sally Field, Danny Glover, and John Malkovich in the only 100% not creepy role he ever had.
posted by janey47 at 11:20 PM on February 8, 2018

Seven Samurai
Shin Godzilla
posted by heatvision at 4:41 AM on February 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Salt of the Earth (1954)
posted by Carol Anne at 6:05 AM on February 9, 2018

The other side of the coin is Leviathan but the little guy (spoiler alert) loses.
posted by WeekendJen at 6:54 AM on February 9, 2018

1971, about the break-in and document theft by activists that exposed COINTELPRO.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:02 AM on February 9, 2018

UHF
A more serious one and actually a documentary, How to Survive a Plague, which is about how the AIDS activists fought with the government and got changes made to the healthcare system. I read France's book, haven't see the movie, but given the accolades it received, it's got to be worth a look.
posted by Hactar at 10:25 AM on February 9, 2018

Les Miserables?
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 11:09 AM on February 9, 2018

What about Shaft? He definitely was the man up against 'the man.'
posted by Nanukthedog at 11:42 AM on February 9, 2018

The Milagro Beanfield War
posted by Iris Gambol at 1:46 PM on February 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Legend of Billie Jean!
posted by rhiannonstone at 6:06 PM on February 9, 2018 [2 favorites]

Office Space
Fried Green Tomatoes
posted by wannabecounselor at 3:23 AM on February 10, 2018