I think I’ve done this before, but whatever, I have no memory of what I have done on my own blog.
This has come about because of my post about Black Hawk Down. We all come to movies with different assumptions, tastes, and also – our life experience – which will color how we respond.
What are your favorite war movies? And why? What do you think is, hands down, the best war movie ever made?
We have done this before, but who cares!?! One question, though, did we decide to include Band of Brothers? Because if we did, that’s my favorite AND my nominee for Best War Movie Ever.
If not, my nominee is The Best Years of Our Lives.
Aargh. I don’t pay attention some times. See post 27 on the BHD thread. Also, Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soldiers, Tora Tora Tora …
Thinking.
Um, Full Metal Jacket is also good. Biloxi Blues is quite good, though not quite a war movie per se.
cullen – yeah, your comment down there made me think I should do a “best war movies” post. I love to hear people’s responses.
Patton. Hands down. Nothing comes close.
Bren!!! :) sending you sisterly hellos and love from across the internet …
Patton is amazing. Gives me chills to even think about!
Heh. Patton makes me think of that WWII RTS parody.
paTTon: lol no1 is left
paTTon: weeeee i got a jeep
*paTTon has been eliminated.*
paTTon: o sh1t!
*paTTon has left the game.*
If you haven’t read the whole thing, it’s here.
hahahahahaha
I’ve never seen that – that’s hysterical!
Actually I think you’ve done this post more than once… ANYway.. I can’t remember my previous nominations.. Sooo.. In no particular order.. and sticking to the War theme as strictly as I can..
Zulu Stanley Baker, Maurice Mickelwhite et al. Just a great confrontation of cultures.
Das Boot Almost in the same category as Band of Brothers, since it was originally a 6[I think] part TV series.. but it was re-edited later.
Breaker Morant Edward Woodward et al, in the Boer war being tried for murder.
Patton [aka General Sea Anemone]
There’ll be a few others that I’ve forgotten..
I think I’ve said this before too, but, for a film that doubles as training, you can’t beat Twelve O’Clock High. There is no better film that displays command leadership (via Gregory Peck’s character) than this one. It was (and still is, I think) shown in leadership classes at USAFA, USNA and AF ROTC (and perhaps other branches that I’m less familiar with).
My votes:
The Big Red One – One of the best infantryman’s-eye views of war ever – really showed the meatgrinder that war has always been for the grunt rifleman.
Patton – History done right.
A Bridge Too Far – I’m almost alone among war movie buffs, but I love this film. A great look at the Fog of War from an operational and grunt’s eye level.
Das Boot – This movie warps your mind; the first time I saw it (German, no subtitles), I felt claustrophobic.
The Steel Helmet – Another great infantry movie.
Twelve O’Clock High – As noted above. Did a good job of capturing the intensity – and the horrible turnover – of the air war.
The Odd Angry Shot – Bryan Brown as an Australian SAS leader in Vietnam. One of the better ‘nam movies.
84 Charlie Mopic – Documentary about combat photographers in ‘nam. Riveting.
Full Metal Jacket – It’s Kubrick, so it’s pretentious and overbearing – but it’s still amazing it its’ details. I don’t want to love it, but I do.
Breaker Morant – as noted above.
When Trumpets Fade – Ron Eldard (hey!) and Dwight Yoakam in a story about the Battle of the Hürtgenwald (which I once ghost-wrote a book about); stylized, but an amazing grunt’s-eye movie.
And I have to add…
Black Hawk Down – Cullen’s objections are duly noted, but I still think it’s an amazing movie.
And if we include Band of Brothers (and it is one of the best ever), I have to add a vote for both Escape from Sobibor (about the mass escape from the Nazi death camp at Sobibor and starring Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer in a very non-Rutger-Hauer-y role and Joanna Pacula), and Uprising (about the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, starring Hank Azaria and LeeLee Sobieski and a very un-Friends-y David Schwimmer). Against all odds (made for TV?) both shows did a great job of portraying the holocaust and the (mostly) doomed heroism of those who took part in both stories. Stunning stuff, really.
Battlefield Earth. Submitted without comment.
