# 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:** 9
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/161 "2021-05-08T23:00:37Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The only nit I have to pick with _ **Fail Safe** _ is Dom Deluise as the whiny Air Force sergeant. The exact opposite of the character in the book. 🤮 I, on the other hand, put myself in his shoes: An enlisted man forced to divulge a technical shortcoming that he _knows_ will mean the deaths of dozens of his fellow airmen. 🤮 but for an entirely different reason, It’s been so long I don’t recall the character in the book. ---
**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 9, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/162 "2021-05-09T01:21:28Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I admit to being a Band of Brothers fanatic. I can’t say how many times I have watched it. I tend to think of all of the actors in it as “that guy from Band of Brothers” including Tom Hardy, Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. David Schwimmer? I second your opinion. Excellent series (although I’ve only watched it once) and a very good book. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/163 "2021-05-09T01:41:50Z")
Any comments on _Von Ryan’s Express_? Never saw the movie, but I’ve read the book twice. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/164 "2021-05-09T01:44:40Z")
I liked the movie. It’s not as strong as some of the other war movies of the era but I liked the thrills of the stolen train and then trying to pass themselves off as Germans. Also some good special effects as well. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2021, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/165 "2021-05-09T01:52:46Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > **A Midnight Clear** doesn’t get the love it deserves either. What I came in to mention, among others. **Gallipoli Saving Private Ryan The Execution of Private Slovik Breaker Morant Zulu! Hamburger Hill The Pianist** ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/166 "2021-05-09T02:07:41Z")
You know what’s a terrible war movie? Victory. I know it’s an excuse plot to have a bunch of soccer players play against the Nazis but the “finale” made absolutely no sense. The Nazi Guards at the ending made less of an effort preventing the prison break than the US Capitol police during the insurrection. ---
**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 9, 2021, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/167 "2021-05-09T02:26:17Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@terentii](#): > > > > The only nit I have to pick with _ **Fail Safe** _ is Dom Deluise as the whiny Air Force sergeant. The exact opposite of the character in the book. 🤮 > > I, on the other hand, put myself in his shoes: An enlisted man forced to divulge a technical shortcoming that he _knows_ will mean the deaths of dozens of his fellow airmen. 🤮 but for an entirely different reason, > > It’s been so long I don’t recall the character in the book. I get your explanation of Deluise’s character in the movie. In the book, however, the sergeant is big, dumb lifer who’s only too happy to provide the general with the information he needs. He seems oblivious to the fact that his actions are sentencing American servicemen to death (or maybe he just doesn’t understand what’s going on at all). I thought of mentioning _ **Von Ryan’s Express** _ too. I saw the movie when it came out and still enjoy watching it today. The whole business of hijacking a train and riding it to Switzerland continues to appeal to me. 😉 I also love when Trevor Howard tells the POWs “We’ll form up again and have another crack at Gerry!” Frank Sinatra was in another war movie that came out about the same time, _ **None but the Brave** _. It’s notable because it has a black US Marine, which is historically accurate for that stage of the Pacific war. I also like it when the Japanese commander tells Sinatra his wife is “rovrier than the [cherry] brossoms.” > **[None but the Brave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_but_the_Brave)** > > None but the Brave (Japanese: 勇者のみ, Hepburn: Yūsha Nomi, lit. 'Only the Brave') is a 1965 epic anti-war film directed by Frank Sinatra, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced by Tokyo Eiga, Toho, and Sinatra Enterprises, it was the first film to be internationally co-produced between Japan and the United States. > During an unspecified period of World War II, a platoon of 16 Japanese soldiers is stranded on an island in the Solomon Archipelago with no means of communicating with the outs... I saw this movie a few weeks ago on TCM. It’s based on the reports by war correspondent Ernie Pyle and has been included in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry: > **[The Story of G.I. Joe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_G.I._Joe)** > > The Story of G.I. Joe, also credited in prints as Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe, is a 1945 American war film directed by William A. Wellman and starring Burgess Meredith and Robert Mitchum. