Best War movie?

[charlie and algernon]

Poll question: Best War movie?

[skygazer]

1. Band of Brothers

I realize it's not a theatrical movie but it's head and shoulders better than anything on your list (and I like some of the movies on your list).

[charlie and algernon]

3. ah yes, I LOVE Band of Brothers

"Other" can be the Band of Brothers button. And you're right, BoB is leaps and bounds better than most war movies. I think Glory and Saving Private Ryan are certianly close.

[Parche]

86. the best ever

:patriot: :hi:

"Currahee"

[DevonRex]

2. Any movie with Johnny Depp in it beats every movie without him.

It's a rule. So of course it's Platoon.

[dana_b]

122. Amen!! n/t

[EastTennesseeDem]

4. Full Metal Jacket

But I thought Gettysburg was great too.

For the record, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Apocalypse Now, and Glory are really, really close.

[OmahaBlueDog]

8. FMJ is a highly underrated film

My only problem with "Gettysburg" is that Pickett's Charge is too clean. I know thay felt like they wanted to show the film in schools, but that was a scene where carnage a la Wes Craven was called for.

[EastTennesseeDem]

11. I'm with you on that

When someone is hit with double canister, they typically aren't in one piece.

[RoyGBiv]

23. That's your only problem?

There are so many problems with that movie that when a group of us turned finding those problems into a drinking game, we all started looking into liver replacements after one viewing. :)

Seriously ... the whole movie was too clean, the soldiers too fat, and in general, as a "war movie," unrealistic all around. The battle scenes are basically glorified reenactments and not bad for what they were, but a movie could have done better. (Of course, there was a serious lack of funding.) The historical inaccuracies are also legendary.

That said, it's a fine film, one of my favorite movies, but this is because it is a mostly faithful adaptation of the novel on which it is based, which is less a story about war than it is about the individuals in that war. Gettysburg is a setting.

It's also one of very few representations of Longstreet in popular culture that gets it mostly right.

And that's why I hate the prequel and sequel Michael Shaara's son wrote. He wrote Lost Cause war drek, which is not what his father's work was. That gawdaful movie Gods and Generals is only saved from being a complete waste of time by the stellar performances of Stephen Lang as Jackson and Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain. IMO.

Sorry ... bit of a rant there. Not directed at you. :)

[OmahaBlueDog]

30. G & G is dreck

I agree "Gettysburg" is a very good adaptation of "The Killer Angels", and I also agree that the portrayal of Longstreet is well done. I frequently think how much longet the war might have gone on if Lee takes his advice, and withdraws on at the end of day 2.

Again, I think much of the "cleanliness" was to make the film viewable in schools. Speaking of which, you must have been at an interesting school to invent drinking games around that movie - bravo!!

The book I'd like to see made into a movie on a gore-parity with "Saving Private Ryan" is Stephen Sears' "The Landscape Turned Red." 23,000 died on September 17, 1862 at Antietam/Sharpsburg, and I don't think most Americans have a clue how much blood was shed that day, or how little either side gained as a result. The shootout in the firlds outside the Dunker Church and the close range shootout at "Bloody Lane" would make for particularly interesting viewing.

[RoyGBiv]

39. Wasn't at school ...

It was a bunch of historians, both professional and amateur, though.

I think we first played it at Chickamauga ... there was a tornado warning while at the hotel that night that we completely missed. :)

Landscape Turned Red, or any movie about Sharpsburg, would definitely be a gore-fest. Of course, Gettysburg should have been also.

I've had discussion with people involved in these sorts of things at various times about why we've never really had a "realistic" Civil War based movie. My original thinking is that it couldn't, in the modern era, be the gore factor. I mean, as you say, there is Wes Craven.

