Best War Films

[CapitalGuy]

And the best is............

"All's Quiet on the Western Front" (1930) is generally recognized as being the best war movie ever made. A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I. Told entirely from the German perspective, it was groundbreaking stuff, and still hits you hard.

However my favourite is one that has yet to be mentioned here."Catch-22" (1970). A man tries desperately to be certified insane during World War II, so he can stop flying missions. Funniest book ever written, funniest film ever made.

 

[Asterix]

Speaking of Kubric, how could I forget "Dr. Strangelove". Sellers at his height in multiple roles, and who could forget Slim Pickens riding the bomb on the way down. Top to bottom, absolutely brilliant.

 

[Berlin]

Great titles above.

My fav:

- A Bridge Too Far
- Saving Private Ryan
- Apocalypse Now
- Platoon
- Hamburger Hill
- the Longest Day
- Enemy At The Gates

- Midway ( back then, it was great )

War time drama:

- Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
( well you got to watch Beat Takashi, Bowie, Sakamoto in the same flick. Excellent film score. )

- King Rat
( a very good drama involving allied POW's in a Japanese camp . It is in B and W, starring the young George Segal. Saw it on CBC, defiinitely left an impression on me )

 

[big dogie]

The Mouse that roared and the Incredible Mr Limpit were fav's of mine when i was growing up.....

Apocalypse Now Redux what is up with this movie????? I saw it on TV last week..... some new parts that were cut from the original I guess? ....like what was up with those french people I think the movie was better with out them ....... they wern't in the original were they?

b d

 

[stang]

A lot of my fav's listed already:

Patton
Bridge on the River Kwai
All Quiet on the Western Front
Zulu
The Eagle has Landed
A Bridge Too Far
The Bridge at Remagen
The Bridges at Tokyo Ri
Go Tell the Spartens
Full Metal Jacket
Casulalties of War
Mister Roberts
Battle of the Bulge

 

[Pargolfer]

Guns of Navarone..

Guns of Navarone...

annalee

One of my Favs as well.....Okay Annalee can you name who played in this great film????Let me know if you need any help...LOL...

 

[Keebler Elf]

Don't forget Stalingrad or the Oscar nominated Cross of Iron. Both are WWII flicks from the German perspective.

Oh yeah, and Das Boot!

 

[Rocket Man]

I’m surprised that the Deer Hunter hasn’t been mentioned yet, although it’s not my favorite film, I think it deserves an honourable mention.

 

[big dogie]

The other part that was cut had to do with the dancing girls who off'd their manager and stuffed him in some sort of box, which eventually broke open when one of the ladies and one of the soldiers were horsing around.

Oh I did'nt see that part but I did see that part where the boat was up river and they ran into the Playboy Playmates that gave the USO show then they turned turned into SP's and there services were paid for with diesel fuel......I liked the original better the playmates and the rich french behind enimy lines were just not believable....

b d

 

[homonger]

Some that have already been mentioned...

Saving Private Ryan
Full Metal Jacket
Sands of Iwo Jima
Glory
The Last of the Mohicans

Some others, which I do not believe have been mentioned...

Paths of Glory
All Quiet on the Western Front
Breaker Morant

 

[pussygalore]

Sink the Bismarck

 

[Master Muse]

Full metal jacket point

As a former Marine Corps DI (drill instructor for Canadians), Full Metal Jacket's first half is "the" authentic Marine Corps recruit training movie. The DI - who is shot by the recruit - was a DI in real life; all the "hazing" is real, albeit fairly mild versions of the Parris Island reality and my sole quibble was with the scene wherein the platoon jogs along a street "singing". That's for doggies (army recruits for Canadians), not Marines.

Being a GI DI from PI was a highlight of my years in the Corps. You know that all the work will someday, somewhere, somehow save some Marine's life. Note too that being a DI is very tough work as you must be always perfect, always better, always spit-shined and polished, always there, always on time, never tired, never falter, always the same Mariine. Not easy; trust me.

It's one reason why we are the world's best and why nobody wants us on the other side of them. Ever.

 

[baltimoron]

Full Metal Jacket's ... DI - who is shot by the recruit - was a DI in real life;

R. Lee Ermey is hilarious!

I like his show Mail Call on the History Channel, which is required for anyone who's into war movies.

It was so funny when he kissed Jack Black on the lips in Saving Silverman!

 

[mikey69]

Here's a few new ones

You guys definitely know your movies, wow. I salute the guys who served, especially the suggestion that someone might know what "Platform 4" and "Binned" means.

