The Best War Movies Ever Made

Freepers who know their war flicks | June 25, 2002 | wimpycat

[wimpycat]

As a companion to http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/705904/posts' The Worst War Movies Ever Made thread, I offer you the best war movies ever made, and I wanted to get mine in first. Here's my list, in no particular order.

1. Battleground (love James Whitmore in this!)

2. Full Metal Jacket (love the DI, R. Lee Ermey. "Hard core, man! F***ing Hard core!")

3. Glory (even though it's not quite historically accurate and it's about Yankees, it's a very moving film, IMHO. Great musical score, too.)

4. The Boys in Company C (same DI as in Full Metal Jacket. Made very soon after Vietnam, but it's still pretty good.)

5. Tora! Tora! Tora! (forget Pearl Harbor, the movie, this is the definitive Pearl Harbor movie)

6. Das Boot (definitely one of the all time great war films--great camera work, great sound effects, it makes you feel claustrophobic. Best viewed on DVD with SurroundSound system. Make sure you watch it in German, with the subtitles, not dubbed! Awesome!)

[CarryaBigStick]

I know it's not a movie, but when I was a kid I used to watch COMBAT!, starring Vic Morrow. A real shame shame how he died.

For a movie though, definitely Patton followed by Kelly's Heros. Or anything with John Wayne in it.

[Doctor Stochastic]

A Time to Love
The Great Parade
Wings

And for escapism: Darling Lili

Fall of the Roman Empire (later remade poorly as Gladiator)

[PUGACHEV]

My list would be:

1. The Thin Red Line (The recent version)
2. Das Boot, The Director's Cut (dubbed, because there's a lot of dialoge that doesn't show up in the sub-titles)
3. The Best of Enemys
4. All Quiet on the Western Front
5. The Cruel Sea
6. The Bridges at Toko Re
7. Paths of Glory
8. Twelve O'Colck High
9. Glory
10. The Bridge (German)

[CarryaBigStick]

I have to add 'Sgt. York' to the list, definitely one of the best.

[tophat9000]

My Dad was an aeronautical engineer at Supermarine (makers of the Spitfire)

Very cool..I am a bit of aircraft nut..Part of growing up in So Cal between North American, Douglas, Lockheed & Northrop I guess

Supermarine designed some of the most beautiful aircraft ever the Spit for one... but I also love (at least for looks)some of the later Supermarine designs too, the "Spiteful/Seafang" and jet "Scimitar"

[Toast on a Stick]

Go for Broke! (1951)

[Intolerant in NJ]

It's not a war movie other than the setting in which it occurs (during the Boer War), but Breaker Morant is one of the best movies I've ever seen...great movie - maybe not a battle movie, but surely a war movie - "Just another sideshow of the war, major".....

[Tony in Hawaii]

You should have seen the four engined bomber they were working on. It got canned in favor of the Lancaster. Really pretty.

I recently moved (about a year ago :) ) so the pictures I have are all in boxes.

[SBprone]

The best:
Gallipoli
Breaker Morant (A WAR movie by God!)
54 Charlie Mopic (Doesn't anybody remember this small masterpiece?)

Honorable mention:
Zulu
Rob Roy (Another real WAR movie by God!)
Go for Broke
The scene in Sharpe's Rifles where Sharpe teaches the South Essex to fire three rounds per minute!

[Biblebelter]

All Quiet on the Western Front, the Hallmark Hall of Fame version, with Ernest Borginine and Richard Thomas is excellent.

Grand Illusion

Good Morning Vietnam is good because it shows how difficult the War in Vietnam was to fight when you do not know who the enemy is, and it could be any innocent looking woman or child.

The Summer of 42 was good because it showed the impact of war on the homefront.

The Big Red One directed by Samuel Fuller is classic that is not seen enough.

Full Metal Jacket is a powerful war film.

[BenLurkin]

Zulu
>"What do you know about Zulus? A Zulu impi can run, run mind you forty miles and then fight a battle."
>"Oh, that won't happen. The British Army won't tolerate two disasters in one day. It would disturb the good citizens as they read the morning paper with their tea."
> "They've gone to ground!"
>"Riders from the column I would say. Marvelous things these are, these binoculars."
>Sing. . . you heard me, sing!"
All very rough paraphrases (except one).

[buccaneer]

how could you forget to hell and back?

[BenLurkin]

Zulu
>"It all sounds bloody simple really."
>"Oh, its bloody deadly old chap."

[gc4nra]

The first war movie I remember seeing as a kid(I'm dating myself!) "Fighting SeaBees" with John Wayne and William Bendix!

[BenLurkin]

"Wolverines!" bump

[Light Speed]

There's a movie, I believe it is called "Zulu Dawn" with Bo Hoskins,Peter O'Toole,Burt Lancaster.
The 24th getting the chop at Isandlawana.
Pretty good movie..with lots of detail in weapons and outfits.

[wardaddy]

Das Boot, Steiner, Gallipoli, most Kurosawa flicks, Last of the Mohicans, the Duelist, Henry V (KB version)....Bridge on the River Kwai and The Longest Day for their era.

We Were Soldiers for a realistic and complimentary view. Apocalypse Now for the imagery....even though it was a rip off story.

Blackhawk Down....excruciating to watch...just rented it.

Shenandoah...it moved me as a young Southern kid.

Savior....about the only non Serb bashing Balkan flick I know of.

Breaker Morant....honorable mention

Lawrence of Arabia....for epic proportions..LOL

Patton and Cross of Iron....nuff said.

Ride With The Devil...an interesting little WBTS flick of late.

Guess I've overdone it.

[tophat9000]

You should have seen the four engined bomber

If you ever get the pictures dug out and scanned I would love to see them.

To be honest if I am not on Free Republic I’m on sites dealing with military aircraft history.

The worst flame war I’ve had on the web was not Free Republic about polities but was on one of these sites... over when, in what version, the P51 Mustang changed from the medal wing top as the cockpit floor to a built up wood floor… (talk about arguing over the arcane....LOL)

[BenLurkin]

>The action in the later movie, "Zulu Dawn" takes place before that of "Zulu" and actually does a credible job of bringing historical accuracy to the background of the Zulu campaign. The British essentially forced the war and the movie is hard on them for it. (I have both films on VHS)
>Costuming and sequence of major events are superbly accurate. Narrative and pace are horribly slow. "Zulu" may be less accurate historically (though not too bad) but it is far and away the superior motion picture.
>May I recommend a book called "The Washing of the Spears". It is a great source of information on the Zulu nation and on the Zulu war, if you have patience for long history books.
>Also I recommend a book called "Against These Three" which is a comparative study of the lives of Chaka Zulu, Cecil Rhodes and Hans Kruger.
>Sorry if I got carried away but this is an area of interest to me.
>Oh, another useful book on the subject of European colonization "The Scramble for Africa".