Nothing compares to Saving Private Ryan. This movie made me feel like I was there, seeing it all really happen.
And while it’s not a war movie, but a movie with war in it, I liked Forrest Gump. “OUCH!! Something bit me!!” **Forrest as he’s shot in the butt-ocks**
Russ! Welcome to my little site. I recognize your name from our mutual friend who appears to be on hiatus.
Don’t hate me, but I went off on Forrest Gump AND Private Ryan in my Black Hawk Down post. Don’t hate me!! I realize I am in the minority on this one, and have been shouted at more times than I can count about it.
“YOU DIDN’T LIKE FORREST GUMP???” hahaha
Don’t hold it against me.
I may be dating myself, but I always watch Stalag 17 and From Here to Eternity when I see them on….
Oh, man – Stalag 17 is one of my favorites. LOVE IT.
Das Boot, Zulu, The Enemy Below, and Wings. Glory might be right up there too, if I ever have time to sit through the whole thing.
HA! @ Emily.
I know … hahahahaha
Everything, literally everything, can come back to that evil organization.
I don’t know how authentic they are, but seeing them this summer for the first time on Turner Classic Movies, I really enjoyed The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen.
Does The Piano count? During the WWII occupation of Warsaw…No real war scenes though. If it does count, wow. That one about put me over the edge.
I think Band of Brothers was absolutely fantastic, but it helps to have nearly three times more running time than most movies get.
However, there were a few episodes that packed in more honesty, pain, and action that most movies made today could dream of. And what a cast!
Ooh, what about Troy? The historical accuracy, the wonderful acting…juuuust kidding.
Hmm..I’ll have to think more.
Schindler’s List is definitely on my list. Surprised to not see it here. Wonder why – because there are no battle scenes, per se?
I’m an unabashed fan of Braveheart. It gets to me every time.
I really enjoyed Tears of the Sun. It made me sick to my stomach but it is a very good movie.
Schindler’s List is amazing and though provoking and quite sobering.
Life is Beautiful is another that really got to me. Great flick.
Jen,
I think you meant the “The Pianist” not “The Piano”. “The Pianist” has Adrian Brody and “The Piano” has Harvey Keitel. . .and his pianis.
Well.. if we expand the genre to ‘Films Set during Wars’..
I’ll add to my earlier list..
A Matter of Life and Death – for the stunning imagination, and imagining, involved.
and… Casablanca.
I would put “Year of Living Dangerously” on that expanded list then. Love that movie.
And of course – Casablanca!!
I actually like the recent Stalingrad sniper movie Enemy at the Gates It’s the duel of the Blue Eyed Assassins, Ed Harris and Jude Law. If only Paul Newman could have been Ed Harris’s commanding officer! (Obergruppenfuehrer Hud?)
Enemy at the Gates also has what is, in my view – and in Mitch’s view – right, Mitch??? – the most effective and REAL sex scene in a film in recent memory.
I am not speaking pruriently. This is a sex scene for grown-ups, for God’s sake. At last. It was so RAW, so real.
Red,
Yes.
Very, very yes.
To me, the distinction is that war movies must involve people fighting. The Best Years Of Our Lives, Mrs. Miniver (Yaay, Teresa Wright), A Town Called Alice, the Deer Hunter, Coming Home and many, many others are all peripheral to war, and great movies in their own rights – but none of them are “War” movies.
Schindler’s List, Sophie’s Choice and such are tough calls. Great movies – but are they war movies?
But very yes to the Great Escape. I read the original book – a very, very true story by Paul Brickhill, himself a former POW – and other than the Steve McQueen bit and the fact that no Americans were involved after the initial digging (they were transferred from Stalag 3 to different camps shortly after the plan started), it was very historically accurate. No need to tart up a story that good (although McQueen’s part did, anyway…).
Worst war movie that should have been good; The Battle of the Bulge. All-star cast, great locations…and a script that tossed away military reason like a worn-out prop. “Send the infantry and artillery to the rear – this is going to be a tank battle!”. Troops and artillery lining up shoulder to shoulder in the village square behind stone breastworks, like it’s the battle of Gettysburg. Pffft. What a waste.
