# The Best War Film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2003, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013 "2003-02-14T06:40:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![InTransit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@InTransit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InTransit)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/21 "2003-02-14T17:34:25Z")
Tora Tora Tora ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/22 "2003-02-14T17:50:49Z")
I just saw _The Seige of Firebase Gloria_ last night on one of the Starz channels. I hadn’t seen it uncut before, if at all. That was one hell of a movie! _Windtalkers_ was also very good. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/23 "2003-02-14T18:05:17Z")
Perhaps the category “War Movie” itself is too broad to choose a single best film. I"d group these three together: “In Which We Serve” “The Way Forward” “Twelve O’Clock High” EVERY officer candidate should be required to watch these movies, with the understanding that this sort of leadership is what is expected of him or her, and nothing less. (Don’t get me wrong - I like officers. I think every sergeant should own one.) If there was a best overall war film, I’d have to choose “Prisoners of the Mountain;” which IMHO best dramatizes a key theme of warfare: “fucked up and far from home.” ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/24 "2003-02-14T18:17:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*I just saw _The Seige of Firebase Gloria_ last night on one of the Starz channels. I hadn’t seen it uncut before, if at all. That was one hell of a movie! \*\* Oh yeah…what a laugh riot! I’m not sure if I laughed harder when Wings Hauser used the severed head for a Tee-ball with his M14 or when R Lee Ermy intoned morosely “We had worked with these villagers, trained with them, come to like them. That’s why it HURT to see their heads on pikes…” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/25 "2003-02-14T18:36:45Z")
[R. Lee Ermey] You’ve lost me, son. [/R. Lee] ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/26 "2003-02-14T18:46:18Z")
Das Boot Stalingrad 'nuff said ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/27 "2003-02-14T18:46:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*[R. Lee Ermey] > You’ve lost me, son. > [/R. Lee] \*\* If you’re serious, the point was that Ermy and Hauser seem to have attended the William Shatner school of acting, while the scriptwriter learned everything he knew about Vietnam from episodes of TJ Hooker. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/28 "2003-02-14T18:56:05Z")
Apocalypse Now - Great movie although I hated the Redux version Stalingrad - This made SPR seem pretty lightweight Das Boot - I think it really captured what submarine warfare was like Hell Is For Heroes- Just a good action movie with Steve McQueen The Bridge (Die Brücke) - small German film about a small battle Gallipoli - WWI rarely gets the attention it deserves All Quiet on the Western Front - see above Duck Soup - war as ridiculous ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/29 "2003-02-14T19:17:07Z")
Lots of good nominees so far- Tora Tora Tora and The Longest Day are classics. Not mentioned yet is Hiroshima. This film was shot by two crews, one Canadian and one Japanese. As bad as Pearl Harbor was, Hiroshima was good. Another good one is Andersonville, about the cruelty of life in a Confederate prison camp. Schindler’s List was also a great movie. These four are tied for first place in my book, each great in its own way. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/30 "2003-02-14T19:18:16Z")
Actually a five way tie for first- can’t count today ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/31 "2003-02-14T19:24:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MSU 1978 \* > \*\*Actually a five way tie for first- can’t count today \*\* Must…resist…cheap, easy crack… **Midnight Clear** was so damned good. I prefer **Tora Tora Tora** or **Gettysburg** for action but the emotional aspects of Midnight Clear make it a real standout. I cannot freakin’ WAIT for “Gods and Generals” to come out next week. ---
**Author:** ![MSU\_1978](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@MSU\_1978](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MSU_1978)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/32 "2003-02-14T19:31:02Z")
Thanks, Cranky. Judging by your location, it must have been hard to pass up. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/33 "2003-02-14T19:44:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RikWriter \* > \*\*If you’re serious, the point was that Ermy and Hauser seem to have attended the William Shatner school of acting, while the scriptwriter learned everything he knew about Vietnam from episodes of TJ Hooker. \*\* OK, so the opening scenes were lame but things picked up once they ran into the “fishermen”. I don’t think R. Lee’s performance was so bad considering that was his first starring role. ---
**Author:** ![TGWATY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@TGWATY](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TGWATY)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/34 "2003-02-14T19:45:47Z")
I don’t consider it the very best either, but _Hamburger Hill_ is a pretty good flick. I have a high regard for _the Longest Day_, especially its scope and point-of-view. One thing that puzzled me for a while: why was the beach landing so much more shocking in _Saving Private Ryan_ than TLD? It’s not the gore, at least for me. Each one had plenty of guys getting mowed down, beach littered with bodies, even surrendering Germans getting shot by Americans anyway. After watching SPR again recently, I figured it out. It’s the screaming. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/35 "2003-02-14T20:05:05Z")
TGWATY, I’d agree. The opening scene of SPR seems more real, partially because of the sound, but the visuals work better, too. But the sound - MAN, it sounded real. “The Longest Day” is a fine movie but it does suffer from some of the weaknesses of a typical spot-the-star WWII epic. “Saving Private Ryan” kept itself within one perspective for most of the movie, which makes it seems more real. The film also used the effect of the seeming arbitrariness of death to greater effect than most films. Also, SPR seemed to have a great many people getting set on fire, which I personally find horrifying. I’d choose, in no particular order: - All Quiet on the Western Front - Saving Private Ryan - Glory - Das Boot - The Bridge on the River Kwai - Lawrence of Arabia - Ran - Tora! Tora! Tora! for the Historically Accurate vote. - Paths of Glory - A Midnight Clear - Stalingrad I’ve restricted myself the WAR movies, movies actually about people involved in warfare, either through combat or as victims. “Schindler’s List” is a great masterpeice, but it’s not about war, per se. I kind of wish someone would make a really good war movie about, say, the Seven Years War or the Napoleonic Wars. I’ve never seen one yet. ---
**Author:** ![DreadLead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@DreadLead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadLead)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/36 "2003-02-14T20:32:23Z")
Patton The Longest Day Apocalypse Now I wish I saw some of the smaller movies mentioned above… For me, the scene at the end of “Blackhawk Down”, when the Delta Force soldier tells Josh Hartnet "When I go home peope ask me…“why do you do it,are you some kind of warmonger??” “When you get past all the politics, for me, it’s about the man next to you” …sums up alot ---
**Author:** ![DreadLead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@DreadLead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadLead)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/37 "2003-02-14T20:34:50Z")
Forgot “All Quite…” ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/38 "2003-02-14T20:50:24Z")
Another vote for **Zulu**. Tremendous acting, outstanding cinematography, and that music. Haunting, frightening. > [@](#): > > **Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead** : Sixty!, we got at least sixty wouldn’t you say? > **Ardndorff** : That leaves only 3,940 ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/39 "2003-02-14T21:05:01Z")
Going back a bit, I’ll recommend **El Cid** and **Spartacus**. And another vote for **Zulu**. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013/40 "2003-02-14T21:22:50Z")
Damn… totally forgot a great war movie. Paths of Glory. Not necessarily a whole lotta war, but a good example of the mentality that makes war possible. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-war-film/155013.md?page=3)