Posted on 05/30/2016 7:05:39 AM PDT by rktman
What kind of war movies best capture the day set aside in remembrance of the honored dead?
Memorial Day remembers those who have died while serving in the armed forces of the United States—in war or peace. As long as our nation produces these men and women willing to “bear any burden, pay any price,” our nation earns the liberty it enjoys. That is the eternal meaning of this day. When we walk out of a theater profoundly moved by the sacrifice of our soldiers on the screen—those are movies that evoke the sentiment of the day the most.
I have done lists before of the top war films that make you cry, but this is a “Memorial Day” list, so let’s single out those history-based military movies that exclusively highlight the loss of Americans in harm’s way.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
In Harms Way is a great movie. Twelve O’clock High is great too.
thanks for the thread and the interesting list. A movie fan/addict I am and it is always nice to compare notes.
Appreciate other’s comments & suggestions. A few I did not know about.
All be safe.. I loved 13 hrs/Benghazi ... a movie you HATE to love. Ya’ll know what I mean
Evening star .. ping your list?
Sorry for the start commercial on utube but this is the Flaca speech from the Alamo. Right and wrong don’t surface very clearly much anymore. Mostly just muddy gray and wrong or purely self-centeredness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaPA8fGeRUc
Crisis brings out the true character of men. Some just can’t measure up to it and for most it takes a leader to find their own best. Without the leaders of strong and high character most men would cower in crisis.
I have the six volume set of Crusade In The Pacific and it’s already playing on the TV and most likely will stay on into the night.
American Sniper belongs on that list.
L
Sgt. York
Glory
Gone With The Wind ( hey, I’m from the South)
84 Charlie MoPic......
“Private Ryan was fiction.”
Yeah so? It was the first war film that treated war for what it was. Not the “Oh my God I got shot - take this bad guy!” crap that was going on in War movies before.
In keeping with the war comedy genre of that era (with Abbott and Costello), who here remembers “Up In Arms” with Danny Kaye, Dinah Shore, and Dana Andrews? No doubt some of the humour in that one would definitely would not be politically correct today.
Did you know that the idea for Saving Private Ryan was stolen from Kelly’s Heroes
To all veterans on here...
“Welcome home....And thanks...”
JBW-——Nha Be & Can Tho, S Vietnam 1968-69
Get a 12 pack of beer and watch “Band of Brothers”.
I would add “Bridges at Toko Ri”, “The Steel Helmet” and “The Big Red One” to that list!
“They Were Expendable”. - True Story
Another good Audi Murphy film was”Red Badge of Courage”. Starred Bill Mauldin as well!
An outstanding list.
One that I noticed was not mentioned here yet was “Up Periscope”, a very (IMHO) very underrated one with James Garner as the Navy guy on a secret mission in the South Pacific. I remember watching that one for the first time on TV back in 1984 when I was a teenager and then a number of years later, it was featured on TCM and it was still very enjoyable to watch.
I liked “Fury” for its realistic portrayal of combat and sacrifice.
The language is tough, but realistic.
Believe it or not, Scripture is quoted a few times, and the final scene, an aerial shot of the tank’s crews final battle site, shows the shape of the iconic symbol for sacrifice.
Definitely To Hell and Back
The Best Years of Our Lives (on the home front)
Tora Tora Tora
Day One (TV film about the Manhattan Project; Brian Dennehy as General Groves, Michael Tucker as Leo Szilard..excellent cast all the way around)
Good list.
Though Private Ryan was fictional the ending was poignant. “Tell me I’ve led a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.”
For the guys who didn’t make it home. I think my Dad kept the buddies that didn’t make it home in his mind a lot as he tried so hard to live a good life. I saw the same thing in most of the WWII vets that I knew when I was a child. So many were decent men.
I wonder how long we will be a great enough natin to maintain these memorial places, like the cemetary at Normandy, of tribute to the fallen for freedom just so? The United States has saved the world from tyranny at least twice. Not just helped but outright saved the world twice in the last century. I wonder if we have enough strength, decency, courage and character to save ourselves now?
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