BEST war films ever!

odonnell

i just cant see past platoon.... all these years and platoon still hits me as hard as it did the first time i saw it. Just bought the special edition with documentary on the production, interviews with sheen, depp, berenger, dafoe etc - unbelievable what they went thruogh to make the movie and just reaffirms it as my all time favourite war movie.

hi by the way... new to the military boards.

Hagar

Welcome odonnell. Enjoy the forum.

Mad_Max

What about heartbreak ridge? Classic

Dudess

It feels all coincidental to be posting this after a post by someone with the username Mad_Max, but Gallipoli is the one for me. Gets me every time. Truly amazing.
Platoon is stunning too, and another 'Nam film, Casualties of War with Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox. Very, very tough (well that's war films for you - although this has moments that are particularly difficult) but an important film nonetheless.
Europa Europa is also incredible. And Rome, Open City - an Italian WWII classic from the 1940s. Magnificent stuff. Hope Channel 4 (or E4 or More4) show the Top 100 War Films again. No doubt one of them will, but it might not be for a while. It was only on More4 during the Christmas hols.
Edit: Can't believe I forgot Born on the Fourth of July. That's my favourite.

Lazairus

My lists

Firebase Vietcong , (The Siege of Firebase Gloria)*****

Apocalypse now(Intresting , love the surfing bit ,Weird ending)


Most entertaining are
Where Eagles Dare
Heroes of Telemark
The Big Red One
A Bridge to far
heartbreak ridge
Longest day
Full Metal Jacket
The Dirty Dozen
Kelly's Heroes

For Realism
BH Down
The red october


Dramatic
(the film where a group of allied soldiers befrend nazis)
Gallapoli
bridge over the river Quai
Brotherhood, !!!!!!
Schindler's List

Hagar

What's the verdict on the "The Killing Fields"? I saw it a few years ago and recently picked it up for €1.99. I'm going to watch it again soon. From what I recall it was excellent.

Dudess

I think the general consensus on The Killing Fields would be that it is a stunning, beautiful film. Amazingly acted and written - that scene at the French embassy in Phnom Penh when the western journalists have to flee and leave Dith Pran (the Cambodian translator) behind - I've no doubt the tears and the rage are real. The film is from 1984 and, considering the Khmer Rouge regime only came to an end in 1979, the still very raw sense of hurt is totally palpable. It is of course very difficult to watch - I had to leave the room for chunks of it - and it is almost unbearably heartbreaking, especially that ending. But yeah, an amazing and extremely important film.

Fidelis

Hagar wrote:

What's the verdict on the "The Killing Fields"? I saw it a few years ago and recently picked it up for €1.99

Very powerful movie, and a bargain at that price!

quickbeam

Not a fan of the war movie genre in general, but these would be a few that I do like:

The Great Escape
The Pianist - suprised nobody's mentioned it yet.
Saving Private Ryan
Kingdom of Heaven
Children of Men - maybe not a war film as such, but the fighting sequences were outstanding.
Dr. Strangelove

TerrorFirmer

quickbeam wrote:

Children of Men - maybe not a war film as such, but the fighting sequences were outstanding.

That's a strange one. The scenes of fighting were for the most part off screen and the most we saw was a few seconds of soldiers firing into buildings, with the odd bit of shelling of a building. It looked fine and all, but not remotely something I'd ever consider 'outstanding', or even belonging in a discussion about fighting scenes in movies...

TerrorFirmer

I watched a bit of Winter War today, seems fairly good but also fairly inaccurate. In one scene there are Finnish soldiers holding stg44s - German weapons that didn't enter service until about four years later.

Bradidup

Best movies (most entertaining for me)

Das Boat,
Schindlers List
Stallingrad
Hope & Glory (funny)
Tora Tora Tora ( better than Pearl Harbour)
Platoon
Gallipoly
Von Ryans Express
Longest hundred miles
Kellys Heroes (enjoyable)
Operation Crossbow interesting

civdef

If I had to pick one, it'd be Kelly's Heroes.

Woof! Woof! Woof!

civdef

Oh yeah, no-one mentioned Master & Commander?

TerrorFirmer

civdef wrote:

Oh yeah, no-one mentioned Master & Commander?

barf

macnas

A Walk In The Sun

Clare gunner

One more; The battle of the Bulge [No!not weight watchers new film:D ]
Actually,there now is a film that could do with a modern remake.A not very often mentioned bit of WW2.

Remmy

I think my favorite war film is we were soldiers and I know band of brothers isnt a film but it has to get a mention anyway .this series is pure excellence!

