'Independence Day' at 25: Four Things You May Have Forgotten About 1996's Highest-Grossing Movie Angelique Jackson, provided by FacebookTwitterEmail Some people like “Independence Day” for its campy take on “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”; or for its technical achievements, which won an Oscar and set director Roland Emmerich on the path for becoming the disaster director du jour; or for establishing Will Smith as the “King of the Fourth of July.” Other people — like me — watch the movie religiously every time the Fourth of July rolls around. Let’s face it, when Smith’s Capt. Steven Hiller promises his step-son Dylan (Ross Bagley) fireworks, and you get them in the form of alien vessels crashing to the ground after a high-flying intergalactic space battle, why bother leaving the house to deal with traffic for your local fireworks show? And as Patricia (the positively perfect Mae Whitman) says “Happy Fourth of July, Daddy,” to President Thomas J. Whitmore (Bill Pullman), I dare you not to feel something. Strong father figures and alien-war heroes? Sign me up!