Greatest War Movies

[bdutton]

16 hours ago, K-9 said:

Paths of Glory

I was looking for this one.  The German girl singing to the French Soldiers at the end was moving.

 

My other favorite was Tropic Thunder.

 

[eball]

Nice list @DC Tom; I've only seen one or two of them.  I will make a note to see the others.

[TSOL]

Star Wars 7: the Force Awakens. Hey, it was a war movie! 

[Greybeard]

   Run Silent. Run Deep.     Movie wise it doesn't compare with almost all of those mentioned, but it was one of the great ones from the 50's.

[The Avenger]

Oh - almost forgot a Danish film I caught last year that was excellent - Land of Mine. Was nominated for an Academy award in 2017 for best foreign language film.

 

The story of how Denmark conscripted defeated German soldiers in the immediate aftermath of WWII and made them clear the beaches of the millions of mines German forces had laid expecting the allied invasion in Denmark. Most were just boys of 17 or 18 and only about 50% of those forced to do the work survived without being killed or maimed. Really an excellent film - highly recommend of you can catch it and don't mind subtitles (or speak German - Danish movie but dialog is German).

[row_33]

Anything movie from the UK that was a mockery of the Gestapo.

 

 

[LeGOATski]

22 hours ago, The_Dude said:

I was watching one of my favorite war movies yesterday and I got to thinking -- what do y'all like? I base my favorites on their accuracy, not CGI budget. I will allow miniseries to make the list. Here's mine:

1. Band of Brothers
2. Das Boot (movie I watched the other day)
3. All Quiet on the Western Front
4. We Were Soldiers
5. Saving Private Ryan

I liked We Were Soldiers, but didn't think it was very accurate. Very over-the-top, but it worked.

 

Underrated, accurate war movie: Lone Survivor

 

I love a lot of the ones already named.

 

Another good one I'll throw in the ring: Rescue Dawn

[Pete]

Apocalypse Now and Restrepo are two of my favorite movies

[KD in CA]

Pretty well covered so far;  add one not yet mentioned:  Gettysburg.   A little dramatic and I always thought Marin Sheen was a bit over the top with his doddering old man portrait of Lee, but overall very good and had a great cast with some excellent performances.

 

Great Escape has always been my favorite.

[The_Dude]

17 hours ago, DC Tom said:

My standard for "good" is generally accuracy.  So, in no particular order:

• Twelve O'Clock High: 70 years old, and still one of the best portrayals of the psychological effects of warfare.
• The Caine Mutiny: one of Bogie's underrated performances, and an excellent study in unity of command.
• Lawrence of Arabia: honestly, rather ponderous, but one of the most beautifully filmed movies you will ever see.
• Tora Tora Tora: the use of different American and Japanese crews for their respective nationalities' scenes gives it an unusually balanced historical feel.
• A Bridge Too Far: Oscar winner Richard Attenborough directing Oscar winners and nominees Sean Connery, Ryan O'Neal, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Anthony Hopkins, James Caan, Maximilian Schell, Liv Ullman, Elliott Gould, Denholm Elilott, Robert Redford, and Lawrence freakin' Oliver.  You won't even see that many Oscar winners at the Oscars.
• Das Boot: most realistic portrayal of submarine warfare in the German Navy in WWII you'll ever see.
• Master and Commander: same as above, for Napoleonic naval warfare.  
• We Were Soldiers: accurate portrayal of the Ia Drang Valley, accurate enough that it gave Vietnam vets flashbacks, and Joseph Galloway walked out of the screening because it was too close to reliving his nightmares.  Plus...Sam Elliott plays the Sargent Major role he was born to play.
• Zulu: telling of the Battle of Rorke's Drift, so true to history the Zulu uThulwana impi in the movie is portrayed by...the actual uThulwana impi.  

Honorable mentions, for having phenomenal set-pieces:

• Enemy at the Gates: a pedestrian movie, but the Russian reinforcements crossing the Volga into Stalingrad is a frighteningly accurate depiction of the *****-show that battle was.
• Saving Private Ryan: though I consider the movie marred by Spielberg's standard practice of giving up before the movie's over and ending it with deus ex Jurrasica T-Rex swooping in and killing the velociraptors (or P-51 killing Germans - same difference), the opening 40 minutes is one of the most draw-dropping, attention-seizing battle set-pieces you'll ever see.

Honorable mention for worst ever: Pearl Harbor.  ***** you, Michael Bay.  ***** you hard, with each of the 700 sticks of dynamite you used to make seven of the most bull#### seconds of film I have ever seen.