Shutuplaura

While backpacking around Asia I came across an aussie war film called Kokoda being sold at a few bootleg places. Wantched it, pretty good. Never heard of it before but aparently it was the highest grossing australian film of 2006. Not sure if its been out in Ireland but worth a look if you can find it.

gary the great

Surprised nobody mentioned Empire of the Sun. i loved that film

RoyalMarine

stalingrad,
the guns of navarone,
black hwak down,
behind enemy lines,
windtalkers,
full metal jacket,
apocalypse now,
kelly's hereo's,
schindler's list,
gladiator,
braveheart,

and have to add, 300. saw it last week and im loving the movie.

to be honest, ive enjoyed nearly all war movies...

even master and commander!

TerrorFirmer

Clare gunner wrote:

One more; The battle of the Bulge [No!not weight watchers new film:D ]
Actually,there now is a film that could do with a modern remake.A not very often mentioned bit of WW2.

What? The Ardennes is one of the better known campaigns of the Second World War. What's needed is more films depicting the campaigns on the Eastern Front, all of which were more or less bigger in scope then those in the West...both in terms of importance (relative to the war effort, not future politics) and manpower but aren't well known to the average person not only in film but also in terms of actual history.

There have been plenty of films involving the Battle of the Bulge, let alone the film of that title...although alot of them are crap

rapp

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098437/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058946/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090215/

theres four foreign films for you that most of you probably havent heard of, better than anything hollywood and co. ever produced anyway. good luck finding them. you can see a few minutes of the action tunatemon sotilas here on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyum3xiN2Q8 and for talvisota here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_p7Oc0biF0

TerrorFirmer

We've actually discussed several of those films back on this thread somewhere, particularly Come and See and Winter War, think Battle of Algiers was mentioned on another thread.

rapp

HavoK wrote:

We've actually discussed several of those films back on this thread somewhere, particularly Come and See and Winter War, think Battle of Algiers was mentioned on another thread.

aren't you an ungrateful bastard.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481390/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0403579/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094716/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308476/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052415/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283509/

BostonB

quickbeam wrote:

Not a fan of the war movie genre in general, but these would be a few that I do like:

The Great Escape
The Pianist - suprised nobody's mentioned it yet.
Saving Private Ryan
Kingdom of Heaven
Children of Men - maybe not a war film as such, but the fighting sequences were outstanding.
Dr. Strangelove

Kingdom of Heaven - ? Thought that was very weak myself.

HavoK wrote:

...There have been plenty of films involving the Battle of the Bulge, let alone the film of that title...although alot of them are crap

Can we have this plentiful list?

TerrorFirmer

BostonB wrote:

Can we have this plentiful list?

Some...

Battle of the Bulge
Saints and Soldiers
Straight into Darkness
Battleground
A Midnight Clear
Patton

BostonB

quickbeam wrote:

Not a fan of the war movie genre in general, but these would be a few that I do like:

The Great Escape
The Pianist - suprised nobody's mentioned it yet.
Saving Private Ryan
Kingdom of Heaven
Children of Men - maybe not a war film as such, but the fighting sequences were outstanding.
Dr. Strangelove

Kingdom of Heaven - ? Thought that was very weak myself.

HavoK wrote:

...There have been plenty of films involving the Battle of the Bulge, let alone the film of that title...although alot of them are crap

Can we have this plentiful list?

Clare gunner

There have been plenty of films involving the Battle of the Bulge, let alone the film of that title...although alot of them are crap

]

Involving,but not actually depicting it accuratly.

TerrorFirmer

Clare gunner wrote:

]

Involving,but not actually depicting it accuratly.

Pretty hard to find any film at all that depicts war things truly accurately....to be honest.

Sonnenblumen

HavoK wrote:

Pretty hard to find any film at all that depicts war things truly accurately....to be honest.

Have you seen Steiner?

TerrorFirmer

Cross of Iron? Yes, I have. I wasn't saying that's there no such thing as an accurate war film entirely, but you can't dismiss a certain bunch of films because they're not completely 'accurate' - the huge majority of war films are at least slightly modified in some way, or ignore military practicality for the sake of a good film. Which is fine, it's a film.

Fidelis

In Saving Private Ryan, I never understood why they performed a frontal assault on the MG nest at the radio tower. It made no sense

armchairninja

Fidelis wrote:

In Saving Private Ryan, I never understood why they performed a frontal assault on the MG nest at the radio tower. It made no sense

Im guessing because it made for good cinematics:rolleyes:

BostonB

Sonnenblumen wrote:

Have you seen Steiner?

