Posted on 05/31/2004 8:46:46 AM PDT by sonofatpatcher2
Being somewhat older than most folks here and a film buff for all those years I could speak and listen, the thread on Favorite War films got me to thinking. There are many fine war films that have never been seen by those born past 1970, so I have put as many as I could remember. Just cut & paste the film's title into IMDb search mode and click away. IMDb is at http://us.imdb.com/ There are so many genres of films, television series and mini-series about warfare, so I will start threads to list all your favorites in each category: Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican War, The War Between the States, Indian Wars, Pre-World War One, World War One, Pre-WW2, World War Two (Made 1939 - 1946 & Made After 1946), Korean War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Gulf Wars, The Homefront, War Bios, Service Comedies, Foreign Wars and Best of All.
Korean War:
1. Pork Chop Hill (1959) Greg Peck's best war film as Lt. Joe Clemons.
2. The Hunters (1958) Robert Mitchum as "The Ice Man" fighter pilot Major Cleve Saville. Great air combat photography.
3. Battle Circus (1953) Better than MASH.
4. The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955)
5. Battle Hymn (1957)
6. The Glory Brigade (1953) Victor Mature & Lee Marvin as the infamous Corporal Bowman of M*A*S*H announcment fame.
7. Men of the Fighting Lady (1954)
Honorable Mention:
Fix Baynets (1951)
Submarine Command (1952)
This Is Korea! (1951) John Ford Documentry
Battle Zone (1952)
One Minute to Zero (1952)
MASH (1970)
Service Comedies:
1. I Was a Male War Bride (1949) That title plus Cary Grant 'in drag' makes this a must see.
2. Hallelujah Trail, The (1965) The Very Best Indian War Comedy ever made with Burt Lancaster as Col. Thaddeus Gearhart, Lee Remick as Temperance Leaguer Cora Templeton Massingale and Brian Keith as that "Good Republican" whiskey seller Frank Wallingham. Added delights are Jim Hutton's laid back Capt. Paul Slater and Martin Landau masterful comic turn as Chief Walks-Stooped-Over.
3. Operation Petticoat (1959)
4. The Americanization of Emily (1964)
5. Comrade X (1940) Clark Gable and the most beautiful woman ever in film, Hedy Lamarr, star in this view of Stalin's Russia just after his pact with Hitler. The tank chase is a special effects wonder in this pre-computer era.
6. Mister Roberts (1955)
7. To Be or Not to Be (1942) Jack Benny takes on the Nazis.
8. Cabaret (1972)
Honorable Mention:
The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
The Last Time I Saw Archie (1961)
Operation Mad Ball (1957)
Up Front (1951) & Back at the Front (1952) Based on Bill Mauldin's famed W.W.II cartoons: Lowbrow G.I.s Willie and Joe.
The Private War of Major Benson (1955)
Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966)
Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965)
Vietnam War:
I dismiss Apocalypse Now (1979), Platoon (1986) & Casualties of War (1989) as the Hollywood Left's version of the war. However I rank Robert Duvall acting in Acrocofshinola the best thing in it...
1. We Were Soldiers (2002)
2. Green Berets, The (1968)
3. Go Tell the Spartans (1978) Burt Lancaster & Craig Wasson as American military advisors in Vietnam prior to the major U.S. involvement.
4. The Boys in Company C (1978)
5. A Rumour of War (1980)
6. Fly Away Home (1981) (TV)
7. The Quiet American (1958) - I like Audie Murphy's version much better than 2002 version, but the Michael Caine film is more faithful to the book.
8. Lost Command (1966) Tony Quinn leads French Foreign Legion Paras from IndoChina to Algeria.
Cold War:
1. Seven Days in May (1964)
2. On the Beach (1959) Greg Peck as. Cmdr. Dwight Lionel Towers, the last Captain of the USS Sawfish.
3. Fail-Safe (1964)
4. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)- I know this is a comedy, but I put it here...
5. A Gathering of Eagles (1963) Excellent Rock Hudson-Rod Taylor story on the B-52s of Strategic Air Command.
6. Ice Station Zebra (1968)
7. Jet Pilot (1957)
8. The Dogs of War (1981)
9. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)
10. North by Northwest (1959)
Honorable Mentions:
Blood Alley (1955)
Big Jim McLain (1952)
Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
Sergeant Ryker (1968)
The Chairman (1969)
Telefon (1977)
Soldier of Fortune (1955)
War Bios:
MacArthur (1977) Greg Peck as Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Stalin (1992) (TV) Robert Duvall as Josef Stalin
"Ike - The War years" (1979) (mini) Robert Duvall as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004) (TV) Tom Selleck delivers a strong performance as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during the months and days leading up to the 1944 D-Day invasion, when, as Supreme Allied Commander, he oversaw the historic assault.
