Favourite War Movies

[Stetson and Spurs]

There's an Australian Box Set that was made into a movie called 'Anzacs' that's worth watching.

 

[Mike Baker]

Platoon
Full Metal Jacket
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers (series I know, but I had to mention it)
Black Hawk Down
Braveheart

They are my fave, and Red Dawn 

 

[3rd Herd]

try "Bridge At Nervata". An older film but based on the battle between Tito's Partisans verses the Germans, Chetnicks and Ustache. Some say this was the decisive battle that allowed Tito consolidate power. For those that have served in Yugo you will recognize the various towns and villages as the entire movie was filmed there. An aside T-34s converted to resemble Tiger 1s, and allot of the other vehicles featured are the real thing instead of computer graphics.

 

[Shec]

There's an Australian Box Set that was made into a movie called 'Anzacs' that's worth watching.

Another fine flick about Australians:  Breaker Morant

http://imdb.com/title/tt0080310/

 

[goingback]

300 was pretty good
The seige of firebase gloria I think has one of the best lines R. Lee Ermey ever said.
SGT major what should we do about the nurses?
Nurses? What Nurses?
The Nurses at the aid station.
Well J*** H. Christ are there any nuns or girl scouts on my firebase I need to know about?
(may not be 100%right but you get the idea)

 

[vonGarvin]

Top ten a la Hauptmann:

Cross of Iron
Zulu
Blackhawk Down
Tora!  Tora!  Tora!
Patton (in spite of the horrible use of US tanks to represent German Tanks, it's the story and acting I like)
Paths of Glory
Full Metal Jacket
The Lighthorseman
The Thin Red Line

There you have it.  Those are my faves.  Maybe not in that order, but certainly those ten.

 

[MarkOttawa]

Another very good one:

Twelve O'Clock High
http://imdb.com/title/tt0041996/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[BernDawg]

The Duellists

Story about two french officers and some suffered offence and the resulting duels all throughout the Napoleonic wars finally coming to a finish after the wars have ended.  Well worth looking for.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075968/

 

[medicineman]

"The Wild Geese" was finally released on DVD as a 30th anniversary edition - just got it and it's still a great movie.

MM

 

[3rd Herd]

It seems many of the video rental outfits are now all switching to DVD. In the last week I  picked up forty odd videos for a dollar apiece. Purchased the entire "War section" at one shot. ;D

 

[Gager]

Wild Geese
Cross of Iron
Dogs of War
Devils Brigade - required viewing
Tunes of Glory - not so much a war movie as what happens to a regiment after the war (Sir Alec Guiness)
Where Eagles Dare - more of a sneaky operative movie but watching Clint Eastwood blast Germans in a mountain castle retreat is good enough for me.

 

[Brockvegas]

My #1 Fav has to be The Great Escape. Others in my top 5 would be;

2- Saving Private Ryan
3- Platoon
4- The Longest Day
5- The Dirty Dozen

Black Hawk Down would have been in there, if I hadn't found out that the guy who Ewen MacGregor's character was based on is a convicted child molester. Totally ruined an awesome movie for me

 

[CrazyCanuk4536056919]

#1  Band of Brothers. "Capt. Sobel....You salute the Rank, not the man."

#2 Battle of Britain.    "They can teach monkey's to fly better than!....Taka Taka Taka Taka.....!

#3  A Bridge Too Far  "Were going to fly 35'000 men, 300 miles, and drop them behind enemy lines."

#4 The Eagle has Landed "He reminds me of something that I occasionally pick up on my shoe in the gutter! Very unpleasant, on a hot day"

#5 Platoon "What's the matter boy? He ain't gonna bite you. That's a good gook; good and dead"

#6 The Hunt for Red October"You're afraid of our fleet. Well, you should be. Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?



Some dark horse picks. Not in any particular order, but fantastic movies all the same.


Tumbledown - About an officer in the Scott's Guards, is shot in the head, and survives.
Taps - and early Sean Penn Flick
Wargames - a Cold war classic
Saving Private Ryan - another classic.


I could go on. But that is my top 6, with a few other favorites.

 

[Signalman150]

I have several "favs" (I'll list them later) but I think I've got a new "best".

Was vy impressed w/ the TV movie "Lost Battalion". Originally it was done for the US History Channel, and I picked it up on video from the local Rogers store. 

Unlike so many US based movie efforts, there were well developed, believable characters and a genuine docu-drama feel to it.  No John Wayne magazines, no false heroics. Any "hokey" or cliched dialogue that existed came across as being appropriate to the era or part of contemporary thought/ideology.  I finished watching the movie appreciating the frailities and foibles of the soldiers involved, and the genuine heroism displayed under desperate circumstances. Excellent movie.

