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Memorial Day thread...What's your Favorite WW II war movie?
one man's opinion

Posted on 05/30/2004 4:15:31 AM PDT by ken5050

If you happen to turn your TV set on at any time this Memorial Day weekend, there's a strong probability you'll come across a World War II war movie..... the classic Hollywood genre. There are many of them, and, happily a lot of very good ones. So, on this weekend of remembrance, and the dedication of the WW II memorial, what's your favorite, or favorites, and why?


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: movies; turass
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To: R. Scott
Well, I'm always up for a little fun and fantasy.

I don't know if you ever seen it, but "Uprising" is also a great television movie which deals with the resistance of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Hank Azaria turns in a tour-de-force!

Also check out

The Hiding Place.

This was a great film focusing on the heroic actions of Corrie ten Boom and her family, who were the spitting definition of "righteous gentiles."

Anne Frank wasn't the only brave person in Holland at that time.

321 posted on 05/31/2004 10:41:30 AM PDT by The Scourge of Yazid
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To: F14 Pilot
All great films. Though, I have to admit that I've never watched the last two in their entirety.

Any film starring Lee Marvin or John Wayne is worth taking a look at.

I'm not a big Spielberg fan, but "Saving Private Ryan" and "Schindler's List" were two of the most brilliantly conceived and executed films of the 20th Century.

They were definitely two of the best films dealing with their respective subjects.

322 posted on 05/31/2004 10:48:08 AM PDT by The Scourge of Yazid ("This is so cool, 'cause Speed knows who killed JFK! " "Okay, who killed JFK?" "Dezi Arnez.")
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To: ken5050

Our paper listed some other good ones that are being rereleased:

Stalag 17
No Man an Island
The Naked and the Dead
The Enemy Below
Desert Fox

Compare these classics to later revisionist anti-war films such as:

Deer Hunter (Vietnam)
Platoon (Vietnam)
Apocolypse Now (Vietnam)
The Thin Red Line (Guadalcanal)
Three Kings (Iraq I)


323 posted on 05/31/2004 10:56:05 AM PDT by mondoman (si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: ken5050
I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I'm not sure what film you're referring to specifically, but I'm postitive that it was not nearly as good as "Charlotte Gray". It probably came out before, considering that this film was only released in 2002.

I don't know if she's beautiful in the conventional, socially approved sense of the word. I don't think a "classic" definition of beauty is possible, unless you take the sculptures of Myron to be the standard for classical beauty.

Personally, I think Blanchett is drop-dead gorgeous, in the same way that Rachel Grififths is.

324 posted on 05/31/2004 11:25:19 AM PDT by The Scourge of Yazid ("This is so cool, 'cause Speed knows who killed JFK! " "Okay, who killed JFK?" "Dezi Arnez.")
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To: mondoman

Did not read the thread -- but the one about the Sullivan's from when I was a kid was my favorite. I don't go to anything today, so can't say about any of the recent ones.


325 posted on 05/31/2004 11:26:25 AM PDT by AKA Elena (Catholic, through the Grace of God, Conservative to the bone)
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To: ken5050
Band of Brothers is my new favorite, if you can classify it as a movie.

My all time favorite is Stalag 17. It had comedy, drama, adventure and mystery. The one point with this movie I have exception with though is that no one could figure out that the only blue eyed blond in the barracks was the German spy.
326 posted on 05/31/2004 11:30:26 AM PDT by Republican Red
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To: mondoman
I beg to differ.

You're generally correct about the other four, but there's no way you could characterize "The Deer Hunter" as an "antiwar" film.

It was a film about the sheer determination of Americans, the strength and endurance of the human spirit, and the persistent bond between male friends.

If you just take the scenes with the returning Marine and Christopher Walken in the military hospital and focus on them, then I guess you could characterize it as an antiwar picture.

However, that is not the essence of the film. The core of "The Deer Hunter" can be found in DeNiro's and Walken's resistance to their NVA captors, and the closing scene, which takes place after Walken's funeral.

327 posted on 05/31/2004 11:46:22 AM PDT by The Scourge of Yazid ("This is so cool, 'cause Speed knows who killed JFK! " "Okay, who killed JFK?" "Dezi Arnez.")
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To: ItsonlikeDonkeyKong

I’ve read a few books about the Warsaw uprising, and the heroism never fails to affect me. They definitely had the odds against them - but it was better than dying like slaughtered farm animals.


328 posted on 05/31/2004 12:01:56 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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Comment #329 Removed by Moderator

To: ken5050

Didn't see "Murphy's War" mentioned. 1971

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067458/

Thoroughly enjoyed Peter O'Toole in this one. He takes on a German U-boat with an old sea plane that he puts back together.


330 posted on 05/31/2004 12:04:32 PM PDT by TheLion
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To: RaceBannon

I enjoyed the photography and the grand scope of it, in spite of all its flaws.

I also left out a classic WWII movie, of sorts:

Judgment at Nuremberg


331 posted on 05/31/2004 12:05:25 PM PDT by Petronski (And I never see the IDF 'til it's way too late! Now I'm dyin' in the Gaza Strip in the blazin' sun.)
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To: R. Scott
Absolutely true!

There were also several attempts at mass escapes by people inside of concentration camps-at least one of them successful-and armed resistance-both open and subversive-in several European nations.

Though the partisans of Poland and Yugoslavia, and the actions of the Dutch and Danish, are by far the most noteworthy examples, there were other pockets of resistance to Nazi tyranny.

