Green Nature


List of Top Hollywood Environment Movies

Here are my choices for the best Hollywood environment movies.You can compare them with your favorites.



Related Resources
Hollywood Goes Green
An Inconvient Truth
Environment Movies: Best of the Best

  • A Civil Action (1999), John Travolta plays the lead as a civil ligation lawyer and his decade long case against an American corporation in a water pollution dispute brought by citizens of a Massachusetts town.
  • China Syndrome (1979), Reality follows the movies in this story of problems in a nuclear power plant. Jane Fonda, Michael Douglas and Jack Lemmon star in this classic.
  • Erin Brokovich (2000), America's newest screen eco-hero. Julie Roberts portrait of a modern day file clerk in a law office who brought suit against an electric company.
  • Fire Down Below (1997), Steven Seagal plays as an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agent assigned to track down the killers of a colleague. Turns out the killers also happen to be involved in the dumping of toxic waste throughout Appalachia.
  • Gorillas in the Mist (1988) - Sigourney Weaver plays Dian Fossey in her work to save the mountain gorillas of Rwanda.
  • Silkwood, (1983) Cher, Meryl Streep and Kurt Russell lead the cast in another nuclear power thriller.

Environment Movies Best of the Rest

  • The American President (1995) - Michaels Douglas plays a single President of the United States who is interested in dating an environmental lobbyist (Annette Benning).
  • Danger Zone (1996) Hazardous waste is nobody's friend and in this movie Ron Silver takes on the role of an eco-villain responsible for dumping hazardous waste in an African state.
  • Free Willy (1993) - The story of Keiko, everyone's favorite whale.
  • Hackers (1995), Kids and computer movies have been a big hit since War Games. This 1995 release focuses on a bunch of misfit but computer talented youths who discover and attempt to thwart a plot to steal corporate millions and dump millions of gallons of oil around the oceans of the world.
  • Pelican Brief (1993), Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman star in this environment and politics thriller. Life should never be so exciting at the United States Supreme Court.
  • On Deadly Ground (1994), Steven Seagal makes both lists. This time as a director and actor. His character in this film is an ex-CIA agent on the trail of some oil executives in Alaska who condoned the use of sub-standard equipment that could result in spills and ecological disaster.
  • The Arrival (1996), Charlie Sheen's role as an out of work radio astronomer puzzled after receiving some strange radio signals may not have been a big office draw, but it's a good environment draw. The plot's green twist unfolds as Charlie's character begins to uncover the sources signals. Two for the price of one is always a good deal and you can follow the eco-drama through to the sequel Arrival II.
© 2000-2004. Patricia A. Michaels.