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Mitchum's only career Oscar nomination. > The story is a tribute to the American infantryman (G.I. Joe) during World War II, told through the eyes of Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle, with dialogue and narration lifted from Pyle's col... Also in the NFR is Frank Capra’s _ **Why We Fight** _ series: > **[Why We Fight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_We_Fight)** > > Why We Fight is a series of seven propaganda films produced by the US Department of War from 1942 to 1945, during World War II. It was originally written for American soldiers to help them understand why the United States was involved in the war, but US President Franklin Roosevelt ordered distribution for public viewing. > Academy Award-winning filmmaker Frank Capra, daunted but impressed and challenged by Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 propaganda film Triumph of the Will, worked in direct response. The... ---
**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 9, 2021, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/168 "2021-05-09T02:39:45Z")
_ **None but the Brave** _ made me think of this movie, which deals with a black Marine’s experiences in the Pacific. After the June 1944 Battle of Saipan, USMC General Alexander Vandegrift said “The ‘Negro Marines’ are no longer on trial. They are _Marines_, period.” > **[Home of the Brave (1949 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_of_the_Brave_(1949_film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Home of the Brave is a 1949 war film based on a 1946 play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson, and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie. The original play featured the protagonist being Jewish, rather than black. The National Board of Review named the film the eighth best of 1949. The film takes its name from the last line of the "Star Spangled Banner" "And the home of the bra... ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/169 "2021-05-09T03:44:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > or maybe he just doesn’t understand what’s going on at all Ah. Basis of the meme, _Show me a man who keeps his head when all about him are losing theirs and I’ll show you a man who doesn’t understand the severity of the situation._ 🙂 ---
**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 9, 2021, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/170 "2021-05-09T04:02:48Z")
It’s been years since I read the book (and last saw the movie), but I think there’s another discrepancy between the two: In the movie, the Air Force gets the pilot’s wife on the radio to try and stop him, and he switches her off to proceed with the attack. I don’t think that happens in the book at all. Instead, the President (presumably Kennedy) orders the pilot to return to base, and he replies (to the best of my recollection) “I have been ordered not to do precisely what you’re telling me to do.” BTW, anyone who’s seen _ **Dr Strangelove** _ should read the book it’s allegedly based on, _ **Red Alert.** _ The movie is Kubrick unleashed. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/171 "2021-05-09T15:20:35Z")
_Lifeboat_ (1944) – Survivors of a torpedoed ship share a lifeboat with the German U-boat commander who sank them. _Went the Day Well?_ (1943) – Graham Greene story of German soldiers having a bad day pretending to be Brits so they can take over a strategically located small town. _The Steel Helmet_ (1951) – Korean War – sorry, I mean “police action” - story of tough sergeant bonding with Korean orphan boy “Short Round” (a nickname later ripped off by Spielberg). _Attack_ (1956) – WWII infantry Captain Eddie Albert is unfit for command, making Lt. Jack Palance mighty po’ed when there are consequences. _The Hidden Fortress_ (1958) – Prototype for _Star Wars_ set in feudal Japan. _The Fabulous Baron Munchausen_ (1962) – War is the backdrop for the Baron’s fantastic adventures brilliantly brought to the screen by the wonders of Mystimation. _The Password is Courage_ (1962) – Lower budget _The Great Escape_ starring Dirk Bogarde as the (real-life) Sgt. Maj. Charles Coward. _War Hunt_ (1962) – In Korea, Pvt. Robert Redford (his first credited feature role) deals with psycho Pvt. John Saxon. _Chimes at Midnight_ (1965) – Not really a war film, but the Battle of Shrewsbury is arguably the greatest Medieval battle sequence ever filmed. _The Last Valley_ (1971) – Bleak 30 Years War story of mercenaries taking over a town. _The Vultures_ (1984) – _Kelly’s Heroes_ knock-off starring Jean-Paul Belmondo set in 1943 Tunisia. Memorable mostly for the scene in which a foreign legionnaire unwisely urinates on an exposed power cable. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/172 "2021-05-09T15:31:00Z")
Looks like most have been mentioned. I rewatched _Gallipoli_ a couple months ago. It’s still a good movie but now I can’t get over the blaring 80s synth soundtrack. _12 O’Clock High_ manages to be a great war movie without showing much combat. Another great one is _Battleground_. It may be the first movie to concentrate on a small platoon in a big battle and show how little they knew about what was happening around them. People back home knew more about the battle than the individual soldier fighting. ---