I wouldn't say that was terribly accurate either. Theres a few A-team moments in it.

audizerstoren

Battle of Britain....just to see the aircraft!
633 squadron.......ditto!
Dambusters...........
the Eagle has landed...
went the day well....
one of our bombers is missing..
Great Escape...
Das Boot...
Cross of Iron..
Apocalypse Now..
Saving private Ryan...
12 o'clock high......
We were soldiers..
Band of brothers....ok not a film but still !!


and dont forget Dad's Army........sheer escapism!!

Magnum

Saving Private Ryan, because i'm in it

Kold

Letters from Iwo Jima was awesome.

ambro25

For entertainment value, certainly BHDown and Saving PR (along with TV Band of Brothers, as it's basically a serialized version of Saving PR) are way up there.

For nostalgia, definitely the golden oldies that are Cross of Iron, Battle of Britain and the like.

And for the more worthy selection, a trio of titles a lot of you probably never heard of

Forget Platoon, Apocalypse Now, FMJ or We Were Soldiers, you need to see Dien Bien Phu. What all of the above should have been, about the Vietnam/Indochina conflict.

Au Revoir les enfants - not strictly speaking a war film, this is more about Occupation in France and being Jewish at the time. About one of the most powerful films I have ever seen, and all you need to see about war, really

La Grande Vadrouille - the exact opposite, the only film about war (well, France during the Occupation) that has me in stitches every time I see it. It is a comedy, mind, but with arguably the two greatest French comedians (to date still) and is a triumph of scripting, directing and acting - can be enjoyed without moderation by the whole family

Manic Moran

Damned if I know how I missed it, but required watching for all tankers is "The Beast" (Since re-named "The Beast of War")

Daskal: Get back in the tank.
Kaminski: What for?
Daskal: Because I said so.
Golikov: We're going home, sir.
Daskal: Yeah. In the tank.
Kaminski: Why can't we go home in the ****ing helicopter?
Daskal: Because you're tankers!

NTM

kowloon

The beast, was that the T72 stranded in Yugo film?
I think i watched it late after a night out and tried to remember the name (and forgot) so i could buy it and watch it sober.
If it is i'll pick it up online.

There was also that film where the UN leave some poor fecker lying on an ap mine, cant remember the name of that gem either.

The french commando/hotel in the longest day has to be one of the most memorable scenes in a war film (and i forget most).

FiSe

Just bought "Stalingrad", have seen it years ago. Excellent, no action packed nonsence like Holywood flicks, but nice brutal war movie :rolleyes:

And "Go and See" is another new one on the shelf. Russian movie, wierd to the moon, in sence that there's no good no bad side. Soviets, Germans, Partisans all the same. Worth seeing it

ambro25

kowloon wrote:

The beast, was that the T72 stranded in Yugo film?

Not in Yugo - in Afghanistan

BostonB

kowloon wrote:

...

The french commando/hotel in the longest day has to be one of the most memorable scenes in a war film (and i forget most).

Don't remember that. Any more details?

Manic Moran

kowloon wrote:

The beast, was that the T72 stranded in Yugo film?

T-55/62 (Opinions differ, a Tiran 5 was used in the movie) in Afghanistan.

There was also that film where the UN leave some poor fecker lying on an ap mine, cant remember the name of that gem either.

I seem to recall that happening in Behind Enemy Lines, where one Serbian chap leaves another Serbian chap on a mine.

NTM

MoominPapa

Attack starring Jack Palance and Lee Marvin is a great war movie I don't think has been mentioned. Front line soldiers faced with a desperate enemy and cowardice and political manourvering by their superior officers.

Cross of Iron would probably be my favourite and **Trivia Alert** Orson Wells considered it the greatest war movie ever made

kowloon

T-55/62 (Opinions differ, a Tiran 5 was used in the movie) in Afghanistan.

Fair enough, i think its the film i saw, but like i say it was a late showing after a night at ye olde pubbe, methinks ill get a copy so.

I seem to recall that happening in Behind Enemy Lines, where one Serbian chap leaves another Serbian chap on a mine.

The film i remember had the UN showing up at the end and deciding nothing could be done for this fellow and leave him lying on the mine.

Don't remember that. Any more details?

Buy a copy of the longest day, its cheap in most places, worth seeing.

BostonB

kowloon wrote:

...The film i remember had the UN showing up at the end and deciding nothing could be done for this fellow and leave him lying on the mine.....

That rings a bell. I think thats set in the Bosnia war (or similar) and theres bunch of guys stuck in a trench with a prisoner or something. I think this is it.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Mans-Land-Branko-Djuric/dp/customer-reviews/B000060MUZ

Zambia

The Wild Geese

Excellent Film

TerrorFirmer

The Beast was surprisingly good. Loved that bit with the helicopter mentioned above, was about to mention it actually