For some abnormal reason - I have become obsessed with war films...

Over the past 14 days, I have watched:

Jarhead
Saving Private Ryan
Apocalypse Now
Black Hawk Down
We were soldiers
Three Kings
Hamburger Hill
Schindler's List
Band of Brothers box set
The Great Raid
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon


I know it's perhaps a little obsessive - but they fascinate me!

my questions are:

- What's your favourite war film?

and

- Am I missing any good war films from that list?

cheers :D

We were soldiers is a great war film.

Another 2 that I think are great and you should watch them if you haven't already done so are:

Tears of the Sun - Bruce Willis

Windtalkers - Nicholas Cage.

You missed Kellys Heroes. Classic.

Peckinpah's 'Cross Of Iron' is pretty good too, as is Kubrick's 'Path of Glory' and also 'All Quiet On The Western Front'.

'We were soldiers' is indeed a good one.

A couple of weeks ago I saw Burt Lancaster in 'Go tell the Spartans' which was a similar scenario to 'We were soldiers'. And Full Metal Jacket is a goodie as well!

And now we're on Kubrick, his first world war film 'Paths of Glory' is excellent.

It's an acquired taste (as with all his films) but Terrence Malik's 'Thin Red Line' is an interesting war film but you need to be in the mood for it.

For older films, I've always liked :

A Bridge Too Far
Cross of Iron
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Where Eagles Dare
Memphis Belle
All Quiet on the Western Front
Aces High

If you include the Cold War then 'The Bedford Incident' and 'Fail Safe' are pretty good for their time.

Joe

Not really a film but an awesome series was Band Of Brothers!

if you havnt seen it i suggest you buy the box set, take a day or 2 off and get watching!

Not really a film but an awesome series was Band Of Brothers!

if you havnt seen it i suggest you buy the box set, take a day or 2 off and get watching!

It's in my list mate ;)

Tears of the Sun - Bruce Willis

Windtalkers - Nicholas Cage.

You star! :thumbsup:

Tears of the Sun is one that I forgot the name of a few months back - all I knew is that it had Bruce Willis in it!

Windtalkers I have neither heard of, nor watched - so thanks, I'll have a gander!


@ JoeP & slh73 - My dad keeps telling me to watch 'A Bridge too far', and 'Kelly's Heroes' - so those 2 join my list along with Tears of the Sun, and Windtalkers. Thanks :thumbsup:

The genre is so wide we need subcategories.

For 'war in the sky' films, Aces High (as Joe said) is pretty good, as is the Blue Max;

For 'war under the sea', Das Boot is probably unbeatable;

Kwai is still probably the best Japanese camp film;

'Attack' is a pretty good WW2 film;

As for 'war on the water' films, I must admit I'm scratching my head to think of a good one based on WW1 or WW2 (Midway and Pearl Harbour were both turkeys in my humble opinion). 'Master and Commander' set during the Napoleonic wars though is very good

You star! :thumbsup:

Tears of the Sun is one that I forgot the name of a few months back - all I knew is that it had Bruce Willis in it!

So glad I come in useful for something :D

You star! :thumbsup:

Tears of the Sun is one that I forgot the name of a few months back - all I knew is that it had Bruce Willis in it!

Windtalkers I have neither heard of, nor watched - so thanks, I'll have a gander!


@ JoeP & slh73 - My dad keeps telling me to watch 'A Bridge too far', and 'Kelly's Heroes' - so those 2 join my list along with Tears of the Sun, and Windtalkers. Thanks :thumbsup:

Cornelius Ryan's 'Bridge Too Far' is a marvellous book - much better than the film - and well worth reading.

Lord Chaverley,

have you read Ryan's 'The Last Battle' about the fall of Berlin. Not as good as 'Bridge' but an interesting account.

Historical useless fact - I believe the last big budget 'blockbuster' to be made in black and white was 'The Longest Day' which is again based on one of his books.

If we go in to PoW territory, how can we forget 'The Great Escape'? And add to that 'King Rat' and 'Stalag 17'.

Clint Eastwood is currently directing a film called "Flag of Our Father's" Its about that famous photo of American marines raising the flag after the battle for Iwo Jima. Its also produced by Spielberg and is said to be of the same quality hand held realism that Spielberg brought to Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan. Can't wait.

Also, an underrated war film is Waterloo which hasn't been mentioned. And what about Glory?