Here are a few of my faves not already mentioned:

Cockleshell Heroes: true basis for the founding of the SBS (Special Boat Service of the Royal Marines, as it was then; now a separate force) and a raid on the shipping of a French port under German control by soldiers in kayaks. Amazing and inspiring and funny.

The Hill: the movie that Sean Connery forced the studios to make before he would sign on to do a 3rd Bond. Excellent tale of a British military prison with a punishment hill of sand. Sounds drab but the acting is excellent (Connery, Harry Andrews, Ossie Davis, Ian Hendry, Ian Bannen, Michael Redgrave, etc) and direction is first class. Harry Andrews is the epitome of the British Regimental Sergeant Major. If you want to see Connery act his best ever, and hear what he really sounds like when he speaks his native Edinburgh, rent this one.

Run silent, run deep: submarine mission to attack a Japanese port. Clark Gable and Bur Lancaster star. If you want to see two fine actors at the top of thier game, rent it. This was made when making a movie using just one set was acceptable, before the Sesame Street generation's miniscule attention span held sway.

The Man who never was: one of British Intelligence's majour coups of the second world war, convincing the Germans the invasion would happen not in Normany but elsewhere, by putting invasion plans on a body that washes ashore in Spain, from a plane crash. The meticulous checking the Germans do, and the chess-like game between Naval Intelligence and the Gestapo, are great. And it's true. Lots of well-known actors of the 50's and 60's.

I was Monty's double: another true case of brilliant deception, using an actor to impersonate a famous British General in WW2, to make the Germans think the allied offensive would happen in Scicily not France. Absolutely gripping, and the scenes of WW2 London and the bomb damage remind us that the Blitz was no fun.

Enjoy,

M

 

[tboy]

The Mouse that roared and the Incredible Mr Limpit were fav's of mine when i was growing up.....

Apocalypse Now Redux what is up with this movie????? I saw it on TV last week..... some new parts that were cut from the original I guess? ....like what was up with those french people I think the movie was better with out them ....... they wern't in the original were they?

b d

In the book, Dark Rivers of the Heart (I think) the french were there...You have to remember, the vietnam war was going on for years before the US got involved. Vietnam used to be a French colony at one point and they got beat (like the US eventually did) and left. Though many French plantation owners still lived there during the last war.

There were a couple of additiional scenes in Redux back at Kurtz's base camp as well as the Bunny scene with the boys gettin'sum in the bunny chopper.

There was also a couple of scenes at the beach where Kilger wanted to surf. They also included the scene(s) where the PBY boys stole Kilger's surfboard and he was sending a chopper up and down the river looking for it.

These were all edited out due to time restraints. On the original release Apocalypse Now was like 2 1/2 hrs. With the added scenes it was over 3 - 3 1/2. At the time the studio felt that an audience wouldn't sit that long for a movie......

 

[jeffham29]

Saving Private Ryan is my favorite WW2 movie.
Glory is my favorite Civil War movie.
Full Metal Jacket is my favorite Vietnam movie.

Superb choices. Saving Private Ryan's opening beach scene is one of most visceral experiences in any war film.

 

[Keebler Elf]

The Guns of Navarone and what's that one with Donald Sutherland as the Scottish game warden?

 

[homonger]

Superb choices. Saving Private Ryan's opening beach scene is one of most visceral experiences in any war film.

Visceral. Yeah, literally. A freaking joke that it lost Best Picture Oscar to Shakespeare in Love.

 

[willie]

I love war films and like most of the choices already made but without a doubt,I would put Thin Red Line,at the top,of my list. The movie is directed by Terence Malick,he is the same guy who directed The New World,and is considered one of,north america.s leading directors.
Thin Red LINE ,adopts James Jone s, novel of the same name about the absolutely ferocious,turnaround struggle for Gudacanal,a small island of not very stragetic imporance,that become the first place that that two badly trained marine divisions were left to slug it out with Japan,in the second world war
This film includes geat performaces from some of the best actors in the U.S,Sean PENN,Nick Nolte,John Travolta,John Cusack.George Clooney
Also it is very mulitlayered managing to get right into the heads of the soldiers as they fight,and is mainly seen through the eyes of a pacificist ,
whose eyes are drawn to the sheer simplicity and beauty of the pacific iseland where its fought,
=willie
it repays repeated watching

 

[CapitalGuy]

The Guns of Navarone and what's that one with Donald Sutherland as the Scottish game warden?

"The Eagle has Landed". (1976) Sutherland plays an Irish traitor working for the Germans. The Germans drop a platoon of commandos into southern england to try and assassinate Churchill. Sutherland's cover is the local game warden. Also stars young Larry Hagman, Micheal Caine, Robert Duvall, and Jenny Agutter. Great flick.