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!)

[wimpycat]

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more. I especially love the campy, propaganda movies that were made during WWII.

[cmsgop]

The Deer Hunter !

[I Luv Bush]

Though not technically accurate, Braveheart, and as a Mel Gibson second, I would nominate The Patriot.

[william clark]

Deer Hunter? You've got to be kidding. Big time snoozer, amply demonstrating the inability to edit that led Cimino to overindulge with Heaven's Gate (ironically, a much better movie).

[alfie]

the "Deer Hunter" was full of SH$$. should be on the list of the absolute worst war movies.

[wimpycat]

I know it's not historically accurate, but Bridge on the River Kwai is still a great flick.

Also, Lawrence of Arabia. (WWI)

I recently saw Enemy at the Gate, with Jude Law and Ed Harris, about that Soviet sharpshooter. Good movie!

[SandfleaCSC]

1. Patton
2. Patton
3. Patton

[-YYZ-]

Ditto on Das Boot. My father was a naval engineering officer, and he really like that film. Unlike so many movies, he thought it had the ring of reality to it.

Here's a pick from me: Where Eagles Dare. Just saw it on the History channel (Canada) this weekend. Probably quite unrealistic (I mean, how many bullets can 4 people dodge?), but quite entertaining.

[mlibertarianj]

I second your motion, on Das Boot! The one war movie I loved, even though it is a anti-war film, was the 1930 version of "All Quiet on the Western Front". I would also nominate "The Big Red One", "Cross of Iron" and "Patton"

[JEC]

Personally, I'm a John Wayne fan myself.

[buffyt]

Gone With The Wind. Civil war movie. BEST movie ever made!!!!!

[LibKill]

Patton.

The longest day.

Sands of Iwo Jima.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Always liked "Deliverance", great performance by Jon Voight, but I still give the nod to the "Godfather". There were actually quite a few excellent movies made in the seventies.

[wimpycat]

I thought Deer Hunter was good. Don't listen to them!

[buffyt]

Patton was great movie, so was Catch 22, Mash, The Patriot.

[gcruse]

1. Apocalypse Now
2. In Harm's Way
3. Das Boot
4. Full Metal Jacket
5. Flight of the Intruder

[Alberta's Child]

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.

[Psycho_Bunny]

"A Bridge Too Far"

[wimpycat]

Of course, how could I forget GWTW? But it's really a story set during the Civil War, rather than a Civil War picture. It is, however, the best movie ever made, of any genre.

[wimpycat]

You reminded me of Michael Caine in Zulu. Those Zulus and Welsh soldiers singing! That was great!