The Ultimate WW2 movie thread

DID YOU LIKE WINDTALKERS

  • YES

    Votes: 5 27.8%
  • NO

    Votes: 13 72.2%

  • Total voters
    18

eagle101

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Re: Best WW II Movie

Originally posted by Gepard
I can watch Kelly's Heros over and over again. What an absolutely great movie. The German Stalingrad movie is really good. I like a Bridge to Far, the Longest Day, and Saving Private Ryan.

There was a movie I always loved called Sahara with Humphrey Bogart. I think they may have had an actual Grant in that movie. I also liked the movie Dam Busters which might have been a British film. I don't think anyone mentioned The Guns of Navarone or Force 10 From Navarone. I'm also a big fan of Where Eagles Dare. On the Navy side of the house, I like In Harm's Way, The Enemy Below, and Sink the Bismark.

To go along with Band of Brothers in the TV series category, I think Danger UXB was a great TV series. I also watched Rat Patrol on a regular basis.

I think the Best WWII movie would have to go to Cross of Iron. I thought this was a very accurate account of war on the Eastern Front and what should happen to all glory seekers.
CROSS OF IRON was a very good movie, but my favorite is still Halls of montazuma!!! :bowdown: :bowdown:
 
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Has anyone seen "The Hill", with Sean Connery, Ossie Davis, Michael Redgrave, ....

"WWII, in a British disciplinary camp located in the Libyan desert. Prisoners are persecuted by Staff Sergeant Williams, who made them climb again and again, under the heavy sun, an artificial hill built right in the middle of the camp. Harris is a more human and compassionate guard, but the chief, S.M. Wilson, refuses to disown his subordinate Williams. One day, five new prisoners arrive. Each of them will deal in a different way with the authority and Williams' ferocity."
http://imdb.com/title/tt0059274/

Outstanding!
:thumb:
 

dannybou

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Originally posted by Iron Mike USMC
Has anyone seen "The Hill", with Sean Connery, Ossie Davis, Michael Redgrave, ....

"WWII, in a British disciplinary camp located in the Libyan desert. Prisoners are persecuted by Staff Sergeant Williams, who made them climb again and again, under the heavy sun, an artificial hill built right in the middle of the camp. Harris is a more human and compassionate guard, but the chief, S.M. Wilson, refuses to disown his subordinate Williams. One day, five new prisoners arrive. Each of them will deal in a different way with the authority and Williams' ferocity."
http://imdb.com/title/tt0059274/

Outstanding!
:thumb:
Yes I have. Good movie but I hated the ending.
 

RichardS

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Originally posted by panzerboy
Has anyone seen HEAVEN KNOWS MR. ALLISON??

Thanks, please comment!

:toast: :toast:
Good movie. Worth a rental, but not esp. worth seeking out and buying.

Recap: US Soldier and a Nun are trapped and hide out on a Japanese held island.

Cheers!
:toast:

:horse:
 

FelixAlicea

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Everyone should watch "Sahara" with one of the best alltime actors, Humphrey Bogart.


One Stuart tank (lulabelle) against a battalion of Germans in the desert. The Germans wanted water but Boggy, the tough sergeant plays a game of deception to delay the Germans from Tobruk. The movie features a young Lloyd Bridges.:thumb:
 
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Originally posted by FelixAlicea
Everyone should watch "Sahara" with one of the best alltime actors, Humphrey Bogart.


One Stuart tank (lulabelle) against a battalion of Germans in the desert. The Germans wanted water but Boggy, the tough sergeant plays a game of deception to delay the Germans from Tobruk. The movie features a young Lloyd Bridges.:thumb:
I agree its one of the better war movies actually made while WW II was still going on, but it is NOT a Stuart, its a Grant.
 
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Sahara was on AMC (American Movie Classics, for those who do not watch American cable TV) last night. Got to watch it right up until the German battalion showed up, then my wife commandeered the TV.
:(
 

Patrocles

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good thread!

I hated "Private Ryan" for the acting. The action scenes were top-notch. I will not watch that film again.

I still have not see "The Bridge." It appears to be very highly rated.

The war films that make a mark on me were "All Quiet On the Western Front," "Come and See (Russian film)" and "Blackhawk Down." They had a more forlorn tone that struck chord with me.
 

Patrocles

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Originally posted by Lance Williams
I agree its one of the better war movies actually made while WW II was still going on, but it is NOT a Stuart, its a Grant.
I thought it was an M3 Lee in the film "Sahara." Wasn't the Grant the British version with teh enlarged turret radio housing?

Calling all armor grogs! help us out!:D
 

SGT Long

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I've yet to see the original Sahara but there was a remake with Jim Belushi playing the Tank Commander. I thought it was decent.
 
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Originally posted by Patrocles
I thought it was an M3 Lee in the film "Sahara." Wasn't the Grant the British version with teh enlarged turret radio housing?

Calling all armor grogs! help us out!:D
No, you've got it backwards. The Lee was the version the British used with the larger turret. The Americans used the Grant with a turret that did NOT have the rear overhang of the Lee.
 

Patrocles

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Originally posted by Lance Williams
No, you've got it backwards. The Lee was the version the British used with the larger turret. The Americans used the Grant with a turret that did NOT have the rear overhang of the Lee.

Negative!! return to base, Lance Williams! :)


At least according to the few sites I checked the M3 Lee was used by the Yanks and Russians. The M3 Grant was used by the Brits (and Aussies..didn't know that!) and had the cupola .50 cal MG removed and the turret enlarged for radio equipment (the radio gear in M3 Lee being in the hull)

http://www.onwar.com/tanks/usa/


So...this begs the question "Which tank was in the film "Sahara?"
 