I certainly agree about the sex scene, but did you think the whole romantic subplot a bit awkward? I did…
To be honest, Ron – the only thing I remember about that movie is
1. How terrible Joseph Fiennes was
2. The sex scene
Oh, and don’t forget Cross of Iron! James Colburn was excellent there!
In genreal – romantic subplots in war movies have to be pretty damn good, otherwise they just distract. Stop trying to “pull in the women” with some stupid romance … Plenty of women actually enjoy war movies without the romance.
Now this isn’t a war movie – but The Caine Munity is a great example of a movie that would have benefited from having no romance in it. It was stupid – I always fast forward those stupid romantic scenes to get back to Bogart and the action.
Year of Living Dangerously would also – following the reminder – it’s been a while since I watched it, deserve a place on the list too.
I did say there would be a few I’d forgotten..
Keeping within original restrictions, gotta mention Paths of Glory.
For some reason the more recent war movies don’t resonate with me in the same way as the earlier examples selected here. Possibly I now expect them to delve deeply.
Well, I gotta throw in All Quiet on the Western Front because it’s lovely, touching and advocates peace (not exactly most people’s criteria for a good war movie, but still . . .).
I have such an affection for that movie, Stevie. Haven’t seen it in years – but still.
I also love it because Lew Ayres is in it … and he will forever have my admiration because of his performance in Holiday. I mean, I just LOVE him.
mitch
I think the movie version of The Great Escape did more than add an American involvement to the book. I’m pretty sure, but my memory may be wrong on this [not for the first time], that they added together different escape attempts from different camps.
The wooden horse, ‘tom’, ‘dick’ and ‘harry’, and the escape during the play.
Red, Lew Ayres was amazing. I loved him in Holiday, and all the Dr. Kildare movies. Also, did you see him in Johnny Belinda?
No – haven’t seen it!
I’ll second Cross of Iron, Enemy at the Gates, Zulu*, The Dirty Dozen, The Green Berets.
You can count me with the majority (?) on Saving Private Ryan; I think it’s brilliant.
A few that I haven’t seen mentioned:
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Fort Apache, and Rio Grande
Sands of Iwo Jima: It’s not cliched, it’s iconic.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The African Queen
Henry V
Torpedo Run
* War movie trivium: the chanting in the battle at the start of Gladiator comes directly from the soundtrack of Zulu.
Tom, Dick and Harry were all part of the real story. The Wooden Horse (which, I think was Paul Brickhill’s autobiographical story, and also an amazing book) was a separate story, and I dont’ recall it turning up in the movie, although it’s mentioned in the book (it did happen at Stalag-Luft 3, about a year before the Great Escape). The escape during the play – I’m blanking. I remember the scene in the book, but not the movie.
The movie changed a few things – the fifty POWs were murdered in ones and twos all over occupied Europe, not machine-gunned in a group. And the three that got away were two Dutchmen and a Norwegian, not two Brits and a South African.
Other than that…
The big thing that bugged me about Enemy At The Gates was that it was really only one chapter of a huge book on Stalingrad. It was based (very loosely) on a true story. The relationship with Rachel Weisz’s sniper (the big love scene aside) was not quite as superfluous as most romances in war movies; many women fought at Stalingrad, including as snipers, so it wasn’t quite as annoying as it might have been. It was “fake but accurate…”
mitch – right. She was definitely not the typical “girlfriend” you see in war movies … she was part of the action, and that made it much more intense and interesting.
I also thought, frankly, that the special effects were kind of bad. I had recently seen Saving Private Ryan, which – despite my lack of enthusiasm for the movie itself – blew me AWAY with the reality of that opening battle (and all subsequent battles – but mostly that opening one). I never ONCE thought any of it was fake, or digital, or special effects. Not ONCE.
But that first shot of Stalingrad burning, with the planes swooping over it – looked soooooo bush league. I had just seen Ryan, so i had the mastery of that opening battle to compare it to – but it pulled me out of the action for a second.