However, it's been suggested to me that this is exactly what it is. While there is certainly gore involved in any realistic adaptation of a battle no matter the setting, it can be a difference in kind from one war to the next. The Omaha Beach scene in Private Ryan is one of the most accurate portrayals of a battle we've had in a movie, and it was almost too much. Most of the real horror takes place in the background or in quick, surreal shots. Or, you see the effects of single bullet wounds or a limb shot off, which is bad enough. In a Civil War era battle, that's everywhere, only worse in a way because the bullets don't make nice little holes that bleed. They take out chunks of the body, shatter bones, and basically rip everything apart. And the human carnage is massed together just as the lines were massed together. A bomb in WWII could take out dozens at a time by blasting them into little pieces. During the Civil War, a canon ball could explode above an advancing line and not outright kill a hundred people at a time, but take away parts of them, removing a few heads, arms, legs ... pieces. They got to die later after agonizing on the field for hours at a time.

One of the guys I talked to said there's a few things we probably won't see any time soon, mostly because no one really wants to do it. These involve battle scenes for anything prior to WWII, an accurate portrayal of what happened on the field during WWI when gas was unleashed, and an accurate portrayal of how the US and its allies managed to destroy the Iraqi army during Gulf War I. Of the latter, he said, you'll see it from inside a tank, or you'll see the aftermath of the Highway of Death, but you won't see the bulldozers burying thousands alive or in-scene depictions of the human destruction inflicted at the time it was happening. Not sure if he's right, but he had an interesting perspective.

[charlie and algernon]

46. I think Glory comes the closest to a "realistic" civil war movie

there you at least see a guy's head blow up and you see blood when people are shot. I think a movie about Antetiam would be an excellent and powerful choise. I'm still pissed that G&G completely skipped over Antetiam. the sunken road and the cornfield would make for a very bloody film.

[RoyGBiv]

53. G&G was horrible ...

Just horrible. They took what was already a book with many, many problems and made it worse.

Maxwell should be shot.

I was involved with some people indirectly in the build-up to making that movie. There was a time when no one thought it would ever get made due, in part, to issues with Maxwell and his relationship with actors and others that had been involved in making Gettysburg. (At least one of those very well known actors refused ever to work with him again because of how poorly he perceived Maxwell as a director.) Also, he is reported to have fancied himself as something of a scriptwriting genius, which he is not.

My summary of him is that he didn't understand the Civil War itself, didn't understand the literature on which he based his movies, and was all around one of the worst choices imaginable to work on what could have been exceptional projects. (As much as I dislike G&G the book, it could have made a decent movie in the right hands.)

[charlie and algernon]

59. Maxwell was awful to be sure, but I blame the book itself

Gettysburg, the book, is a magnificant novel, I love how Shaara the elder went into the characters minds during the battle of Gettysburg. His son took this idea and not only ran with it but ran with it for 100000 miles. For a book that's supposed to cover 1860-1863, he spends WAY too much time with boring conversation at holiday parties and whatnot. Whereas Gettysburg held my attention all the way through, I found myself wandering when the current conversation/monologue was going to end. I would LOVE for a competant director to do the first years of the war, and most importantly, NOT rely on a boring ass book.

[EastTennesseeDem]

42. I think about how swiftly the war would've ended

if Baldy Ewell had taken the high ground. That would have put the Union in a very tricky spot.

[OmahaBlueDog]

48. Chamberlain saved the day, that's for sure.

Especially given the draft riots that ensued in New York, Mead would have really been in a trick. There's a real chance Baltimore would have been lost, and that Lincoln would have had to move the capitol.

[EastTennesseeDem]

50. He definitely did

but I was referring more to Ewell's complete inaction on Cemetery Hill. (Remember the "We should have taken that hill!" scene?) Little Round Top turned into the must-have ground because Ewell choked. Baldy was no Stonewall Jackson. Jackson wouldn't have waited one second.

[OmahaBlueDog]

52. You, of course, are correct

as, of course, General Law (no , I'd forgotten - I had to look it up) was charged with taking the hill.

[RoyGBiv]

61. Law?

Evander?

He was involved the second day as a part of Longstreet's corps in Hood's division. When Hood fell early in the fighting, Law took over Hood's division.

