So due to the day I was wondering what where folks fave, most respectful, interesting.. mix of the above, War Films based on actual History. I'm mainly thinking WW1 and WW2, but any other war films could also be discussed.
Also on a Side note is there any battles you think deserve a movie but for whatever reason have never recieved one?
As for myself,
fave war movie is probably either 'The Longest Day' or 'Gettysburg.'
The Longest Day is a great film, partially for the number of big actors they got to play cameos at the time, however Gettysburg is truely an amazing film, and is possibly one of my fave films of all time. The only problem with it, is finding 4hrs to watch it.
Regarding a battle not made into a film (well I haven't been able to find one so far,) the one that sticks out in my mind is Kohima. Maybe because it was in India and folks tend to forget the war reached there, but it was such an important defeat for the Japanese, I'm surprised no one has made it into a film. Would be really interesting battle to see as a movie as well.
For a lesser known movie; here's my favorite one from South Korea and it deals with the "Forgotten War" aka Korean War: Tae Guk Gi. Definitely had a lot of Saving Private Ryan influence and took those battle/gruesome scenes to another level:
Oh, and the first person to say 'U571' is a good historical film wins a free kick in the nuts from me, and no doubt the relatives of the men involved in the true version...
Well, it didn't take long for a rotten fish to settle in.
Anyway, I like the Longest Day for many reasons, one of them being that everybody speaks their own language and none of the British accented German or Allo Allo French. There's also Das Boot for obvious reasons and the little known "Die Brucke" which is a great anti-war movie from 1959 West Germany.
Anything where the British lose to a revolting _______.
Mostly because it just pisses of the Brits. Secondly, because Braveheart is the greatest, and clearly most accurate, historical war movie of all time. OF ALL TIME.
If we were serious, I would say The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan rank up there.
Altered_Soul wrote:Anything where the British lose to a revolting _______.
Mostly because it just pisses of the Brits. Secondly, because Braveheart is the greatest, and clearly most accurate, historical war movie of all time. OF ALL TIME.
If we were serious, I would say The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan rank up there.
And Star Wars.
I thought Braveheart had quite a few historical inaccurices? But the war film I love to watch over and over again is Zulu, even though the Biritsh had guns and the zulu's had pointy sticks (unfair I think) it was still quite good.
I recall a lot of the Zulus having guns themselves in real life. They weren't as professional of an army as the British, but they were certainly formidable opponents.
More of a heist movie really, but Kelly's Heroes is one of my favourites. Along similar lines (i.e. totally ridiculous plot), Where Eagles Dare is pretty cool too. Not sure why but Richard Burton's "Gentlemen, see you after the war." is one of my favourite lines in cinema.
As for "real" war movies, let's throw The Dambusters in there. Another totally ridiculous plot, which makes it all the more amazing that they actually did it.
Oh and can I have Seven Samurai too? I will never tire of watching this film.
Anything where the British lose to a revolting _______.
Mostly because it just pisses of the Brits.
Right then. I'm choosing Pearl Harbour, any Vietnam film and any Korean War film.
Just to piss off YOU.
Seriously though:
Zulu
The Dambusters
Where Eagles Dare
The Colditz Story
The Great Escape
Full Metal Jacket
Apocalypse Now
Von Ryan's Express
The Guns Of Navarone
But a really good one that I saw on film4 recently is '9th Company' about the Russians in Afghanistan. It's subtitled (and fething 3 hours long, or something), but well worth a watch.
Saving Private Ryan
The Patriot
Black Hawk Down
Bridge on the River Kwai
Braveheart
300
The Messenger - The story of Joan of Arc (no, not the sappy romantic one).
Platoon
Born on the 4th of July
Band of Brothers (though as stated not an actual movie, just a tv series).
SPR is at the top because it's my favorite of all time. Spielberg did his homework for that movie and it shows. I saw it in theaters and saw what I can only assume to be WW2 vets actually crying. That's powerful stuff.
Some histories are better in mini-series form, like:
Joan of Arc (1999 miniseries with Leelee Sobieski) and Peter The Great (1986, NBC) were very nice.
for actual movies:
Winter War (Finnish)
Indegènes (French)
Soldaat van Oranje (Dutch)
The Warlord (old!)