The example that immediately comes to mind is the case of Norway and several other Scandinavian countries.

Hungary stands out as the only Nazi-occupied country-though it was nominally an ally of the Germans-not to have manifested an opposition of any kind.

The Soviet republics of Chechnya, Belarus and the Ukraine were also very eager to collaborate with Hitler's military regime. The same goes for the Baltic states.

332 posted on 05/31/2004 12:09:28 PM PDT by The Scourge of Yazid ("This is so cool, 'cause Speed knows who killed JFK! " "Okay, who killed JFK?" "Dezi Arnez.")
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To: ken5050
My favorite? THE LONGEST DAY, PATTON, and IN HARM'S WAY.

For those who are interested, TLD will be instructive for generations as to what happened on June 6, 1944. PATTON was for the most part historically accurate, at least according to the historians. (Possible exception: Portraying Omar Bradley as a saint, but that does depend on whom you ask, and Bradley was an adviser to the movie.)

IN HARM'S WAY was a fictional work set in WWII. Except for casting Henry Fonda as Admiral Nimitz, it was best IMO in terms of developing characters (think "Kirk Douglass"), although it probably didn't have much to do with historical accuracy. Had an excellent soundtrack.

You didn't ask, but what was the most disappointing? BATTLE OF THE BULGE, hands down. It took the biggest, if not the most important land battle ever fought by the US Army and trivialized it as only Hollywood can.

Most underrated? 13 RUE MADELEINE with James Cagney, about the OSS.

Many others too, like TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH and THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN.

Biggest complaint about most of them? They were made in Hollywood.

333 posted on 05/31/2004 12:30:55 PM PDT by OKSooner
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To: OKSooner
I know that this thread is reserved for feature films, but I feel compelled to mention just a few outstanding books documenting the military history of WWII.

DELIVERED FROM EVIL: The Saga of World War II,

-written by Robert Leckie.

THE SECOND WORLD WAR,

-written by John Keegan.

and, finally,

THE END OF FREEDOM: New Deal Liberalism in Recession and War,

-written by Alan Brinkley

I realize that the last recommendation doesn't focus entirely on WWII, but it's such an amazing read that I'd thought I'd mention it anyway.

334 posted on 05/31/2004 12:44:53 PM PDT by The Scourge of Yazid ("This is so cool, 'cause Speed knows who killed JFK! " "Okay, who killed JFK?" "Dezi Arnez.")
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To: sonofatpatcher2

Ok, here is another one, and this one is down
right spooky.

The Stranger.

Orson wells,
Loretta Young,
and Edward G Robinson.

Loretta young is the wife of college professor Wells.
A stranger Robinson comes to town and begins asking pointed questions, turns out Wells is a former nazi, Young can't believe it at first but things eventually add up to the
truth, the final fight scene in the clock tower is just awesome!


335 posted on 05/31/2004 12:53:39 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: RaceBannon
This was a cool thread. Glad we both agree ont he Battel of Britain..FYI..when that film was made, the producers had such a large asemby of WW II- era aircraft, at the time the movie was the 11th largest airforce in the world...

What was the film, think it was "555 Squadron" about the British mosquitos bomibn the Nazi heavy water plant in Norway?

336 posted on 05/31/2004 12:59:01 PM PDT by ken5050
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To: ItsonlikeDonkeyKong

Norway was an outstanding example of resistance to Germany, as was France.
I also have an outstanding book about the Soviet resistence - Soviet Partisan Movement 1941-1944. It’s DA Pam No. 20-244. It’s not a novel, but a military report - but it still makes interesting reading.


337 posted on 05/31/2004 1:06:09 PM PDT by R. Scott (Humanity i love you because when you're hard up you pawn your Intelligence to buy a drink.)
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To: ken5050
Great double feature:

Fat Man and Little Boy
and
Hiroshima (directed by leftist Roger Spottiswoode, but technically quite satisfying)

If someday it is released on DVD, grab a copy of Oppenheimer with Sam Waterston, a tv miniseries from 1980.

338 posted on 05/31/2004 1:22:40 PM PDT by Petronski (And I never see the IDF 'til it's way too late! Now I'm dyin' in the Gaza Strip in the blazin' sun.)
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To: reg45
Obviously, like me, a navy fan. I would add They Were Expendable, The Enemy Below and Sink The Bismarck to the list.

Yes, I'm a navy fan. Those are excellent movies. I would also add "Action in the North Atlantic", "Away All Boats", and "PT 109".

339 posted on 05/31/2004 1:38:15 PM PDT by aomagrat (Where arms are not to be carried, it is well to carry arms.")
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To: Petronski
Nice tips, I'd forgotten about those. Back in 1995, the Trinity Site was opened to the public, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the detonation of Fat Man. As I told my kids (who are now in HS), this was truly one of the places where world history was changed.

From a personal standpoint, A Bridge Too Far, ranks at the top of my list. It came out a few months after I graduated from Jump School at Fort Benning. EVERY TIME I watch it, I physically cringe at the sight of Gen. Gavin (Ryan O'Neal) opening his legs just before landing. If I learned anything in Jump School, it was KEEP YOUR FEET AND KNEES TOGETHER!!!!

The Hartenstein Hotel was rebuilt/renovated after WWII, and is now a museum.

340 posted on 05/31/2004 2:20:48 PM PDT by Night Hides Not
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