OT My Favourite War Film

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

New years day Epic!... The Eagle has Landed.

 

I especially like it as

 

a) It portrays the Germans as Human Beings

 

b) It Portrays the American's as stoopid! :lol:

 

Such a refreshing change!!

Edited January 1, 2012 by UK_Widowmaker

[tranquillo 10]

[themightysrc 5]

Can't decide my favourite.

 

Very strong contenders are All Quiet On The Western Front, Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five.

 

Saw Waterloo over Xmas - f***ing mince.

[Flyby PC 23]

The film I should like but don't, is a Bridge Too Far.

 

I don't like it portrayed as a heroic disaster. I know it was, and many airborne troops paid the ultimate price, but it's more complicated than that, and I don't like the way Montgomery is blamed for the 'failure' on a strategic level.

 

Monty's concept of dynamic thrust punching deep into the heart of the enemy is actually very similar in concept to the Ardennes offensive subsequently launched by the Germans. Strategically the battle of the Bulge could have worked for the germans, but it didn't have the necessary fuel to succeed, nor any effective countermeasure for enemy air superiority. Operation "Watch on the Rhine" was doomed from the beginning. Montgomery's thrust, (not the lesser thrust of Market Garden) with the fuel and military might denied him and shared with Patton, was equally sound in it's conception, had massive air superiority, and I'm not convinced the Germans could have contained it as the Allies contained them in the Bulge. Montgomery's strategy would have worked, and got the Aliies to Berlin in 1944.

 

With resources, and comparable air superiority to that the allies enjoyed, the Germans could have delivered a dangerous reverse to the allied armies. History sees the Germans get credit for being bold and imaginative, coming dangerously close to victory though ultimately unsuccessful, but Monty had a similar visionary plan which was watered down from his conceptual idea and didn't quite come off, but he was condemned for being reckless and having his judgement impaired by antagonism with the Americans. I don't believe Arnhem was anything like the error of judgement it is portrayed to be. I'm also not comfortable with the way he is portrayed as being profligate with mens lives. Read up about Monty's past and you know that's not at all what he was like. If being strategically reckless in the face of the enemy is so damnable, then why is it don't we remember the name General Mark W. Clark?

 

Personally, I suspect more was made of Arnhem, and the Falaise gap than Monty properly deserved, but the Americans wanted him discredited to a degree, and weren't about to let him off the hook. What history remembers is the political dislike and dispute, but what it is forgetting is that Mongomery was the real deal military planner, and that he knew exactly what he was doing.

[+Nightshade/PR 7,931]

Tora! Tora Tora!

[Von Paulus 8]

Apocalypse Now (without the Redux).

I didn't remember when I last watched a good war film, but in the last weeks, I saw two Finnish war movies which were quite good.

Talvisota and Tuntematon Sotilas (1985).

One is about the "Winter War" and the other about the "Continuation War". Don't hesitate to watch both.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Battle of the Bulge was pretty neat too

 

But one of the best was Cross of Iron... well before it's time, and every bit as good as Saving Private Ryan

Edited January 1, 2012 by UK_Widowmaker

[+hgbn 91]

The longest day.

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

Das Boot, in original version. The war seen from the bottom of a wet cellar. Claustrophobics, keep out.

[themightysrc 5]

"Das Boot, in original version."

 

Oh, very good call!

 

Just remembered "Come and See" - if you're into reality, as opposed to sanitised films.

[OvS 8]

The Lost Brigade

 

 

Captured American during interrogation by German CO. : "You not going to win this. You're in a gang war with a bunch of poor Micks, Jews, Guineas and Polocks from the streets of New York"

 

 

 

Right up my alley... ;)

[DonL 0]

Many excellent movies mentioned. My Favorite is Dr Strangelove ( or how I stopped worrying and learned to love the bomb) Gotta love Peter Sellers. "You can't fight in here this is the war room"

[Hauksbee 103]

There's a lot of war movies that are good as movies, but I think the one that gives the best sense of being in a war (without using live ammo in the theater) would be "Hamburger Hill", an account of a bloody excursion into the Ai Shau Valley in Vietnam. No heroics, no patriotic bulls**t, no stirring music (until the last few minutes) Tied for first place would be "84 Charlie MoPic", an independently made film about a camera team that accompanies a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol into the Vietnamese bush. Here's what Wikipedia has on it: The film is created as a mock-up documentary of a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) mission during the Vietnam War. The point of view is from a camera following an LRRP team on a five-day patrol deep inside the "Indian Country" (territory controlled by the North Vietnamese). The cameraman is nicknamed "MoPic" by the team, because of his alphanumeric military occupational specialty, 84C20, Motion Picture Specialist. The supposedly routine mission, however, goes wrong and eventually turns into a struggle for survival.

 

You can't miss on either of these two.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Hauksbee

[Flyby PC 23]

Has to be said - MGM's Battle of Britain.

 

Repeat please.

 

 

By the way, did you know that Battle of Britain came out in 1969 and Tora Tora Tora was 1970? When I was a kid, I remember the hype of Tora Tora Tora as being a great new film, but recall no similar hype for the Battle of Britain, which 'feels' like it started all the way back in 1941. I was 3 in 69, and 4 in 1970, and perhaps therein lies the difference. Love both films, and both stand the test of time too.