**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 9, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/173 "2021-05-09T15:51:04Z")
If we’re going to list _ **Lifeboat** _ and _ **The Password Is Courage** _, we have to add _ **Saboteur** _ and _ **The Wooden Horse** _: > **[Saboteur (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saboteur_(film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > Saboteur is a 1942 American spy thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a screenplay written by Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison and Dorothy Parker. The film stars Robert Cummings, Priscilla Lane and Norman Lloyd. > Barry Kane is falsely accused of torching Stewart Aircraft Works in Glendale, California, an act of sabotage that incinerates one of his co-workers. Barry believes the real culprit is a man named Fry, but investigators find no such ... > **[The Wooden Horse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wooden_Horse)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film directed by Jack Lee and starring Leo Genn, David Tomlinson and Anthony Steel. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay. > The film depicts the true events of an escape attempt made by POWs in the German prison camp Stalag Luft III. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners use to conceal th... A good movie set in Nazi Germany is _ **The Seventh Cross** _: > **[The Seventh Cross (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seventh_Cross_(film))** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Seventh Cross is a 1944 American drama film, set in Nazi Germany, starring Spencer Tracy as a prisoner who escaped from a concentration camp. The story chronicles how he interacts with ordinary Germans, and gradually sheds his cynical view of humanity. > The film co-starred Hume Cronyn, who was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It was the first film in which Cronyn appeared with his wife Jessica Tandy, and was among the first f... ---
**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 9, 2021, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/174 "2021-05-09T16:01:35Z")
_ **Went the Day Well?** _ reminds me of _ **The Eagle Has Landed** _. The latter has Donald Pleasence as Heinrich Himmler. 👍 Unfortunately, it also has a stupid love subplot with Donald Sutherland and Jenny Agutter. 👎 There’s also a fifty-star US flag in Larry Hagman’s office. 👎 👎 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/175 "2021-05-09T16:19:13Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **Went the Day Well?** _ reminds me of _ **The Eagle Has Landed** _ . I’m not a big fan of remaking movies but if ever there was one that could be well remade, it’s “The Eagle Has Landed.” ---
**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 9, 2021, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/176 "2021-05-09T16:58:02Z")
Chefguy made me remember a phenomenally great movie [The Lighthorsemen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lighthorsemen_(film)). Anyone who liked _Breaker Morant_ or _Gallipoli_ should watch it. ---
**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 9, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/177 "2021-05-09T17:00:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It’s been years since I read the book (and last saw the movie), but I think there’s another discrepancy between the two: In the movie, the Air Force gets the pilot’s wife on the radio to try and stop him, and he switches her off to proceed with the attack. I don’t think that happens in the book at all IIRC, that is in the book. The problem with being older than my coworkers is now when on a Zoom meeting and we here a squeal and I say, “I think their phone is melting.” I get puzzled looks like, “Whuh?” ---
**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 9, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/178 "2021-05-09T17:03:00Z")
Now my curiosity is piqued. I’ll see if I can find a copy somewhere when the lockdowns here are over. ---
**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 9, 2021, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/179 "2021-05-09T17:15:40Z")
Which one? _Fail Safe_ or _The Lighthorsemen_? If the latter, [try here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GY98gx6bFcc). I’m teaching my son contemporary history like life in the 70s & 80s, all about 9/11, The Beatles, etc. _Fail Safe_ was one of the movies I chose to teach him about the Cold War - not real history of course but rather Russo-American relations and the psychology of having weapons you never wanted to use. He was duly impressed. [From the remake](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMkiW4kZkfA). [For terentii](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MuuyFBzmdQ) ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184/180 "2021-05-09T17:17:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > ### [The Wooden Horse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wooden_Horse) > > > > The Wooden Horse is a 1950 British Second World War war film directed by Jack Lee and starring Leo Genn, David Tomlinson and Anthony Steel. It is based on the book of the same name by Eric Williams, who also wrote the screenplay. The film depicts the true events of an escape attempt made by POWs in the German prison camp Stalag Luft III. The wooden horse in the title of the film is a piece of exercise equipment the prisoners use to conceal their escape attempt as well as a reference to the T… Came back here to mention this. Another case of read the book, haven’t seen the movie. (I do that a lot…) > [@terentii](#): > > A good movie set in Nazi Germany is _ **The Seventh Cross** _ : An old friend of mine was one of the kids in that movie, though I couldn’t tell you which one as he was rather young at the time. (I met him thirty years later.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-war-movie/941184.md?page=10)