[Spook86]

"They Were Expendable," director John Ford's classic film about Navy PT boat crews in the Philippines during the dark days that followed Pearl Harbor. Ford, BTW, was a Navy Reserve officer who reached the rank of Rear Admiral before the war ended. He arrived at Pearl Harbor (along with a Combat Camera team) about a week after the Japanese attack. Ford was absolutely stunned by the devastation he saw, and became convinced that FDR had directed a conspiracy that led us into WWII.

"They Were Expendable" is on most Top 10 lists of WWII movies and I'd put it among the Top 10 war films of all times. Ford does a superb job of conveying the heroism, sacrifice and hopelessness of Americans fighting in the Philippines in early 1942. John Wayne is superb as a PT boat skipper and the rest of the cast is outstanding as well. I've seen "They Were Expendable" on AMC several times, and it's available on video as well. A great film, well worth watching, IMO.....

[Chapita]

I burned out on movies in the '70s and just about quit watching. Before my favorites were CasaBlanca as #1 then From Here To Eternity as #2!

[tm22721]

Till We Meet Again

Danger UXB

BUMP

[Experiment 6-2-6]

Um, for WWII movies, the ones that haven't been named like:
A BRIDGE TOO FAR
DAS BOOT (German Language/Director's Cut Only, not the dubbed)

Try THE BRIDGE. It's a German film, which actually shows the horror of war..

And if you really want to see the BEST WAR MOVIE EVER: WATERLOO

Fairly accurate, and all that..

Meega, Nala Kweesta!

[Rummyfan]

THEY WERE EXPENDABLE.... US Navy in the Philipines by John Ford...

BATTLEGROUND..... the Battle of the Bulge

TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH ...... excellent Gregory Peck, almost a documentary it is so spare....

THE TRAIN...... Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield

These are 'oldies' that pop into mind.....

[PJ-Comix]

Ballad Of A Soldier. Okay, it was made back when Russia was Commie but it was a really great movie. It shows a soldier during the Battle of Kursk who takes out a German tank and is rewarded with a brief military leave to visit his mother. Most of the movie is made up of him going on leave to visit home to see his mother (for the last time since he is eventually killed). I recommend this movie, although if it is available on video, I don't know.

[Terriergal]

Enemy At The Gates (if you can get past the british accents and the sloppy way the snipers move around).

[Terriergal]

Just watched "The Great Escape" - pretty good! I hardly recognized Richard Attenborough.

[eleni121]

How about post WWII? Best Years of Our Lives. Harold Russell who played the disabled Navy veteran passed away this past year. Many great scenes and great acting as well. Timeless in its depiction of the trauma of returning vets.

[Terriergal]

Also just checked out "The Wave" from the local library. While not directly about WWII I think it applies. It's not the best written film - it needed to be longer to flesh out the character arcs, but I have the book and plan to read that as well. It shows how we as people are no different/better/ less likely to succumb to evil than they were in Nazi Germany. We still have that strong 'herd mentality', and even moreso the less we realize our tendency to *be* sheeple.

Read about The Wave

[BIOMAN]

Any French WWII movies that you like???

[VOA]

bump

[BobinIL]

This thread is going to get long. Here are my favorites many that are already mentioned

Band of Brothers
Saving private Ryan
Stalingrad, in german
The Winter War, In Finland Subtitles
Das boot
The Cross of Iron
Enemy at the Gates, (good the first time but Jude Law began to anoy me the second time I watched it)
A Bridge to far
Midway
Wake Island

[dfwgator]

"Operation Daybreak" - about the assassination of Heydrich in Prague and its aftermath.

Andrzej Wajda's War Trilogy: A GENERATION, KANAL and ASHES AND DIAMONDS.

[dfwgator]

While were at it, lets talk about WWII documentaries, "Battlefield" is by far the best (BTW "Battlefield Vietnam" is excellent too). "World at War" is second, Sir Laurence Olivier may have been a great actor, but to me he will always be the "Voice of WWII."

[nightdriver]

I would recommend "The World at War," put out by the Impeerial War Museum in England and "The War Chronicles" as alternatives if you would prefer the real thing to the Hollywood treatment.

[amused]

Band of Brothers was very good. I just start to cry during the last episode when they have to herd those people back into the death camp.

Other good ones that will be mentioned "Guns of Navarone", "Patton", "Battle of the Bulge" etc. There are so many it is difficult to narrow down my favorite.

"That a good idea Homer but they have already made a couple of movies about World War II" - Troy McClure

[VOA]

bump

[slouper]

"Between Heaven and Hell" with Robert Wagner, Buddy Ebsen ( Jed Clampett) and Broderick Crawford. Excellent Pacific theater flick.

[skeeter]

See if you can locate a copy of "Castle Keep", with Burt Lancaster & Peter Falk. Out of the revisionist war movie genre of the 60's, but a pretty interesting and well made movie.