Favourite War Movies

[Rifleman62]

Watch it in German, even if you do not understand the language.

 

[Romanmaz]

Restrepo (2010)

- Great movie  :camo:

 

[Tow Tripod]

Best war movie ever is "STRIPES"!! Timeless classic that sometimes resembles the real army.Sometimes!!

 

[Dirty Patricia]

Best war movie ever is "STRIPES"!! Timeless classic that sometimes resembles the real army.Sometimes!!

I am pretty sure TOW TRIPOD was in Stripes!  :cheers:

 

[Teflon]

I am pretty sure TOW TRIPOD was in Stripes!  :cheers:

WOW! - Now I see it! I can't believe I have worked with a guy so long and never figured it out till you made the connection!

 

[kawa11]

Without naming too many cliches and getting flamed for it, I'll just throw in my  :2c: with "No Man's Land (2001)"

Not my favourite but still thought it was really good..

 

[Pat in Halifax]

I liked Tuskegee Airmen (Yeh, I know, it skipped over the P-38s, P39s and P-40s)

For those knifing SPR, U571, Pearl Harbor, Passchendaele and the like, there is something to keep in mind. What these movies achieve is something no teacher (and NO DISRESPECT to teachers whatsoever intended!) could. A 'youngster' watches one of these and almost immediately 'Googles' the topic/title to learn the "real" story. I (my opinion only) believe that is why we now see an influx of (young-er) people at Remembrance Day/BOA/D-Day Ceremonies across this great country each year...and you know what?-If that is what it takes to interest them then so be it.
I wont post it here but I wrote a review years ago for the movie Pearl Harbor when it came out in 2001. I actually called it a "Not a review" because what I did was take UNBELIEVABLE moments from the movie and provide the real life inspired parallel. This blatant falsification of history through the movies is not new, it is just more realistic nowadays.

BTW In Robert K Morgan's own book (The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle: Memoir of a WWII Bomber Pilot) on the subject, he was embarrassed by the Hollywood presentation from Willian Myler's own daughter; the 1990 movie- Memphis Belle. (Willian Wyler did the wartime documentary 'Memphis Belle'), but 'stuck' it out out of respect for the father.

 

[FactorXYZ]

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006):  Good story showing how the extremists-vs-moderates equation sorts itself out (or sometimes doesn't quite so well) in the Irish War of Independence.

I'm really glad you mentioned that movie. It is my all time favorite movie, a small  movie by director Ken Loach, where the bullets don't make any holes and there's no blood either (haha), but the story is very compelling and the ending is heart wrenching. It's a little hard to find but if you get the chance watch it you won't be disappointed

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Here's how I interpreted that movie:


Junk.


From a special effects point of view, it was awesome.  But for realism, plot, story, etc, it was utter junk.  Hell, right off the bat I wanted to punch the military advisor for how the German MGs were set up.....


But I digress.

Yes, there are many in-accuracies (e.g. moving across open fields in daylight), but to if they had tried to be to realistic they would have lost the viewers. What the movie did do, very well I might add, was to show the viewing public the hell that their fathers, uncles, grandfathers, etc had gone through during WWII. A friend saw the movie with his father (now deceased), who was with the Hasty P's in Italy on D-Day, and it was real eye-opener because he had no idea what his father had gone through. So, in that way the movie succeeded, the in-accuracies notwithstanding.

As an aside, I was in Winnipeg when the movie came out and the local CBC interviewed two Canadian vets who had landed at Juno and asked them about the accuracy of the films opening scene and both said it was a lot of crock, that they never experienced anything like that. Which is true, they didn't, but what happened on Omaha was a living hell for the U.S. forces who lost more soldiers at Omaha then were lost on the other four beaches put together! Which surprised me as I thought they would have heard about the casualties the Americans had taken.  ???

 

[Danjanou]

Which is true, they didn't, but what happened on Omaha was a living hell for the U.S. forces who lost more soldiers at Omaha then were lost on the other four beaches put together! Which surprised me as I thought they would have heard about the casualties the Americans had taken.  ???

