# Best All-Time Military Movies -- Pre-Poll Data Gathering **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835 "2015-05-26T00:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/101 "2015-05-27T11:17:57Z")
Has _ **Escape from Colditz** _\* been mentioned yet? 😕 \*I must say, I do prefer the alternate title I heard many years ago… :o ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/102 "2015-05-27T11:29:09Z")
_ **Mister Roberts** _? (There was a sequel made in 1964 or '65:\*\*\* Ensign Pulver\*\*\*, with Robert Walker, Jr (aka “Charlie X”), Walter Matthau, and Burl Ives. I saw it with my dad that summer in Chicago. _ **No Man Is an Island** _ with Jeffrey Hunter trapped in the Philippines under Japanese occupation. _ **Heaven Knows, Mr Allison** _. Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr trapped on an island under Japanese occupation. _ **Three Came Home** _ with Claudette Colbert. Allied women in a Japanese internment camp. _ **None but the Brave** _ with Frank Sinatra and Clint Walker. US Marines coexist with Japanese troops on a tropical island. (“That was-a my Kieko. She was-a rovrier dan de brossoms!”) _ **Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence** _ with David Bowie. Allied soldiers in a Japanese POW camp. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/103 "2015-05-27T13:44:15Z")
Battle Cry [Battle Cry (1955) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047860/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3) (1955) ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/104 "2015-05-27T14:16:47Z")
One more to throw out there A Soldier’s Story [A Soldier's Story (1984) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088146/) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/105 "2015-05-27T17:10:06Z")
> [@mascaroni](#): > > [Went The Day Well?](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035429/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) - Doughty British villagers take on a German advance invasion force… Yes! Good movie. Made before WWII even began, with an opening scene that anticipates Hitler’s death, so it almost qualifies as speculative fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/106 "2015-05-27T17:30:06Z")
Do Japanese Samurai movies count? Then I nominate _Ran_. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/107 "2015-05-27T17:31:54Z")
_The Eagle Has Landed_, which IIRC had Robert Duval and Michael Caine as German officers. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/108 "2015-05-27T19:03:42Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The Longest Day I think is the best of the lot, despite John Wayne’s acting. I was coming in to say the same thing, except I was going to say “John Wayne plaing John Wayne.” I’d also like to add in Midway. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/109 "2015-05-27T19:23:37Z")
A Very Long Engagement Gallipoli (not sure if it was already nominated) Not a ‘war’ movie but a ‘military’ movie The Right Stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/110 "2015-05-27T19:53:16Z")
> [@Precambrianmollusc](#): > > The Thin Red Line > … Red Tails ( truly awful) … Is there any point to naming movies that almost all of us would call ‘awful?’ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/111 "2015-05-27T19:55:56Z")
_Beneath Hill 60_, an excelent movie about the tunnel wars that heppened under the trenches in WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/112 "2015-05-27T20:11:47Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > [A Walk in the Sun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038235/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1) I’ve taken one acting class in my life and my teacher was a bit player in that movie. At the end of the semester, I cut together some clips from his movies into the movie-version scenes that we performed. Blew him away. I came here to say Glory & The Hurt Locker. Three Kings is one of my all-time favorite movies, but it’s barely a war movie. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/113 "2015-05-27T20:21:33Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > …Three Kings is one of my all-time favorite movies, but it’s barely a war movie. I think it counts. It’s about the messy aftermath of a messy war. And it’s also one of my favorite war movies. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/114 "2015-05-27T20:26:04Z")
Has anyone nominated _ **Come and See** _ yet? > **[Come and See (1985) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/)** > > Come and See: Directed by Elem Klimov. With Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas. After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the... If not, I will. One of the all-time great war movies - though a throughly gut-wrenching movie to watch. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/115 "2015-05-27T20:26:22Z")
The Thin Red Line. ---
**Author:** ![Chicago\_Faucet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chicago_faucet/32/13910_2.png) [@Chicago\_Faucet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicago_Faucet)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/116 "2015-05-27T20:28:19Z")
Das Boot. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/117 "2015-05-27T22:58:08Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Since I nominated Stalingrad without realizing there was a 2013 movie named that, I think we can whack that one and just leave the 1993 movie. Unless someone else has actual seen it and wants to nominate it. I have removed this one. > [@terentii](#): > > _ **Perilous Journey** _ I need help with this one, please. > [@zbuzz](#): > > Some of these are borderline, but it looks like we’re using a wide border > > Excalibur Was there a “war movie” with this title? > [@terentii](#): > > _ **Crossbow and Overcast** _, about the Allied campaign against Germany’s V-weapons. I couldn’t locate this one. =========================== Thanks for the many contributions we now have over 200 titles to vote on **somehow** 😃 Before I post an update, I’d like help on these just mentioned titles, and any others that may not have been mentioned yet. One thing is for sure: we now have a hefty reference source for War Movies! Thanks again, y’all! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/118 "2015-05-27T23:13:40Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > … many excellent TV series to consider, including the old Navy Log, Air Power, The Big Picture, etc. I’d love to see such a follow-up spinoff thread for TV if anybody wants to jump in on that project. Here are the intro soundtracks for those shows: ----------------------------------------------------------------- Navy Log - opening credits NORMAN DELLO JOIO: "Airpower" - Music from the 1956 CBS series Tactical Nuclear Warfare: "Atomic Battlefield" The Big Picture circa 1957 US Army 29min ----------------------------------------------------------------- Do you know of other such TV programs devoted to the Military Branches? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/119 "2015-05-27T23:27:04Z")
[Quote=terentii] Crossbow and Overcast, about the Allied campaign against Germany’s V-weapons. [/quote] [Quote=Zeldar] I couldn’t locate this one. [/QUOTE] I believe **terentii** was referring to _Operation Crossbow_ (1965), with George Peppard, Sophia Loren and Trevor Howard. > **[Operation Crossbow (1965) ⭐ 6.6 | Action, Drama, War](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059549/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1)** > > 1h 55m | PG-13 Oh, and I see no one has mentioned _Valkyrie_ (2008), a pretty decent recounting of the July 20 plot against Hitler: > **[Valkyrie (2008) ⭐ 7.1 | Drama, History, Thriller](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0985699/?ref_=nv_sr_1)** > > 2h 1m | PG-13 ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835/120 "2015-05-27T23:30:46Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Was there a “war movie” with this title? I was referring to this [Excalibur](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082348)- Arthur, knights, swords, etc. It has armies fighting battles, so it seems like a war movie to me. You wanted a wide net, right? Do you want to take this opportunity to exclude fantasy or sci-fi war movies? Otherwise, you can add Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and a million others, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-all-time-military-movies-pre-poll-data-gathering/720835.md?page=7)