Little Round Top wasn't actually a target initially. It became one due to various factors, including the geography of the land and the way it split the far-right assault force and Law's inability to coordinate the actions of the entire division as well as his own brigade. Regiments got cut off, some of which ended up assaulting LRT directly, notably Oates's Alabama regiment, which is who faced off against Chamberlain most directly.

The first day's battle involves the non-assault on Cemetery Hill in the early evening. This would have involved Rodes and Early's divisions, but he chose not to make an assault after the full day of fighting. It was probably the correct move since the Federals had had time while the Confederates were reorganizing from their attacks all day to prepare their positions such that it would have been incredibly difficult to take them, and even if they made it up the hill, there's a question of whether they can stay. When General Hancock came on the scene, my personal opinion is he made the decisions necessary that would have prevented the Ewell's men from being able to take and keep the hills. But, of course, no one can be certain.

[RoyGBiv]

57. I view that differently ...

Sorry to turn this into a Civil War discussion ...

The Federals would have been in an untenable position at Gettysburg if Ewell had "taken that hill," but all that means is that the rest of the army doesn't concentrate there. The battle wasn't planned at all, and the only reason for the concentration of the two armies was due to what amounted to an accidental meeting that got out of control of either side, leaving both sides at the end of the day thinking they had an opportunity. Had circumstances not developed precisely as they had, the battle of Gettysburg is a one-day affair that was the prelude to something else. The most likely outcome had Lee's army been able to drive the AoP from the heights that day was for the elements that had been engaged to withdraw to their prepared Pipe Creek positions, which were essentially unassailable by anything Lee could have brought against them, and the dance continues.

Politically, Meade wouldn't have been able to give Lee free reign to roam around, and he would have had to come out sometime or done something to attack Lee's lines of communication, which would have resulted in a battle at some point. It's an open question, though, where this would have been, and the result is anyone's guess.

[charlie and algernon]

63. politically, Lincoln would've lost reelection

the victories at Vicksburg and Atlanta would've been overshadowed by a defeat or stalemate in the north. Who knows how Meade, who was only in command for a couple of days, would've done had he had to attack Lee. If Lee wins at Gettysburg, he probably sends Ewell back up to take Harrisburg and then the north is really f*cked.

[RoyGBiv]

66. Perhaps ...

Harrisburg was likely an original target. The original point of concentration was west of and up to Cashtown, on the other side of the mountain passes. While we can't be certain what "the plan" after that actually was, the most reasonable scenario is that Lee fans out and does things like harass Harrisburg and the coal fields in the area. (The notion that he was headed to Baltimore is, imo, wishful thinking. There's not really any evidence of that.) He then concentrates to fight the AoP directly once it has concentrated against him.

But Lee had a different set of problems than what these general plans were made to handle, which are often discounted in this what-if-ing of Gettysburg. Hooker/Meade wasn't supposed to move as quickly as they did, and the somewhat sudden realization that they were following so closely was part of what motivated Lee to go ahead and allow the battle at Gettysburg to continue. Subsequently, his continuation of the battle against a lot of advice to the contrary on the second and, especially, third days was in some sense a show of desperation indicating the depth of the problems he faced.

With Meade where he was, including all that cavalry, Lee has no supply line at all and is seriously risking being cut off from his line of retreat. He knew quite well he couldn't stay in Pennsylvania. He didn't have the strength, provisions, or ammunition for that. He had enough for several skirmishes and one major battle. After that, he has to leave. He has to leave anyway once the Federals are concentrated against him because his ability to gather food is gone. If he wins Gettysburg on July 1st, he still has ammunition enough for a couple more days of serious fighting, but his food supply starts to dwindle immediately.

Lee's "plan," such as it was, after a commitment had been made to fighting or losing at Gettysburg was to destroy the AoP as an effective force and compel it to withdraw entirely. Winning on July 1st doesn't do that.

Again, we're just what-if-ing here, and I'm not suggesting a right or wrong answer, just offering some things to ponder.

