Must Have War Movies? (1 Viewer)

[StephenA]

I just thought of another one, Grave of the Fireflies. Great story about 2 children trying to survive after the Americans bombed Japan.

 

[Larry Schneider]

Attack! - bad title, low budget, great war movie.

 

[Estevan Lapena]

Stalingrad

Band Of Brothers

Hamburger Hill (if you forget the god awful theme!)

Black Hawk Down

Thin Red Line

Platoon

Casulaties of War

Full Metal Jacket

Saving Private Ryan

Apocolypse Now

Deer Hunter

Three Kings

Glory

Paths of Glory

American Pop?

 

[Larry Schneider]

Of course, there are different kinds of war movies. Some are, as was observed, adventure stories not much grounded in reality, like Pearl Harbor and U-571. Some are semi-documentary, like Tora,Tora,Tora and The Longest Day. Some are making a political or philosophical point, like Platoon, All Quiet On The Western Front and The Green Berets. Some are mostly art - like The Thin Red Line (remake) and IMO Full Metal Jacket. There are comedies too - the best of these involve gallows humor.

I do wish they'd get the explosions right. Usually there's a flat "whap or whoomp," a flash and a puff of dirty gray smoke.

 

[Keith M.]

Besides all the previously mentioned titles...

Gods & Generals

 

[DeeF]

I kinda like anti-war movies best, so...

All Quiet on the Western Front

Paths of Glory

Gallipoli

would be my choices here.

 

[Brad Nilsson]

Grand Illusion -- the father of all prisioner of war escape movies. Don't let the fact that it's french scare you away!

 

[LarryDavenport]

My all-time favorite Hell Is For Heroes starring Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino, Bobby Darin, Nick Adams, and introducing Bob Newhart (worth the price alone!)
also (besides most already mentioned)
Hell In The Pacific
Too Late The Hero
Murphy's War
King Rat
Heaven Knows Mr. Allison

 

[Dan Lindley]

Dee F, what might you think of the contention that almost all good war movies are in some ways anti-war movies? SPR the opening scene and the preacher showing up at the door? OTOH, most war movies that don't gloss the facts also show lots of individual courage and many movies don't provide the overall political context. Again, war is heck ala SPR but defeating Hitler is an undeniable good. Not meaning to veer into politics, but just adding some input about how one thinks about the criteria for judging a war film.
I'm not sure anyone's mentioned the Capra films like Prelude to War, but those are quite good as documentaries.
There are many lessons in many war films. Unit cohesion and discipline in Zulu (but also colonialism, etc); command chain issues in Crimson Tide; Pro-US message in Green Berets; the craziness of trench warfare in Paths of Glory, Gallipoli, etc.; and some of my favorites:
Dr. Strangelove can teach many lessons on Cold War politics and nuclear strategy (http://www.nd.edu/~dlindley/handouts...lovenotes.html) and
Tora, Tora, Tora. great on the politics of the pre-PH situation.
So many...

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I browsed quickly through the list so I might have missed it, but I didn't see Battle of Britain on anyone's list.

 

[Peter Overduin]

I am exceedingly surprised that no one has mentioned what Roger Ebert called the greatest war maovie ever:

Grave of the Fireflies.

An anime feature as profound as anything ever put on screen.

 

[Kenshiro]

Spielberg's "other" war movie (if you even want to categorize it as that), Empire of the Sun which pales in comparison to either Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan but is very good in it's own right.
In addition, the film features a breakout performance from a then adolescent Christian Bale.

 

[Chuck Wood]

Gentlemen,

Great choices all! I would like to submit a terrific "agents behind enemy lines" WWII flick from the mid sixties--OPERATION-CROSSBOW! It is handsomely produced and very well acted by George Peppard, Sophia Loren and Tom Courtney. The ending is explosive and it has one of the most unexpected and shocking moments I've ever seen in a movie. It is in stereo, too; so a 5.1 remix would be a breeze.

 

[Richard V]

Resurrecting this thread: In no order, with a few unconventional choices. Paths of Glory Glory Patton Saving Private Ryan The Train Gallipoli The Great Escape Das Boot Castle Keep Divided We Fall The Winter War The Pianist Stalingrad Cross of Iron Downfall Go, Tell the Spartans 49th Parallel The Sand Pebbles 55 Days at Peking

 

[Robin9]

Good resurrection! Zulu Dawn is about to be released on Blu-ray. This is a truly great war film and is not especially well known. It takes place immediately prior to the events in Zulu. Fortress Of War is currently available in Europe as a Zone B locked BRD. It is very good indeed. I posted my thoughts in more detail in the International Blu-ray forum. Downfall is a Russian/German co-production about the fall of Berlin in 1945. It is a very good movie and deserves to be better-known. In my opinion movies like Gone With The Wind, El Cid and Cleopatra are to some extent war films.

 

[Richard V]

Two important omissions from my list. Somehow I overlooked, The Big Red One and We Were Soldiers, both outstanding war pictures, with truly great performances, including one of Lee Marvin's final moving performances.

 

[kingfish]

a few of my favorites that need a dvd release are: the naked and the dead. target zero. men of the fighting lady the last blitzkrieg.

 

[Flashgear]

I would love to see these films have a dvd/blu release... The Best of Enemies (1962) David Niven, Columbia UK The Valiant (1962) John Mills, Robert Shaw,

 

[bujaki]

King Vidor's The Big Parade.

 

[kingfish]

all the young men and the deep six both of which star alan ladd.