 

[mysteriousmind]

I just tought of 2 movies I love...

dirty dozen (I think its the name) WW2 thing 1967
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061578/

Heartbreak Ridge (Im not sure of the title in english) with Clint eastwood playing Gunnery Sgt. Tom 'Gunny' Highway
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091187/

 

[MarkOttawa]

"Piece of Cake", TV mini-series.
http://imdb.com/title/tt0157239/

`Piece of Cake' is one of those exceedingly rare examples of filmed perfection (or as near to it as you're likely to get) that have graced the small screen. Based on the 1983 Derek Robinson novel of the same name,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Piece-Cake-Derek-Robinson/dp/0006473334/ref=sr_1_1/026-3042056-4343667?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174697030&sr=8-1

`Piece of Cake' follows the fortunes of the fictitious RAF Hornet Squadron from the outbreak of the Second World War, through the infamous Phoney War and the Battle of France, to climax with the life and death struggle of the Battle of Britain...

Visually `Piece of Cake' is stunning. The flying sequences are breathtakingly good and if, like me, you are an aviation enthusiast, you will be able to ignore the inaccuracies in Spitfire marks used or the fact that no Spitfires were sent to be stationed in France (Hornet Squadron in the novel flew Hawker Hurricanes) due to the simple fact of how good they are. The low flying and dogfights are magically filmed and fleshed out with some outtakes from 1969's `Battle of Britain' produce a visual aerial feast!..

Mark
Ottawa

 

[CrazyCanuk4536056919]

Mark,

Piece of Cake was an excellent flick. Hornet Squadron I believe it was. My favorite character was Flash.

Another good series was Danger UXB. About Bomb disposal in the UK during the blitz. Great series.

 

[uptheglens]

Mark,

Piece of Cake was an excellent flick. Hornet Squadron I believe it was. My favorite character was Flash.

Another good series was Danger UXB. About Bomb disposal in the UK during the blitz. Great series.

Completely forgot about "Piece of Cake" until it was mentioned. My favourite in the series was Moggy.

Anyhow, here's my picks (after reading all 27 pages in one shot, I realize that almost all of my choices are repeats, but there you are):

1. The Dam Busters
2. The Cruel Sea
3. Downfall
4. Das Boot
5. The Charge of the Light Brigade (Late 1960s version)
6. Zulu
7. Target for Tonight (1941. It's been ages since I've seen this, but it's a film about a Wellington bomber crew)
8. Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
9. La Grand Illusion (A French film from the 1930s set in a prisoner of war camp in 1916)
10. Twelve O'Clock High

A few honourable mentions:

Oh! What a Lovely War! (admittedly, it's an anti-war, anti-military movie, but I enjoy it more for the historic music. The songs ARE the songs that were sung by soldiers in the Great War, and they are sung well. My fave is "Forward Joe Soap's Army" to the tune of "Onward Christian Soldiers")

The Best Years of Our Lives (about men returning from WW2)

Hope and Glory (Life during the Blitz as seen through the eyes of a young boy)

Captains of the Clouds (ok, ok. The story is unbelievably bad, and James Cagney is insufferable as the star, but it is entirely redeemed by: 1. It's a Hollywood movie about Canada's involvement in WW2.... 2. It is shot entirely in colour...... 3. Excellent flight scenes of BCATP trainers..... 4. Getting to see Trenton, Uplands, Jarvis, and Picton training schools as they looked in 1941..... 5. Alan Hale (The Skipper from Gilligan's Island) is in it..... 6. A few shots of recruiting billboards of the time (Cameron Highlanders, and Royal Winnipeg Rifles are the only two that I remember for certain)...... 7. Billy Bishop himself appears in the film, giving a speech before a passing-out parade of new flyers).

Corvette K-225 (Haven't seen this one in over 20 years, but it's another war-time film about Canada. Can't remember if it's any good or not, just thought I'd mention it).

The Caine Mutiny

U-571 (I nominate this one, only because it made Jon Bon Jovi finally get a real man's haircut. Otherwise, the movie is totally forgettable)

and.........

any gunfight in The Trailer Park Boys

My contribution to the worst war films:

Joyeux Noel (about the Christmas armistice of 1914. I had high hopes, but I want my money back on this one)
Apocalypse Now (I know I'll be branded a heretic, but I hated, hated, HATED this movie)
Pearl Harbor ('nuff said)
The Patriot (tiresome, tiresome bilge from Mel "Gibbon").

 

[Signalman150]

Uptheglens---

Actually, the character of Tiny Murphy in Captains of the Clouds was the "Skipper's" father, Alan Hale Sr.  The two of them look so much alike it is difficult to tell them apart.  Hale Senior died in 1950, but was one of the great character actors of his time, and vy popular in the 30s and 40s.  According to IMDB, he was also a close bud of Errol Flynn.

 

[uptheglens]

Uptheglens---

Actually, the character of Tiny Murphy in Captains of the Clouds was the "Skipper's" father, Alan Hale Sr.  The two of them look so much alike it is difficult to tell them apart.  Hale Senior died in 1950, but was one of the great character actors of his time, and vy popular in the 30s and 40s.  According to IMDB, he was also a close bud of Errol Flynn.

I'll be! Thanks for that, signalman! I would have bet money and lost that it actually was the Skipper.