He and I watched that awful 60s flick, "The Battle of the Bulge", together. Afterwards, I asked what he thought. He said, "It was a fine movie." (it wasn't, but he'd not speak ill of such a thing) ...."but no one in it looked cold enough."
From then on, that's how I measure a war flick - by how cold, wet, tired, and generally miserable the actors in it look. BoB probably got it close to right. "Saving Private Ryan" likely did pretty well, too, and there are a few others.
But, if you watch war movies in general, I never cease to be amazed at how well-groomed and clean the characters look. Maybe they get a smudge of dirt or two on their faces, for effect, but that's all. :-)
I find that the Russians actually did the best war movies, that is the ones that didn’t get too heavy into Commie propaganda, like “Brest Fortress.”
I don't know any women who would live in dirt for weeks at a time. Maybe it's not your grandpa's army any more but it's not for parades either. Dirt is what the infantry is all about.