You didn’t like “Barry Lyndon?” for the Seven Years War?
For the second thred in two days, I get to recommend the 6-hour Soviet film of “War and Peace,” and I also remember reading that “Waterloo” with Rod Steiger as Napoleon was praised for its battlefield accuracy.
My favorite may not be a traditional war movie, but there’s a lot to be said for Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. I have yet to see any of the versions of All Quiet on the Western Front all the way through (only about the first five minutes of the first version and about ten minutes of the John-Boy Walton version), but if they’re anything like the book then they are the best.
Can I write a longer sentence there?
Some obscure but good ones:
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5
THE GREAT DICTATOR
GODS AND MONSTERS (mostly set in 1950s California, flashbacks to WWI are instrumental in the plot)
HOW I WON THE WAR (by Leftenant Ernest Goodbody)- Michael Crawford/John Lennon WWI satire
PRIVATES ON PARADE- John Cleese as British major in the Asian theater visited/pestered by a troop from Song And Dance Unit SouthEast Asia (SADUSEA). Usually billed as a comedy due to Cleese and a flaming-queen SADUSEA performer, but it’s not.
I vote for All Quiet on the Western Front. It made number 17 on my list of The 50 Most Important Hollywood Films. Here’s the blurb I gave it:
WARNING: SPOILER ALERT!!!
17. All Quiet On The Western Front 1930, Lewis Milestone
Milestone’s directing in this film is simply inspired. In one scene, for example, the subjective camera glides along the trench, firing a machine gun at approaching troops. The screenplay is equally brilliant, as with the boots that pass from man to man, cursing each with death. Universally acclaimed as the greatest anti-war movie ever made, the film tells the story of war’s horrible consequences from the point of view of a young German, Paul Baumer (played sensitively by Lew Ayres) who, at the urging of his professor, enlists in the effort to save the Fatherland. The budget for the film, at $1.25 million, was exorbitant for its time. Universal Pictures bankrolled thousands of extras on acres of lush California ranch land, and for its investment reaped enormous success, both critically and commercially, becoming the third movie in MPAA’s (Motion Picture Association of America) young history to win Best Picture. Milestone also won an award for directing his first sound film. Modern day viewers, ordinarily too jaded to suspend disbelief with early sound films, watch this one mesmerized by its power. The battle scenes have a Saving Private Ryan you-are-there quality. The emotionally draining movie, essentially faithful to Erich Maria Remarque’s novel, was controversial worldwide, banned in Poland for being too pro-German and banned by the Nazi regime for being too anti-German. Joseph Goebbels himself denounced it. This picture, with George Cukor as director of dialog, has influenced whole generations of directors who look to Milestone’s definitive techniques for inspiration. The movie ends unforgettably, with a quiet harmonica playing just before the armistice is signed, and Baumer trying to touch a butterfly just beyond his reach from the trench, unknowingly the object of a distant French sniper. A loud crack is heard as the shot fires, the harmonica stops, and Baumer dies.
While I didn’t care for it as a movie, one of my ROTC instructors who was with the 101st at Hamburger Hill said the movie was very realistic.
A second for We were Soldiers.
It just kills me to agree with Libertarian on any subject, but I have to agree with him on All Quiet on the Western Front as being one of the best of the honest war movies. There is a pretty good write up of the 1930 movie here. Remember this was done without the benefit of special effects and digital enhancement and before the development of the slash and bleed stuff that substitutes for acting. It’s a great movie.
Best war movies (by war):
[list][li]French and Indian War (Seven Years War): Last of the Mohicans[/li][li]American Revolution: Sadly, no decent candidates. The Patriot by default.[/li][li]American Civil War: Glory[/li][li]The Boer War: Breaker Morant[/li][li]World War I: Gallipoli[/li][li]World War II: Saving Private Ryan (with an honorable mention to Grave of the Fireflies)[/li][li]Korea: MAS*H by default. The world awaits a great movie about the Battle of the Frozen Chosen.[/li][li]Vietnam: The Boys in Company C (in an upset).[/li][li]Grenada (snicker): Heartbreak Ridge[/li]Gulf War I: Three Kings
As one who served in Viet Nam. I agree with the accuracy and truthfullness of this film. When it comes to Viet Nam and reality, I might also put forth Hello Viet Nam.
TV
[quote]
[li]Korea: MAS*H by default. The world awaits a great movie about the Battle of the Frozen Chosen[/li][/quote]
The wait’s been over for almost half-a-century. Anthony Mann’s Men in War is much better than the Altman (it’s on my list of all-time greats above). Sam Fuller’s The Steel Helmet is very good, too.
All these posts, all these movies, most of which I like very much, and nobody has mentioned The Enemy Below or Rules of the Game yet.
So I will.
Another vote for Gallipoli. When I was at intermediate school we’d watch it around the time of Anzac day. As a result, the Anzac campaign at the Dardenelles (sp?) is the only bit of modern military history I know anything about.
Noone here has seen “The Big Red One”??? Sheesh, go rent it. Now, dagnabbit.
[quote]
[li]Korea: MAS*H by default. The world awaits a great movie about the Battle of the Frozen Chosen[/li][/quote]
How about Pork Chop Hill, Retreat Hell or The Bridges at Toko-Ri?
“Rules of the Game”? Surely you mean “The Grand Illusion.” Or are you saying that the various class wars in the former make it count…
Originally posted by spoke-
Best war movies (by war):
I didn’t serve in 'Nam (mostly because I was 2 years old at the end of the war) but Full Metal Jacket “felt” more real to me. A lot of war movies seem like they get too much into complex sub-plots involving things like corupt or incompetant officers, soccer games, lost privates, Kuwaiti bullion, bickering non-coms or insane Colonels with Montengard armies.
I liked FMJ because it was simple. The squad wasn’t the center of the operation nor did they turn the tide of the entire war. In fact, their part in the battle for Hue was largely insignificant. You get the feeling that there is a much larger battle going on around them, but that is irrelevant because the only thing that matters is the one guy whos shooting at you and your buddies.
I think that conveyed the horrors of war much more effectively than images of hundreds of faceless soldiers blowing each other to pieces.
Many good choices so far, a lot of which I would put in my top 5.
But no votes yet for Stalag 17 ?
or ATTACK! ?
Another vote each for Zulu, The Enemy Below, and Patton.
Others I like include:
Midway, which dealt, if obliquely, with American prejudice against Nisei (second generation Americans of Japanese descent). Over all a good movie.
Run Silent, Run Deep
Most of the movie was the usual John Wayne shtick, but the climactic battle scene, beginning with the sight of Santa Ana’s army surrounding the tiny fortress putsThe Alamo on my list.
Memphis Belle
Battle Of The Bulge was not very realistic, but entertaining as war movies go.
Saving Private Ryan still gets my vote as best.
I’ve always liked The Americanization of Emily
I’m a little suprised I haven’t seen Cross of Iron mentioned in this thread. I think it’s one of Sam Peckinpah’s better efforts, and James Coburn is outstanding as a bitter, cynical German corporal. A great antiwar film and one of the few WWII films told from the German point of view. It’s out on DVD now with restored footage, and well worth your while.