[MarineDad]

"The Longest Day". Definitely. And its source book by Cornelius Ryan.

[Finny]

"The Cruel Sea" with Jack Hawkins is a truly great war movie. Probably hard to find, but worth it if you can.

[Finny]

Also, as has been mentioned ... Bridge on the River Kwai is certainly one of THE best war movies ever made. Also, as has been suggested ... do go to the trouble if finding the BBC's "Piece of Cake." It will be on a series of videos. It is absolutely excellent.

[Austin Willard Wright]

Has anyone mentioned King Rat? It is my favorite WWII movie and probably one of the best movies of all time.

[PJ-Comix]

"The Longest Day".

I HATE that movie. It makes it look like D-Day was just one big excuse for filming gag lines. Saving Private Ryan had a much better depiction of what went on there.

[Heyworth]

Others have mentioned, but I'll also put in a vote for Hell is for Heroes. Steve McQueen, Don Siegel directing, and Bob Newhart doing his telephone routine (go figure). Battleground is excellent. Liked Band of Brothers a lot. At it's heart, the miniseries wasn't about bravery, or the bonding of the men or any of that stuff. What it was really about was the nature of leadership. What makes a good leader, what makes a bad one. It's practically a management manual.

Best Jap POW movie: Camp on Blood Island
Best pure WW2 propaganda: A Walk in the Sun
Best Air War Movie: 12 O'Clock High (also more about management than combat)

But man, I'm amazed at some of the junky, overwrought, badly written stuff some of y'all are mentioning. Yeah, A Bridge Too Far is accurate, but the script is just awful. Worst work William Goldman ever did. Tora Tora Tora? You must be joking. Important story, big budget. Too bad it's just a bad movie at almost every level. In the Japanese-American co-production genre (not to be confused with co-prosperity spere) there was a really interesting movie Showtime made about the atomic bomb, and the conflicts within the Japanese leadership over surrender, including the backstab of the Russians, who declared war just when the Japanese approached them about opening a line of communication to the Allies.