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?
In Harm's Way, The Caine Mutiny, Mr. Roberts.
"Operation Crossbow"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059549/
It stars George Peppard, Sophia Loren, Tom Courtenay, Anthony Quayle, and concerns Allied attempts to infiltrate the Nazi rocket program.
The Glenn Miller Story was another good movie - Love Jimmy Stewart and June Allyson.
I've never seen "Elizabeth", though I know it was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category.
The best Queen Elizabeth-and I emphasize the word 'queen' in this case-was Quentin Crisp.
The role only lasted a little over three minutes, but it was still an amazing performance.
"Patton"
"Run Silent, Run Deep" I just like submarines.
I've enjoyed a lot of them but I think the ones I liked the best are. "To Hell and Back", "12 O'clock High", "Battle Cry", and "Wake Island".
I thought "We Were Soldiers" was perhaps the best Vietnam War film I've seen.
I saw the flick first, book later. I agree with your take on the book vs. movie. The movie is actually pretty good, and my favorite WW-II movie. (It has some annoying flaws. Elliott Gould as an Infantry Officer, is just bad casting.) Casting of the Germans seems better than the Allied side, mostly because they used real actors and not blow dried Hollywood stars. (Model's character's summation, "Market-Garden war ein haarverbrenntes (sp?) Plan.")
The story behind making the movie (as told on the History Channel's "History vs. Hollywood") is worth retelling. Producer Joseph E. Levine financed most of the $25 million budget himself. Much of the budget went to exorbitant salaries for its all-star cast, including Robert Redford, who earned $2 million for 10 minutes of screen time. (Bad call. Definitely not a chick-flick.)
Levine thought the story should be told and risked most of his personal fortune financing the film. Fortunately, it was a success at the box office and he landed on his feet.
No one mentioned "Walk In The Sun" with Dana Andrews and John Ireland ?
"Von Ryan's Express" (stars Frank Sinatra as an American officer who leads a group of POWs to freedom via a train)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059885/
"The Counterfeit Traitor" (William Holden plays a businessman who is semi-blackmailed into spying for the Allies against the Nazis)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055871/
Now look what you've done. I wanted to get ready for church, but noooo... I have to start thinking about MOVIES LOL
That has to be one of my favorite Steinbeck novels. I know it was created out of a sense of political urgency/patriotic duty and not any creative inspiration, but I still feel that it was an amazing piece of literature.
"Johnny Got His Gun" is also one of my favorite war, or to be more specific, antiwar novels.
I know, I know. Dalton Trumbo was a complete pinko and the book was used for nefarious purposes by the radical, peaceniks during The Vietnam War, but I still think it's one of the best novels written on this particular subject.
Along the same lines, what about "All Quiet on the Western Front"? Erich Maria Remarche (?sp?) Although it was a World War I movie, rather than World War II (?)
I know that the most recent one got embroiled in a big controversy during the Academy Awards, because the two countries who jointly produced it couldn't decide which one would nominate it for the Best Foreign Film category.
To my mind, it was one of the best films-and subtly humorous-films ever made about Nazi aggression against Eastern Europe.
"The attitude of the film is very 70's..."
Donald Southerland's line in Kelly's Heros "drinking wine, eating cheese, catching some rays" was a very hippified statement for a WWII flick.
It beat out CASABLANCA, in my view, and that was hard to do!
I remember a submarine movie, "Run silent, run deep"
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