Favourite War Movies

[Blackadder1916]

I have to include this only because it played a few times at the base theatre (Astra? Terra?) in Borden while I was on 3's in the 70's:

Ilse She Wolf of the SS  (they were in uniform, well... part of the time)

 

[Flip]

My faves,

1. Battle of Britain- first war movie
2. Bridge on the River Kwai - love how the Colonel took over
3. We were soldiers.- Vietnam should have finished so well.
4. Bar 21 - A new Fave

 

[The Rifleman]

Best:

The Light Horsemen - the true story of the Australian Light Horse charge at Beersheba in 1917

Cross of Iron - classic Russian Front

The Way Ahead - originally a tBritish Army raining film that made it to the big screen. Starred Lt Col David Niven, Private Peter Ustinov and directed my Carol Reed (Oscar winner for Oliver!)

A bridge Too Far - superbly detailed account of the Arnhem op

Battle of Britain - classic backs against the wall stiff upper lip win against the odds

Master & Commander - brilliant & accurate account of Napoleonic sea warfare

In Which We Serve - the "story of a ship" told in flashback by the survivors after going down in the Meds

Too Late the Hero - cocky Michael Caine (ex Royal Fusiler Korea vet) in a WW2 jungle search & destry mission (complete with obligitory Yank actor for international appeal!)

 

[cameron]

Cockleshell heroes about the Royal Marines Special Boat Squadron and Hunt for the Bizmarck(1st and2nd respectively) are two of the few movies I never get tired of watching (I have a thing for old black and white pics).  3rd place was a movie starring Frank Sinatra, about this train carrying Allied POW's, one of you guys help me out please, I can't remember the name.  4th place the Tuskegee Airmen.  After that Force 10 From Navarone then Guns of Navarone.  7th place Glory, starring Denzel Washington.  8th place Blackhawk Down.  One I haven't seen yet but would certainly like, to based on what i've heard, is Tears of the Sun.

 

[dangerboy]

3rd place was a movie starring Frank Sinatra, about this train carrying Allied POW's, one of you guys help me out please, I can't remember the name.

I believe the movie is called "Von Ryan's Express.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059885/

 

[stealthylizard]

Apocalypse Now (I know I'll be branded a heretic, but I hated, hated, HATED this movie)
Whew, thought I was the only one.  I have watched the original and the redux, and didn't care for either.  I couldn't stand Saving Private Ryan either.  I think it is because of the basis of the movie, going out to find Pte. Ryan so he can go home.

Fave War Movies:

parts of the Rock (Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery) - great speech by Gen X Hummel about forgotten soldiers
parts of Courage Under Fire (Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan)
Apocalypto (newest Mel Gibson movie about the Incas/mayans)
FMJ of course
Men Of Honour (Cuba Gooding Jr)
Hunt For Red October

I know there are a few others.... but can't think of them right now

There is supposed to be a possible Disney movie based off of one Cordell Cross' books about cadet life in Vernon during the 50's being considered.  He was supposed to write one more book - "Rubber Gear Next Year", but hasn't been done unfortunately.

 

[MarkOttawa]

cameron: "Von Ryan's Express":
http://imdb.com/title/tt0059885/

Mark
Ottawa

 

[a_majoor]

One I havn't seen mentioned:

The Odd Angry Shot (Australian SF in Viet Nam). Favorite line:

Harry: I said 'get fucked', you great beer-sodden bag of shit!
Sergeant-Major: Right, you're all on a charge.
Harry: Well, you'd better make it murder, because I'm gonna knock your block off.

 

[krustyrl]

There was a good Naval flick (USN) with Richard Thomas (John-Boy Walton) and Stacy Keach about their ship being torpedoed and sinking and deals with the tribulations of sea survival . One character loses his mind and is so thirsty he claims if you dive deep, the water is potable and proceeds to jump into shark infested waters. There is a BOI at the end to see if the Cap'n is guilty of disobeying orders etc.

The name of the movie escapes me , does anyone remember this one.!??

 

[evil drunken-fool]

Looked through what everyone else had done and here is all that I can remember:
Band of Brothers
Saving Private Ryan
A Bridge Too Far
Enemy at the Gates
Full Metal Jacket
We Were Soldiers
Black Hawk Down
Clear and Present Danger
A Thin Red Line
Zulu
The Devil‘s Brigade
Apocalypse Now
Das Boot
The Bridge on the River Kwai (Never seen the whole thing in one shot though)
Top Gun (I know laugh at me, but I liked it)
Flags of Our Fathers (I don’t think this was mentioned yet, really good, watch it)
MacArthur (Another one I don’t think I seen mentioned but I guess it is more of a personal favourite)
Dirty Dozen
The Tuskegee Airmen
Tora Tora Tora
The Battle of Britain
Jarhead
Kelly’s Hero
Memphis Belle


One’s I want to see:
Patton
Platoon
Lawrence of Arabia

 

[niner domestic]

The Richard Thomas film was a 1991 movie made for TV called: Mission of the Shark: The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis

 

[krustyrl]

Bingo....we have a winner.!

Thanks for the info. Did you like that movie.?

 

[niner domestic]

If you want a great reference book for war films (up to about 1973) pick up a copy of, A Pictorial History of War Films by Clyde Jeavons  ISBN number 0-8-65-0426-9

The B&W pics in the book are stunning. 

Cameron, I believe the title of the 1960 Lewis Gilbert film is, "Sink the Bismarck!" not "Hunt the Bismarck".   

 

[Shec]

There was a good Naval flick (USN) with Richard Thomas (John-Boy Walton) and Stacy Keach about their ship being torpedoed and sinking and deals with the tribulations of sea survival . One character loses his mind and is so thirsty he claims if you dive deep, the water is potable and proceeds to jump into shark infested waters. There is a BOI at the end to see if the Cap'n is guilty of disobeying orders etc.

The name of the movie escapes me , does anyone remember this one.!??

Mission of the Shark.  it's based on the true story of the cruiser USS Indianapolis which the Japanese sunk after it had delivered the first A-bomb to the US airbase on Saipan and whose survivors endured a series of shark attacks while they awaited rescue, a rescue which was delayed because the ship was on a secret mission.

 

[cameron]

Thanks dangerboy and MarkOttawa, yes Von Ryan's Express was the name of the movie, cheers.

 

[a_majoor]

A bit more obscure, but now available through outlets like Amazon or Netflixx are the films of Sergi Eisenstein http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001178/

Although mostly Soviet propaganda, Eisenstien was a very talented film maker, and "Alexander Nevsky" is one of the really great war movies of the 20th century.

The other best known films are "Battleship Potempkin" and "Ten Days that shook the World".

 

[midget-boyd91]

Movies that I like ore mostly strictly based on a certain event, so, here goes:
In no particular order:
We were soldiers
Zulu
Blackhawk Down
Men of Honour (I think thats the name. It's the one with Cuba Gooding Jr as the naval diver)
Sink the Bismark
Dam Busters
Kelly's Heroes----> Ok, I know it was pretty much a fiction. But Donald Sutherland was great  ''woof woof woof."

 

[Weinie]

  I haven't read all the posts in here, but one movie that seems to be missing from a lot of lists is Memphis Belle. I have seen this movie at least 10 times, and I think it is great. 

 

[freeze_time311]

Platoon. By far one of the most descriptive war movies of all time.(for that particular war)

Catch 22 is also one of my favorite military books.

 

[Emenince Grise]

For Cold Warriors, the 1955 Jimmy Stewart movie, "Strategic Air Command" is a classic. The in-flight B-36 sequences are awesome.