Warlords (Chinese)
The Spartacus movie with Kirk Douglas
for the rest, not much war movies not yet mentioned that really impressed me. To much "Hollywood Tactics", Mel Gibson 'You killed my girlfriend' motivations and extreme cases of "did not do the research" or fooling around with historical figures/original characters and dramatically change their role/influence/personality. Like in "The Last of the Mohicans"... If there was ever a case of swapping around roles and personalities in film adaptations of (historic) literature...
In no particular order.
Saving Private Ryan.
Apocalypse Now.
All quiet on the western front.
Platoon.
Zulu/Shaka Zulu.
The Longest Day.
Sargent York.
Full Metal Jacket
Patton.
And also a big thumbs up for Band of Brothers,fantastic series.
Albatross wrote:And 'Spartacus' is what, an historical document?
well, no, but the original story of the slave rebellion is not the most detailed Roman record. And the version I like was made in the '60's or '70's, i can accept some historical innacuracy from that time (It's unbelievable how inaccurate school history books were at that time, I read some, it's apalling!)... It is a lot more accurate than the more recent versions. And also a lot longer...
Keeping it to five, not necessarily in that order…
Stalingrad
A Bridge Too Far
Zulu
Das Boot
Platoon
There’s lots of other movies with war in them, but to be a war movie it really has to be a direct story about soldier’s experiences, or about a military operation. The Thin Red Line is one of my favourite movies of all time, and while its nominally about Guadalcanal the film isn’t really about WWII at all. I’d say lots of other movies like Kelly’s Heroes, while being excellent movies in their own rights, also aren’t really war movies.
The movie I really want to see a war movie about the sinking of the Bismarck. From the pursuit by the Royal Navy to the engagement with the Hood and then the hunting down and eventual sinking. With the technology available today they could do one hell of a job of realising those sea battles, with the big guns letting rip and enemy fire sailing past or crashing into the ship.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Albatross wrote:But The Patriot is awful, IMHO.
I'd never heard anyone defend that film before today, and now in two different threads I've read people pointing out how they liked it. I'm beginning to suspect it's International Pretend to Like the Worst Movie of All Time Day or something.
A Bridge to Far AKA Sir Richard had an army to make a movie.
Tora Tora Tora, any movie that has a 1/1 model the Nagato is a win on my book, and they ended the movie at the right point, no need to have 45`more to show the good guys wining.
youbedead wrote:i wish someone would make a movie about the bttle of wizna
750 polls holding off 42,000 german soldiers for thee day has got to make a good movie
Wow, that's tough!
Poland's late medieval/renaissance military history has quite a few of such tales, mainly involving a few hundred tireless Huszarsky and thousands of Ottomans and Swedes.
"Fire and Steel" might be something for you (if you haven't seen it already), if you can find it. It's about the Khmelnisky uprising I think.
Well i like the more "unglorifying" pictures of the genre,
Stalingrad- a masterpiece our american friends seem to have missed out on, just great (no stars and stripes every few minutes-hallelujah!).
The Platoon a masterpiece by Mr stone.
A thin red line special but very very good contains no typical hero characters hence it's great but slow.
A more obscure warmovie is "Talvisota" it's about a few men fighting the finnish winter war, it's a 3 hour long odyssey in hardship and hard men fighting off a quadzillion russians.
All good lists have 5 movies so ill mention FMJ also a very good warmovie.
Warmovies for me is obviously movies that mainly portraits men fighting, with a minimum of other plots.
Does anyone find films about Modern Wars (like Jarheads etc) to be slightly condescending? I mean, we know War is gak. We know Soliders are left in gakky situations to do gakky things that they might prefer they didn't have to. I can well imagine them being pissed off about being deployed to a gakky warzone to do gakky things when it's for gakky reasons (Iraq anyone?).
