Posted on 06/25/2002 5:40:51 PM PDT by 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!)
"Patton" has got to make every list.
"The Longest Day"
"Saving Private Ryan"; I still can't watch that one all the way through.
"12 O'clock High"
"The Victors"
"The Horse Soldiers"
"The Devil's Brigade"
This is just scratching the surface.
Walt
Men of harlech, stand ye steady,
It can not be ever said ye,
For the battle were not ready,
Welchmen will not yield!"
Great stuff!
Walt
"There's -no- moisture in it. Nothing to hold a man in his grave."
Walt
I will ditto those feelings for Catch 22.
Now on the other hand Mr. Roberts was pretty good in relation to the book. James Cagney's portrayal of the Captain was just wonderful and Jack Lemmon as Ensign Pulver was classic. My only complaint was the part about the sick call. The book has one of the sailors with the clap and the Doc just can't imagine why he would want to get rid of his "badge of honor". Very funny stuff but was left out of the movie because of when it was made I suppose. 9 times out of 10 though the book is always better because you can get inside of the characters. Mr. Roberts was no exception in that regard.
I don't remember C of I even being in the theaters. Great flick though. Probably one of the best war movies ever.
"The Eagle has Landed" was a good movie. Robert Duvall, Maicael Caine and Donald Sutherland. Great stuff.
Walt
Shenandoah...it moved me as a young Southern kid. (I don't remember if I've seen it or not--is it the John Wayne flick where he takes boy from the military academy over his knee and spanks him? If it is, that's a good one)
No, that was The Horse Soldiers, with Wayne and William Holden. Shenandoah starred Jimmy Stewart as a Virginia farmer with 5 or 6 sons who wanted no part of the Civil War. By the end of the movie, he has lost two sons (almost three) and a daughter-in-law. Very good movie, although I wouldn't call it a war movie - it is a movie set in a war. A couple of good lines from the move include when some Confederate purchasing agents tell Stewart that they can confiscate his horses if they want to, his youngest son asks "What does confiscate mean?" Stewart replies "Steal" There is another scene where someone is trying to convince Stewart that he owes his sons to Virginia's cause, Stewart replies "I don't remember Virginia coming around with a spare teat."
Shenandoah is worth renting, although it is on some of the movie channels on a fairly regular basis.
Hell is for Heroes - directed by Don Siegal (he of Dirty Harry fame), starring Steve McQueen and a cast of thousands. Shot in glorious black-and-white.
The 300 Spartans -- great costume drama about the defense of the pass at Thermopylae by the Greeks against the Persians in 480 BC. The defense of the West began here.
Fort Apache -- the greatest of the John Ford "cavalry" trilogy, with great performances from Henry Fonda, The Duke, and Ward Bond.
The Enemy Below -- Curt Jurgens and Robert Mitchum play cat-and-mouse in a U-boat and Destroyer in the South Atlantic. THE definitive WW II submarine movie, infintiely superior to Das Boot.
They Died With Their Boots On -- Errol Flynn in THE defnitive film portrayal of George Armstrong Custer.
Paths of Glory -- The best WW I film, bar none.
The Caine Mutiny -- The best courts-martial film ever, bar none. Humphrey Bogart's best role, infinitely better than that in Casablanca.
And of course, many of the other above, already mentioned -- Zulu, Patton, The Great Escape, and most especially, The Longest Day.
.."WE WERE SOLDIERS" =
..MEL GIBSON-RANDALL WALLACE's...
.."BRAVEHEART"..in 'Nam..
...about our Heroism...
...in Battle and at Home...
...in -Time of War-.
...A Tale for our Times...???
...DVD/Video out August 20, 2002...
...Preorder on.. www.Amazon.com ..
...Signed:..ALOHA RONNIE / Vet-Battle of IA DRANG-1965 / ...See.. www.LzXray.com ..
NEVER FORGET
Yeah, then there was the line when Stewart says:
"Mister, your train takes people where they don't want to go."
That's a great line.
Walt
Thanks for bringing up The Enemy Below. It's a little far fetched, IMHO, but probably the second best submarine film made, after Das Boot, which is far superior in special effects, script, sound, realism and acting, although I hate to compare the acting style of the 50's to the acting styles of the 80's. Besides, Curt Jurgens and Robert Mitchum--hubba! hubba!
I'm ashamed to say I've still never seen The Caine Mutiny. I know it's good and one day I'll get around to watching it.
Run, don't walk, to your neighborhood video store then. You won't regret it.
We'll just agree to disagree on the sub movie thing. I probably should have included Run Silent, Run Deep on that list as well.
Regards!
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