Best war movies

08/05/2022

[Az Joe]

According to me

[OldLurker]

Sorry, I liked the best, so far in all of those mentioned, as the not-yet listed - Battle Cry. The movie of 1954 was based upon the novel by Leon Uris.

[HereInTheHeartland]

12 O’Clock High should be on any list.
It was so accurate the Air Force used it for training purposes .

[rlmorel]

I just watched “In Harm’s Way” recently, and it bathed me in a feeling of a time lost, in particular the party scene the night before the Pearl Harbor attack.

My dad was career Navy and I saw a few of those kinds of parties...cotillion like, the officers in their formal whites, the women in their finery, at night in the warm tropics outdoors under the multicolored glow of the strung lights or Chinese lanterns, there was always lots of drinking...some people acting inappropriately, that kind of thing.

I can’t put my finger on it precisely, but there was something that just made me sad about it...but maybe not quite in a really sad way.

[Clemenza]

I can thank my dad for introducing me to “Twelve O’Clock High.” Great film that I should watch again soon.

[combat_boots]

Heroes of Telemark

Imitation Game

[V K Lee]

“Where Eagles Dare”
“Mash”
“Dirty Dozen”

[rlmorel]

I love the Caine Mutiny.

It is a movie about leadership. Love it. There are a lot of lessons in that movie that apply in and out of the military.

Great performances. Just great.

[pfflier]

Too much WWII on your list btw.

That is because most modern movies portray Americans as stupid conniving dimwits interested in getting high, stealing stuff and shooting everything up.

Movies like Three Kings, Kelly's Heroes, Catch-22 and MASH just ridiculed the common soldier. Unfortunately they created the standard that we were judged by from the 60's on.

Of late, Saving Private Ryan, We were Soldiers and the Pacific as well as Band of Brothers miniseries showed a much more common American soldier profile.

I would like to see Tom Hanks and Speilberg tackle what war in the 8th Air Force over Germany was really like, so the clowns that call us the "Chair Force" can see that all purple hearts require the recipient to bleed and sometimes die.

[Clay Moore]

Dr Strangelove.

[V K Lee]

One more...

“The Windtalkers”

[SuzyQue]

Good ones.

[pepsi_junkie]

I'll keep my list limited to the age of gunpowder, and films that had cinematic release not TV miniseries. Here goes in no particular order:

• Zulu
• Patton
• The Dirty Dozen
• Twelve O'Clock High
• Run Silent, Run Deep
• Full Metal Jacket
• Das Boot
• Casablanca
• Saving Private Ryan
• The Great Escape

Damn it's hard to just have 10. I'm already second guessing myself on some. No Gettysburg? The Longest Day? Schindler's List? Aaargh!

[VeniVidiVici]

bump

[Az Joe]

York is my sentimental favorite. As a single dad my young son and I would watch it and he really liked it,... even at the age of 5.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Most people would think their favorite is also best. No?

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Glory.

Massively underappreciated Civil War epic that should be show in every high school.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Letters from Iwo Jima was fantastic as well.

[dfwgator]

It is a movie about leadership. Love it. There are a lot of lessons in that movie that apply in and out of the military.

'Ah, you're learning, Willie! You're learning that you don't work with a captain because you like the way he parts his hair; you work with him because *he's GOT* the job, or you're no good!'

Too many Republicans didn't learn that lesson when Trump was in office.

[rlmorel]

Love "The Gallant Hours". If not for just the believability of James Cagney playing the part!

My favorite part though was the opening with the singing of that shanty:

---

Away He Went
LINK TO SONG: (Opening to “The Gallant Hours”)

I knew a lad who went to sea
And left the shore behind him
I knew him well the Lad was me
And now I cannot find him

Away, away, away he went
To deep and salty waters
His girl she waits and grieves for him
She was his neighbors daughter

Away away away he went
And left the shore behind him
I knew him well the Lad was me
And now I cannot find him

Away, away, away he went
Away he went
And now I cannot find him

The rolling sea he would embrace
The rolling sea hath took him
And pass him on a lonely beach
The rolling sea forsook him

Away, away, away he went
And now I cannot find him
Away, away, away he went

I knew a lad who went to sea
And left the shore behind him
I knew him well the Lad was me
And now I cannot find him

There are no great men. There are only great challenges that ordinary men are forced by circumstances to meet. Admiral William F. Halsey

[dfwgator]

The Fighting Sullivans (1944).

I understand why they delayed the release date.