Saving Private Ryan: One of the greatest movies of all time, period. An important and relevant depiction of the World War II.
Three Kings: One of the most underrated and underappreciated films in recent memory, it was a tragedy this was overlooked by the academy at Oscar time.
Apocalypse Now: A visually and aurrally stunning modern adaptation of Heart of Darkness, this is not to be missed.
Dr. Strangelove: One of the funniest movies of all time, it’s Kubrick at his best.
Paths of Glory: A much lesser known Kubrick film, but still excellent.
Also: various films by Akira Kurosawa depict samarai warfare brilliantly, and are worth enduring the subtitles.
I’m suprised that no one has mentioned the Dino de Laurentius versin of Waterloo. If you can get throught the first half there are some terrific sweeping scenes using the Russian Army as extras.
I think the moment that Braveheart disapointed me was when they had the Battle of Stirling Bridge with no bridge!
What about “Siege of Firebase Gloria” – If for no other reason than the line “Get back! Get the f— back!”
Patton — Too bad those terrible Police Academy movies ruined the soundtrack.
To Hell and Back – Audie Murphy…say no more.
Glory!
Midway
I could go on and on.
These strike me off the top though.
Bridge to far
Big Red One
I have to agree with most of them mentioned here:
Lawrence of Arabia
Das Boot
Patton
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
The Great Escape
Glory
And if you want satire?
How about the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup?
IIRC, the US military uses/ once used Twelve O-clock High as a training film in its leadership classes. That must bestow some sort of distinction to a war film.
I gotta say that one movie no-one else seems to have mentioned would be The Battle of Britain. Larry Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine, the guy who played Goldfinger (here as Goering) and a whole slew of others, not to mention the entire Spanish Air force standing in for the Luftwaffe.
What is it about big war movies and Shakespeare that gets all the big names lining up?
“Bridge Over The River Kwai”, “Platoon”, and “Full Metal Jacket”.
Might I also suggest “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”? I know, I know–spaghetti western, but it did skate around the edges of the Civil War.
Has anyone else seen Soldier of Orange? Great Dutch film about WWII.
Thanks for helping me build a great “must see” list. I just rented A Midnight Clear. Arrrrrrrgh, depressing but very good.
Whoa. Patton is exceptional, but I’m sure you’ve seen it, Cranky.
The movie I’d recommend that no one else has is, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence.” Really moving.
oh you guys, you forgot one of my favorites:
Kelly’s Heroes
Danielinthewolvesden said:
Haven’t seen it. All I can say is, don’t make films about how the USA captured an ENIGMA machine, broke the encryption and shortened the war, and we won’t make films about how the British invented the atomic bomb and dropped it on Japan.