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!)

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Almost forgot "Play Misty For Me" and "Dirty Harry". Great movies.

[mc5cents]

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

Patton, ok; M*A*S*H, pretty good; The Patriot, ok; but Catch 22? Fagetaboutit! Read the book. One of the funniest ever written in a black comedy sort of way. The movie stinked, stank, stunk!

[meyer]

Well, I would think that "The Patriot" would qualify as a war movie. It was a great movie.

I've also enjoyed "Apocolypse Now", "Patton", and "Tora, Tora, Tora". I've only seen part of "Saving Private Ryan" so I'll reserve comment, though it was very intense.

There are quite a few older war movies that I will watch though they aren't at the top of my list of truly great flicks. Among them are "The Dirty Dozen", "The Battle of the Bulge", "Midway", and the old favorite, "Run Silent, Run Deep".

[wimpycat]

What's the name of that movie about the Japanese-Americans fighting in Europe in WWII, starring Van Johnson? That's a good one, too.

[mlibertarianj]

I forgot about that movie, good choice and from the same director Gallipoli, I forgot to add Gardens of Stone , even though it is not so much a war movie, except it is about soldiers stationed at Arlington National Cemetery, during Vietnam.

[buffyt]

MEMPHIS BELLE

My Uncle Richard Thoos is still MIA from his B-17 over France, 1943.

[surely_you_jest]

Gung Ho! ?

[cmsgop]

Thanks Buddy. I will remember you at Christmas time....:*)

[Alberta's Child]

That's another very good movie, though I am biased because it confirms the superiority of engineers in any walk of life (the guy in charge at Rourk's Drift was the engineer who was directing the bridge-building efforts of the British Army). LOL!

[surely_you_jest]

Gardens of Stone.

[buffyt]

Pearl Harbor.

Ignore the fact that Ben Aflect is in it.

[wimpycat]

Bite your tongue! Those Japanese-Americans were the most decorated outfit of the war.

[mhking]

It wasn't wartime, but "Firefox" fits...

[Jagdgewehr]

No question: From Here to Eternity.

A classic.

[Cool_V]

Gettysburg, although it starred that fictional left wing president...

[ex-snook]

My best - Saving Private Ryan also The Best Years of Our Lives - in whatever category The Band of Brothers.

[surely_you_jest]

I know. I thought that was the name. Saw the flick, can't dredge up the name . . . .

[tophat9000]

Also I don’t know if I would put in on a greatest list but if you love RAF Spitfires there a Czech movie just out on DVD call "Dark Blue World" a love story but tons of great WW 2 air combat.... Spitfires Vs Me109!

[Dante3]

I agree "Gone With the Wind" is the best!

Other war movies:
"Black Hawk Down"
"Stalingrad"
"Das Boot"
"Bravehart"
"Zulu"

[ReaganCowboy]

Blackhawk Down was pretty good.