I really do feel that War films should always be historical, as a counter point to taught History by going to survivors etc (hats off to Band of Brothers in particular)
"Stalingrad" - the German/Russian one from 1993
Das Boot
Saving Private Ryan
Paths to Glory
Full Metal Jacket
Gettysburg
Kelly's Heroes - At least they tried to make the T-34 look like a Tiger Tank.
That's a problem I have with a lot of WWII movies made in the 60s and 70s, they use the armor of the time as German Tanks. Like in Patton where the Germans have M-48 Patton tanks. Even a Bridge too Far, Jerry steamrollers with Leopards.
-Glory
-Gettysburg
-The Alamo (John Wayne Version)
-Battlefield
-Bridge too Far
-Battle of Britain (again Robert Shaw and Lawrence Olivier)
-Tora Tora Tora / Midway
-Battle of the Bulge (only because of Robert Shaw and massed tanks me likey)
-Spartacus (old school baby OLD SCHOOL!). I remember Spartacus, and Your’s No Spartacus!
-Das Boot
-Zulu
-Kelly’s Heroes
-Pork Chop Hill
-Platoon
-Saving Private Ryan
-second Band of Brothers
(waiting anxiously for Hurt Locker to come out on DVD).
Automatically Appended Next Post:
reds8n wrote:
..am I really the first to suggest this one ?
..c'mon people !
Lord Uxbridge: By God, Sir. I've lost my leg.
Duke of Wellington: By God, Sir. So you have.
I saw a bit on TV once, never saw the whole thing. I wonder if there is a DVD.
@Sebster - There's a film called 'Sink The Bismarck!' - I've not seen it though. A modern film about that would be awesome. A relative of mine went down with HMS Hood.
I also think a film about Britain taking on the EOKA terrorists on Cyprus could be interesting, or a film set in Palestine around the time of the creation of Israel, if only because my grandad served there...
Sink the Bismark is quite good. Saw a couple of times.
less thrilling when you really the big british hero ships were plowed under by the Japanese almost as an afterthought.
A Bridge Too Far Lots of epic stuff moving. You can feel the war machine starting to roll.
The Longest Day Having never watched much, I sneered at it, being an old B/W film. I changed my tune after taking in the sheer epic-ness of it. The camera work of the Pegasus Bridge fight was neat, too.
Zulu Yeah, it's got some innacuracies, but then I'm a sucker for large scale stuff. Zulu Dawn is probably better, but I haven't seen it since I was 14.
Hamburger Hill I haven't seen since it was in theaters, though I did buy it recently. Supposed to be on of the better 'Nam flicks. Platoon seemed to cator to the old stereotypes.
Tora Tora Tora Still a classic and still owns the newer movie "that shall not be named".
Gettysburg Pickett's charge is still the high point here. This movie inspired my own Civil War readings and musket buying. I went there this spring. One day isn't enough.
Gods and Generals Yeah, I know... It lacked the epic-ness of Gettysburg, but the scenes with the Irish Brigade (Union, of course) still did well for me.
Black Hawk Down Was reasonably true to the book, from what I've heard.
Waterloo I haven't seen this in 22 years. I watched it the night before I shipped off for college. Again, I'm a sucker for epic stuff.
I saw a bit on TV once, never saw the whole thing. I wonder if there is a DVD.
Yes there is, at least on Amazon Uk and Ebay anyway, well worth a watch, has that proper old school epic feel to it,
from tge Amazon review
"A film that will never be equalled for its spectacle and dramatic power" says the stirring trailer on this otherwise sparsely featured DVD. Taking the story of the Napoleonic Wars to Bonaparte's final defeat, Waterloo is an unofficial continuation to director Sergei Bondarchuk's own 70mm super-epic War and Peace (1968). The climactic battle of Waterloo is shown in the second half of the film and re-enacted with such stunning realism by a cast of around 20,000 extras that it looks like documentary footage from history itself (some 20 years later, Gettysburg, 1993, did the same for the American Civil War). Those who hailed the groundbreaking impact of Saving Private Ryan should see Bondarchuk's films, as for sheer scale and intensity--if not bloodiness--they make Spielberg's hit look like an amateur video. Without ever attempting a French accent, Rod Steiger makes a commanding Napoleon, Christopher Plummer a worthy adversary as Wellington, while the supporting cast led by Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins and Virginia McKenna is excellent. The DVD transfer is richly detailed and clear, though the print itself could have done with just a little restoration. Though dated, Abel Glance's Napoleon (1928) remains definitive for many, perhaps explaining why Stanley Kubrick eventually abandoned his planned Napoleon film, instead making the 18th Century period epic Barry Lyndon (1974). --Gary S.Dalkin
Steiger and Plummer are both very good in their roles....
