Please add your favorite war movies to this thread

ReveBM ^ | February 23, 2002 | ReveBM

[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.

[ReveBM]

Thanks for your help. Also, as an aside, does anyone know of any movies that portray businessmen and the capitalist system in a positive light?

[poweqi]

Band of Brothers... it's so non-Hollywood that it seems real.

[Clintons Are White Trash]

Saving Private Ryan made the sacrifice and death of my two great uncles real to me. Growing up they had always been two pictures on my great grandmother's wall but that movie brought them to life for me.

The other is not a movie, but the documentary "The Lost Fleet of Guadalcanal" - my great uncle was on the USS Quincy and died in that battle.

[poweqi]

Hell in the Pacific... Lee Marvin is great, can't remember the other guys name.

[Mr Ducklips]

"Tell It To The Spartans", or something similar to that title. Best Vietnam War movie I've seen. I bet someone can confirm the correct title.

[weef]

The Great Escape

[Non-Sequitur]

Toshiro Mifune.

[Northern Yankee]

A absolute favorite of mine is Unconquered, with Gary Cooper.

A story of the French and Indian War! (Boris Karloff also does a nice job.) If you haven't seen it, get it!

I also liked Gettysburg an awful lot! (Go figure...)

[mwyounce]

Are there any good films (from a Freeper point of view) on World War I?

Sergeant York

[xsrdx]

Gotta gave Apocalypse Now, The Patriot, Gladiator, Saving Pvt Ryan, Band of Brothers is spectacular, Patton, Das Boot, The Beast (obscure but awesome), The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, Lawrence Of Arabia, Bridge On The River Kwai, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, The Guns of Navarone.

[ken5050]

If you can find them:

30 Seconds over Tokyo
A Walk in the Sun ( my personal favorite)
Bridges at Toko-Ri
Purple Heart

[Non-Sequitur]

The Longest Day.
Zulu.
The Red Badge of Courage - though the book is better
There was one released by HBO last year but I can't remember the name. It was about combat in the Hurtgen Forrest in 1944.

[greydog]

FULL METAL JACKET

[ken5050]

You must also like "Northwest Passage" with Spencer Tracey..from the wonderful novel by Kenneth Roberts.....

[wretchard]

circa World War I? All Quiet on the Western Front, with Lew Ayres

The Big Parade, can't remember the stars.

The Real Glory, Gary Cooper and David Niven. American soldiers versus Islamic militants in the Philippines, 1903.

[Goblins]

All quiet on the western front

Any of the versions.

[xsrdx]

Also of course Braveheart, and Blackhawk Down may be the best war movie ever.

[DugwayDuke]

I am reminded of an old WWII movie "Manila Calling". A group of civilians right after the fall of Corregidor take possession of a radio station which they use to send a call for assistance in waging guerilla war against the Japanese. The Japanese surround them and inflict all sorts of vicious actions in an attempt to retake the station before it can be repaired and the call sent out. The station finally goes on the air just as the Japanese launch their final assualt. By the end of the speech calling for assistance one is ready to march to the enlistment hall to sign up to fight the Japs. Tremendously stirring movie.

[ken5050]

Zulu is awesome..moreso because it's a very accurate depiction of the battle of Roarke's Drift......but in today's PC world, you couldn't make the film....

[jamaksin]

12 O'Clock High ... can be viewed from many prespectives ... leadership, decision-making, sacrifice, technology, ... direct accountability, ... battle fatigue, ... achieving strategic "goals" through supporting tactical/operational operations, ... , etc.

Oh, good acting too!