Breaker Morant
Why? I just happen to like them...
Clearly a bunch of old foggies are on FR today. Let’s get some youth involved:
Full Medal Jacket
Platoon
Top Gun
A Few Good Men
The General’s Daughter
Blackhawk Down
Many more that I can’t think of right now but that is a realistic start.
"Breaker Morant" is the best military movie of all time, in my humble opinion.
Not much military action per se, but the underlying theme is perfectly tuned to my libertarian streak and absolute distrust of big government.
Wow, there are some good ones mentioned.
I’ll add the first Academy Award movie “Wings”(1927) and “Das Boot”.
10. “Gunga Din”
9. “They Died With Their Boots On” (Garryowen!)
8. “Zulu” and “Zulu Dawn” (Same war different battles.)
7. “Breaker Morant” (Rule Number 303, sir!)
6. “Twelve O’clock High”
5. “Strategic Air Command”
4. “Flight of the Intruder” (Downtown!)
3. “We Were Soldiers” (Custer was a pu$$y, you ain’t)
2. “Heartbreak Ridge” (You’re an anachronism, Highway.)
1. “Band of Brothers” (Currahee!)
Go Tell the Spartans with Burt Lancaster is a fave of mine. It’s low budget, and very cynical (more akin to films like The Deer Hunter than The Green Berets). Still, Lancaster is excellent, and it’s the only film I know of that deals with the early years of Vietnam.
Here’s a clip of Lancaster talking with a psych warfare type.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF4-gqOW1_E
Plus there's a movie w/ Kirk Douglas playing a WW1 sargent who's forced to execute three of his soldiers for cowardice by bureaucratic @sshole generals. Something do do w/ Honor, that's a great movie.
The Great Escape is my personal favorite.
I hate to bring this up, but for every “best war movie” list there is probably a corresponding “worse war movie” list and I have to nominate “The Fighting Seebees” for some place on that list. I do that because my dad was a Seebee and landed on Iwo Jima on the third day. Ninety percent of the unit he was attached to were killed or wounded in a night attack by the Japanese. The movie portrayal of the Seebees was pathetic and not the honor I was hoping they would get and deserved.
That being said, “Letters from Iwo Jima” was a great film.
In no special order:
Longest Day, Orders to Kill, Merrill’s Marauders, The Desert Fox, Stalingrad, The Quiet American (remake with Michael Cane), Saving Private Ryan, The Story of GI Joe, Decision Before Dawn, All Quiet on the Western Front (the original).
I liked Mel Gibson’s “The Patriot.” I watched it through once, then started it over again and watched it a second time right after.
I have never done that with any other movie.
Full Metal Jacket, The Blue Max, Flyboys, The Longest Day, 30 Seconds over Tokyo, Black Hawk down, The Bridges at To-Ko-Ri. PT-109.
I was shown 12 o’clock High in a class for new Petty Officers in the Navy, it was to help us understand Leadership, Esprit de corps and Teamwork. I have my own copy of it and show it to my Sea Cadets to teach them about Leadership as well.
I also show them Mr. Roberts, which I truly believe is a good movie to show Young People what Teamwork and Loyalty means. And also not to mess with my “Palm Tree” in our office!
Band of Brothers
We Were Soldiers
Black Hawk Down
My list (in order):
The Longest Day
Patton
Hell is for Heroes
The Great Escape
The Enemy Below
300
Fort Apache
Zulu
Paths of Glory
The Bridge on the River Kwai
That is all. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
sw
One of my personal favorites——with regards to our good Southern brothers and sisters—The Horse Soldiers—with John Wayne and William Holden.......