Mitch: “The big thing that bugged me about Enemy At The Gates was that it was really only one chapter of a huge book on Stalingrad.”
True enough, but I didn’t think the book was very good, frankly. It was a mix of random anecdote pieces that didn’t really communicate either the truth of the anecdotes or the bigger picture of the battle. I found it frustrating.
OTOH, the movie told a single story and told it thoroughly and well.
mitch – what was the book, by the way? I have a book about Stalingrad … wondering if it’s that one??
I presumed Mitch was talking about Enemy at the Gates, by William Craig.
Doug,
I’ve heard that criticism. I haven’t read it in a while, but i liked it when I did.
Red,
The book is called Enemy At The Gates, by William Craig. It really is the story of the whole battle – prologue, the battle, the epilogue. The battle among the snipers – including the duel between German master sniper Erwin Konings (Ed Harris) and Vasiliy Zaitsev (Jude Law) really happened, but it was a small, if memorable, part of the book. The movie takes HUGE liberties with history; it went nothing like the movie.
By the way, while the special effects were a generation out of date, a pal of mine who’d been to USMC sniper school said that the actual sniper-on-sniper scenes (other than the one between Jude Law and Rachel Weisz, ahem) were VERY good from a purely technical perspective.
Other than that…
Dammit.. My apologies mitch.
I’m obviously getting my war movies, and escape movies/books, confused.. it’s been too many years since I read the source material involved.. although I thought there was an early scene in the movie that includes an overly short attempt to tunnel out under a wooden horse.. maybe not.
But there’s certainly an escape movie, perhaps the one with the wooden horse, that involves a mass escape during the staging of a play by the prisoners. But that would be a different nomination :)
Has anyone mentioned Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory?” That was a fantastic movie and everyone from Kirk Douglas on down performs incredibly in it. Oh, wait. Peteb mentioned it. Well, it merits another mention.
I have to agree with the folks who mentioned “Cross of Iron,” which is another angry futility-of-war type film. Sam Peckinpah directed it and as such it is very bitter and there’s lots of violence, but it was OK. It’s like “Das Boot” on land, although it’s not nearly as good as “Das Boot,” which is a class by itself.
I also really liked the Winds of War/War and Remembrance mini-series, which are now available on DVD. Those aren’t really movies, though, in the sense you can watch them in one sitting.
Lastly, though, I can’t believe NO ONE has yet mentioned “Red Dawn.” I mean, it’s Patrick Swayze and co. holding off America’s newly-installed Communist overlords. How could anyone not like that?
I’m kidding, of course.
As great as the opening of Saving Private Ryan was, I wished that it had reaction shots of the Germans as the Allies hit the beach. Can you imagine the reaction of an overly young (or old) German soldier in that pillbox if you he had looked out on this GIGANTIC armada of ships headed towards his defensive position? I’m not saying this just to a curmudgeon; I think it would have deepened the humanity of the individuals on both sides, showing how agonizing war is! Instead we get Castle Wolfenstein Germans; clever video game things to kill as Our Heroes move up the beach…
Also, I totally DoubleDogAgree with you about Joe Fiennes in Enemy at the Gates!
Also, props to Ran, The Blue Max, Gallipoli, and Battle of Britain.
If only Kubrick had gotten to do his Napoleon movie! What a thing that would have been!
Also, props to Ran, The Blue Max, Gallipoli, and Battle of Britain
That’s the frustrating thing about threads like this; there are always dozens that I should have had on my own list.
Gallipoli – amazing movie.
Damn. I arrived late, and now everybody’s stolen all my movies. Dang it, what’s left? How about Dr. Strangelove? Spartacus? Do those count?
I’ll second everyone who suggested Band of Brothers, even if it technically isn’t a movie. It’s one of the few productions I’ve seen that completely lives up to the book.
Ok, how about the worst war movies – but which were honest attempts at being good war movies. I would nominate either Battle of the Bulge, or The Patriot – historically inaccurate & lame dialogue combined with big names & big budgets.
Waaaay off-topic.
Did you know, Sheila – descendant of Gráinne Ni Mhaille?
