The best war film ever made?

[Osiris_x11]

antecedent...

Wasn't world war II 1939-1945?

1919-1938 was the prelude to WWII. Without a reasonable grasp of: Post-WWI Europe, Great Depression America, Britain's Colonial Empire, National Socialist Party's rise, Japanese SE_Asia expansion, Red Revolution in Russia, League of Nations, and Treaty of Versailles... WWII would simply be planes, tanks, guns, and cool uniforms.

 

[710]

Wasn't world war II 1939-1945?

1919-1938 was the prelude to WWII. Without a reasonable grasp of: Post-WWI Europe, Great Depression America, Britain's Colonial Empire, National Socialist Party's rise, Japanese SE_Asia expansion, Red Revolution in Russia, League of Nations, and Treaty of Versailles... WWII would simply be planes, tanks, guns, and cool uniforms.

I agree completely, but go even further, WWII was caused directly by the crushing terms forced on Germany after WWI. I believe that had we not forced Germany’s face so hard down in the dirt, Hitler would not have had a chance; he would have probably ended up in jail sometime around 1937.
What a difference the last 60 years would have been then! Hard to imagine.

What a cool list of movies you guys have posted. All greats, although I tend to like the more technically accurate films. Thus Kelly's Heros (!):biggrin: .

That’s why I don’t like Battle of the Bulge, M-48 tanks in 1944??? Sorry. No. It also glorifies a catastrophic rout that allowed the Russians to get all the way through Poland and into Germany. Routs are nothing to be proud off. We have paid for that mistake for the last 50 years. If the US had not allowed itself to be routed there, we would have been into Germany months earlier while the Russians were still fighting to get out of the Ukraine and into Poland.

I didn’t get a chance to see Stalingrad fully, but from what I saw of it that must rate as accurate as Full Metal Jacket?
What was that other Vietnam film that came out about the same time a FMJ?

 

[710]

“…WWII was caused directly by the crushing terms forced on Germany after WWI…” bla bla...
Then Japan would have not attacked Pearl Harbour (probably just continued it’s colonisation of China etc), so there may not have been the intense change in Japanese industry after the war…

So no NSX!!

SH*T! Nooooo. We would all be driving Corvettes!!! Noooooooooooooooo

 

[RSO 34]

I will go for a few not mentioned and for different reasons. They are not the typical "war movies" such as being mentioned here but they do illustrate in various ways, both fictional and historical, the impact of "wars".

1. Battle of Algiers - eerily similar to the effects of the insurgency in Iraq - deals with the true revolution of the Algerians who no longer wanted French occupancy and finally became independent in 1962

2. Dr. Strangelove - dark humor and absurdity are used to comment on potential use of the doomsday device by an insane general

3. Fail Safe - the original with Henry Fonda - frightenly realistic look at the impact of a mistaken "first strike"

 

[the0ne]

Mars Attack, by far!!















j/k

I liked Saving Private Ryan

 

[queenlives]

<snip>
Black Hawk Down was another very powerful film that left me literally spent when I left the theatres. I own this one on DVD but I haven't been able to muster the emotional fortitude to sit down and watch it again despite how good I thought it was.<snip>

many of my friends and all of my family members have seen BHD; all have said it is excellent and those qualified said it's very realistic. i didn't see it in the theatres and though i own it on dvd, i haven't opened it to watch it yet.

for me, a SEA vet, each day's tv coverage of "live from xxx crisis zone, soldiers and civilians being slaughtered right before your very eyes" (not to mention in our own neighborhoods) brings back too much of my late teens/early 20's, so i've put a moratorium of watching the all-too-real simulation of people being killed.

been there, done that, got the boonie hat.

 

[Papalazarou]

The Thin Red Line - a very underrated film.
Saving Private ryan
Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Full Metal Jacket

I love Alien's but it ain't a war film.

 

[NSXTech]

Gallipoli is one of my faves. A low budget Peter Wier film with Mel Gibson from the early 1980's which portrays in stark realism the true waste of war, without special effects (as defined by todays standards). It is based on the true story of the infamous WW I battle of the same name, in Turkey.
A must see for history and war film buffs.

Mark

 

[satan_srv]

Lawrence of Arabia for me, I haven't seen a lot of the more popular ones here.

 

[nsxtcy85]

We were soldiers !!!

By far the best and most acurate veitnam movie ever made.

 

[NeoNSX]

Great thread!!! First thread on war without a flame war.


