Posted on 02/23/2002 3:46:01 AM PST by ReveBM
I'm trying to get some of the best war movies on DVD to show to my kids someday, when they are older. So far here's what I have in my collection:
Gladiator (OK - not technically a war movie)
Braveheart
Henry V (Kenneth Branagh version)
Glory
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Patton
Saving Private Ryan
Here are some ones I want to get when they come out on DVD:
Behind Enemy Lines (OK, I thought the ending was goofy but I thought it was good in capturing the atmosphere of Yugoslavia)
Black Hawk Down
We Were Soldiers
Can some people please add movies (preferrably ones currently out on DVD) to this thread, and why you think they are good?
I'm hoping that watching these movies will help teach my kids some of the following virtues:
1. Patriotism
2. Sacrifice
3. Bravery
...I missed a few I'm sure.
I'm also interested in getting films from different historical periods. Are there any good films (from a Freeper point of view) on World War I or the Korean War, particularly the Chosin Reservoir conflict?
Please note that I'm not interested in leftist, polemical "antiwar" war movies, though I don't mind movies that show war brutality, senselessnes or tragedy, provided that it's in a context appropriate to the conflict.
Courage, loyalty, determination, justice, individualism.
The figments of today's imaginations have changed a lot.
VICTORY AT SEA
THE RED DAWN
Thanks, I knew someone would know the correct title. I liked it much better than the other Vietnam movies; even though as you say, they probably set the standard now.
"Zulu"
Right on! And the book, as usual, is a hell of a lot better!
Although watching one of the guys carrying around the head of an slain enemy was a bit much for me, I loved it as well.
The 300 Spartans -- The seige of Thermopylae, 480 BC, where a small group of Spartans held out against the entire Persian army for over a week. The beginning of the defense of the West. A great movie about this key event.
The Alamo -- The Duke's flawed, but still wonderful, epic of the siege that still makes the Eyes of Texas shine.
The Enemy Below -- Robert Mitchum and Kurt Jurgens play cat-and-mouse with US Destroyer and German U-boat in the South Atlantic during WW II. THE definitive submarine movie; "Das Boot" can't hold a candle to it.
Stalag 17 -- the best POW movie, and also the first. Funny, moving, and tragic in turns. Served as inspiration for "Hogan's Heroes", God help us....
The Longest Day -- superior to "Private Ryan" in nearly all aspects. The definitive Hollywood statement on D-Day.
They Died With Their Boots On -- Want to understand Custer? This is the one -- forget those idiotic, revisionist sixties movies.
Zulu -- The defense of Rourke's Drift, 1879. 100 British regulars against 5000 screaming Zulu warriors. Does it get any better than this movie? I think not.
Paths of Glory -- the entire Great War experience, summed up in 89 incredible minutes. Brilliant.
I also liked The Big Red One, with Lee Marvin, and the Audie Murphy Story.
He said, "hell no, I still dream of it!"
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