Posted on 05/30/2015 11:22:38 PM PDT by Michael.SF.
This list is in no particular order, and comes in various categories. Going back to the Civil War:
GLORY
GETTYSBURG
For the World Wars:
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI.
DAS BOOT.
PATTON.
THE GREAT ESCAPE.
SCHINDLER’S LIST.
THE DIRTY DOZEN.
Vietnam War:
FULL METAL JACKET
(Excerpt) Read more at entertainmentnutz.com ...
What stood out was "Patton" was not on the list. It may not be everyone's number one, but it has to be near the top.
I almost posted it, but ultimately did not.
This guy hits the nail on the head when it comes to 'War Movies' as he combines many factors and stays away from delivering a specific message. The above list is abbreviated and lacks his comments.
There is not a movie on the list I did not enjoy.
Noticeably absent: Dr. Strangelove.
Not a Tom Hanks fan, but I like the realism of Saving Private Ryan.
Band of Brothers was pretty good
Stalingrad.
Fortress Brest.
The platoon. Could be called Rota 9.
Winter War.
Fury.
84 Charlie Mopic.
Hamburger Hill.
Restrepa.
Tora Tora Tora,
In Harms Way,
MIdway
From the website:
Comedy in war:
STRANGLELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB. Another Kubrick film. This was the first satire I ever saw on film. Peter Sellers may have been a nut in real life, but was a comedic genius on the big screen.
Winter War is one of the best.
"Hamburger Hill" had it's moments. "Full Metal Jacket" was fine for the boot camp part, the Hue segment was too Kubrick.
"Pvt Ryan" captured a lot of the confusion and individualism, but Hanks ruined it with his angst.
Hmmm...the first two I think of have something in common...
“Breaker Morant”
“Paths of Glory”
As for M.A.S.H.and Catch-22, I couldn’t understand a single word anybody said. And the same goes for every other movie that Robert Altman directed. I hate that guy.
We Were Soldiers -
the scenes of the wives delivering the telegrams were pretty much bringing on the water works.....I think in my case not only what they must have been going through but the way the Army was handling it.
At least the movie didn’t degrade the Troops by portraying them as a bunch of pot heads planning on how to kill the NCO’s and Officers and they gave the RVN’s credit for being soldiers not the normally ‘peace loving farmers caught up in a war without a bad thought in mind’ Except how to run raids etc - admittedly when the ‘bad guys’ were threatening your family, kind of easy to ‘go along’ with them.
For some people...
‘Taking Chance’ also has to be up there even though it was an HBO special.....
People ignore everything about the movie Saving Private Ryan and only give it good marks because of the landing scenes. The movie itself was horrible
We Were Soldiers is my favorite war movie.
I just saw an oldie, “A Bridge Too Far” that I thought was really good. Age old story of brave fighting men performing above and beyond, with the big wigs screwing things up.
Another old movie that I’ve recently seen:
“The Devil’s Brigade”. Lots of famous actors. The toughest dregs of the Americans (ala “Dirty Dozen”) mixed in with the best of the Canadians. Do the impossible. Supposedly based on a true story.
“The Sands of Iwo Jima” should be on the list somewhere as should “Run Silent Run Deep”
Just because of the theme song - “Sink the Bismark”
How about “The 300”
Hmm. I wasn’t even thinking about the landing scenes. I was thinking more about the fact that just about everyone who went out to get the guy, didn’t make it. I thought they did a decent attempt at realism. I mean you talk to guys who were there and no movie is as bad as the real reality.
The scene with the wives. I saw an interview with Hal Moore. He said the taxi thing was true, and then his wife taking over. But, upon seeing it he wanted them to change the scenes. In the movie they had the wives in the nice homes on base. Moore said as soon as the husbands were shipped over, the families were sent off base.
He said his wife would go visit the families in run-down one bedroom apartments, humble rented homes, and tar paper shacks. (Moore said he didn’t understand why that was done.) The producers understood - but it would have been too much effort and logistics and money to redo them.
Also, the scene where the NVA came close to Moore. He said no NVA ever broke through their perimeter. “But I guess it makes a better movie if one did.”
“Sink the Bismarck” is actually pretty good and a totally Brit made movie I think. They did a good job and, am I correct in remembering that the movie actually inspired Johnny Horton to write that song. Anyway, that’s movie trivia and a great song too.
War comedies?
Is it “Stripes” with the RV urban assault vehicle and Bill Murry and John Candy? I always get a kick out of that one.
“Devil’s Brigade”, sure, that’s famous with William Holden: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062886/ and I don’t know if anyone mentioned the “Big Red One”, I tend to see these two movies as not top tier but not bad.
Even though it’s a bit of an an “anti-war” film, I like Noel, Joyeux Noel or Happy Christmas as it is called, the premise is that during the first year of World War I, the soldiers got together on that first Christmas Eve of the war and partied and celebrated as it really did happen. I enjoy it at least and made in the 2000s.
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