# What is the war movie (historical) you'd like to see made? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [May 15, 2021, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152 "2021-05-15T11:42:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/121 "2021-05-21T07:27:27Z")
The title immediately puts me off – “The Battle for Middle Earth”? 🙄 They were obviously trying to trade off the popularity of the LOTR movies. [Some comments](https://historum.com/threads/1066-the-battle-for-middle-earth.26606/page-2) on the accuracy. I don’t feel tempted to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/122 "2021-05-21T09:35:47Z")
Thanks to all who are replying. I’ve seen some very good suggestions: > [@silenus](#): > > The problem with most of these suggestions, mine included, is that they would have to be twisted completely to be popular enough to get made. War movies with the attention to detail we all want are very, very expensive. At the risk of being sexist (among other things) exactly what would be in these movies that would attract the female audience? You know, the ones that control _over_ 50% of the movie going money out there. Tack on what Hollywood would call “Chick Bait” (female characters that weren’t there, bizarre love stories, deep interpersonal connections between the characters, etc.) and you lose the historical accuracy. Yes that is a problem - Maybe these would be better handled as a straight historical piece by Ken Burns or by “The American Experience”. I’m reminded of a quote from the film “Sweet Liberty” - according to IMDB: [Bo Hodges] You realize who goes to see movies. Eighty percent of them are between the ages of 12 and 22. And you know what the kids like? [Michael Burgess] What? [Bo Hodges]: Well, this may sound silly to you, but kids go completely ape if you do three things in a picture: defy authority, destroy property, and take people’s clothes off. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/123 "2021-05-21T10:17:09Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Every time I see Uwe Boll in, I get down on my knees and pray. I actually liked his 2008 war movie: [Tunnel Rats](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970462/), where GIs are sent in to hunt out Viet Cong soliders in their tunnels. So much so I actually thought he’d made it before he’d become shit, and it turns out it was more recent. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/124 "2021-05-21T10:39:30Z")
It seems as if Garth Ennis might have provided a bunch of suitable comics with stories for War films or mini-series, after being on a roll from Preacher and They Boys. They’re [War Stories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Stories_(comics)) and [Battlefields](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefields_(comics)). The former tending to be one off stories, the latter 2-4 issues for each story. Covering all theatres, mostly WW2, but some Spanish and Israel 1973 ones. Stories of sadness, bravery, last stands, fightbacks, boredom, horror and sadness. One which sticks in my mind is a nurse during the fall of Singapore, called Dear Billy. Others are tank battalions, and The Night Witches: the female soviet bombers who uses to torment the German army during the night. He’s got some separate books too of similar things: [Sara](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BYQZTR1/) a tale of female russian snipers during WW2, and [The Stringbags](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B082VDZMGV/) - Three tales of british flyers of crappy planes in big events in WW2 such as sinking the Bizmark, Taranto, tied together with a single fictional crew. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/125 "2021-05-21T12:18:10Z")
Apparently his later, more indie-toned, movies are better than his earlier bigger-budget ones. I have never bothered to find out. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/126 "2021-05-21T12:20:51Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > It seems as if Garth Ennis might have provided a bunch of suitable comics with stories for War films or mini-series, after being on a roll from Preacher and They Boys. That reminds me - a [Charley’s War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley%27s_War) series would be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/127 "2021-05-21T12:23:00Z")
Thanks I missed Charley’s war. I thought there was an unrelated film called the same though. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/128 "2021-05-21T12:38:51Z")
> [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > In the spirit of “A Bridge Too Far”: Operation Tidal Wave, the bombing of the Ploiesti oil refineries. History showed how abandonment of doctrine, an enemy’s well-planned defense, and plain hard luck can combine to produce a disaster. And, it would shed light on the POL (Petroleum-Oil-Lubricant) strategic bombing campaign. Twelve O Clock high was based on Second Schweinfurt, ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/129 "2021-05-21T12:57:04Z")
