Best War Films

[1_barry_conlon]

The Hunt for red October was good but the book is even better. Should have been classified when it first came out. There is stuff in there that we were not allowed to discuss.

As an ex-submariner i thought it was shite. But that's my opinion.

 

[GoForGlory]

Saving Private Ryan

Full Metal Jacket

Blackadder

I've never seen Saving Private Ryan, Platoon was decent and Full Metal Jacket.

It's well worth a watch ... I've never sen Platoon ... worth seeing?

Definitely worth a watch yes.

 

[zeusbheld]

The first 30 mins of saving Private Ryan

good call.

saw it at the Ziegfeld in New York, a grand old moviehouse with a huge screen and the best possible sound system. it was like being there on d-day. gave me post traumatic stress disorder, i still have flashbacks.

 

[zeusbheld]

Though not DIRECTLY a sequel to Band of Brothers', the same team are making 'PACIFIC' for HBO, which should be finished and ready to air sometime this year. Apparently it follows three marines from basic training right through the Pacific theatre to the Japanese surrender. If it's HALF as good a BoB it'll be worth checking out. Looking forward to this big time.

sounds very promising to say the least. is it based on a book?

i also heard that the team that made "the Wire" for HBO are making a similar series, except set in the Iraq war instead of the Baltimore War. if it's half as good as "the Wire" it will be a classic. there really hasn't been a good Iraq war film, unless you count "Syriana," although "three kings" (desert storm, not the current war) wasn't terrible.

 

[Brucie Bonus]

Gunga Din.
All Quiet (orginal).
Band of Brothers.
The Cruel Sea.
Saving Private Ryan.
Cross of Iron.
Apocalypse Now.
Pork Chop Hill.
The Pianist.
A Very Long Engagement (Jodie Foster has a superb French accent: well done!).
The Tin Drum.
Zulu.
Zulu Dawn.
Khartoum.
The Killing Fields.
The Manchurian Candidate (original).
Lawrence of Arabia.
The English Patient.
The Charge of The Light Brigade (original).
Joan of Arc (silent / orginal).
Battleship Potemkin (silent).
Dawn Patrol.
The Caine Mutiny.

er. Hold on.

right, found this list for you.
<a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_films" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_films</a>

Have at it.

 

[zeusbheld]

kanal by wadja (1957) is pretty bleak, it follows the polish resistance in warsaw and their annihilation by the nazis. the last part of the film is them attempting to escape through the shit filled sewers. not a film to watch if you need cheering up.

some very good shouts you have given there, this being the best of the lot IMO. the whole trilogy is outstanding (and depressing). "a generation" is the first in the trilogy, and "ashes and diamonds" the last.

as holocaust films go, some good shouts on the thread with the best being "the Pianist". the film feels more 'real' than most holocaust films. Polanski himself was a holocaust survivor, maybe that had something to do with it. Wajda also did an interesting holocaust film, Korczak. about a doctor in the warsaw trying to save children. definitely not the trite robin williams crapjob, the Wajda film is harrowing and depressing.

a lot of good films mentioned on this thread and a few terrible ones.

stuff like "Guns of Navarone" i'd consider more to be action movies than war movies, they're pretty far from any known reality but films like that can be fun to watch.

a couple old war films that are worth watching:

Open City (Roma, Citta apuerta). Italian film about the Italian resistance made while the Germans were pulling out of Rome. one of the few fiction war films shot in the middle of an actual war. brilliant film, all-star team (Roberto Rosselini Directing, Federico Fellini co-scripting, Anna Magnani starring).

Closely Watched Trains not really a combat film but more of a film set during the war, involving the Czech resistance more as a backdrop than as the subject matter.

 

[Gelsons Dad]

The Hunt for red October was good but the book is even better. Should have been classified when it first came out. There is stuff in there that we were not allowed to discuss.

As an ex-submariner i thought it was shite. But that's my opinion.

You're the first ex-mil person I've ever heard say that. Having spent a few years flying ASW and ASUW It was a bit of a shock to read about SOSUS in a novel. Don't you agree?

 

[1_barry_conlon]

The Hunt for red October was good but the book is even better. Should have been classified when it first came out. There is stuff in there that we were not allowed to discuss.

As an ex-submariner i thought it was shite. But that's my opinion.

You're the first ex-mil person I've ever heard say that. Having spent a few years flying ASW and ASUW It was a bit of a shock to read about SOSUS in a novel. Don't you agree?

Weren't at St Mawgan by any chance were you? Had a jolly on a nimrod one day from there, part of the old 'you see what i do and i'll see what you do' kind of arrangement. And had an enjoyable couple of months at Pitreavie as well.

 

[1_barry_conlon]

The Hunt for red October was good but the book is even better. Should have been classified when it first came out. There is stuff in there that we were not allowed to discuss.

As an ex-submariner i thought it was shite. But that's my opinion.

You're the first ex-mil person I've ever heard say that. Having spent a few years flying ASW and ASUW It was a bit of a shock to read about SOSUS in a novel. Don't you agree?

And re sosus, it gets mentioned quite a lot on progs on the discovery channel and their ilk.