....I'm tempted to try and ebay this now damn your eyes ! I've already bought the "House of Cards" trilogy today as well.
Being a Royal Marine i have to vote for "The Cockleshell Heros"
If only for the bar room brawl where the Royals give a bunch of matelots a good kicking. For some odd reason i found it more satisfying than watching them hurt the Nazis. :S
mattyrm wrote:Being a Royal Marine i have to vote for "The Cockleshell Heros"
If only for the bar room brawl where the Royals give a bunch of matelots a good kicking. For some odd reason i found it more satisfying than watching them hurt the Nazis. :S
typical bootie always trying to distance yourselves from the matelots!
just for those who are unfamiliar with the term Matelots
Matelots
n. (plural)
Slang term, from the French (or Romanian) word for sailor.
They tend to get naked more than is strictly neccesary. It was feared that having women serve on war ships would prove damaging to morale but apparently the man on man action continues to keep the men "on side".
Q. How do they separate the men from the boys in the Navy?
A. With a crowbar.
Winston Churchill described life in the Navy as "rum, sodomy and the lash". In today's modern navy, corporal punishment is not allowed in any form. Alcohol is considerably frowned upon (especially if you run your big grey war canoe onto rocks while tanked up). Sodomy however seems to be positively encouraged if not mandatory!
Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:How about a Bill and Ted one then?
Interestingly, and as an aside...
Does anyone find films about Modern Wars (like Jarheads etc) to be slightly condescending? I mean, we know War is gak. We know Soliders are left in gakky situations to do gakky things that they might prefer they didn't have to. I can well imagine them being pissed off about being deployed to a gakky warzone to do gakky things when it's for gakky reasons (Iraq anyone?).
I really do feel that War films should always be historical, as a counter point to taught History by going to survivors etc (hats off to Band of Brothers in particular)
I didn't realize that the first Gulf War wasn't historical. Is Kuwait still under Iraqi control and I don't know about it? Jarhead is also based on a memior so if you want to go interview the guys in the story feel free to do so.
I forgot: those two excellent movies done by Clint Eastwood: Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Both are excellent movies and are best viewed together.
BrookM wrote:I forgot: those two excellent movies done by Clint Eastwood: Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Both are excellent movies and are best viewed together.
Letters was good. I didn't like Flags. Too much whiny, not enough bangie bangie.
BrookM wrote:I forgot: those two excellent movies done by Clint Eastwood: Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Both are excellent movies and are best viewed together.
Letters was good. I didn't like Flags. Too much whiny, not enough bangie bangie.
I agree. Letters was about duty and honour whereas Flags was about making money, albeit for the war effort. @KilKrazy, Yeah it was Paths of Glory. I showed it to my Grade 7 History class at an International Jr.High in Tokyo. We also watched Gallipoli and Dr.Strangelove. "A"s for everbody!
@ Relapse - That would be an awesome setting for Blackadder!
Blackadder Goes Forth is one of my favourite series of all time. I heard they had considered the idea of doing one set in 60's with them as a rock band, with Blackadder as the band manager, and Baldrick as the drummer or something.
DarthDiggler wrote:I would have to say Gettysburg is my favorite war movie. But one that hasn't been mentioned:
Heartbreak Ridge
One of the greatest movie for quotes, ever.
I hope you're talking about Gettysburg, because Heartbreak was a piece of major crap. There's no way a Recon unit is going to turn into the type of shitbirds that was portrayed in that movie.
Sorry, just noticed you were talking about quotes.
Relapse wrote:I hope you're talking about Gettysburg, because Heartbreak was a piece of major crap. There's no way a Recon unit is going to turn into the type of shitbirds that was portrayed in that movie.