Ok, one that hasn’t been mentioned; the Battle of Breitenfeld in 1631, where Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden defeated the Catholic powers and (perhaps) save Protestantism. It features mass cavalry charges, routs, the use of ‘light’ artillery against mass formations (to provide the necessary slaughter), some larger-than-life characters (Gustavus, Tilly, Pappenheim)… Yeah, most folks don’t know about it at all, but lots of folks don’t know about the other battles mentioned, either… ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/130 "2021-05-21T13:04:45Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > That reminds me - a [Charley’s War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley%27s_War) series would be awesome. I second that. Pat Mills penned the best WWI epic since Erich Maria Remarque. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/131 "2021-05-21T13:09:31Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Thanks I missed Charley’s war. I thought there was an unrelated film called the same though Yeah, _Charlie’s War_ was about Charlie Wilson and the CIA’s backing of the Mujahideen against the Soviets. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/132 "2021-05-21T13:20:39Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Thanks I missed Charley’s war. I thought there was an unrelated film called the same though. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Yeah, _Charlie’s War_ was about Charlie Wilson and the CIA’s backing of the Mujahideen against the Soviets. That’s called _[Charlie Wilson’s War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War_(film))_. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/133 "2021-05-21T14:23:37Z")
The rescue of the Jewish population of Denmark during World War 2 could be made into a great movie: > **[Rescue of the Danish Jews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescue_of_the_Danish_Jews)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Danish resistance movement, with the assistance of many Danish citizens, managed to evacuate 7,220 of Denmark's 7,800 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby neutral Sweden during the Second World War. The arrest and deportation of Danish Jews was ordered by the German leader Adolf Hitler, but the efforts to save them started earlier due to the plans being leaked on September 28, 1943 by German diplomat Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz. > T... ---
**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 21, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/134 "2021-05-21T14:45:08Z")
I’m sure trading in on LOTR was part of it. To be fair, though, in Old English and Old Norse cosmology, both Christian and pagan, the world was referred to as Middle Earth, _middangeard_ --“middle yard” in OE–between heaven and hell. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/135 "2021-05-21T15:16:35Z")
> [@glowacks](#): > > [Battle of Vienna - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna) > Siege/Battle of Vienna, 1689. They might even start the movie with the first Ottoman Siege in 1529 for historical background, then show 150 years of on-and-off fighting in an opening montage, then the story for real starts with the Ottoman preparation for war, then going over to the Holy League’s attempt to organize resistance, showing the months of siege as forces march to relieve it, and a climax when the Polish cavalry (Winged Hussars) arrives and routs the siegers. The Polish movie [The Day of the Siege](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1899285/) is ok. Watch it for the visuals rather than the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/136 "2021-05-21T15:28:45Z")
For myself, I’d like to see movies about colorful characters, candidates include: [‘Mad Jack’ Churchill](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill) [Aimo Koivunen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimo_Koivunen) [Simo Häyhä](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4) [Adrian Carton de Wiart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Carton_de_Wiart) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/137 "2021-05-21T15:32:49Z")
Yeah, but that’s _the whole world_, not one poxy Duchy (and some of its more desirable offshore islands.) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/138 "2021-05-21T15:58:49Z")
I like the idea of movies about Kursk and Nelson’s battles but one that I think would benefit from a big-budget modern take is [“Operation Chariot”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Nazaire_Raid) about the raid on St. Nazaire during WW2. It is an incredible story and the scope and scale of the raid would make for an incredible spectacle. It even comes with a built-in cliffhanger ending. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2021, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/139 "2021-05-21T17:00:51Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > I can get on board with a Little Big Horn movie because I can envision how one might make that both a personal story with gripping characters and yet do justice to history. Because it was, at the end of the day, a fairly short/sharp action at its height, leaving plenty of runtime to delve more into the historical context through characters’ lived experiences as presented on screen. I think it would be very interesting, if it was presented as something of a thriller; start by showing the genesis of the Great Sioux War of 1876 and the subsequent campaign by the 7th Cavalry under Custer, with building suspense surrounding the confusion prior to the battle on the part of the US Army and specifically the 7th Cavalry, as well as showing the battle from the Native American perspective. Wrap the whole thing up by showing the actions of Reno, Benteen and Custer in the right time sequence, and the aftermath, including the postmortem mutilation of Custer’s troops. ---
**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 21, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152/140 "2021-05-21T18:13:01Z")
I’ve stood on that battlefield. What I want in a movie about it is just one shot: Custer and his men in a defensive position, just below the crest of Last Stand Hill, and turning to see Gall and every Lakota in the world riding over the crest behind them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-war-movie-historical-youd-like-to-see-made/942152.md?page=8)