# What is the best “war movie”? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 1, 2021, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184 "2021-05-01T23:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Dark\_Sponge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dark_sponge/32/121_2.png) [@Dark\_Sponge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Sponge)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/121 "2021-05-05T17:41:21Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > **Kelly’s Heroes**. If it’s on, clear the sofa and don’t count on me for dinner. Me Too! I bought the DVD and watch it again every year or so. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/122 "2021-05-05T19:26:52Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Much of **Saving Private Ryan** is fictional although based on a true story. “Saving Private Ryan” is entirely fictional. Obviously there actually was a World War II and a Normandy invasion, but the characters in the film (aside for Marshall’s little bit) and specific events are wholly made up. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/123 "2021-05-05T19:32:18Z")
I would say more [“loosely based”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers) than entirely fictional. Yes there was a guy who had two brothers die on D Day whose brother was shipped out. They took a bit of poetic license here. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/124 "2021-05-05T19:39:09Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > However, I’ll nominate Full Metal Jacket. It’s one of my favorite (war or otherwise) movies. If only watching the first half, I concur. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/125 "2021-05-05T22:34:17Z")
That poor PBY gets blasted in Tora, Midway, the miniseries Pearl, Baa Baa Blacksheep and many more! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/126 "2021-05-05T22:51:28Z")
I have not watched _Band of Brothers_ but should, having heard only good things. I’m not sure the gravamen of a good war movie is to be purely about war, or to provide an immersive experience. _1917_ was immersive, but largely emphasized the tedium of war broken by the occasional horror. I’m looking forward to watching some of the movies mentioned I’ve never seen. There is also some agreement on the best ones (mentioned several times) and perhaps lessons to be learned from the fact no one mentioned things like _Stripes_ or _Private Benjamin_. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/127 "2021-05-06T00:00:10Z")
I’ll second or third Blackhawk Down. I was recommended it by a friend who’d left the military not many years before that film was released, and she reckoned it was pretty realistic; it certainly felt it. The only caveat is that it really benefits from a big screen - I’m pretty sure anyone watching it on a laptop, say, would find it impossible to follow. Das Boot made me hugely sympathetic to the grunts working for the enemy just because they were born at a certain time in a certain place. It’s gripping - almost like a thriller, but in a subtle way. My own favourite war movie is Empire of the Sun. It’s gorgeous to look at (and war can be, in a purely aesthetic sense), Christian Bale is absolutely astounding, and everyone else brings their A-game - and, despite being Spielberg, it doesn’t shy away from showing how the war affected people. It doesn’t throw it in your face, but that can be more effective. For example, Miranda Richardson’s character’s decline is anything but sentimental. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/128 "2021-05-06T00:17:47Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > **A Very Long Engagement** That’s on my list. Excellent movie. I also like _Henry V_ Guilty pleasure: _Tora Tora Tora_. I have a weakness for that super turkey. Don’t know if it counts, but _Schindler’s List_ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/129 "2021-05-06T00:18:21Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > > [@Velocity](#): > > > > I’d still go with Saving Private Ryan, for the realism mainly. > > I’d have to go with Saving Private Ryan because it’s the great war movie that is the most about WAR. “Patton” is a character study; “Bridge on the River Kwai” is a character-driven drama; “Paths of Glory” is a story about injustice. The purpose of Saving Private Ryan is to present the viewer with pure, unadulterated war, the very essence of war as purely as cinema can present. > > In that regard it’s certainly the most influential war movie ever made because every war movie since, every serious one anyway, has made an effort to be LIKE Saving Private Ryan. Probably an unpopular opinion but I feel _Saving Private Ryan_ is very overrated. It is, in my opinion, schmaltzy in the same way most Spielberg movies are. I will readily agree that the first twenty minutes are one of the best battle scenes ever filmed. Full credit to Spielberg for that. But once that opening scene is done and Spielberg starts with the story, the movie goes way downhill. It’s not a movie about war. It’s about eight soldiers going out to find a ninth soldier. The rest of WWII is pretty much reduced to a background setting which has no importance to what we’re watching. Spielberg can’t handle big stories and when he tries, he ends up shrinking them down to small stories. _The Thin Red Line_, which came out around the same time had its flaws. But Malick at least had a message about the nature of war that he was trying to convey: that war isn’t about a handful of men changing the course of history, war is about thousands of men being thrown together to win a battle and millions of men being thrown together to win a war and at that scale the actions of individuals doesn’t affect the outcome. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/130 "2021-05-06T01:06:37Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > My own favourite war movie is Empire of the Sun. It’s gorgeous to look at (and war can be, in a purely aesthetic sense)… The P-51 flyby is absolutely thrilling! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/131 "2021-05-06T03:20:13Z")
Thank you. You phrased my exact thoughts much better than I could have. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/132 "2021-05-06T08:01:12Z")
**They Were Expendable** (1946) by John Ford starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery legitimately surprised me in how great it was since I see so little people talk about it. It’s about a PT Boat squadron in the Invasion of the Philippines in 1941 and does an amazing job of showing the attrition and hopelessness that happens to soldiers in a desperate situation. No matter how many ships the PT boats sink, the Japanese inevitably keep advancing and the ending is bleak but hopeful since the audience knows eventually we won the war, but the characters don’t know that yet. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/133 "2021-05-06T08:03:03Z")
By the way are there any good podcasts about war films? I tried listening to Friendly Fire but the hosts seemed too caught up on debating whether or not American GIs using the word “Japs” in a WW2 movie is racist or not than actually talking about the movie. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/134 "2021-05-08T00:49:22Z")