[charlie and algernon]

10. I knew I was forgetting a movie

Full Metal Jacket has been added

[OmahaBlueDog]

5. I voted "Glory", put "SPR" is really close.

<<And what are you? So full of hate you want to go out and fight everybody! Because you've been whipped and chased by hounds. Well that might not be living, but it sure as hell ain't dying. And dying's been what these white boys have been doing for going on three years now! Dying by the thousands! Dying for *you*, fool! I know, 'cause I dug the graves. And all this time I keep askin' myself, when, O Lord, when it's gonna be our time? Gonna come a time when we all gonna hafta ante up. Ante up and kick in like men. LIKE MEN! You watch who you call a n*****! If there's any n*****s around here, it's YOU. Just a smart-mouthed, stupid-ass, swamp-runnin' n*****! And if you not careful, that's all you ever gonna be! >>

Great scene

[mainegreen]

6. Not as good as the book, but I always liked 'For whom the Bell Tolls'

[edbermac]

7. Full Metal Jacket

[whistler162]

9. Enemy Below or Battle Cry

[Hardrada]

12. Catch 22

[Fire Walk With Me]

13. Fail Safe.

[Forkboy]

35. Great movie.

Give it up for a young Larry Hagman! :)

[dana_b]

123. great movie

it's an oldie but it scares the hell out of you.

[GCP]

14. The Longest Day

Just watched it for the first time. Shows D Day from all sides, even the French resistance and Free French.

[elocs]

20. Agreed. Saw The Longest Day when I was 10 years old and I still love it.

My father was a heavy machine gunner and he landed on Omaha Beach. One man in the greatest naval armada in the history of the world. I still have the letter he wrote to his father the next week telling him he almost had 1 less son that day.

It's a great movie with many of the male stars from that time and being in b&w with subtitles where the Germans spoke German and the French spoke French gave it a documentary feel. Favorite scene: when the German in the bunker on the beach goes out one more time to check the Channel waters just when all of the Allied ships came over the horizon (music: the simple bum-bum-bum bummm of Beethoven's Fifth). Nothing for a moment and suddenly there they are, as far as the eye can see on the English Channel.

[GCP]

36. Yes, that was a really good scene!

It wasn't as graphically gory a later war movies, but it didn't suffer any for it. I read some interesting trivia on Amazon - the piper who piped Lovat around was the actual guy who'd done it in the war!

[elocs]

37. Saving Private Ryan was extremely graphic with the Omaha Beach landing.

It's amazing that any soldiers ever made it to and off the beach.

[whistler162]

110. And one of the actors that climbed the cliffs at Omaha Beach

was actually one of the Rangers that climbed the cliffs at Omaha beach.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056197/trivia

[old mark]

113. Agree along with "Tora, Tora,Tora", very underrated.

Both with great casts and performances, and both on a huge scale.

Both still very much worth watching on disc without the interruptions and TV crap.


mark

[Sequoia]

118. Tora, Tora, Tora....hands down.

Excellent acting and scenes. All without computer crap too! All the airplane shots are the best.

[old mark]

120. And as someone has pointed out, "Patton", and I forgot

the "Enemy At The Gate" Stalingrad from the Russian POV.


mark

[flvegan]

15. Red Dawn

:hide:

:rofl:

Seriously, SPR gets my vote.

[charlie and algernon]

17. Cheney, is that you?

:rofl:

[flvegan]

19. Wolverines!!

[sarge43]

16. All Quiet on the Western Front n/t

[MrScorpio]

18. Paths Of Glory

[sammythecat]

25. That was good.

I saw that for the first time about a week ago and was very impressed (as well as depressed and angry).

[Pierre.Suave]

21. None

there is no such thing as a good war...

[taterguy]

22. Gallipoli, Das Boot, Breaker Morant

Any of those floats my boat

[sammythecat]

24. Gotta include "Das Boot".

Directors cut with sub-titles, not the ridiculous dubbing. I think that's still my favorite. More recently the same producers made another good one worthy of inclusion called "Stalingrad". Besides being flat out good, both these movies are interesting in that they give us a perspective from the other side.