 

Good question for you, if you had two films on at the same time, which would you watch, The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan?

[MikeDixonUK 5]

My favorite War film overall is A Bridge Too Far, but that's primarilly because my Grandad took part in the real Operation Market Garden, so when I watch it it feels like it has a personal significance.

 

My favorite War film purely for what it is, is The Battle of Britain - in fact it's so good that if not for the personal interest in A Bridge Too Far, it would be my favorite war fiilm.

 

As for The Longest Day or Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day every time.

 

(I also watched The Eagle has Landed yesterday - and like it for much the same reasons! - And I like the themetune as well!)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_7q9alkcA8

Edited January 2, 2012 by MikeDixonUK

[33LIMA 972]

Modern era - Full Metal Jacket - the 'Paris Island' first half is excellent thanks to R Lee Ermey's classic boot camp NCO, and the in-theatre second half is equally good. Dr Strangelove is also a classic, and the combat sequence at the airbase is suprisingly realistic.

 

World War 2 - Cross of Iron and The Bridge at Remagen (SPR had great production values but too much B movie sentiment, never mind the P51s with laser-guided bombs and Tiger tanks instead of captured French stuff. Don't rate Battle of the Bulge, plays too footloose with history and tactics. Longest Day was good as was a Bridge Too Far but as has been said it was too imbued with cheap anti-Monty sentiment)

 

Air war - - the Battle of Britain and the Blue Max

[Hauksbee 103]

Dr Strangelove is also a classic, and the combat sequence at the airbase is suprisingly realistic.

Except for the few frames showing the barrel and sight ring of an MP40 Machine Pistol. What are American troops doing carrying a Schmeisser?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I didn't like Saving Private Ryan personally...yes, the effects were very good...but it was just Band of Brothers with Tom Hanks

[33LIMA 972]

I didn't like Saving Private Ryan personally...yes, the effects were very good...but it was just Band of Brothers with Tom Hanks

 

+1 on that.

 

Not quite war films in the classic sence but also liked:

 

- Dog Soldiers, for its peerless portrayal of classic squaddie humour and armed forces cameraderie, even when up against...well, you have to see it, to belive it :

- Outpost, for the jaded mercenaries up against...again, you really need to see it to believe it:

- Wild Geese, quite good for its era

- Contact, an unusally excellent BBCshort film broadly based on AFN Clarke's book on his tours with the Paras in NI, far and away the best film made of 'the Troubles'.

[shredward 12]

In no particular order:

A Bridge Too Far

Passchendaele

Battle of Britain

Piece of Cake (not a movie, but wot the L)

Joyeux Noel

Angel's Wing

A Very Long Engagement

Dambusters

What am I talking about. There aren't many I don't like, other than those featuring John Wayne, that yellow lily-livered draft dodger.

 

Cheers,

shredward

[Javito1986 14]

Does Star Wars count? When I first saw those movies I wasn't yet old enough to realize X-Wings aren't real yet, and so my great ambition in life was to become a pilot. Once I realized the best we had were crummy F-16s I lost all interest in the endeavor

 

In all seriousness, the only ones I can stand to watch are All Quiet on the Western Front and Das Boot. Most of the others I've seen (which isn't too many I'll admit) seem a bit... silly? "War is horrible, bloody and stupid but hey arent these chaps glorious for doing it?". Das Boot and All Quiet thiugh, they're both just masterpieces of cinema, for different reasons. The 1979 remake of All Quiet is also pretty good, though I may be biased because I like Ernest Borgnine and Ian Holm so much. I am a bit anxious about the new version, but it's a good story and could use an update for modern audiences, so long as it respects Remarque's original vision. Every time I see All Quiet I'm reminded of how fortunate we are that it wasn't our generation that had World War 1 thrust upon it. I love when Lew Ayres goes back home and gives that professor a piece of his mind.

And Das Boot is just a perfectly brilliant movie. You could almost call it a horror film. It's so claustrophobic, and that ending, after everything they went through to get to port... Well, one of the all time greats as I said.

[Flyby PC 23]

Well, if we're stretching the 'war' film a little, another one I like is Ice Cold in Alex, with the lovely Sylvia Simms. Katy the ambulance isn't bad looking either...

 

And of course there's that beer in it too.

Probably the best piece of product placement in the world.

[carrick58 23]

Just my two cents:

 

Battle of Britain, The Hunters, The Bridges at Toko- Ri , The Dam Busters, , The Silent Enemy with L. Harvey., Das Boats , 12 O clock High with G. Peck, Fighting Leathernecks with J. Wayne ( bad acting but nice a/c Hellcats and Corsairs and assorted gun camera Japanese a/c.) and 30 seconds over Tokyo . ( gotta Luv the B-25 s ) as well as Battleground with Van Johnson ( Gotta luv the bread cutting scene )

 

 

Edited January 3, 2012 by carrick58

[carrick58 23]

Please add: 633 Squadron

 

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

633 Squadron was on the other day...watched it back to back with The Eagle has Landed.....smashing!