"The Time of Their Lives"
Posted on 05/31/2004 7:09:29 AM PDT by sonofatpatcher2
Being somewhat older than most folks here and a film buff for all those years I could speak and listen, the thread on Favorite War films got me to thinking. There are many fine war films that have never been seen by those born past 1970, so I have put as many as I could remember. Just cut & paste the film's title into IMDb search mode and click away. IMDb is at http://us.imdb.com/
There are so many genres of films, television series and mini-series about warfare, so I will start threads to list all your favorites in each category: Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, The War Between the States, Indian Wars, Pre-World War One, World War One, Pre-WW2, World War Two (Made 1939 - 1946 & Made After 1946), Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Gulf Wars, The Homefront, War Bios, Service Comedies, Foreign Wars and Best of All.
War of 1812:
The President's Lady (1953) & The Buccaneer (1958) were the only two I could recall and both have Chuck Heston as General Andy Jackson.
Mexican War:
Tom Berenger's One Man's Hero (1999) is the only one I could remember.
The War Between the States:
1. Gettysburg (1993)
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
3. Glory (1989)
4. Rocky Mountain (1950) Great Errol Flynn film with the Rebels out west.
5. The Horse Soldiers (1959)
6. The Raid (1954) The Rebs invade the US from Canada.
7. Cold Mountain (2003)
8. Gods and Generals (2003)
9. The Red Badge of Courage (1951) John Huston directs Audie Murphy & Bill Mauldin in Stephen Crane's epic of cowardice and courage.
10. Band of Angels (1957) Surprisingly frank film on race relations.
Honorable Mention:
Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Two Flags West (1950)
Santa Fe Trail (1940)
Virginia City (1940)
The Siege at Red River (1954)
Alvarez Kelly (1966)
Escape from Fort Bravo (1954)
Indian Wars:
1. Tie between Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) & Rio Grande (1950) as these were John Ford's triple tribulate to the US Calvary.
2. The Searchers (1956)
3. "Geronimo" (1993) (TV)
4. Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
Honorable Mention:
They Died with Their Boots On (1942)
Two Rode Together (1961)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
Major Dundee (1965)
Apache (1954)
The Unforgiven (1960)
Red Sun (1972) Quirky film of Jap warrior in old west.
Pre-World War One:
1. Wind and the Lion, The (1975)
2. The Wild Bunch (1969)
3. Professionals, The (1966)
4. "Rough Riders" (1997) (TV)
5. 55 Days at Peking (1963)
6. They Came to Cordura (1959)
World War One:
1. Sergeant York (1941)
2. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
3. The Dawn Patrol (1938)
4. The African Queen (1951)
5. Hell Below (1933) Robert Montgomery & Walter Huston - Surprisingly good World War I Submarine yarn.
6. Blue Max, The (1966)
7. Paths of Glory (1957)
8. What Price Glory (1952)
Honorable Mention:
Lost Patrol, The (1934)
Shout at the Devil (1976)
Pre-WW2:
The Sand Pebbles (1966) only fits here.
Next will be World War Two to Vietnam.
You left out A&E's wonderful The Crossing. Revolutionary War, Washington crossing the Delaware to attack the Hessians Christmas Day.
2. Gone with the Wind (1939)
Sorry about that, hershey. I am sure I missed many more and hope freepers will set me straight...
As a War Film, I judge GWTW Number 2, but a close #2. Should I make it 1 1/2?
They will be in the Homefront thread to be posted later today.
World War Two films at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145144/posts
I love Claudette Colbert. One of my favorite WWII movies is "Three Came Home." Colbert played Agnes Keith, an American interned by the Japanese in Borneo.
One of her co-stars, Sessue Hayakawa, played a somewhat sympathetic Japanese colonel in charge of the internment camps. Hayakawa would later go on to play the Oscar-nominated role of Colonel Saito in "Bridge Over the River Kwai." Hayakawa was an excellent actor. The two Japanese colonel characters were distinct from each other.
Hayakawa lived in a chateau outside of Paris during the WWII German Occupation. He hid two Allied pilots in a shed basement until they could be smuggled out of France by the Resistance. He secretly hated the fascists and mourned Japan's Imperialism, which he predicted in the early 1930's would eventually lead to its ruin. Go here for a short bio of him: http://www.silentera.com/people/actors/Hayakawa-Sessue.html or here for more info on his life: http://goldsea.com/Personalities/Hayakawas/hayakawas.html
Many people don't realize that Sessue Hayakawa was once a very popular silent movie actor. In 1917, he played a Japanese Secret Service agent who helps the Americans defeat a German spy ring in a WWI movie entitled "The Secret Game." (Yes, the Japanese were our Allies in WWI!) You can purchase a really cool DVD from Amazon.com of this movie that also contains historical footage, documentaries and Hollywood's early patriotic efforts to garner public support in WWI. Go here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005TNF3/qid=1086016228/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5582558-4139058?v=glance&s=dvd
Here is more info on "Three Came Home," starring Claudette Colbert. Go here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006AUGN/qid%3D1086017472/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-5582558-4139058#product-details
Korean War films to Best of All at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145174/posts
Sitting Bull
Chief Crazy Horse
War Arrow
Conquest of Cochise
WW I:
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Lost Battalion
The Trench
The Fighting 69th
The Napoleonic Wars: Master and Commander (2003) starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany
Beau Geste in its many incarnations (the 30's film with Robert Preston, the 60's remake with Telly Savalas, the 70's comedy "The Last Remake of Beau Geste with Michael York, Ann-Margret and Marty Feldman)
Mexican Revolution:
Pancho Villa
Viva Zapata
And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself
El Salvador
The Cuban Revolution:
Havana
Bosnia-Herzegovenia:
No Man's Land
Harrison's Flowers
The Boer War:
Breaker Morant
South Africa:
A Dry, White Season
Soviet-Afghanistan War
The Beast
Gad, Cody, you got me dead to right on missing all those! Tell Ma Jarrett I got my hands up...