As an aside, I'd like to say that until this past year I was pretty much ignorant of what went on in the Eastern Front of WWII. All of my schooling was during the Cold War and the struggle between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia was all but completely ignored. I resent that censorship now. For sheer misery, brutality, and scale of destruction, there's never in history been anything like what went on there. Casualties at Stalingrad alone are estimated to be anywhere from 1.5 to 2.5 million. Almost unbelievable.

My father was a decorated Army vet in the Italian Campaign, so I don't mean to disparage or minimize the heroism and suffering that went on elsewhere in the world during those times but, in the opinion of most historians that I've read, the war was largely won and lost right there on the Eastern Front.

[Aristus]

34. I have to speak up for the dubbing job on "Das Boot." Great movie. And flat-out best overdubbing

I've ever seen. Granted, I prefer the original German, since I speak the language. But the dub-job was excellent. Every actor in the film spoke English in real life and dubbed his own voice track into it. The English translation writers prepared the script according to the lip-movements of the actors. It meant sometimes going for the gist of a line, instead of a word-for-word interpretation. But literal translations were possible, as in, for example, the German command "Komm hier!" translating into the English "Come here!"

We're used to calling dub-jobs crappy, because the stereotype dubbed films are those awful Japanese disaster flicks in which the dialogue goes on long after the actors's mouths have closed. "Das Boot"'s dubbing was the best ever.

[MajorChode]

38. I don't speak much German, but I prefer the non-dubbed version

Subtitles don't bother me nearly as much as dubbing, even if the dubbing is good.

[sammythecat]

64. As much as I hate dubbing, ever, I'll grant you

that the dubbing in this movie was as good as I've heard, but I still don't like it at all. The words are being spoken while in a different place and a different time and it's evident. It's like if two actors made a home movie and somehow lost all the audio. Those same two actors could dub the dialogue, in the same language, the very next day and I think it would be detectable.

Of course all this is subjective. Most people can't stand subtitles and it doesn't seem unreasonable to me that they feel this way, but I can't stand dubbing. I like my German submariners to sound like Germans and I was pleased when Clint Eastwood decided to have all of the dialogue in "Letters from Iwo Jima" in Japanese. Viewers had to read everything that was said, but I think I understand and appreciate why he did this. Same with "Dances with Wolves" where a quarter of all the dialogue was in Sioux. I think Costner thought it was important to have the Sioux speaking Sioux for the added realism, and I agree. It would have been a lesser movie otherwise, in my opinion.

I'm not disagreeing with you in the sense that I think I'm right and you're wrong. Not at all. I'm just explaining my subjective opinion. I don't presume to think I'm going to change your opinion on this anymore than I'd presume to convince you my favorite color is better than yours. Your opinion is a valid and good one, and if it were up to a vote I think I (and MajorChode) would be in the minority. I'd also be in the minority when it comes to cereal and cooked vegetables. I like them both sogged and limp. Disgusting to most, but not to me.

[Forkboy]

72. The trouble with dubbing Japanese movies...

..is that their lips movements don't even come close to matching the lip movements of English speaking people (as opposed to Spanish, for instance, which is easy to dub). I watched a documentary on Godzilla films where they went into detail about the dubbing process. It was pretty interesting.

The dubbing on Das Boot is excellent (though I usually watch the German language version...subtitles don't bother me at all, and I'd rather see the movie in it's original state). But Das Boot is a great example of dubbing done right.

[Forkboy]

75. The war for Germany was essentially over after Stalingrad.

Even many Germans knew it.

I've read a few books on the battle and some of the stuff that happened is beyond what we can really even comprehend, including German POWs possibly resorting to cannibalism to survive. I know the battle for the Pacific was ugly as hell (and I've some real horror stories there too), but Stalingrad was a different beast, and on a huge scale (the city itself covers about 40 miles along the Volga). And as you mention the sheer number of lives lost is staggering.

The best book I've read on the battle is "Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943" by Antony Beevor.

[One_Life_To_Give]

26. Opening of Saving Private Ryan

It's the most accurate depiction of what the first wave into Omaha faced. Although I thought Band of Brothers covered a wider series of scenarios. And To Hell and Back is an interesting insight into the personal relationships and how they affected one unique individual.

