Suggestions for "Rewatchable" War Movies? (1 Viewer)

[Brandon Allen]

Can you give me some DVD suggestions...thanks

 

[Jerome Grate]

Saving Private Ryan is a great one.

 

[Jonathan Burk]

Let me be the first to absolutely recommend "Band Of Brothers". I watched it on HBO, and have now seen it twice on DVD. It's incredibly well done.

 

[Kenneth English]

My number one favorite war movie is APOCALYPSE NOW. I could watch that one over and over and over. I have also found BLACK HAWK DOWN to have tremendous replay value. A great movie all around. SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is a good one, though I usually end up zoning out during the middle hour or so now. Awesome battle scene at the end, though.

Others:

A BRIDGE TOO FAR
THE THIN RED LINE
PLATOON
THE DEER HUNTER
FULL METAL JACKET

 

[Adam_ME]

The Thin Red Line. Well, you'll either find it rewatchable or you'll never make it through the first viewing.

 

[Tom Rhea]

Definitely Three Kings. A great movie (always the most important qualification) and especially interesting under the current circumstances.

 

[Ted Lee]

FULL METAL JACKET

yes...it's *that* good.

 

[george kaplan]

Here are some I can easily rewatch:

Gettysburg
Das Boot
The Train
Midway
Von Ryan's Express
Patton
Sahara
A Bridge Too Far
The Dirty Dozen
Tora! Tora! Tora!
U-571
The Great Escape
Lifeboat
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Stalag 17

and others (although they might not fit your definition of a war film):

Casablanca
To Have & Have Not
MASH
Schindler's List
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Duck Soup
To Be or Not to Be
Father Goose
Operation Petticoat
The Great Dictator
1941
Mister Roberts

 

[SteveGon]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory - a suberbly-crafted and intensely-moving film, not to be missed. Plus, it can be had for around ten bucks.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

12:00 High
Tuskeegee Airmen
The Big Red One
Kelly's Heroes

 

[Jonny P]

Here are my favorites:

"Too Late The Hero" -- old, but good

"Enemy at the Gates" -- sniper movie with Jude Law and Bob Hoskins as Nikita Kruschev

"Force 10 From Navarone"

"The Big Red One"

"The Green Berets" -- includes the famous sun-setting-in-the-east scene.

"Pearl Harbor" -- gasp, chuckle, flame...it is a pretty darn entertaining piece of fluff made by Jerry Bruckheimer. :b

"Three Kings" -- somewhat cynical, but a very entertainin film, and very unique.

"Behind Enemy Lines"

"Red Dawn" -- 'Wolverines!'

 

[Randy A Salas]

You'll see few recommendations for them, because most people haven't seen them, but I never tire of watching:

Hell Is For Heroes - Fess Parker, Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, James Coburn and, introducing, Bob Newhart star in this wonderful 1962 Don Siegel film about a hopelessly outnumbered American unit that must defend a front-line position. The Newhart segments, in which he does his usual phone-call shtick, are there solely to break up an exceedingly grim story. The Paramount DVD retails for only $19.99.

Hell In The Pacific - Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune are the sole stars of this John Boorman film from 1968. They play an American pilot and a Japanese officer who independently become shipwrecked on an inhospitable Pacific island and end up fighting their own personal war as they try to survive. There's virtually no dialogue, and when Mifune speaks, it's in Japanese without subtitles. We're as clueless as Marvin is. Absolutely fascinating. I didn't realize that this Anchor Bay DVD is out of print and commands high auction prices. If you can find it, be sure to watch the original ending, which unfortunately has to be done separately from the movie--which has a ludicrous U.S. studio-imposed ending.

Both movies are well worth watching and highly underrated.

 

[Patrick McCart]

All Quiet On The Western Front. (1930 version, obviously)

 

[Eric Walsh]

"We Were Soldiers"
.......an underrated gem in my opinion. Don't believe the trailers this is one good war movie!

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

I find The Longest Day to be very re-watchable, if only to play "name that cameo".

Regards,

 

[Jeff Gatie]

I second -

Saving Private Ryan - Humbling battle scenes

Blackhawk Down - Non-preaching, non-agenda filled, non-judgmental and incredibly realistic view of modern combat (watched it at least 5 times already)

We Were Soldiers - Ditto for Vietnam, takes it's time to observe the heroics and determination of the other side

But my all time favorite rewatchable war movie is:
Kelly's Heroes - for the opposite of all the reasons listed above! Completely over-the-top, unrealistic, cynical and humorous look at a serious subject.

One of the best tongue-in-cheek scenes of all time is Clint, Sutherland and Savalas doing the "Wild Bunch" walk, Sutherland's Luger hanging like a Colt Peacemaker from his GI holster and the sound of spurs clinking on their *unspurred* combat boots. Hysterical!

"Always with the negative vibes, Moriarty"

 

[Elvie]

Most of the good ones have already been listed, but I'll add in "Memphis Belle"

Older titles I'd also include would be "Run Silent, Run Deep" and "Two Women" (not for everyone I know).

Although using war as the background, I'd also add:

South Pacific

Paradise Road

Empire of the Sun

Grave of the Fireflies (anime title)

The Best Years of our Lives (1946)

Although considered 'historic' I'll also add "Glory" to the list.

 

[TomWoodward]

Blackhawk Down - Non-preaching...

Hmmm, you've gotta be joking right? BHD is a hugely patriotic and preachy film...which is surprising seeing that Ridley Scott isn't even an American. It certainly doesn't paint the Somali people in a very good light does it?

 

[Jeff Adams]

1.Saving Private Ryan
2.Platoon
3.When we Were Soldiers
4.Black Hawck Down
5.Full Metal Jacket
6.Uprising
7.Band of Brothers
8.Schindlers List
9.A Bridge too Far
10.The Dirty Dozen
And the number one all time greatest Apocalypse Now.

 

[Mark E J]

Excuse me Tom, but what do you have against historical accuracy? Everything shown in BHD happened in real life.

No the movie did not portray the Somali people in a bad light, it portrayed the Habr Gidr clansmen that way. Infact the film even makes them look better that they were. In the real battle the clansmen used women and chlidren as human shields.

What you seem to have overlooked is that Task Force Ranger was operating under a UN mandate to remove Mohomad Farah Aidid and his command structure because the Habr Gidr Clan (whom he led) was resposible for mass genocide as well as declareing war on the UN aid workers.

All the UN and the US wanted in Somali was to stop the artificially created (by Aidid) famine that had wiped out over 300,000 civilians.

Aidid was bent on driveing out the UN aid workers and keeping the famine going until it wiped out all the other clans in Somlia whom the Habr Gidr felt were ethnicly inferior. The only people TFR was fighting was the Habr Gidr milita and a group roveing gunmen for hire called the Morian that was employed by Aidid.

Nowhere does the film take a pro-American or overly patriotic stance. All the film shows is the brotherhood and loyalty of soldiers under fire. From the first frame to the last the film takes no political stand and seeks only to portray the plight of soldiers in combat.

These soldiers could have been from any country. Why does it bother you that they were Americans?