Both "The Red Badge of Courage" and Audie Murphy were vastly under appreciated. They cut the Red Badge to bits. Once many, many years ago in Hollywood, I saw a rough cut of Huston's edition and it was a much better film.
Maybe some day they will restore it and we can all enjoy the full film as Huston filmed it.
Don't forget So Proudly We Hail! (1943), Without Reservations (1946) or The Egg and I (1947)- Not a war film, but a great comedy!
BTW my ex-wife was a dead ringer for Claudette... But she had the liberal views of Jane Fonda!
Don't miss The Beast if you can find it. It's about the Mujahadeen with one RPG tracking a lone, lost Soviet tank in the Afghan widerness.
No Man's Land is subtitled.
Yes, I've seen The Beast of War (1988) and found it to be a pretty good film. It was originally titled "Motherland" and George Dzundza has bragged it is one of his best films.
BTW, I read William Mastrosimone's screenplay back in 1986 on one of my jaunts to Hollywood... It had a harsher tone if you can believe it?
I don't know if you can help me with this, but there was some film about a young raj in India who was the target of an assassination plot by fanatical jihadis.
I'm not sure, but Katherine Hepburn might have starred in it, along with a few other less notable actors.
The only reason I bring this particular film up, is because it was rebroadcast about a week after 9/11 on one of my PBS stations. Personally, I think that the timing couldn't have been more perfect.
There are two scenes in particular: One that involves a relentless suicide charge on the ramparts of a British fort, and the other, which involves the wholesale slaughter of passengers on an Indian train.
I may be conflating several story-lines from completely separate movies, so I'd appreciate some assistance.
Perhaps you could alert some of the movie buffs on FR and ask them if they recognize anything I've just mentioned.
Thanks!
"The Time of Their Lives"
Yes, one of Abbott & Costello's funnier works!
Along with Buck Privates (1941), In the Navy (1941), Keep 'Em Flying (1941), Buck Privates Come Home (1947) and Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950).
Just checked the Kate Hepburn site at IMDb http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000031/ and found nothing like that. Kate was a Chineese named Jade in Dragon Seed (1944).
Could you possibley be thinking of Bhowani Junction (1956) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0049007/
BTW, Stewart Granger made one of the best sword fighting films of all time: Scaramouche (1952) and Ava Gardner was the Number 2 major Hollywood babe of all time!
It was definitely filmed pre-60s, that's one thing I'm certain of.
I wish I could think of the title, but to be honest, I haven't watched the movie in its entirety.
Thanks for the help!
The Lighthorsemen, the Australian Mounted Infantry at Beersheba in ww1
My favorite non WWII war movie is Master and Commander. I also like the Horatio Hornblower movies from A&E.
How could I forget Gallipoli?!? Yes, I realize I probably mispelled it. That one is good as Master and Commander in my book.
And I forgot "Anzacs" (1985) (WW1 miniseries) with Paul Hogan, Gallipoli (1981) & Attack Force Z (1982) with Mel Gibson and Breaker Morant with Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson and Bryan Brown.
Will ya'll forgive me down under?
Re: "My favorite non WWII war movie is Master and Commander. I also like the Horatio Hornblower movies from A&E."
Check out Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0043379/ for Greg Peck in a very faithful portrayal to C.S. Foster's books. Don't get me wrong, the A&E Hornblower miniseries is excellent.
BTW The Devil's Brigade is now showing on Turner Classic Movies...
Hmmm....I can't pinpoint this particular film, but the scene about slaughter of passengers on a train makes me think of "Gandhi" starring Ben Kingsley. Gandhi if you remember had to deal with warring Hindu and Moslem factions as the nation became independent.
Another excellent miniseries about colonial India was "The Far Pavilions" (circa 1985) starring Amy Irving.
Though the film I'm thinking of is definitely not the film starring Ben Kingsley and Candice Bergen.
I've always been amazed by the fact that Ben Kingsley-to my knowledge-is the only true superstar actor to have come out of India.
Considering the fact that Bollywood produces more films on a per capita basis than any other part of the world-with the possible exception of Hong Kong-you would figure that there would a lot more Indian actors, and perhaps a director besides Mira Nair.
Hold That Ghost.
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