What I would like to see is something on the End of the Heavy Cruisers USS Houston and HMAS Perth. One of the Japanease officers recorded in his diary that the guns never stopped till they slid beneath the waves.

[underpants]

76. I agree-not necessarily in accuracy (because I don't know) but in the shear jaw dropping

"could I do that?" question that it poses

[damonm]

124. As to accuracy...

I had the chance of speaking to a VFW guy outside a grocery store shortly after the movie came out. Turns out he was THERE that morning - first wave, Dog Green Sector - and he said: "they glammed it up a bit - as Hollywood will always do - but that's about as close as they've come yet to how it was."
He went on to tell me how, out of his platoon of 20, 6 guys walked off the beach that day. He and 1 other guy survived the war.
Tough Goddamned business - I made certain to thank him.

[petronius]

27. No love for The Green Berets?

;)

BoB was the first that came to mind, and most of my others have been mentioned, but I'd add Twelve O'Clock High, We Were Soldiers, Lawrence of Arabia, Letters from Iwo Jima, and No Man's Land.

And if we include movies were war is an underlying theme, I'll mention The Best Years of Our Lives and The Deer Hunter...

[CatholicEdHead]

28. Tora Tora Tora

with The Longest Day and Midway not far behind.

[RoyGBiv]

29. Can't define best very well ...

There are many movies with a war as a setting that are excellent for what they are, i.e. what their point is. What I suppose we consider a traditional war movie was probably defined by the kinds of things John Wayne and a few others of that generation did, and I loathe most of that stuff. During and after Vietnam, our culture took a different route to visualize war on film, building on the work of a very few others who had early not gone with the standard Hollywood mold.

For modern movies of the more traditional vein, even though it's not *a* movie as mentioned above, I'd have to go with Band of Brothers. Both visually and as a story it is far superior to much of what has been produced about WWII.

I also really like the pairing of Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers. One needs to watch both of these. They both have traditional elements but overall aren't traditional and highlight a side of the war in the Pacific that is not represented very well.

For the Civil War, it'd have to be Glory. That's the one and only in any way decent movie *about* the war, although several other movies have been made with the war as a setting that were good to excellent.

Then there are epics like A Bridge Too Far, which I believe highlights both the best and worst of the traditional war movie.

Beyond that, though, what of movies like Schindler's List or Downfall? These are both, imo, war movies but far more than movies about battles and guns and action.

So, anyway ... the movies mentioned here are on my list of "best," but there are several others, all of them very good for what they do and not easily compared to other movies that do other things.

[XemaSab]

69. Is "Downfall" the parody where Hitler goes to Burning Man?

:shrug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV4i7dWeu0c

Great film! :hi:

[RoyGBiv]

71. Ohdearlord ...

I hadn't seen that one.

That scene is just so well done it was bound to end up this way. :)

[kwassa]

31. Twelve O'Clock High, Enemy at the Gates, A Bridge Too Far

Enemy at the Gates

[MajorChode]

40. I liked 12 o'clock high. After all these years it's still an awesome movie

[kwassa]

45. it shows the brutal personal price these pilots made

and the horrible choices demanded by war.

[underpants]

77. Enemies at the Gate- my (and many Americans) long overdue introduction to that war

the Soviet-Nazi part of the war. I am sure there have been other movies about it but for me that was an introduction as I think it was for a lot of people

The scene on the ferries and landing afterward rivals "Private Ryan" in that you are faced with the "Well you aren't going back THAT way" finality of it. One guy gets ammo-one guy gets gun (wasn't there a middle guy who got neither?) and you were going THAT way.

There is a scene in Platoon in which you see and bamboo arrow in a tree telling the Viet Cong --> That way and that was all that needed to be said :scared:

[Forkboy]

82. If you can find it check out Stalingrad.

You'll probably learn more than you want to. But be warned, it's a very heavy and depressing movie. I just sat there in silence for about 20 minutes after it ended trying to wrap my brain around what I just saw.