Gepard

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Dang It

I have a copy of the movie. I should have said M3 Medium Tank. I will take a look a bit later.
 

shane351

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What was one of the best War Movies.

I think the German movie called The Bridge. It was the SPR movie of the late 50,s. Of course the production values and other things were reeyally low but it had the stark reailiziam of children caught up in things they were not prepaired for. I remember just sitting there trying to imange what I would do in thier shoes. Another good movie is Humphry Bogart in SARAHA I had to sneek into the theatre to see this one because it was rated.
 

shane351

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Great War Movies

The problem with movies today we have seen or been closely shown the brutility of human conflect, each move comeing foreward has to try and top the major blockbuster of the year before. I think it might make Hollyhood actully try and make a good move on story and not relie on computer generated effects to carry the movie. I know there must be thousands and thousands of war storeies out there that still tell a good yarn.
 

Patrocles

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Re: What was one of the best War Movies.

Originally posted by shane351
I think the German movie called The Bridge. It was the SPR movie of the late 50,s. Of course the production values and other things were reeyally low but it had the stark reailiziam of children caught up in things they were not prepaired for.
Yeah, I've heard a lot of good comments about "The Bridge." I really need to hit the pavement and find a copy to buy or rent!

The other film I recall liking was Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory" starring Kirk Douglas. "The Beast" is a decent film, notable for it's combatants being the Soviets and Mujahadeen (sp.). I had some decent battle scenes (IIRC it was filmed in Israel using Ti-67 tanks (if that is correct...captured T62s modified by the Israeli army).
 

Patrocles

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Re: Great War Movies

Originally posted by shane351
The problem with movies today we have seen or been closely shown the brutility of human conflect, each move comeing foreward has to try and top the major blockbuster of the year before. I think it might make Hollyhood actully try and make a good move on story and not relie on computer generated effects to carry the movie. I know there must be thousands and thousands of war storeies out there that still tell a good yarn.
hear! hear!

i saw my first ad for "Troy" today! The scenes and fx look impressive. Let's hope they can match that with good acting.
(and I they don't have Patrocles, Achilles' companion, in the film there will be hell to pay!! :D )
 
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Realism is OK, but not if it detracts from the story. Remember, a film is a story. A film doesn't need to be graphic to be realistic. Does realism come from the minutia of detail or the performances of the actors, portraying their characters?

If I want to see realism, I'll sit and watch combat footage. If a film wants me to be engrossed, and care, then it better be a story told damn well! I can even accept so-so performances. But if I don't care one way or another about the characters or the story, I wouldn't sit through a film cast completely with Oscar winners.

A film should have enough realism for the viewer to get a sense of the environment the characters are facing, historical or fiction. Anything more than that, and a bunch of anal retentives like us would spend the moving nitpicking, instead of enjoying the tale. I do not mean being happy by saying enjoy.

There are a number of threads about the best movie about this war or that. Some of the conversation gets down to how realistic a film may or may not have been. I fortunately, despite 4 years in the Marines, never found myself in a combat zone. And I am thankful. I know plenty of Marines from old China Marines to those fresh from the Gulf. No matter how many times I hear about what they did and saw, I just don't find myself imagining anything close to what they actually experienced. As such, when it comes to a war film, I do not go in expecting to see reality. I do expect enough realism to make me scared and to make me care.

There are plenty of films out there that show varying levels of realism. Few have been balanced enough between realism and a well told story. I have been impressed by the depicted realism of Saving Private Ryan and band of Brothers. Between the tow however, band of Brothers comes out tops, because the series is about the men, and their relationships with each other, and how their shared experiences bound them to each other forever, in a way few will ever understand. That is what made me enjoy the series.

As a history buff, and former scale military modeler, and erstwhile gamer (despite having over a hundred boardgames in my library) I thoroughly enjoyed the realism. But the realism was just the icing on the cake.

My wife watched the first episode with me Easter Sunday. She kept asking me why Sobel was such a prick (sorry for the language, best word I could think of). When it came to training, I think he knew exactly what he was doing. When it came to practical application, he was a nit. Anyway, my wife kept asking me why he would push the unit so hard, or punish the whole unit for the actions of one man. I tried to explain to her it was a training technique to get a bunch of people from very different places and backgrounds to begin to think and work as a single unit. I felt he did that quite well. There was the scene where he allowed them all to have spaghetti and sauce, then make them go out on a run. Half the company was puking along the way. She couldn't believe he would do such a thing. At that point, the company began singing their Curahee song, and picked up their pace on the run. Leaving him bewildered. I told my wife it that was at that point the men gelled into a unit. As one they showed their bond as one, against the behavior of their commander.

It is a scene like that that can make or break a story for me.

Then there was his relationship with Winters and the other officers. He was jealous. His actions were totally expected, regarding the Court-Martial of Winters. Fortunately, the battalion brass recognized that, with a little help from the noncoms' revolt, to take action.

Anyway, I have rattled along enough.

I would like to add another title to the mix, "Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence."

Semper fi!
 

Tom DeFranco

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Originally posted by Patrocles
good thread!

I hated "Private Ryan" for the acting. The action scenes were top-notch. I will not watch that film again.

I still have not see "The Bridge." It appears to be very highly rated.

The war films that make a mark on me were "All Quiet On the Western Front," "Come and See (Russian film)" and "Blackhawk Down." They had a more forlorn tone that struck chord with me.
Out of curiousity, what was so bad about the acting in SPR?
 
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