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!)
Sergeant York
Das Boot
Memphis Belle
Zulu
If you include Cold War films, Doctor Strangelove is a classic. Another favorite is a comedy called One Two Three starring James Cagney - it's about a west berlin coca cola plant manager (Cagney) and east berlin soviets who are trying to get the coke formula just prior to the wall being built.
Including the made-for-tv's, I thought Rough Riders, The Hunley, and the A&E Hornblower series were all respectable and at least better than much of what makes it into the theaters.
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