Another decent classic is Heartbreak Ridge with Clint Eastwood.

Is it natural for a woman to like all these war films? :rolleyes:

Lord Chaverley,

have you read Ryan's 'The Last Battle' about the fall of Berlin. Not as good as 'Bridge' but an interesting account.

Historical useless fact - I believe the last big budget 'blockbuster' to be made in black and white was 'The Longest Day' which is again based on one of his books.

If we go in to PoW territory, how can we forget 'The Great Escape'? And add to that 'King Rat' and 'Stalag 17'.

I suspect Ryan's book on Berlin has now been somewhat eclipsed by Anthony Beevor's 'Downfall' (likewise previous works on Stalingrad).

As for the best account of a battle written by someone who was there, I think E.B. Sledge's 'With The Old Breed', an account of the battle of Peleliu in WW2 takes some beating. It is well worth reading.

The only war-related book I have read is Bravo-two-zero.
Great read!

Full Metal Jacket...its just...just...

Full Metal Jacket...its just...just...
.....just....Qualitaaaar! :D

Hamburger Hill is probably the worst I've watched out of that list. It's story-less, and lacks realism.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (believe it or not is WAS a war film)

VON RYANS' EXPRESS (frank Sinatra getting shot in the back saving all those POWS)

SHINDLER'S LIST

Full Metal Jacket...its just...just...

BRILLIANT Especially the first 25 minutes or so with the GI/new recruit sequence.

BRILLIANT Especially the first 25 minutes or so with the GI/new recruit sequence.


here is a sample of the drill instructor's sensitive handling of new recruits, whom he refers to as 'amphibian ****':

Drill Instructor: How tall are you private?
Cowboy: Sir! Five foot nine, sir!
Drill Instructor: Five foot nine? I didn't know they stacked **** that high! You tryin' to squeeze an inch in on me somewhere, huh?
Cowboy: Sir! No Sir!
Drill Instructor: Bull****. It looks to me like the best part of you ran down the crack of your momma's ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress! I think you been cheated! Where in the hell are you from anyway, private?
Cowboy: Sir! Texas, Sir!
Drill Instructor: Holy dog ****! Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down. Do you suck *****?
Cowboy: Sir! No Sir!
Drill Instructor: Are you a peter puffer?
Cowboy: Sir! No Sir!
Drill Instructor: I'll bet you're the kinda guy that would **** a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around. I'll be watching you.

I've no idea what a 'reach around' is.

here is a sample of the drill instructor's sensitive handling of new recruits, whom he refers to as 'amphibian ****':

Drill Instructor: How tall are you private?
Cowboy: Sir! Five foot nine, sir!
Drill Instructor: Five foot nine? I didn't know they stacked **** that high! You tryin' to squeeze an inch in on me somewhere, huh?
Cowboy: Sir! No Sir!
Drill Instructor: Bull****. It looks to me like the best part of you ran down the crack of your momma's ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress! I think you been cheated! Where in the hell are you from anyway, private?
Cowboy: Sir! Texas, Sir!
Drill Instructor: Holy dog ****! Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down. Do you suck *****?
Cowboy: Sir! No Sir!
Drill Instructor: Are you a peter puffer?
Cowboy: Sir! No Sir!
Drill Instructor: I'll bet you're the kinda guy that would **** a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around. I'll be watching you.

I've no idea what a 'reach around' is.

I find that hard to believe:hihi:

I don't usually care for war films. Not big on blood, guts or things being blown to bits. There were three I really enjoyed.

The Dressmaker http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095066/ I read the book by Beryl Bainbridge and loved it, and the movie was just as good.

Empire of the Sun I think is a Stephen Spielberg film. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092965/ I thought the little boy who played Jamie in that movie was so cute. I recently realized he's the same actor from American Psycho, just all growed up. :help:

Hope and Glory. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093209/ The scene where the little boy trudges to school, only to find it's been totally destroyed by German bombs and is in flames is priceless. He gleefully shouts, "thank you Adolph!" before running home.

I've no idea what a 'reach around' is.

Lord C, how can I put this delicately, so I don't get banned? A "reach around" is when the person behind you "reaches around" and returns the favor. There. That ought to satisfy alot of people's curiousity.