“wake me at the zenith of the moon”
I will vote with the Band of Brothers group by the end of the First HBO run you started to think of those men like they were members of your family.
Here are two more I dont think anyone mentioned.
SGT York with Gary Cooper and To Hell and Back with Audie Murphy playing himself. Both pretty good films for when they were made. Audie Murphy was living proof it aint the size of the dog in the fight!
Oh, dang, I missed Mitch’s comment about Battle of the Bulge. Ah, well, at least now I know I’m not the only one who felt that way.
General question: how much leeway are you willing to give historical war movies in terms of accuracy? I don’t know why I’m so bothered by Battle of the Bulge, but it bugs me so much that sometimes I think I’m just being nitpicky.
I was very impressed with We Were Sodiers, especially how they gave the enemy point of view in a pretty neutral way.
Sheila,
I have given a list before. I think it was in the comments section of a post of yours that had little to do with war movies, but quickly evolved into such. I only want to add here some more props for the movie Conspiracy. Actually an HBO original movie. Starred Branagh and Tucci as Heydrich and Eichmann along with some others. The story is set almost entirely in one room and involves a meeting with a group of Nazi government officials and soldiers in which the decision is made to proceed with the final solution. The strong-arming tactics of Heydrich and Eichmann and the coldly efficient discussion of the logistics of carrying out the Holocaust truly make for a chilling and engrossing movie. Sounds boring I know, but really is a great movie.
As everyone else says, BHD is a great movie, but the book is infinitely more powerful. My favorite characters in the movie are Shugart and Gordon. The scene of them being inserted near the Super 64 crash site and then fighting off so many of the Somalis and truly saving Durant’s life is so powerful. It is powerful not because of the acting but because it is a true story (details changed, real people). Those guys asked to be inserted pretty much knowing that chances were they would die. They were going to do everything they could to save their guys. I can’t even begin to express the respect I have for such people.
I also love when everybody gets loaded up on the birds and they are flyng in for their assault. The Delta guys are riding the EPP’s on the little birds, looking totally cool and squared away, ready to do their thing. Awesome.
Oh yeah, this off-Broadway thing. I don’t know jack about acting, plays, etc… Just how far off Broadway? Will this play be traveling to Indy. If so, let me know because I definitely want to check it out.
We Were Soldiers is probably the best depiction of Viet Nam era Cavalry operations (since it was the birth of helicopter Cav). To this day, folks talk about how helicopters were underused and misused in Viet Nam. Primarily due to the underuse of air-enabled Cav units.
How about Sink the Bismark?
Cross of Iron–oh, yeah.
The Eagle Has Landed–Robert Duvall, Maurice Micklewhite, Treat Williams, Larry Hagman, Donald Sutherland, too many others. They didn’t JUST get the uniforms exactly right, they got the relationships of the German command structure exactly right. Ripping good yarn.
Failsafe and Crimson Tide–both good war movies about the war that most people don’t know was ever fought.
The Longest Day–too many stars, but the German’s eye view you missed in Private Ryan.
Anzio–Peter Falk and Robert Mitchum in a story that’s too true to be bearable.
Wind and the Lion–Sean Connery and Candace Bergan in a mostly-true story (the actual Pedikaris was George).
And how could we forget:
Tora! Tora! Tora! and Midway.
I didn’t forget Tora! Tora! Tora!.
My favorite, hands down, which I think I’m the first to mention, is Apocalypse Now.
To my mind, I can’t think of another war movie that captures the notion that “War is Hell!” better than Coppola’s masterpiece. Every single character’s performance drives home the point that everything they’re involved in is pure insanity.
Sheen, Brando, Duval et al. are brilliant. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like Victory”; “The horror. The horror”; “Don’t ever get out of the boat”; Wagner blasting from the helicopters’ loudspeakers; the surfing sequence; etc. The film is a mother lode of memorable writing and acting.
Sorry Cullen, that’s what I get for reading too fast.
It’s new, haven’t been able to catch all of it; anyone have views on Deep Blue World? The parts I saw were well above average.