 

I like that movie but from what I’ve been told by experts there’s no reason to believe Russian troops were sent in without rifles. It was a frequent practice that I know of in WWI, but I’ve never seen anything on that battle that leads me to believe that’s accurate. 

[NoHuddleKelly12]

20 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

For raw quality of film making, not necessarily in order, and treating HBO's miniseries "BAND OF BROTHERS" as a collective, long, film:

 

1) Apocalypse Now (One of top 5 best movies ever made IMO about any topic)

2) Band of Brothers (good in every way)

3) Die Brücke ("The Bridge" in English; 1959 German Classic)

4) Das Boot (pronounced "BOAT" just like in English; not "boot" like the thing you wear on your foot)

5) Der Untergang (DOWNFALL in English; phenomenal film)

6) Bridge on the River Kwai

7) Three Kings

? Kelly's Heroes

9) Mr. Roberts

 

 

For special effects that elevated the entire genre to a new height:

 

Saving Private Ryan

 

Very solid war movies you may not be familiar with and are worth a viewing:

 

1) When Trumpets Fade

2) A Midnight Clear

3) The Thin Red Line (1964 original and 1998 remake)

4) Beach Red

 

Documentaries you must see:

 

1) Restrepo

2) The Fog of War

3) PBS recent series "VIETNAM" by Ken Burns

4) Vietnam: a Television History (PBS series on Vietnam from 1983; in many ways better than the recent Ken Burns work)

5) Hyena Road

6) SHOAH (1985; about the holocaust)

 

Honorable Mentions that missed the mark but are an OK watch at least once:

 

1) A Bridge Too Far

2) Platoon

3) Full Metal Jacket

4) Guns of Navarone

5) Midway

6) The Big Red One

 

I'm forgetting tons for sure.

 

 

 

 

Good one which I forgot about.

Also "War and Remembrance" sequel miniseries.

 

 

Great list. Der Untergang is one of the best at depicting the final chaotic days in Berlin--love it. For another German classic, you can't go wrong with "Stalingrad," the 1993 Joseph Vilsmaier-directed piece. The storylines are more compelling in that than Enemy at the Gates, imho. There's a scene where infantry soldiers with no heavy guns are facing a T-34 massed attack that is alone worth watching it for. "Generation War" used to be on Netflix, has some good Russian front combat sequences. Battle of Britain (1969). Like you said, so many, hard to keep track of them all.  

[NoHuddleKelly12]

Also, while not a war movie in the sense of not a lot of explosions and unending machine gun chatter, "The One That Got Away" (1957) is definitely one of the best I've ever seen from the standpoint of suspense and a great escape based on a true story, a la if you liked "The Great Escape," I think you will also really like this one.

 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050803/

 

[Dante]

Tora, Tora, Tora still my favorite.

[Boca BIlls]

In the Army Now

[Gray Beard]

Many good ones mentioned already.  I’ll add a favorite of mine....

The Devil’s Brigade

 

[Pilsner]

I like DC Tom’s list and am fond of Zulu and Zulu Dawn. No one has mentioned Stalag 17. Not a shabby movie.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Tom beat me to Zulu. Enemy at the gates is my other.

[Fr. Jerk]

Full Metal Jacket and everything else is a distant second, ya dig?

[KD in CA]

Does Private Benjamin count as a war movie?   Goldie was still near her peak.

[Nextmanup]

9 hours ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Great list. Der Untergang is one of the best at depicting the final chaotic days in Berlin--love it. For another German classic, you can't go wrong with "Stalingrad," the 1993 Joseph Vilsmaier-directed piece. The storylines are more compelling in that than Enemy at the Gates, imho. There's a scene where infantry soldiers with no heavy guns are facing a T-34 massed attack that is alone worth watching it for. "Generation War" used to be on Netflix, has some good Russian front combat sequences. Battle of Britain (1969). Like you said, so many, hard to keep track of them all.  

I own "Stalingrad" on DVD!  Solid movie that I totally forgot about.

 

Has anyone mentioned "Black Hawk Down" ???

 

Another good movie and the book was really good.  I would urge anyone to read the book who has not, if you are interested in the subject matter.  The book was filled with really interesting/weird/intriguing facts/incidents which were not really bought out in the movie.

 

I'm thinking, for example, some of the guys fighting on the ground while a Black Hawk hovered above them, firing its mini-gun.  Zillions of hot, freshly ejected shells were dropping down on the soldiers and getting inside their clothing, burning them...they had to move under a roof to keep all that hot metal from raining down on them.

 

They sort of tried to convey that in the movie but it wasn't really clear what was going on IMO.

 

The book really brought out lots of fascinating detail.