The Five Best War Movies Ever

Bow

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war movies

God! now I,m going to date myself

1. They where expendable
2. A walk in the sun
3. Wake island
4. Stalingrad
5. Zulu
 

Janos

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My favorite 5 (not in any order)

1. Taras Bulba (the Avatar that I use is from that movie -- it's hard to beat a movie with Cossacks!)
2. Midway (I think that's the one -- it's about a Marine Bn holding off the Japanese under fire for a week or so in WW2)
3. The Vikings
4. Das Boot (director's cut)
5. Braveheart/March or Die (tie)

Honorable mentions

Gods and Generals
Spartacus
Anzio
Gettysburg
The Longest Day
Fort Apache ("You seem overimpressed by numbers, Captain York")
Tora Tora Tora
 

Janos

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Originally posted by 11B10
Gallipoli (1981)
Director: Peter Weir. Two young men in the Australia army in 1915 become part of the legendary First World War confrontation between the German allied Turks and Australia. 111 min.
Gallipoli is a very good movie, but I like the Light Horsemen...similar in that it's Australians fighting hard in a poor situation (But they do a little better in this one).
 

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Re war movies

What constitutes a "good' war movie??? the amount of carnage in the first 15 mins or a"good" story line..
If its carnage then the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator or Glory will just about do it.
If its a good story line then there is some deep searching to do , how about All Quite on the Western Front ( original is better than the TV version) Paths of Glory, Battle Ground, Red Beach and a lot more others .. How about the best Anti- war movies , Dr Strange love, By Dawns Early Light, the Story of GI Joe, that show how fouled up war can be and for what end.
Look at Black Hawk Down, a great bunch of guys who ran smack into Mr Murphy (what can go wrong, did).
Last Command The French war in Algeria
Zulu.." Why are we here Sgt Major??
Because we are here lad, because we are here"
Go Tell the Spartens... Shades of things to come and nobody up the food chain would listen
Hamburger Hill... In real a lot of good guys for what??

I could go on and on but I wont, we have all been fed various brands of government propaganda over the years while at the movies, in the old days it was the Germans and Japanese then the Russians and Chinese now its the "other" guys (who cant be named for PC) for those who have not attended a bout of government sponserd mayhem all the "extras" get up and go home at the finish of the shoot, for those of us who got to see the last reel a lot of good guys didnt get up and for what reason, nothing realy changes, the polititions make the decisions and the grunts pay the price.. Regds Bow
 

Hunter

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Originally posted by Janos
My favorite 5 (not in any order)


2. Midway (I think that's the one -- it's about a Marine Bn holding off the Japanese under fire for a week or so in WW2)




I think you were thinking about the classic WAKE ISLAND. Shot around 1943 , it recounted the Marine garrison and civillian workers stranded there resistance to the Japanese assault after the Dec 7-8 1941 attacks. This battle gave some hope to the reeling US and showed that the IJN was not as invincible as they appeared.

MIDWAY was the 1976 follow up to TORA, TORA, TORA! Universal , seeing the success of that picture decided to follow it up with this dog. Instead of telling the story as they did in TORA, they added the sappy sub plot.

It opens up with footage from the 1944 movie THIRTY SECONDS OF TOKYO ( which was based on Capt. Ted Lawson's story about the Doolittle Raid. He was one of the Raiders, and flew the 5th plane off the HORNET. His ship was called THE RUPTURED DUCK and featured a Donald Duck head with crossed crutches on the nose.) and then adds in footage from TORA as well as actual footage shoy by John Ford, who was on Midway, as well as other footage from later in the war.

As a note, the USS LEXINGTON ( CVT-16 ) was used for the carrier shots and NAS Pensacola, Fla stood in for Pearl Harbor as well.

Sorry about the long winded reply.
 

Janos

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Originally posted by Hunter
I think you were thinking about the classic WAKE ISLAND. Shot around 1943 , it recounted the Marine garrison and civillian workers stranded there resistance to the Japanese assault after the Dec 7-8 1941 attacks. This battle gave some hope to the reeling US and showed that the IJN was not as invincible as they appeared.
That's it!

Thanks. It's a great movie.

Jeff
 

stealthassassin

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Best War movies

I would have to say:

  1. We were Soldiers
  2. Saving Private Ryan
  3. The Longest Day
  4. Enemy at the Gates
  5. Pearl Harbor
    [/list=1]
 
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Originally posted by Janos
Gallipoli is a very good movie, but I like the Light Horsemen...similar in that it's Australians fighting hard in a poor situation (But they do a little better in this one).
The "Light Horsemen" has always been in my mind an underrated movie. It accurately depicts one of the last successful calvary (realy mounted infantry) charges in history.
 
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Re: Best War movies

Originally posted by stealthassassin
I would have to say:

  1. We were Soldiers
  2. Saving Private Ryan
  3. The Longest Day
  4. Enemy at the Gates
  5. Pearl Harbor
    [/list=1]


  1. No offense, but "Enemy at the Gates" and "Pearl Harbor" tend to end up on "worst" list more often then "best" lists. Each has some great action scenes, but each is also dragged down by a tacked on love story..........
 