I would have to say Saving Private Ryan is the best because it's the most influencial modern war movie IMHO. The opening scene drew me to tears the first time I saw it, and my respect towards war veterans changed completely overnight with this film.
Other films on my shelf:
* Black Hawk Down - YEEEEEHAAAWWW!
* We Were Soldiers - Great action balanced with truth about the Vietnam war
* The Thin Red Line - A very 'thoughtful' film. I like how it tells the story through the eyes of a few soldiers; great character development & narration, but not a film for everyone.
* Band of Brothers
* Platoon

I would definitely include 'Aliens'. Its a war film in a sci-fi setting. Game over man!

Battle of Britton, Tora Tora Tora, Battle of Midway, The Guns of Navarone, The Dam Busters, Gallipoli (WWI)
And many more which I'm sure if I wasn't so old I could remember... :biggrin:

...which is why half of those are silent B&W films, yeah? j/k Guns of Navarone & Gallipoli are great flicks.

Star Wars

Star Wars is not a war film... Yoda is a rubber doll.
(And now Neo is a dead man )

I love Alien's but it ain't a war film.

Not yet.

 

[710]

This is a great list! I’m going to bookmark it for next time I visit the rental place.
Hey Neo, while we’re on that theme;
What was the sci-fi movie where the earth was attacked by big spiders…STARSHIP TROOPERS! How’s that for a war film! Classy movie, don’t you think?:biggrin:

I’ll join you in the dead zone…

 

[NeoNSX]

STARSHIP TROOPERS! How’s that for a war film! Classy movie, don’t you think?:biggrin:

Not really. Check your PM why I hate that film.... LOL

 

[710]

Not really. Check your PM why I hate that film.... LOL

LOL!

OK, Neo, now I can’t resist. I’ll bet every one out there including their grandmothers are curious WHY you don’t like ST.
Hummmm, black mail time?
Hehe. :biggrin: Man, I love this forum.

 

[NeoNSX]

OK, Neo, now I can’t resist. I’ll bet every one out there including their grandmothers are curious WHY you don’t like ST.
Hummmm, black mail time?
Hehe. :biggrin: Man, I love this forum.

haha... nah, i think everyone is used to me posting teasers. :biggrin:

"black mail" is old fashioned - "Black PM" is the latest term.

 

[akira3d]

I'll put my votes in for Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan.

"RPG!!!!"

 

[SMYLDOC]

On a Thursday night in the fall of 1972 (?), I got to see the World Premier of ........................

..............PATTON...........

at West Point with George C Scott and Karl Malden in Attendance.

That was awsome!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[OneRedNSX]

Gettysburg
Glory

You, sir, are correct!

and Black Hawk Down... that was good, as was Saving Private Ryan...

oh, and Spaceballs... although that was more of a skirmish, but it still counts damnit!

 

[willabeest]

Great thread!!! First thread on war without a flame war.


I would have to say Saving Private Ryan is the best because it's the most influencial modern war movie IMHO. The opening scene drew me to tears the first time I saw it, and my respect towards war veterans changed completely overnight with this film.
Other films on my shelf:
* Black Hawk Down - YEEEEEHAAAWWW!
* We Were Soldiers - Great action balanced with truth about the Vietnam war
* The Thin Red Line - A very 'thoughtful' film. I like how it tells the story through the eyes of a few soldiers; great character development & narration, but not a film for everyone.
* Band of Brothers
* Platoon

I would definitely include 'Aliens'. Its a war film in a sci-fi setting. Game over man!




...which is why half of those are silent B&W films, yeah? j/k Guns of Navarone & Gallipoli are great flicks.




Star Wars is not a war film... Yoda is a rubber doll.
(And now Neo is a dead man )




Not yet.

"we were soldiers" is not historically accurate. there never was a charge up the hill. that was the biggest scene and the end of the movie and it never happened.

 

[Patdeisa]

I didn't see it listed above. Maybe not the best, but a definite honorable mention- great storyline and actual footage from WWII...

"All Quiet on the Western Front" (the original 1940s version)

 

[NeoNSX]

"we were soldiers" is not historically accurate. there never was a charge up the hill. that was the biggest scene and the end of the movie and it never happened.

True, but i was refering to what the soldiers experienced. It was not glorified war - it showed FF, napalm, the VC as humans not endless bad guys, etc..

 

[FuryNSX]

Thank goodness no one has listed "Red Dawn". Boy, that movie stunk. And I can say that because I was fortunate to NOT have seen it for the first time when I was a teenager.

 

[710]

An older friend of mine who worked as a mechanic in the US army in Vietnam spent the last 2 weeks of his tour in a water and rat filled hole getting mortared and sniped at.
He told me once “Man, that was the worst film I ever saw!”

 

[transdzn]

Great thread BTW. I agree with most listed above. I'll add Schindler's List to the running

 

[710]

True, but i was refering to what the soldiers experienced. It was not glorified war - it showed FF, napalm, the VC as humans not endless bad guys, etc..

FF? WDTM?:biggrin: