spence Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I once posted this about a decade ago, or longer. Please just vote for your own candidate's for all-time finest-(or favs.) over WAR FILMS? In the past I broke them down into each war,etc However, personally I'm just gonna' start this topic w/my overall picks> 1. "Apocalypse Now" (l979)-(time has finally caught up w/this Vietnam epic) 2. "Saving Pvt. Ryan" (l998) *3. "The Deer Hunter" (l978) *4. "Platoon" (l986) *5. "From Here to Eternity" (l953-columbia) 6. "The Great Escape" (l963) 7. "Paths of Glory" (l957) 8. "Battleground" (l949-MGM) 9. "The Longest Day" (l962) *10th "Bridge on the River Kwai" (l957-col.) (P.S. but does *"Schindler's List" (l993) belong in here?) (Honorabe mention(s): "Band of Brothers" (2001 tv mini-series) & it's 2010 companion pc "The Pacific" Both produced by *Speilberg & *Hanks) THANK YOU 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spence Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 WOW, surprised nobody else chimed--in on this one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 Here's two from the Alistair MacLean playbook: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vidorisking Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 The Big Parade The Birth Of A Nation The General Shoulder Arms Battan (Robert Taylor's Best) Air Force Paths Of Glory Apocalypse Now And way too many more..... Worst The Thin Red Line (I walked out) Terrence Malick is terrible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 And a couple from Samuel Fuller... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 WOW, surprised nobody else chimed--in on this one? Well, 'cause you've already picked more than a few of my favorites, spence. However, and to add to the list here, I've always wondered why William Wellman's excellent THE STORY OF G.I. JOE (1945) often seems to be the forgotten soldier, if you will. (...I think it might be one of truly great WWII movies filmed during that war that attempts with pretty good success at depicting a more realistic look at warfare, and skirts glorifying it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jakeem Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 And let's not forget the brave fighters of the 54th Massachusetts regiment in "Glory" (1989) ... ...and the unbeatable Tuskegee Airmen from George Lucas' "Red Tails" (2012)! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I fear some will think me boorish as I have posted of these movies often but I hope that none will feel it intrusion for me to repeat my recommendations: Two Comrades Were Serving (1968) is of two men who are opposites in all ways but become friends during war. One is very patriotic peasant. Other is intellectual artist who should not be in any war and should be on other side of this one. This movie goes beyond them and shows others who do what they must and how it affects them. The ending is very powerful and moving. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063615/ The Forty-first (1956) is of two people who are enemies who find that they have much in common. I should warn that this does not have: Hollywood ending. It ends the only way that such things can end in reality. It is very powerful and very sobering. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049783/ Ballad of a Soldier (1959). I believe that: TCM has aired this. It is of a soldier who believes he is away from the war because he is not at: front-lines but reality is that war affects people in all places. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052600/ All of these movies are available for watching for free with: English subtitles on: YouTube. Best prints have been posted by: Киноконцерн "Мосфильм" which is studio which owns rights to the movies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiamCasey Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 One of my favorites was shown earlier today on TCM, They Were Expendable (1945). It is the characters (big and small) who continue to strive in the face of increasing adversity that brings me back to this one again and again... "I worked forty years for this, son. If I leave it, they'll have to carry me out." Complete with "Red River Valley" playing in the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NipkowDisc Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 One of my favorites was shown earlier today on TCM, They Were Expendable (1945). It is the characters (big and small) who continue to strive in the face of increasing adversity that brings me back to this one again and again... "I worked forty years for this, son. If I leave it, they'll have to carry me out." Complete with "Red River Valley" playing in the background. Pa Joad in the Philippines 1.They Were Expendable 2.Air Force 3.Task Force 4.Hold Back The Night (never shown on tcm) 5.The Horse Soldiers 6.The Great Escape 7.Hell is for Heroes 8.The Longest Day Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 Here we are with another subjective thread. So far, Nip's list is similar to what mine would be. I might add TORA! TORA! TORA! . And maybe the more recent SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. and I don't think I saw BATAAN listed anywhere... But, I seem to recall a movie I saw long ago on a "Late Show" feature tht I remember being titled, THE BRAVE AND THE DAMNED. that had MICKEY ROONEY and WEDELL COREY. It was long ago enough for me to wonder how they got away with "swearing" in the movie title. The most of what I remember was Corey going "one on one" against a German tank and winning. It was the first movie to make me aware of Wendell Corey, but since being online have been able to find out NOTHING about it. It's not listed in either Corey's or Rooney's filmographies. Unless, unknown to me, it was released under a different title, as was a movie I long remembered titled THE BIG CARNIVAL that was actually the Kirk Douglas film ACE IN THE HOLE. Although I like many, I'd have to say that... HELL IS FOR HEROES BATAAN THE LONGEST DAY A BRIDGE TOO FAR and that Rooney-Corey flick I mentioned are probably MY favorites. Sepiatone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emily Dean Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 I am way too traditional in my selection as they hark back to the films made during the war (true propaganda I know) as well as some immediate post war films: 1. 12 O'Clock High 2. The Dam Busters (trigger warning...hero's dog's name is politically incorrect) 3. They Were Expendable 4. In Harms Way 5. Air Force 6. The Cruel Sea 7. Went the Day Well 8. So Proudly They Hail 9. The Story of GI Joe 10. Battleground 11. Action in the North Atlantic I really was disappointed in this years Memorial Day selection, too many big budget films. Regrettably I am a romantic and I like to watch the films similar to the ones listed above as I know these might be the films my parents watched during the war. Especially the British ones. Any way here's my list and I am sticking with it..regardless of snide and snarky remarks on my retro choices. If you want a wonderful way to examine and enjoy war movies I encourage all dedicated classic film fans to read Jeanine Bassinger's " World War II Combat Film, Anatomy of Genre". I found it a great way to watch and understand war films, their structure and focus. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickAndNora34 Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 1. Sergeant York (1941)- this one was released during the start of WW2, but takes place during WW1. I watched this when I was about 4 years old, and I have been a fan of Gary Cooper's ever since. 2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)- I make it a point to watch everything Tom Hanks is in. 3. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)- The book made an impact on me when I first read it, and this is one of the more realistic depictions of what war-life really was like for the soldiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarmaGirl Posted May 29, 2016 Share Posted May 29, 2016 To Hell and Back---starring Audie Murphy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamradio Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 ...and the unbeatable Tuskegee Airmen from George Lucas' "Red Tails" (2012)! NGC is airing this movie today at 11:00PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GGGGerald Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Worst The Thin Red Line (I walked out) Terrence Malick is terrible Actually, I enjoyed that one. I was just about the list it as a favorite. Also, Destination Tokyo (1943) had some tense moments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonasEB Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 They Were Expendable and The Best Years of Our Lives (post-war) for sure. A lot of Sam Fuller's war films are tremendous and unvarnished. Yes, The Big Parade certainly.The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, if that counts. It's much more than a war film, but it's certainly a significant part of the story and the hopes and fears of those who lived through the war and that entire age are beautifully communicated. For that matter, A Canterbury Tale as well. Rossellini's tirlogy of Rome, Open City and Paisan and Germany Year Zero. Ivan's Childhood Grand Illusion, of course. Battleground I'll agree with The General, a different kind of war film, and conditionally The Birth of a Nation (the first half of it, the Civil War, is just too magnificently done.) The Thin Red Line Drums Along the Mohawk and Northwest Passage are good films about wars that are underrepresented in the genre (Revolution and the French and Indian War, respectively.) A more obscure pick that I hope TCM gets to show one day - Miklos Jancso's The Red and the White, about the Red Army vs. White Loyalists. A Hungarian film, you might expect it to be ardently pro-Red...it's really a horrifyingly mechanistic exercise of power, a back and forth that might end with the Reds marching on but leaving us with no illusions about the deadly futility that will no doubt continue after the film ends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
film lover 293 Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Sepiatone--check 1956's "The Bold and the Brave", aka "Battle Hell". Was the film you meant set in 1944 Italy? Now my favorites are: "Janice Meredith" (1925)--Marion Davies caught in the American Revolution, with W C. Fields as support. "America" (1924)--D.W. Griffith's version of the American Revolution. "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939)--Already listed. "The Scarlet Coat" (1955)--Worth seeing. "The Devil's Disciple" (1959)--George Bernard Shaw's version of the American Revolution. With Laurence Olivier and Burt Lancaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sepiatone Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 THANK YOU Filmlover, I'll check out the info you provided. And JONAS EB, Why would I assume a Hungarian film would be "pro red"? Hungary was occupied by the Soviet Union, and likely NOT "pro red", as the number of dead suffered by the Hungarian army and citizens trying to repel the Soviet invaders and the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising was devastating. It's worth noting on this Memorial Day, that when the day comes to most people's minds, they go back no further than WWII in honoring those dead, although the day does go back as far as WWI. Even then, I believe any honoring of those who died either forming this nation, or in trying to preserve the union was not intended( though I disagree). At the risk of setting off the tunnel visioned, not all soldiers who died in wars did so defending our freedom. KOREA and VIET NAM in no way posed any threat to it. I feel it more fitting to honor those soldiers for fighting to provide or preserve freedom ANYWHERE,which is equally noble. Sepiatone 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SansFin Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 "The Devil's Disciple" (1959)--George Bernard Shaw's version of the American Revolution. With Laurence Olivier and Burt Lancaster. I love that movie very much also! I am saddened that it is not more well-known. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 I don't generally tend to like war movies, I prefer movies where The War (I, II, Vietnam, whatever) is a facet of the story, but not the main element. Someone else mentioned SO PROUDLY WE HAIL! and I second that strongly, TCM showed it a while back REALLY WISH THEY COULD GET THEIR MITTS ON IT AGAIN, it is one of the best female ensemble dramas of the era. I'll also throw a couple of shout-outs to two other movies from 1943 (one of my favorite years) that have a special place in my heart- THE HUMAN COMEDY, which is a beautiful film, and THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE, which cleverly works the real life horrors of WWII into a story that beautifully encompasses most of the best facets of fantasy horror. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Don't think I've seen this one with the all-star cast mentioned yet... COMMAND DECISION Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Db3 Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 This weekend's lineup of war movies has been great, with one exception: "55 Days at Peking". The United States had absolutely no business being in Imperial China, sending troops to fight AGAINST its government as it fought foreign invaders. I suppose it was LinkedIn with the arrogance of Manifest Destiny which was our domestic national policy at the time, but consideri g that McKinley went around Congress, he knew quite well that it was an illegal war. For this film about a dishonorable and illegal American action to have been included in offerings intended to commemorate our honored dead is distasteful, to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dargo Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 This weekend's lineup of war movies has been great, with one exception: "55 Days at Peking". The United States had absolutely no business being in Imperial China, sending troops to fight AGAINST its government as it fought foreign invaders. I suppose it was LinkedIn with the arrogance of Manifest Destiny which was our domestic national policy at the time, but consideri g that McKinley went around Congress, he knew quite well that it was an illegal war. For this film about a dishonorable and illegal American action to have been included in offerings intended to commemorate our honored dead is distasteful, to say the least. You might have a very valid point here Db3, except lets remember that famous old Tennyson line: "Ours is not to reason why. Ours is but to do and die." And meaning of course that those being remembered and honored today are not the policy makers, but are those who were sent to war by them and who never returned. (...btw...welcome to the boards) 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LornaHansonForbes Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Yeah, what Dargo said. Including the "welcome." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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