Best war movies

08/05/2022

[Az Joe]

According to me

[21twelve]

You mentioning “Stripes” made me think of “Canadian Bacon”. I had heard about it but had never watched it until perhaps 12 years ago. I pulled it up with my then 16(?) year old son and told him “I don’t know what this will be like or if you’ll even like it - probably too old and no special effects and stuff, so we can turn it off whenever you want.”

He said it was the funniest movie he had ever seen! It was pretty funny.

[TigerHawk]

I DON’T KNOW WHO YOU ARE, BUT YOU KNOW YOUR STUFF!

The Story of GI Joe...SO REAL YOU CAN ALMOST SMELL IT.

A Walk in the Sun...”BUTT ME!”, A CLASSIC (despite Dana Andrews).

GO TELL THE SPARTANS...THE BEST WAR FILM TO COME OUT OF VIETNAM (I was going to post that as one of the three best war films that no one has ever seen). The WORLD’S MOST INTERESTING MAN, who doesn’t always drink beer, is in this film!

The others are: (with another added on to make 4 all together)

ATTACK!...Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, Buddy Ebsen, and a great supporting cast. WWII.

THE STEEL HELMET...Gene Evens, James Edwards, Steve Brodie, Sid Melton. KOREA.

James Edwards reminds me...HOME OF THE BRAVE, 1949. Frank Lovejoy, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Steve Brodie. WWII

There are a lot of good ones, but these are my BEST...along with THE FOUR FEATHERS, 1939.

GO TELL THE SPARTANS, ATTACK!, THE STEEL HELMET, AND HOME OF THE BRAVE ARE ALL LOW BUDGET FILMS BECAUSE THE PENTAGON/ARMY WOULD NOT CO-OPERATE WITH PRODUCTION. BAD OPTICS.

ENJOY! THESE ARE GREAT FILMS!

[AprilfromTexas]

U-571
The Patriot

[Mr Radical]

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
2. Memphis Belle (1944) (first vote for this one?)
3. A Town like Alice (1956)
4. Cruel Sea (1953)

[GranTorino]

You would like T-34.
Very little cussing and no stupid scene in the middle of the movie to sit through.
I haven’t seen War Horse listed yet.
Many great movies about war.
Real war not so great.

[Chainmail]

I wasn't as enthusiastic about Platoon: it was not realistic to me with its cartoon-like characters, emotional outbursts and back-to-back war crimes.

Dale Dye has made his fortune as an advisor (and in Platoon, the world's oldest company commander) but he was a Public Affairs NCO in Vietnam and apparently never saw a real firefight. I don't think that even Hollywood could afford the ammunition expenditure of a real firefight.

I haven't seen a movie yet that has the sounds and feel of the real thing - though Hamburger Hill had real mortar mortar impacts during their river scene, not the usual Hollywood "barrel full of gasoline" explosions.

[Sirius Lee]

These have been all great lists/suggestions on this thread.

I'm surprised that "The Battle of Britain" and "Dunkirk" didn't make the list.

Must not be very many Spitfire fans out there.

Also, an honorable mention for "Dawn Patrol"

[jpsb]

For Who the Bell Tolls should in the mix somewhere. But Saving Private Ryan is going to be hard to beat for Best War Movie.

[central_va]

Patton #1

[Captain Compassion]

Kelly’s Heros? You gotta have Kelly’s Heros.

[SisterK]

I have only watched The Beguiled and Play Misty for me one or two times because the crazy women are hard to stomach.

[SisterK]

Outlaw Josey Wales is one of my favorite movies. Ever.
Since it is post war, I did not include in the list.
But I should have, as Josey Wales’ war did not end.

[crz]

Swiss Family Robinson is a war movie? Well what do ya know.

Never knew that! Thanks!

[sphinx]

Thanks. I missed that thread. I obviously don't spend enough time on FR. I would ping the movie list except that many of the usual suspects have already found it and I don't want to spam people.

I will raise my usual nagging question about what Hollywood has done for us recently. What is the best RECENT war movie?

The only recent war movie I have to recommend is Greyhound (2020), which is hiding in the Apple+ silo.

I only saw it when my adult daughter, who is not boycotting the mouse, took a one month subscription to binge watch Ted Lasso. She shared her subscription and I used the month to see the three Disney movies on my list. Good movies, but I didn't want to pay the mouse. Glad to get them for free. If they were available a la carte as PVOD, I'd be happy to "buy a ticket," but I don't want to subscribe to the mouse.

Anyhow, I've recommended to a couple of teachers that they assign Das Boot and Greyhound as a pair, perhaps for an extra credit project. Das Boot should be watched first because it is a much slower film. Then Greyhound reverses the perspective and is a high paced, non-stop action film, completely different in style and tone as well as point of view.

[crz]

Wolyn is a gruesome and explains a lot of what is going on in “the Ukraine” these days.

All taken from actual accounts from eye witnesses.

I guess they renamed it Hatred or something now.

[OKSooner]

One certainly agrees with your number one choice. Gary Cooper made a better Sergeant York on the silver screen than Sergeant York his own self would have. Nothing against Alvin York, mind you.

(One still hates those ******* krauts for what they did to Pusher.)

[dfwgator]

Only good thing Michael Moore ever did.

[xkaydet65]

Great additions and two of your films feature James Edwards who was Sydney Potier before there was a Sydney Poitier and who is forgotten now but who was a great actor. Attack... maybe Edfie Albert’s finest performance and who can forget Palance’s “ God !! Give me the strength!!”.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

“COME AND SEE.”

https://www.criterion.com/films/28895-come-and-see

[dfwgator]

Seen it once....Once! Images that will never leave me.