No one’s mentioned The Deer Hunter have they? That one is so effective, I think, because we see these guys and their lives before, during, and after. Wrenching. The scene where the helicopter drops them into Vietnam… oh God. And The Killing Fields, about the war after the war. I’ll never forget the Dith Pran character crawling through that field of skulls. The stuff of nightmares.
Umm… Gone With The Wind ?
That’s been mentioned already, right?
My favorite warmovie, and the best one, in my opinion, is Patton.
George C. Scott Rules the screen, and the portrayal of the competitiveness between Patton and Monty is enormously entertaining. A bigger-than-life figure gets stellar treatment in a movie that feels like it’s about half as long as it is. I cannot watch it enough times to do it justice.
Scott is so sublime as patton, you almost overlook Karl Malden’s spectacular turn as Omar Bradley.
Saving Private Ryan is great, Black Hawk Down is awe-inspiring, and The Bridge on The River Kwai (Alec Guinness in particular) is mesmerizing, but Patton the film, like thew man it is based on, is a breed apart in my eyes.
I like to think that the Martin Sheen who killed Brando in Apocalypse Now is the same one who became President in West Wing, waking up in the middle of the night, that nightmare of Chef’s head thrown in his lap never having quite gone away…
“Saigon. I’m still in Saigon.”
There are several very good submarine movies, in addition to “Das Boot,” which several people have mentioned. Also: “The Enemy Below,” about a dual between a German U-boat and an American destroyer, and “K-19” which is about a relatively recent Soviet submarine disaster (told entirely through the eyes of the Soviet crew).
It might be interesting to break down this list even further; Best Civil War movie, WWII, Vietnam, etc.
Is there a great Civil War movie? Is Gone With The Wind as good as it gets? (I’m saying that because while GWTW is set with the Civil War as a large part of the plot, I’m not sure I’d call it a ‘war movie.’)
ron – well, there is that one unbelievable scene of all the dead men lying in the street – done from way high up. i have seen that movie 20 times and it never fails to just – stun me into silence at the sheer carnage. I would call that, actually, one of the most effective war scenes ever filmed.
I’m so glad to see that someone mentioned Sgt. York!!
You all blow me away – there’s too much here to even take in. Amazing list of movies here … makes me want to run out and rent some of them again. Gallipoli!
Ron: Glory is a great Civil War movie, no question. Gettysburg seemed too long and like it was trying to cover too much, though I think I’d defer to Bill McCabe opinion on that one.
And whoever mentioned Henry V first, consider mine another vote there. Though the battles are far from most of it, Branagh’s version really IS so much a war movie like movies about more modern wars, throwing you right into the thick of the grime and butchery of late-medieval combat. It’s the contrast between the night before Agincourt and then the battle and its aftermath that’s one of the many things that really gets me: the English worried sick, the French practically gleeful and itching for a fight, then the tables turned. Branagh takes Shakespeare’s language and amplifies it visually, but by simply showing the reality of what’s being spoken about.
I don’t like war movies. I’m a lover not a fighter.
“The Hill”. No battle scenes but it is about soldiers. A British movie so it is possibly unknown in the States. Also it’s one of Sean Connery’s earliest movies.
Strangeky enough I actually have a favorite war movie.
Best Years is a winner.
Mrs. Miniver is also wonderful.
I also really like Tora, Tora, Tora.
I have to say though, if you want everything in your war movie, there’s nothing like Patton. It’s not only a great war flick, it’s a great flick. Period. It has everything. Great score, great directing, great story, and a whole bunch of NON acting. It almost feels like a documentary. Amazing, amazing film. If it’s on cable, even if it’s in the middle, I’ll watch it until the very end.
The scene in front of the flag? C’mon.
I forgot to add Last of the Mohicans. Another great movie.
Many good nominations – most of my favourites have already been discussed.
A couple not already out there:
The Siege of Firebase Gloria: straight, no-editorializing account of the defense of an SF base in Vietnam against an overwhelming attack.
On the Beach: Perhaps not really a war movie, but a fantastic movie nevertheless about the aftermath of a nuclear war in Australia.
The Sand Pebbles: again only nominally war movie but a fantastic flick and a great story.