Maybe it's called something else in the UK? ;)

:) Sierra

THE SOUND OF MUSIC (believe it or not is WAS a war film)

VON RYANS' EXPRESS (frank Sinatra getting shot in the back saving all those POWS)

SHINDLER'S LIST

The hills are alive ...with the sound of....what? Nazis?:suspect:
A war film or was it a love story set in the time of war...no?
What about The last crusade (Indiana Jones)...was that a war film?:rant:

War movies are great...Good vs. Evil, the action, the weapons ....the witnessing of blood and guts...drama, gore, action...not a good way to learn anyting about history really but good entertainment...but why watch too many of them...are you not satisfied at how disgusting and horrible men and woman can act?:gag: :roll:

why gloriy it with all of the movies...?:banana:

:huh:

was someone you know killed, injured or serve in a war?

I've no idea what a 'reach around' is.[/QUOTE]
:hihi:
well if you are standing behind a man and you reach around him what would you find....ya know?

hope that was clean enough for the censors....

by the way why won't the little graphic I picked for my login name display....

Ahh, my favourite genre

Recently on tv was Where Eagles Dare :thumbsup:

Try Brotherhood and Stalingrad both equally good from different perspectives.

And now we're on Kubrick, his first world war film 'Paths of Glory' is excellent.

Agreed...although Kubrick's first ever film, Fear and Desire, is essentially a war film - 4 soldiers find themselves behind enemy lines.
As I understand it, there was a long running ban on screening Paths of Glory on French military bases. Any film that provokes that kind of reaction has to be good!

Perhaps we ought to have sub-categories for particular wars (and also for the orientation of the film, i.e. anti-war, glorification of war, anti-armed forces, pro-armed forces etc).

With regard to the Vietnam war, I'm surprised no one has mentioned either the Deer Hunter or Platoon.

Perhaps we ought to have sub-categories for particular wars (and also for the orientation of the film, i.e. anti-war, glorification of war, anti-armed forces, pro-armed forces etc).

With regard to the Vietnam war, I'm surprised no one has mentioned either the Deer Hunter or Platoon.

Platoon is in my original post - and yeah, it's incredible!

Never seen Deer Hunter though! that's another to add to the list! :thumbsup:

Hmmm....war films,where to begin......

One thats not been mentioned,but I rate it VERY highly is Southern comfort-excellent movie:cool:

But my favourite would have to be the Wild Geese.Ok so some of the acting is ropey at best,but where else would you see a cast like Richard Burton,Richard Harris and Roger Moore?Plus the scene where the trucks are stuck on the bridge is fantastic:thumbsup:

Starship Troopers is a good war film.

Starship Troopers is a good war film.

This is yet another genre - sci fi war films.

I suspect Ryan's book on Berlin has now been somewhat eclipsed by Anthony Beevor's 'Downfall' (likewise previous works on Stalingrad).

As for the best account of a battle written by someone who was there, I think E.B. Sledge's 'With The Old Breed', an account of the battle of Peleliu in WW2 takes some beating. It is well worth reading.

Anthony Beevors book on Berlin is not called "Downfall", its called simply "Berlin".
Downfall is a book/film based on the memoirs (Until The Final Hour) of Hitlers secretary, Traudl Junge.

A Bridge Too Far is the king of war films.

You missed out The Pianist. Brilliant film.

Anthony Beevors book on Berlin is not called "Downfall", its called simply "Berlin".
Downfall is a book/film based on the memoirs (Until The Final Hour) of Hitlers secretary, Traudl Junge.

Beevor's book is not 'simply called Berlin': its title is 'Berlin: The Downfall'

Beevor's book is not 'simply called Berlin': its title is 'Berlin: The Downfall'


I will give you that one! (although The DownFall is in small letters!)

Dr. Strangelove is a good war film too. (this all sounds strangely familiar).
and the Deer Hunter, mentioned above. Although the wedding scene is overlong IMO.

And Apocalypse now, which is not so much of a war film, as a war in its own right.

war films? aka warnograhpy!!

If your neologism mean what I think it means, then Dr Strangelove is certainly not Warnography. Nor is Das Boot. Or the Deer Hunter really.

Of all the " 'Nam " films, I think kubrick's FMJ is the best.

I can't believe that nobody has metioned the following, both of which should be right up there at the top of anybody's list, along with the likes of We Were Soldiers:-

* Crimson Tide [1995] (Gene Hackman & Denzel Washington)
* The Hunt For Red October [1990] (Sean Connery & Alec Baldwin)