I was thinking about that. It does have some fantastic scenes, and an excellent movie for it’s time and the circumstances of it’s production. I don’t know, but I feel like it had a lot of influence on Braveheart.
Both of these were excellent movies in there own right. And I still think more of Tora! Tora! Tora! than a more recent movie about that attack.
I think more of Ernest Goes to Camp than the movie to which you allude.
You mean that more recent movie I mentioned, right?
I tend to put war films in two camps. There are the straight historical films where my favorites are Tora, Tora, Tora and Sink the Bismarck. Then there are films where war is used to forge absurd characters and situations that could never exist in a stable world: Catch-22, MASH, and my two favorite films (regardless of genre) Apocalypse Now! and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
The Siege of Firebase Gloria. Set during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Nominally stars Wings Hauser, but R. Lee Ermey steals the show.
Another vote for Guns at Batasi.
The Gallant Hours. James Cagney plays Admiral William Halsey. It doesn’t actually contain any battle scenes. It is about the planning and preparation before the battles, and counting the dead afterward.
Piece of Cake. British TV series about an RAF squadron in the Phony War and the Battle of Britain.
Tora! Tora! Tora! about Pearl Harbor.
The Lost Battalion, a TV movie about the Lost Battalion in World War One. It has Rick Shroder playing Major Whittlesey, but he’s not bad.
The TV version of All Quiet on the Western Front is not bad. You may or may not care for John-Boy Walton playing the lead character, but the supporting cast is excellent.
The Rough Riders TV movie about the Spanish-American War. Tom Berenger plays Teddy Roosevelt, and Gary Busey plays General Wheeler.
For the Civil War, gotta go with Gettysburg and Glory.
There are two famous versions of The Charge of the Light Brigade. The 1936 version stars Errol Flynn. It is pure fiction and pure hokum, and lots of fun. The 1968 version has a more realistic depiction of the events, with a much more cynical view of the battle, and of the war, and of war in general.
Zulu is one of the all-time great war movies. Zulu Dawn is not as great, but in my opinion, it is underrated.
The Duellists. Ridley Scott’s first film. Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel.
Waterloo Nick Hodges’ review
That’s a really underrated film. One of those films I watched in my twenties and wondered why I had never heard of it before.
No love for Beau Geste, Khartoum, or The Four Feathers? (I’ve never seen any of them, myself).
Which of the seven productions of The Four Feathers that you haven’t seen did you mean?
I watched the series, in class of all places, at “the schoolhouse.”
I was in the 4th grade, and remember seeing one of the episodes back then, but not the whole series. The concept fascinates me, like @Sitnam alludes to. I want to see the full series, but have no idea where to find it.
Another addition: The Crossing, which put a very human element to the Battle of Trenton.
Tripler
The US was occupied during the War of 1812, but I don’t know of any movies on that war.
Take your pick. Ditto the three productions of Beau Geste. The links were provided to show how many options there are.
And one novel I’d like to see filmed: A Flock of Ships, by Brian Callison.
So many good ones in this thread. I’m especially happy to see others sharing my appreciation for Zulu and I liked the mention of The Lost Battalion, too.
The Caine Mutiny deserves mention. The film did an excellent job of reducing a very long and complicated book into the essentials of the story.
Also, Mr. Roberts, an engaging story of the tedium on a cargo ship away from the active battle.
Most of my favorites have been mentioned, so I won’t repeat them. One I didn’t see mentioned yet is Come and See (1985). It was a Soviet film about World War II with dialogue mostly in Russian and Belarusian. It’s hard to watch, because it depicts the horrors of war more accurately than any other film I’ve ever seen.
I haven’t watched that many war films, but out of the ones I’ve watched, I’d have to go with The Great Escape - it’s got a great film score, no immersion-breaking love scenes or romance storylines, and Steve McQueen ('s body double) jumping a fence on a motorcycle. I’m a simple man and I can’t ask for much more than that.
I liked 1917. The fact nothing essentially happens is the point. War is not only Heck, but mainly tedium. I wanted to like Dunkirk; the real story is fantastic. Somehow it just didn’t meet my expectations, though many loved it. I found Das Boat too claustrophobic too enjoy, and Life is Beautiful seemed very discordant. They could hardly avoid being so.
Of course one cannot easily pick a best movie since the messages, stories, characters and style differ so much. A previous thread (found on searching to see if this topic was recently covered) pointed out how rarely they remake war films - despite their popularity and that other good films are often remade. But a remake today of All Quiet would not pack the same punch or lurk within recent memory of the audience or the director. I doubt it would be nearly as good. You could say the same for most war films, I think. Tough to remake better. Best a decade or two after the original battles
I was glad someone mentioned 12 Graves to Cairo and The Great Escape. Never watched the Americanization of Emily nor The Best Years Of Our Lives… will seek these and some others mentioned here out.
Correct. The one about the love story interrupted by a war.
Let us not forget the first R. Lee Ermey as a DI war movie: The Boys In Company "C."
Throw in The Lighthorsemen with the first two* and you’ve got an Australian colonials giving the finger to British toffs trilogy.
*The King of Hearts I’m not familiar with.
Patients of an insane asylum are set free in a small French (or maybe Belgian; I don’t remember) town during WWI. Alan Bates is superb in the role of a Tommy.