OT: Favorite War Movies

[dragoon500ly]

So what are everyone's favorite war movies?

My List would be:

All Quiet on the Western Front
Bridge Too Far
The Longest Day
Midway
Gettysburg
Guns of Navarone
Where Eagles Dare (cheesy but it has its moments)
Das Boot
Siege of Fire Base Gloria

[mikeo80]

For me, my list goes like this.

Saving Private Ryan
Longest Day
Battle of the Bulge
Troy (Yeah, I know it is archaic weapons, but watching Achillies and the Myrmidons take the beach before Troy....WOW)
Terminator II (Great scenes of man vs machine PLUS watching LA bite the big one in Sarah Connor's dream)

There are more, but my mind is blank right now, again, still, yet

My $0.02 !

Mike

[Fusilier]

Mine...

Apocalypse Now
Cross of Iron
Stalingrad
Das Boot
Downfall
Thin Red Line

[dragoon500ly]

How could I forget...

To Hell and Back
Strike Force Z

[95th Rifleman]

A Bridge too far
Stalingrad (this is a MUST see) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_(film)
Das Boot
Zulu
Zulu Dawn
Spartacus Kirk Douglas, they don't make them like that anymore.
Lawrence of Arabia

[James Langham]

A few gems that are worth looking for:

* An Ungentlemanly Act - the Argentine Invasion of the Falklands - very dry sense of humour but very, very accurate.

* Went the Day well - Graham Greene's story of Germans impersonating British troops written and filmed in World War Two

* The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp - Another film made in World War Two showing the death of the "gentleman" type of officer.

* Heartbreak Ridge - Lost track of the number of times I have nicked Clint Eastwood's line when training people on the AK.

* Dog Soldiers - British ARmy vs Werewolves in a horror (dark) comedy. If you want to roleplay a British character watch this. It has then squaddies to a T (and look for the brilliant homage to Zulu).

* 9th Company - the Soviet War in Afghanistan through Russian eyes.

* Top Gun - no plot but great soundtrack and great air to air sequences.

* Go Tell the Spartans - Green Beret advisers to the South Vietnamese.

* Who Dares Wins - cheesy film but some very interesting sequences by some special advisors.

* Contact - next to impossible to find dramatized film of a Parachute Rgt tour of Northern Ireland in the 1970s. No background music in a (successful) attempt to increase the realism.

* Raid on Entebbe - account of the Israeli raid on Uganda. Very accurate for the info available at the time.

* A Day in Iraq - an Australian film of a very hectic day in Iraq. A bit over the top and too many events but a few really nice sequences (in particular the first firefight).

* The Wild Geese - for Merc 2000 players - should teach you not to trust your employers. Just don't look at the cap badges worn on the wrong berets.

* Children of Men - the final battles in the refugee camps are straight out of Twilight 2000.

[Sith]

Where does one start?

A bridge too far
Cross of Iron
Dirty Dozen
Saving Private Ryan
Hamburger Hill
The bridge on the river Kwai
Platoon
Where eagles dare
Stalingrad
Kelly's heros
Seven samurai
Breaker morant
Gettysburg

To name a few.

[pmulcahy11b]

Here's one that ends up on few lists: Go Tell the Spartans, about the US's early involvement in Vietnam.

[James Langham]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

Here's one that ends up on few lists: Go Tell the Spartans, about the US's early involvement in Vietnam.

Beat you to it! :-)

[Matt Wiser]

Here's my list, in no particular order:

A Bridge Too Far

Kelly's Heroes

Midway

Tora!Tora!Tora!

Patton

Siege of Firebase Gloria

Red Dawn

The Hanoi Hilton

By Dawn's Early Light

Run Silent, Run Deep

Battle of Britain

Not movies, but they're among my favorites:

Band of Brothers

The Pacific

Tour of Duty

China Beach

[Targan]

Very much enjoyed many of those mentioned above. I won't repeat them. One that hasn't been mentioned so far is Gallipoli. A bit cheesy but great soundtrack and it's about AIF soldiers from right here in Western Australia. Also had some great lines by the recently deceased, great Australian actor Bill Hunter. For those who aren't aware, one of the two main characters the film follows is played by Mel Gibson. Oh Mel, what the hell happened to you? He seems mad as a cut snake nowdays.

[LVI]

84 Charlie MOPic (a must see)
We were soldiers
Band of brothers
Saving private ryan
Troy
Last Samurai
Apocalypse Now Redux
Letters from Iwo Jima
Longest day
Blackhawk down
Platoon
Full metal jacket


And recently thanks to this board 9th Company

[Panther Al]

For what it is worth, saw this movie on the telly a while back, and watched it with my father, who was stationed in Germany during the movies time frame (72-78). At the end of it, looked at him and asked, "OK, so how far from reality was that?" He replied that it was a lot closer to reality than anyone will ever admit.

The movie? Buffalo Soldiers (2001).

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Panther Al

For what it is worth, saw this movie on the telly a while back, and watched it with my father, who was stationed in Germany during the movies time frame (72-78). At the end of it, looked at him and asked, "OK, so how far from reality was that?" He replied that it was a lot closer to reality than anyone will ever admit.

The movie? Buffalo Soldiers (2001).

That was pretty common in Korea too. Our Mess Sergeant got court-martialed and thrown out of the Army when he was caught doing it with the mess hall food supplies. (After that, our chow quality took a quantum leap in quality.) But let me underline caught. Most black marketeers in the Army aren't caught, unless they get sloppy.

[James Langham]

Not a war film but really nice post apocalyptic film - Doomsday - from the director of Dog Soldiers. If nothing else it has a fantastic villain that could almost be Dain Dangerous.

[dragoon500ly]

All right, my son talked me into buying Sucker Punch...

It is something that only a teenager could love....but the combat scenes!

Not to bad!

Won't make my list of all time favorites, but some nice touches.

[95th Rifleman]

Watched "age of heroes" today. Ok, it's not oscar-winning material but it's a pretty good, low budget, WW2 movie about British commandos starring Danny Dyer and Sean Bean.

It's worth a punt as the combat scenes are surprisingly well filmed and the cats where drilled by Royal marines. Such anti-hollywood concepts as conservation of fire and single shots are used which make it more realistic than most offerings in the genre. The combat scenes are relatively short ranged aswell which adds to realism, none of these 2000 yard pistol headshots you see in hollywood flicks.

[HorseSoldier]

84 Charlie MOPic (a must see)

Big +1 on that one, though it's apparently pretty hard to find these days. I think I saw it on cable back in 1990 or 91 or so. Great example of a low budget war movie done right.

The movie? Buffalo Soldiers (2001).

Also a +1.

Most recent thing I saw that was pretty interesting was Cease Fire!, made in 1953 and depicting the closing day of the Korean War. As movies go it really isn't very good, but it's supposed to be a reenactment/documentary with actual soldiers retracing a patrol they did right before the cease fire went into effect. Acting is what you'd expect from telling Joe to play himself and the plot's pretty straightforward (go on patrol, get into firefight with Chinese, have air and arty save the day, roll credits), but it's a real superb look at weapons, gear, and equipment as used right at the end of that war.

[pmulcahy11b]

I might go way out on a limb and nominate Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back...No? OK, Oops...

[James Langham]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I might go way out on a limb and nominate Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back...No? OK, Oops...

Good call, a bit like saving Private Ryan though where most of the film is an anti-climax.

Caught the second part of Rough Riders last night - some really nice touches and one of the few non-SF films where the US is technologically behind. Made me think that if the ACW was the first modern war then this was a throwback!