For whatever reason, I've heard discussions many times about the "most libertarian" movies. Most of the time the film adaptations of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead are mentioned; I also hear Trey Parker and Matt Stone (being Libertarians themselves) movies South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut and Team America: World Police brought up frequently.
I, however, think the best example is the first Ghostbusters.
The movie starts with three academic researchers living off public university research grants while performing experiments with little to no scientific or societal value. They are finally fired and lament having to work in private industry, "where you're actually expected to produce!"
Pursuing the classic example of the American Dream, they take a new technology they developed themselves and stake their entire lives on a new private business based on this technology: the Ghostbusters. New York is experiencing an unprecedented increase in paranormal activity, and just as Adam Smith predicted, a free market solution to the problem appears because of the profit motive. The Ghostbusters rake in the cash.
But as most entrepreneurs can relate to, the government nearly ruins it all. And I mean it all. A well-meaning representative from the Environmental Protection Agency, hoping to protect the public from "noxious chemicals" used by the Ghostbusters, orders their containment unit shut down and the Ghostbusters thrown in jail. This has the side effect of releasing all the ghosts back into the city and nearly causing the apocalypse. It is only when the mayor sees that nobody else but the Ghostbusters can solve this problem can they finally defeat Zuul and the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from destroying our dimension.
Ghostbusters has it all. It presents the innovation that the free-market encourages and the unintended consequences caused by good-hearted but misguided government bureaucrats in a comedic and action-packed manner. It is, in my opinion, the best libertarian movie ever.
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