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Re: Re war movies

Originally posted by Bow
What constitutes a "good' war movie??? the amount of carnage in the first 15 mins or a"good" story line..
If its carnage then the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator or Glory will just about do it.
If its a good story line then there is some deep searching to do , how about All Quite on the Western Front ( original is better than the TV version) Paths of Glory, Battle Ground, Red Beach and a lot more others .. How about the best Anti- war movies , Dr Strange love, By Dawns Early Light, the Story of GI Joe, that show how fouled up war can be and for what end.
Look at Black Hawk Down, a great bunch of guys who ran smack into Mr Murphy (what can go wrong, did).
Last Command The French war in Algeria
Zulu.." Why are we here Sgt Major??
Because we are here lad, because we are here"
Go Tell the Spartens... Shades of things to come and nobody up the food chain would listen
Hamburger Hill... In real a lot of good guys for what??

I could go on and on but I wont, we have all been fed various brands of government propaganda over the years while at the movies, in the old days it was the Germans and Japanese then the Russians and Chinese now its the "other" guys (who cant be named for PC) for those who have not attended a bout of government sponserd mayhem all the "extras" get up and go home at the finish of the shoot, for those of us who got to see the last reel a lot of good guys didnt get up and for what reason, nothing realy changes, the polititions make the decisions and the grunts pay the price.. Regds Bow
Some of the examples you cite are fine depictions of what I would consider to be a good war movie.
I think accuracy in clothing, weaponry, tactics, terrain and culture are all things I look for in a good war movie.
I also tend to dislike movies that take too much liberty with history. I realize some changes are inevitable, but ones that would materially alter what really happened (ie, no Stamford bridge in "Braveheart") tend to turn me off.
 

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Re: Re: Re war movies

Originally posted by Lance Williams
Some of the examples you cite are fine depictions of what I would consider to be a good war movie.
I think accuracy in clothing, weaponry, tactics, terrain and culture are all things I look for in a good war movie.
I also tend to dislike movies that take too much liberty with history. I realize some changes are inevitable, but ones that would materially alter what really happened (ie, no Stamford bridge in "Braveheart") tend to turn me off.
My tastes are much simpler.

I want to see the people I don't like get their heads caved in (or shot, or thrown to wolves, or blown up) by the people I do like.

Oh, and the costumes and reality should be there, too.

Message? No thanks. Just add more violence.

The alternative (after all, the people I like can't win all the time) should show great acts of heroism by the people I do like, for example:

The Jarl* jumps to the wolves in THE VIKINGS
William Wallace kicks huge butt in BRAVEHEART
"Stonewall" Jackson ditto in GODS AND GENERALS

Even better is when RE Lee looks over my hometown and gives a great silliloqy (spelled that like crap) or in GETTYSBURG when "Lothario" Armistead gives a great speech on Virginians.

I'll think of more examples later tonight when I'm on bed, and forget them all by morning. :)

I also think you can have a good war movie without historical accuracy (everything by John Wayne, for example) -- you just have to remember that it's not history -- it's just a movie.

JS

*Played very well by Ernest Borgnine, of "McHale's Navy" fame.
 

eagle101

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BEST WWII MOVIE

The best world war 2 movies I've seen are

1.Saving Private Ryan/Band of Brothers
2.The thin red line
3.Halls of montezuma
4.A Bridge To Far
5.Cross Of Iron
6.Tora Tora Tora
7.To Hell and Back
8.The longest day
9.Patton
10.Raid on Rommel
11.Sands of Iwo Jima
12.A Midnight Clear
13.The Guns of Navorane
14.Pearl Harbor
15.The Desert Fox
16Heaven Knows Mr. Allision
17.The Big red one
18.Hitler's SS
19.The Bunker
20.Bridge on the river Kwai

:horse: :horse: :horse:
 

Janos

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How 'bout some great war movie quotes?

"You ask me to place my trust in the Poles? Put your trust in your sword and the sword in the Poles!" '-- Taras Bulba

"I brought you into the world. It is on me to take you out." -- ditto

"I am not your pappy, you redneck peckerwood." -- MAJ Dundee

"Me. I am significant here." -- A Bridge Too Far

"Freedom!" -- Braveheart

Send more!
 

dog470soldier

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best movie

Get real. If you children aren't old enough to remember. Battleground is the best.





The iron triangle was good, maybe not the top five, but good.
 

Janos

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Re: best movie

Originally posted by dog470soldier
Get real. If you children aren't old enough to remember. Battleground is the best.
The iron triangle was good, maybe not the top five, but good.
Battleground is very good, but I still think Wake Island is better (of course, you may be too young to remember it!) ;)
Never heard of the Iron Triangle, but Cross of Iron is darned good.
 

SGT Long

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"Iron triangle" was a Vietnam movie told from "Cong-eye" view.
I rented it once years ago but it was a defective copy and only got to see the first half hour or so.

"I love the smell of napalm in the morning"

"yessir,but we dont dip 'em in the same stuff Charlie does"

"All right gentlemen,Lets try for our first heart attack,shall we?"
 

Janos

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Originally posted by SGT Long
"Iron triangle" was a Vietnam movie told from "Cong-eye" view.
I rented it once years ago but it was a defective copy and only got to see the first half hour or so.
"All right gentlemen, Lets try for our first heart attack,shall we?"
re Iron Triangle - I don't watch that commie stuff.

re the quote - I recognize the other two you sent, but not this one.

Here's one more:
"Who's in charge here?"
"You mean you ain't?" -- Apocolypse Now
(Which movie sucks after he gets off the boat -- you gotta be on LDS to understand it. The first half is good. They should have just ended it there.)
 
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Originally posted by HiredGoon
1. Band of Brothers
2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
3. Ride With the Devil
4. The Last of the Mohicans
5. The Thin Red Line

6. Blackhawk Down
I'd agree That "Last of the Mohicans" is one of the best movies of that period. The "Patriot" is about the only one of that time frame of the same standard.
 
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