Oh I used to love playing with stats while getting my Military History degree

http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/ddaycasualtyest.htm

Nation Sector/ Estimated Casualties

US Airborne / 2,499
Utah / 197
Omaha / 2,000
UK Airborne / 1,500
Gold / 413
Sword / 630
Juno / 1204

Total = 8,443


Not even close to more than all others combined.  Also that little know fact that Juno was the second bloodiest beach, which is probably why they hadn't heard about Omaha. Looks like they might have been a bit busy that day..

 

[mariomike]

More on the above.
"In April and May 1944, the Allied air forces lost nearly 12,000 men and over 2,000 aircraft in operations which paved the way for D-Day."
http://www.ddaymuseum.co.uk/faq.htm#casualities
Control of all strategic air power was transferred from Harris/Eaker/Spaatz to General Eisenhower on 14 April, 1944 at noon.

"In the first weeks after D-Day, the casualties of Bomber Command were higher than those of the British Second Army in Normandy."
Ref: "Bomber Command" page 289.
Sir Max Hastings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hastings#Books

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Oh I used to love playing with stats while getting my Military History degree

http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/ddaycasualtyest.htm

Nation Sector/ Estimated Casualties

US Airborne / 2,499
Utah / 197
Omaha / 2,000
UK Airborne / 1,500
Gold / 413
Sword / 630
Juno / 1204

Total = 8,443


Not even close to more than all others combined.  Also that little know fact that Juno was the second bloodiest beach, which is probably why they hadn't heard about Omaha. Looks like they might have been a bit busy that day..

I didn't include losses to the airborne forces when I made my statement. As for the number of casualties at the different beaches it depends on the which source you use. For example, some sources estimate that only 2,000 U.S. casualties at Omaha, while other put the number at 3,000 . If we use the high figure of 3,000 casualties at Omaha then yes, there were more casualties at Omaha then the other four beaches combined (3,000 vs 2444). As I stated earlier I didn't include the losses to airborne forces in my calculations.

And yes, I realize that the Canadians were busy on D-Day, and afterwards, and initially were unlikely to be aware of the American losses at Omaha. However, I'm sure that between June '44 and May '45 they would have heard of the American loses at Omaha, let alone in later years when they had returned to Canada.

 

[toyotatundra]

Folks have mentioned a lot of films that were well-written and well-acted.  Films that try to capture actual war, or attempt serious statements on human conflict. Paths of Glory. Platoon. The Deer Hunter. Those are all movies I remember and respect

However, if I were to refer to the war movies I most enjoy, they would be the comedies and the fantasies. Dr. Strangelove. Empire Strikes Back. 300. The Lord of the Rings.

 

[Motaba]

Alot of great war movies mentioned, mostly in the last 100 yrs history. Not sure if this was mentioned, but ive only seen it once, and never heard of it from anyone. It's called "When Trumpets Fade"...takes place in germany WW2. The leading actor is the guy who played the pilot in Black Hawk Down, the one who got captured.

Anyways, I too prefer the older historic movies....Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven, Braveheart.

 

[pfinlayson]

I liked "Black Adder Goes Fourth".  Especially the last episode where they finally get sent over the top.  Check out Hugh Laurie before he turned into an angry doctor!

I have trouble with any war movie with John Wayne after learning about his skirting around serving... Kind of makes him look a hypocrite.

How able the pair that Clint Eastwood directed: Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.  Best watched one after the other.

 

[pfinlayson]

I almost forgot:  Tora! Tora! Tora!.

 

[Fredjones01]

My favorite army movies are :-
1. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
2. The Great Escape (1963)
3. Top Gun (1986)
4.  Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
5. The Caine Mutiny (1954)

 

[The Bread Guy]

Interesting choices - there's already a pretty extensive discussion on war flicks elsewhere, so I see a merge coming shortly.

 

[Ex-SHAD]

One of the best films on the subject of the Soviet War in Afghanistan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVB9Xz2DyME

 

[dangerboy]

Right now watching "Das Boot" in German with the sound system cranked. Got some weird looks from the salesman that came to my door trying to sell alarm systems.

Every time I watch this movie I think to myself, there is no way I could have been a member of a submarine crew during WWII.