The Best War Movies Ever Made

Freepers who know their war flicks | June 25, 2002 | wimpycat

[wimpycat]

As a companion to http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/705904/posts' The Worst War Movies Ever Made thread, I offer you the best war movies ever made, and I wanted to get mine in first. Here's my list, in no particular order.

1. Battleground (love James Whitmore in this!)

2. Full Metal Jacket (love the DI, R. Lee Ermey. "Hard core, man! F***ing Hard core!")

3. Glory (even though it's not quite historically accurate and it's about Yankees, it's a very moving film, IMHO. Great musical score, too.)

4. The Boys in Company C (same DI as in Full Metal Jacket. Made very soon after Vietnam, but it's still pretty good.)

5. Tora! Tora! Tora! (forget Pearl Harbor, the movie, this is the definitive Pearl Harbor movie)

6. Das Boot (definitely one of the all time great war films--great camera work, great sound effects, it makes you feel claustrophobic. Best viewed on DVD with SurroundSound system. Make sure you watch it in German, with the subtitles, not dubbed! Awesome!)

[KevinDavis]

I would say the best war movies would be:
Blackhawk Down
Memphis Belle
Glory
Porkchop Hill(This is the one with Clint Eastwood about going into Grenada
Ok I liked M*A*S*H

[kaylar]

If you get an answer, please pass it along to me : My DH has several versions of Das Boot including the director's cut, and he'd love to have an even more complete version.

[Tailback]

HBO's "Band of Brothers" series was incredible. Should be on your list. Agree with "Boys in Company C" and "Full Metal Jacket" "Saving Private Ryan" although not a true story was fairly accurate in depicting what WWII combat must have been like. As far as realistically depicting a true story the old black and white "Sgt York" is still today a pretty darn good movie.

[tabsternager]

Braveheart was, in my opinion, the greatest war picture ever made (the greatest movie, period, for that matter).

Saving Private Ryan and Tora Tora Tora are tied for second in my book.

[mc5cents]

How about "Schlinder's List"? Not really a "war movie" per se, but pretty good movie set during a war.

[Reagan Man]

Another movie similiar to 12 O'Clock High was Command Decision with Clark Gable.

[buffyt]

This is not a war movie but it is an old Bogart movie, if you like old B&W movies. It is THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT. About long distance truckers in California. We had just driven to Calif in my son's Probe, without AC, (it konked out by Lubbock), so we drove by night. It was really nice. So cool, and no traffic. Even the big rigs pull over at night now. I think we will always make that drive at night now.

[wimpycat]

Oh, man! How could I have overlooked Sergeant York?

Speaking of Gary Cooper, it's not quite a war flick, but since we're being flexible, The Friendly Persuasion is a great movie.

[Burkeman1]

"The Patriot" was a lie from beginning to end. From the British killing Children and burning Churches with Civilians trapped inside (that would be a memorial to this day) to blacks serving in the continental army- actually more Blacks served in the British Army because they had outlawed slavery and offered immediate emmancipation to any black slave who volunteered.

[PJ-Comix]

2. In Harm's Way

Yeah, I just loved that scene with the sailorless Japanese boats floating thru that studio bathtub.

[dirtbiker]

It wasn't wartime, but "Firefox" fits...

Agreed. Started off slow, but got much better when the "Firefox" was airborne!

[tophat9000]

was good as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Probably the best actor in that movie I'd say.

True

If I was to pick a top ten best or most powerful moments in a war movie

Jeff Daniels, as Chamberlain, call for "fix bayonets!" in "Gettysburg" would make my list

[Sam Cree]

"Where Eagles Dare"

I really enjoy that movie alot, though I don't take it too seriously. However, the general darkness of it really gets across to the viewer how cold it is and gives the atmosphere a special gloomy, wintry and dramatic feeling.

I remember enjoying some years ago the PBS series on the Civil War, esp. all the period songs and photographs. Knowing what I know now about PBS, though, I worry that it may have been "politically correct." Does anyone remember if it was actually any good?

[wimpycat]

To be honest, Saving Private Ryan definitely has its moments (the opening scenes, and the scene where the German kills the Yank in that building, and the scene where they run out of ammo and start throwing their helmets at each other), but overall? The underlying story I find rather boring. I have no desire to see it again. Well, maybe I'd see it again, but I wouldn't buy it.

[Paulus Invictus]

Right! "Zulu" was excellent! I also liked "Saving Private Ryan." Pretty realistic combat scenes. Having just read some accounts of the terrible scenes at Omaha and Utah beaches by vets who survived, "Ryan" got close to reality, but not quite. The reality was too horrible to put on film.

[John H K]

Gettysburg SHOULD have been a slightly shorter movie focused ENTIRELY on Joshua Chamberlain. Either just dealing with Little Round Top, or a Chamberlain biopic. Really a fascinating guy. As you note, that part of the movie was great, the rest horrible.

[crazykatz]

ZULU!! GREAT MOVIE!!

I like THE LIGHT HORSEMEN. It is about the true story a troop of Australian horse soldiers in WWI. They were involved in the last successful cavalry charge by horse soldiers, EVER...possitively spell binding!! Lots of action and the story is BRILLANT!!

[surely_you_jest]

Saw it a few days ago on some cable channel or other. Try this for a listing - http://www.tvguide.com/Movies/ database/ShowMovie.asp?MI=2183 7

[PJ-Comix]

From Here To Eternity

Not really a war movie but definitely the BEST novel ever written. The novel makes the movie pale by comparison. When I read that novel I was stunned by the skill of the writing.

[Hoosier Patriot]

Not a wartime setting, but Jimmy Stewart in "Strategic Air Command" always rates as a must watch for me. Love those B-36's.