I have to echo “All Quite on the Western Front”. To some extent more on the book than than the various movies. But the book is brilliant. Terrifiying, sickening, and brillant. Maybe it’s about time to remake it again.
Oh and I might have missed it but has anyone mentioned The Best Years Of Our Lives?
Post war is still a war movie and that was a good one.
[QUOTE=eenerms]
Mush or oatmeal, either one. It got raves from the critics, but probably got crushed by the competition at the time (Unforgiven, Crying Game, A Few Good Men, Scent of a Woman). Nice to know there’s one other person who’s seen it.
The Sand Pebbles
A few more that so far have missed out,
To Hell and Back
The Red Badge of Courage
Von Ryans Express
Hannibal Brooks
A Midnight Clear is a great movie but I prefer the movie Birdy.
Empire of the Sun is probably my favorite movie of all time.
(based on a different novel by the same writer, William Wharton)
One of the homework assignments in my AP Euro class involves watching movies about WW2 and associated years. Below is the list I use, along with the point values of each movie (higher=better/more accurate/more than just a war movie, etc.)
World War II Movie List
Midway – 10
Tora, Tora, Tora – 15
In Harm’s Way – 15
They Were Expendable – 15
Back To Bataan – 20
Sands of Iwo Jima – 15
Flying Leathernecks – 15
Run Silent, Run Deep – 20
Guadalcanal Diary – 15
Battle Cry! – 10
Bridge Over The River Kwai – 20
Empire of the Sun – 20
Torpedo Run – 10
Operation Petticoat – 10
Mr. Roberts – 20
Merrill’s Marauders – 15
30 Seconds Over Tokyo – 20
Flying Tigers – 15
The Enemy Below – 20
Hellcats of the Navy – 15
Enola Gay – 20
The Thin Red Line – 20
King Rat – 20
South Pacific – 10
Objective, Burma – 10
Battle of the Bulge – 15
The Great Escape – 20
Battle of Britain – 30
Casablanca – 15
Das Boot – 40(IN GERMAN!)
The Big Red One – 15
Patton – 20
Sink the Bismarck! – 20
The Longest Day – 20
A Bridge Too Far – 20
The Sorrow and the Pity – 25
Triumph of the Will – 40
Stalag 17 – 20
Remains of the Day – 20
12 O’Clock High – 15
The Devil’s Brigade – 10
Mrs. Miniver – 15
Is Paris Burning? – 20
Hope and Glory – 20
Judgment at Nuremberg – 25
The Diary of Anne Frank – 15
Three Came Home – 20
The Man In The Glass Booth – 20
The Last Metro – 20
Von Ryan’s Express – 10
U-571 – 15
Memphis Belle – 15
Hell Is For Heroes – 15
The Bridge At Remagen – 15
Tobruk – 10
Raid On Rommel – 10
Mosquito Squadron – 10
The Dam Busters – 15
The McKenzie Break – 10
The Secret of Santa Vittoria – 10
Enemy At The Gates – 20
A Midnight Clear – 15
When Trumpets Fade – 15
Battleground – 10
Sahara – 10
Soldier of Orange – 15
A Walk In The Sun – 10
One that often gets overlooked in lists of war movies is Last of the Mohicans (French and Indian War).
And one of my favorite Civil War movies is the often overlooked Ride With the Devil.
Wow! What a list. I completely forgot about Soldier of Orange and King Rat, two absolutely outstanding movies. Thanks.
Erm, what? It’s by J.G. Ballard.
whoops, Birdy and A Midnight Clear share the same author. I added the Empire of the sun line later. in the wrong place.
Hey, I own A Midnight Clear. One of my favorites. A good commentary track, too (it’s suprising how good it looks for how cheaply it was made).
Not entirely about war (it’s a Japanese version of King Lear), but Ran does have some good battle scenes (feudal Japan).
Somewhat tangent to this thread, but submitted to silenus for ‘about WW2’ -
The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel)
Forbidden Games (Jeux Interdits)
Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka)
(I just realized those all involve children, hm.)