[qwertyMike]

32. The Thin Red Line n/t

[charlie and algernon]

43. I love love love the soundtrack to Thin Red Line

Such beautiful music. Only Barber's Adagio for Strings in Platoon is better, IMHO.

[Forkboy]

33. Stalingrad. A hellishly heavy flick.

And Patton. And Das Boot. C'mon people. :)

[kwassa]

49. I've never heard of this one. I have heard of the battle.

one of the most brutal and crazy ever, turning point of the war on the eastern front.

The only film treatment I've seen is "Enemy at the Gates".

[RagAss]

55. CLASSIC !!!!...The most intense battle in the history of modern warfare and

this film did it justice. Personally, I think Speilberg must have watched this before filming Private Ryan. Watch it and I think you'll know what I mean(cinematography).

[sammythecat]

65. Ahh, forgot all about "Patton".

That was a good one. That was all George C. Scott. Tremendous role for a great actor, like he was born to play that part.

"Stalingrad" deserves more attention than its gotten, if for no other reason than to bring attention to that part of WWII. I made some comments about that above.

[Wetzelbill]

111. Oh yes, people take note this is a great movie!

Maybe not my top one, but this is a film people should watch.

[Zomby Woof]

41. The Bridge on The River Kwai

Although on your list, "Glory" was a very moving, powerful film.

[Release The Hounds]

44. I know its taboo here

Braveheart

[mwooldri]

106. Not taboo for me, was not bad a film.

Shame I supported the losing side but then again I am English.

Mark.

[AlCzervik]

47. Stalag 17, yes i know it's not a battle scene war movie but still my favorite.

[Forkboy]

74. William Holden and Otto Preminger are awesome in that.

Great movie. One of my father's favorites when I was a kid (along with The Guns of Navarone), so I watched it a lot.

:hi:

[bikebloke]

51. The Great Escape

Gallipoli
Joyeau Noël
A Very Long Engagement
Bridge on the River Kwai
and
The Rat Patrol...OK, it was teevee with historically accurate uniforms.:P

[AlCzervik]

54. The Battle of Algiers

i forgot that one.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

96. I finally saw that recently.

Awesome movie. :thumbsup:

[Swede]

56. Cross Of Iron and The Bridge.

Two of my favorites.

[Iggo]

58. The Big Red One.

I also kinda like Sahara.

[cynatnite]

60. Battle Cry n/t

[NightWatcher]

62. The Dirty Dozen

[Zavulon]

67. Hamburger Hill.

The pointlessness of it all is illustrated perfectly in this one.

[canoeist52]

68. "The King of Hearts" -War is that rediculous...

[ellaydubya]

87. Thanks for reminding me about this movie!!!

I have not watched it in probably twenty years but I love it and will watch it again soon!!

[Amerigo Vespucci]

70. Casualties of War, but...

...just like war itself, it's so relentlessly brutal that I go a long time between viewings.

That final scene...on the bus...absolutely unbelievable.

[BlooInBloo]

73. Apoc Now will always have a specifal place in my heart, but FMJ is a better movie.

[datasuspect]

78. Schindler's Fist

[geardaddy]

116. Is that the porn version?

:o

[argyl]

79. "To Hell and Back." If only because the star knew firsthand about war.

[jobycom]

80. Grave of the Fireflies.

[Forkboy]

84. Oooo...excellent pick. And just as depressing as Stalingrad.

Who would think a cartoon could make one cry?

[Mike 03]

81. I voted for FULL METAL JACKET, but recently I saw a movie called THE THIN RED LINE which

has given me second thoughts as to whether or not FMJ is the best. It's a tough call, but I'm still going to give it to Kubrick.

[Mike 03]

83. I think the following films deserve honorable mention:

The Thin Red Line
Casualties of War
Redacted
Coming Home
The Deer Hunter

[ellaydubya]

88. Coming Home- I can't find it to watch................

Netflix does not have it- any suggestion?? Great movie- war or not!

