# Military folks: what are the most ACCURATE military movies / scenes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 22, 2013, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391 "2013-04-22T08:34:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/21 "2013-04-23T02:26:19Z")
Blackhawk Down to the point where I can’t watch it. ---
**Author:** ![turner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/22d042/32.png) [@turner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turner)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/22 "2013-04-23T02:43:27Z")
We Were Soldiers Once. Not only the military scenes, but military life. The most touching and realistic parts were the wives. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/23 "2013-04-23T02:47:17Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Blackhawk Down to the point where I can’t watch it. When I started the thread, this was the movie I was wondering about most. Which reminds me… **Thank you all for your service. _Seriously_.** ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/24 "2013-04-23T03:20:05Z")
There’s a fairly obscure war movie from the late 50s **The Young Lions** with Marlon Brando, Mongomery Clift and of all people Dean Martin. Brando is a junior Wehrmacht officer, and near the beginning of the film commands a small unit during the German invasion of France. They come up against a French roadblock in a forest; the depiction of the small unit tactics to winkle out the enemy with (IIRC) no losses was masterful. The scene in BoB where they take out the artillery emplacement on D-Day strongly reminded me of it. The contrast with, say, **Patton** ’s depiction of an Afrika Korps armoured assault as just being a bunch of tanks driving up to a wall of AT fire and driving away again, couldn’t be starker. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/25 "2013-04-23T03:23:38Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > Blackhawk Down to the point where I can’t watch it. Have you watched it once? If so, what particular elements/scenes make it difficult for you to watch it? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/26 "2013-04-23T04:09:28Z")
The scenes in _Zero Dark Thirty_ when the Seals are assaulting the compound are a fairly accurate representation of how that sort of operation goes. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/27 "2013-04-23T04:37:48Z")
My uncle thought many of the scenes in _Platoon_, where it got a grunt’s eye view of pushing through the jungle was really, really accurate. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/28 "2013-04-23T04:42:34Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > Have you watched it once? If so, what particular elements/scenes make it difficult for you to watch it? I’ve watched it tons before. I love that movie. But my best man was killed in Afghanistan going on three years now when his helicopter was shot down. I flew as well so I can imagine and hear clearly what would have happened. I really don’t need to see it on a screen. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391/29 "2013-04-23T08:08:32Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > The scenes in _Zero Dark Thirty_ when the Seals are assaulting the compound are a fairly accurate representation of how that sort of operation goes. I recently read the Esquire article about the Bin Laden “shooter” and remember that he sees the movie and says they “Hollywooded it up some”, but generally just had minor quibbles. One being that no one would yell “Breacher!” before blowing a door, instead communicating through hand signals to maintain silence until the boom. Also squeezing a shoulder instead of whispering inside the house to let a teammate know what direction you’re going. He says in the article bad guys could track the assaulters in the house with all the talking they’re doing but it would probably be more confusing for the movie audience to follow without those allowances. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-folks-what-are-the-most-accurate-military-movies-scenes/656391.md?page=1)