Not a war movie exactly but this sequence from “Children Of Men” is pretty intense. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MjFHqohaHYU/maxresdefault.jpg "Children of Men 2006 Long Take 3") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjFHqohaHYU) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/135 "2021-05-08T02:34:12Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Probably an unpopular opinion but I feel _Saving Private Ryan_ is very overrated. It is, in my opinion, schmaltzy in the same way most Spielberg movies are. > > I will readily agree that the first twenty minutes are one of the best battle scenes ever filmed. Full credit to Spielberg for that. > > But once that opening scene is done and Spielberg starts with the story, the movie goes way downhill. I actually agree with you, but that opening scene is so good I still think its in the running for best war film. I’m not sure what else comes close to that opening scene. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/136 "2021-05-08T04:51:24Z")
One really top notch battle scene was in the 1978 version of _The Four Feathers_ (this is one others have mentioned in this thread). It was a made-for-tv movie and you would expect them to cut some corners. But they had a very well-done scene of a detachment of British soldiers being ambushed and overrun by Sudanese Mahdists. (I will add that [the rest of the movie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUnw7R2kzhU) was excellent and I recommend it. The battle scene I’m referring to starts around the forty-two minute mark.) ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/137 "2021-05-08T05:07:44Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > “Full Metal Jacket” gets my vote, but there certainly other worthy candidates. This gets my vote for “best movie about the army during the Vietnam War”, for sure. _Black Hawk down_ gets my vote for “best movie about armed conflict in late 20th century Somalia”, no question. I can’t really pick one “best war movie” because there are many different things to be examined in wars and sometimes the specific issues arising in one war are what the “war movie” is actually focused on. There are simply too many good stories set against the backdrop of organized armed conflict for me to call one of them “best”. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/138 "2021-05-08T05:15:48Z")
Best anti-war movie I have seen is All Quiet on the Western Front. But it also had a very definite anti-German point of view (not Germany as an ethnic group, but the culture of war and conquest that was endemic at the time). The other best anti-war movie I have seen is Paths of Glory. But again, it was a very particular cultural mind-set, conveniently not American, that was at the heart of that film. Perhaps better than both of those was The Grand Illusion. It was a French movie about French prisoners of war in WWI, and the relationships that developed between them and their German captors (or maybe just the German commander, I’m not sure). I saw it a long time ago. But I seem to remember it was heart-breaking, as a good anti-war movie should be. I saw The Longest Day, as a young teen, four times the summer it came out (and I see it has been mentioned more than once already). It does give one to think by what a narrow margin that day went our way. What a chancy thing war is. For a war film designed to buck up the home front, I think In Which We Serve is among the best. A British film about a ship, its captain and crew, and what they go through together. The best kind of propaganda. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/139 "2021-05-08T07:01:09Z")
Mention of _ **King Rat** _ reminded me of these three movies: > **[Blood Oath (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_Oath_(film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Blood Oath, known in some countries as Prisoners of the Sun, is a 1990 Australian drama film directed by Stephen Wallace and co-written by Denis Whitburn and Brian A. Williams. The film stars Bryan Brown, George Takei, Terry O'Quinn, John Bach, John Clarke, Deborah Kara Unger, John Polson, Nicholas Eadie, David Argue and Ray Barrett. The film is based on the real-life trial of Japanese soldiers for war crimes committed against Allied prisoners ... > **[Farewell to the King](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_to_the_King)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Farewell to the King is a 1989 American action adventure drama film written and directed by John Milius. It stars Nick Nolte, Nigel Havers, Frank McRae, and Gerry Lopez and is loosely based on the 1969 novel L'Adieu au Roi by Pierre Schoendoerffer. Longtime Milius collaborator Basil Poledouris composed the musical score. > During World War II, American deserter Learoyd escapes a Japanese firing squad. Hiding in the wilds of Borneo, Learoyd is ado... > **[Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merry_Christmas,_Mr._Lawrence)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (Japanese: 戦場のメリークリスマス, Hepburn: Senjō no Merī Kurisumasu, 'Merry Christmas on the Battlefield'), also known in many European editions as Furyo (俘虜, Japanese for "prisoner of war"), is a 1983 war film co-written and directed by Nagisa Ōshima, co-written by Paul Mayersberg, and produced by Jeremy Thomas. The film is based on the experiences of Sir Laurens van der Post (portrayed by Tom Conti) as a prisoner of war in... There is also this classic movie: > **[Three Came Home](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Came_Home)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > Three Came Home is a 1950 American post-war film directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the memoirs of the same name by writer Agnes Newton Keith. It depicts Keith's life in North Borneo in the period immediately before the Japanese invasion in 1942, and her subsequent internment and suffering, separated from her husband Harry, and with a young son to care for. Keith was initially interned at Berhala Island near Sandakan, North Borneo (today's Sa... ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/140 "2021-05-08T07:15:11Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Best anti-war movie I have seen is All Quiet on the Western Front. But it also had a very definite anti-German point of view (not Germany as an ethnic group, but the culture of war and conquest that was endemic at the time). > > The other best anti-war movie I have seen is Paths of Glory. But again, it was a very particular cultural mind-set, conveniently not American, that was at the heart of that film. I can highly recommend the following as one of the best anti-war movies yet made: > **[Grave of the Fireflies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_of_the_Fireflies)** > > Grave of the Fireflies (Japanese: 火垂るの墓, Hepburn: Hotaru no Haka) is an animated war drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, and produced by Studio Ghibli. It is based on the 1967 semi-autobiographical short story of the same name by Akiyuki Nosaka. > The film stars Tsutomu Tatsumi \[ja\], Ayano Shiraishi \[ja\], Yoshiko Shinohara \[ja\] and Akemi Yamaguchi \[ja\]. Set in the city of Kobe, Japan in June 1945, it tells the story of two siblings and war orphans, Seita and Setsuko, and their desp... It is absolutely devastating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184.md?page=8)