[Forkboy]

85. Someone should probably mention The Guns Of Navarone and Run Silent, Run Deep.

Just sayin' :)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

89. Paths of Glory.

[Parrcrow]

102. agreed!

:thumbsup:

Patton is right up there for me as well.

[TZ]

90. How about the best non-American war movie...

Gallipoli. About an Australian battle in WWI..its quite good. Features a very young Mel Gibson.

[x-g.o.p.er]

91. All Quiet on the Western Front

Great movie, but all the other ones listed here are good in their own right.

[saltpoint]

92. Strongly recomennd A MIDNIGHT CLEAR, with Gary Sinise and

Frank Whaley.

Keith Gordon directed. Based on William Wharton's terrific novel of the same name.

[sammythecat]

97. Excellent movie. Forgot about that one.

I have to make a point of seeing that again. It's been 20 years or more. I like anti-war war movies.

[saltpoint]

99. I get much delight from your phrase, "anti-war war movies." And that is

a perfect description of this one.

Thank you for that.

[Fire1]

93. Hamburger Hill - The most realistic.

[applegrove]

94. Midway. Saw it as a kid. Loved it.

[MadBadger]

95. Since Band of Brothers is not a Movie, The Patriot.

[GOPisEvil]

98. Since "The Longest Day" has been mentioned, I go with "A Bridge Too Far".

I recommend both books by Cornelius Ryan.

[begin_within]

100. I can't believe nobody has mentioned "The Americanization of Emily" (1964)

Brilliant script, acting, and editing... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057840/

[bluedigger]

101. MASH

Gotta love the pros from Dover!

[JeffR]

103. The Great Escape n/t

[Fenris]

104. Stalingrad.

[Angleae]

105. Patton, there's a reason it won the oscar in 1970.

As well as George C. Scott as best actor.

[mwooldri]

107. It Happened Here.

The alternative scenario: Britain didn't win the Battle of Britain in 1940, and the Germans mounted a successful invasion of the British Isles. The film depicts a nurses' life in occupied England.

For me, a terribly, terribly haunting film and a reminder to me of what could have been.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055024/

[Lost in CT]

108. Of those mentioned Black Hawk Down.

My List (war movies as classified by IMDB)

Tropic Thunder (2008)
"Band of Brothers" (2001)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
The Four Feathers (1939)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Kaijû sôshingeki (1968)
Schindler's List (1993)
Stalag 17 (1953)

[Lost in CT]

109. DUPE

[Wetzelbill]

112. I can't totally decide

I like several of those, plus a few not mentioned.

[Deep13]

114. Das Boot

[SidneyCarton]

115. Soviet Film: "Come and See"

The story of a child in Byelorussia dealing with the German occupation. 2.5 hours of pure hell, had Sherman lived to see it, he would have left a pacifist.

[Shell Beau]

117. Maybe not the best, but I loved Memphis Belle.

[KansDem]

119. Zulu

Zulu

Plot summary for
Zulu (1964)--Two Lieutenants, Chard of Engineers and Bromhead find that their 140 man contingent in Natal has been isolated by the destruction of the main British Army column and that 4,000 Zulu warriors will descend on them in hours. Each has a different military background in tactics and they are immediatly in conflict on how to prepare for the attack. Nearly a third of the men are in the infirmary, as the welsh company tries to somehow survive with no help in sight. Based on a true story.

Written by John Vogel {[e-mail]}

On the January 22nd 1879 the British Army suffered one of its worst defeats when Zulu forces massacred 1,500 of its troops at Isandlhwana. A short time after the main battle a Zulu force numbering in excess of 4000 warriors advanced on a British hospital and supply dump guarded by 139 Welsh infantrymen. The film concentrates on this bloody 12 hour battle during which the British force, under their commander from the Royal Engineers who happened to be in the area building a bridge and happened to be senior to the infantry officer, won 11 Victoria Crosses. While taking some liberties with history the film follows reality fairly closely, including matching exactly the identities of the VC winners. Written by Dave Jenkins {[e-mail]}

[insanity]

121. FMJ