Patton (1970) & Last Days of Patton, The (1986) (TV) George C. Scott as Old Blood & Guts and Karl Malden as Gen. Omar Bradley
"Mussolini: The Untold Story" (1985) (mini) As a liberal, Scott decided to be fair, so he played Benito Mussolini.
The Desert Fox (1951) James Mason as Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
To Hell and Back (1955) Audie Murphey's Bio.
Foreign Wars:
Khartoum (1966) Chuck heston as. Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon
Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) Greg Peck as Capt. Horatio Hornblower
Zulu (1964)
You Can't Win 'Em All (1970) Tony Curtis & Charlie Bronson join a band of Turkish mercenaries in 1922.
The Wild Geese (1978) Great Mecernary film with Richard Burton as Col. Allen Faulkner
Dark of the Sun (1968) Action Mercernary yarn with Rod Taylor and Jim Brown fighting in the Congo.
The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996) (TV)
Zulu Dawn (1979)
Raid on Entebbe (1977) (TV)
The Left Hand of God (1955)
Something of Value (1957) Rock Hudson & Sidney Poitier star as the Mau Mau uprisings begin in Kenya.
Guns at Batasi (1964)
Ok, my Best of All List - A Baker's Dozen:
1. Band of Brothers (TV) mini
2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
3. Tie between We Were Soldiers (2002) & Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
4. Battleground (1949)
5. Casablanca (1942)
6. Battle Cry (1955)
7. They Were Expendable (1945)
8. Pork Chop Hill (1959)
9. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
10. The Great Santini (1979)
11. Wind and the Lion, The (1975)
12. The Patriot (2000)
13. Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) & Rio Grande (1950)
Ok, flame away! And tell me the ones I've missed...
"The Big Red One"-Lee Marvin, Mark Hamil (Unless you got it in a previous list)
Just asking.
Spit it up into three threads to try and keep it short as possible. Forgot A&E's Hornblower, but did get tonight's Ike.
Other threads:
Extra Memorial Day Favorite Films Thread - Revolution to World War One at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145126/posts
Extra Memorial Day Favorite Films Thread - World War Two
at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1145144/posts
WWII, Brando, Clift, & Martin.............a great film.
War Hunt
Here is one you forgot:
Twelve O'Clock High -- Gregory Peck has never been better and great aerial photography.
Sure did miss "Hell is for Heroes, Cross of Iron and The Young Lions" and they are all excellent films. But I've only been working on this listing since 4AM this morning...
BTW I think Brando did some of his best work as Christian Diestl. Dean Martin's Michael Whiteacre and Monty Cliff's Noah Ackerman were no slouches either...
-The Wild Geese, Mr. Roberts, and Ice Station Zebra bumps!
Yes, Robert Redford in War Hunt (1962)... Also John Saxon and Director Sydney Pollack acting with Tom Skerritt and pre-Love Boat's Gavin MacLeod. Say, you know old Gavin lost his foot in Pork Chop Hill...
Tora! Tora! Tora! was pretty good as a documentary.
I vaguely remember Porkchop Hill and The Bridges at Toko-Ri for the Korean War. I hope my just finished script and true story on the Korean War sells to Speilberg. His guys are interested and speaking to my agent.
Sean Connery "The Hill"
In case you missed your mail: The B&W French Foreign Legion film is Jump Into Hell (1955) and the IMDb website is http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0048235/
Good early IndoChina film I missed...
God speed and luck to ya. I'm writing a screenplay on Korea myself I call "Mig Alley" that tells the jet air war from both the American and Russian pilot's views. Still a long way from finishing the first draft...
"The Big Red One" with Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill (who had just made Star Wars), circa late 70's, was a great and most moving film. I won't give away the ending but it was quite emotional.
Sorry, missed The Hill, too. There are so many that I fear I have passed over from a bad memory.
Horatio Hornblower (circa 1953) Gregory Peck
A&E's Horatio Hornblower series (3 seasons, the last installment in 2003) starring Ioan Gruffudd and Robert Lindsay
Yes, The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968) was not funny and a turkey all around. Paul did do ok in The Rack (1956), Until They Sail (1957), Exodus (1960), Torn Curtain (1966) and Fat Man and Little Boy (1989) (5 more I missed!), but he Frigged Up in 1967...
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