55 Days at Peking: Another phenominal flick about the Boxer Rebellion
Sands of Iwo Jima: the movie that established the “formula” all later small-unit movies would follow.
graboy – I love The Hill!! I think we had a long conversation here on my blog about it once – let me see if I can track it down.
I loved Gettysburg.
Especially the scene where Lee comes up to Pickett and tells him to prepare his division for another attack. Pickett then turns to Lee and says, “Sir, I have no division.”
Gets me every time.
my favorites are Band of Brothers (which should count), Enemy at the Gates, The Great Escape, and The Best Years of Our Lives (though, technically, it’s a post-war movie).
I was also really impressed with “The Great Raid” which was released a few months ago. Primarily because it showed American troops as *gasp* heroes, without riddling them with qualms and self-doubt. [you mean, we can actually be the Good Guys? yes, Virginia, we can.]
(red, sorry again about last time. you deserve more courteous commenting–especially since you’re one of my favorite bloggers. –d.)
I’m late to the conversation, but my favorite war movie is Midway.
No movie more accurately shows how close we were to losing in the pacific…..and exactly how thin the margin was.
Just found out that there are THREE WWII movies in the works to be released next year:
Inglorious Bastards by Quentin Tarantino – A group of disgraced U.S. soldiers during World War Two manage to escape the execution squad by going on a daring mission to help the Allies in the fight against the Nazis; starring Michael Madsen
The Few by Michael Mann – Tom Cruise stars in the true-life story of American pilot Billy Fiske, who ignored his country’s neutrality rules in the early days of WWII and flew Hurricanes against the Germans.
Flags of our Fathers by Clint Eastwood – The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at The Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in WWII. With Ryan Philippe, Barry Pepper, Stark Sands and Paul Walker.
stevie – tom cruise??? Oh no.
I know – bummer, huh?
Damn, I hate working all this OT. I never catch the posts on time. This isn’t a listing by rank. just by my immediate memory.
Full Metal Jacket is high on my list. If only for the quotes “Hell, I like you. You can come over to my house and fuck my sister!(WHUMP!!!)”
The Dirty Dozen.
The Big Red One (The scene where Mark Hamill’s char. just lost it, and kept firing into the corpse of the Nazi officer…and then Lee Marvin’s char. gave him another clip)
Saving Private Ryan. The opening alone makes you want to cry.
The Thin Red Line “I blew my butt off!”
Hamburger Hill
I can’t decide on one overall greatest flick. (Curse of the Libra!!!) I will say, however, that Saving Private Ryan left me a mess after the flick was over. Quite a mess.
Oh. and Glory was phenomenal, too. Damn…where’s my head?
The Few – one of my favorite stories (and one of my favorite airplanes) of all time.
And Flags Of Our Father – what a great book. I can hardly wait for that one. I have actually met the one surviving member of the flag detail; he’s a North Dakota native who lives in the Twin Cities now. He’s pretty old, but still gets around, still gives the occasional interview.
DUDE, I can’t believe I wrote “The Piano” when I meant “The Pianist.” Harvey Keitel’s pianis…hahahaha! Thanks Lisa!
I fully agree with Cullen on Last of the Mohicans…was trying to think of a pre WWI war movie. That one is fantastic.
I haven’t seen it, but I understand that a movie was made (in Ireland) from the book “The Year of the French”, which is about a late-1700s rebellion in Ireland and is IMNSHO one of the best historical novels ever written. Has anyone by any strange chance seen it?
Just about all previously listed, however 12 O’clock High was awesome from the perspective of the toll leadership can take on a person. Also, Saints and Soldiers blew me away. If you haven’t seen it, do!
I agree somewhat with TeacherDave’s comment on “The Great Raid”. I thought the romantic subplot hurt it. I think they detract from war movies in general. But it’s worth seeing, especially considering upcoming cynical takes on war like “Jarhead” appears to be. (I think Harrison Ford is going to be in an upcoming war movie called something like “No Honor, No Glory”. Sounds uplifting!)
The Seven Samurai, despite lack of guns, I’d say is a war movie in tone and content. And a great one at that.