Sorry, just noticed you were talking about quotes.
Hearbreak Ridge is another film you can add along with Kelly's Heroes, The Thin Red Line and Braveheart to the 'jolly good movie but a lame war movie category'.
I am going to shamelessly wave the Finnish flag here and recommend two films for all those interested in WWII films. First of all "Tuntematon Sotilas" ( "Unknown Soldier" ). There are actually two version: the original black and white from 1955 and a color version from 1985. The older version is shown every Independence Day on television and tells the story of a MG Company during the Continuation War. The second is "Talvisota" ( "Winter War" ) from 1989. It tells the story of Platoon of reservists during the Winter War.
Choosing personal Top 5 is very difficult, but after some dice rolling it looks something like this ( in no particular order ):
- Das Boot
- Tuntematon Sotilas
- Untergang
- A Bridge too far
- Full Metal Jacket
Anzio!! Just to see Columbo get WTFPWND! Also funny for the Germans with air rifles who think they're at a circus.
If anyone has seen it, No Mans Land is a good one about the Serbian/Kosovo doohickey a while back.
Band of Brothers trumps Saving Private Ryan in my books. Feels more real plus episode 2 at the beginning. Wow. Always fills me with awe. I make it a point to watch it at least once a year. My girlfriend cries every time we do.
Someone mentions Kelly's Heroes? No! NO! That was awful! As was Patton.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Hawkins wrote:So no ones mentioned Hamberger hill or Platoon yet.....
Lots of people have mentioned Platoon. Hamburger Hill was alright. Fake head 4tw!
honestly, Pearl Harbor was one of the worst movies about WW2 and more specifically.. erm, Pearl Harbor, to ever have been produced...
basically EVERY fight scene is filled with historical innacuracies, and ones that bother me to no end. its only saving grace is that the special effects that went into those innacurate flight scenes was well done.
The same could be said for Kingdom of Heaven... filled with historic BS, and hollywood slant thrown in for good measure, but still a decent watch every so often.
My personal favorite war movies, in no particular order:
Das Boot
Apocalypse Now! (i know, not historically accurate, per se, but still a great movie)
Full Metal Jacket
Saving Private Ryan
Battle of Brittain (yes, there was a movie made, and it was called the battle of brittain, genius i know)
Now that you mention it, i guess you did, its probably the filters at work, for some reason i dont see all the posts all the time. (happened twice now) but at home i do.
Slang term, from the French (or Romanian) word for sailor.
They tend to get naked more than is strictly neccesary. It was feared that having women serve on war ships would prove damaging to morale but apparently the man on man action continues to keep the men "on side".
Winston Churchill described life in the Navy as "rum, sodomy and the lash". In today's modern navy, corporal punishment is not allowed in any form. Alcohol is considerably frowned upon (especially if you run your big grey war canoe onto rocks while tanked up). Sodomy however seems to be positively encouraged if not mandatory!
When I was in the Marines we used to say that in the Navy, 300 men go out on a ship and 150 couples come back.
Band of Brothers trumps Saving Private Ryan in my books. Feels more real plus episode 2 at the beginning. Wow. Always fills me with awe. I make it a point to watch it at least once a year.
The same could be said for Kingdom of Heaven... filled with historic BS, and hollywood slant thrown in for good measure, but still a decent watch every so often.
I moderately liked that movie (not worth to spend money on), but as far as historical accuracy goes I kept thinking: "Why can't hollywood stick to what these people really were and did? Were they really so boring in reality? (no, of course not)" Only Saladin was accurately depicted (considering what is known of him and HW's typical attitude to history and "the enemy"). Again an example of character decay and personality swaps/alterations.
Ahtman wrote: Some good ones already tossed out but I guess I'll add a few more to the bonfire.
Lawrence of Arabia
MASH (not for accuracy but the stress's/ridiculousness of war)
All Quiet On the Western Front (1930)
Jarhead
The movie adaptation of Jarhead sucked balls in my opinion. But it was a damned good book.
As for the topic of thread, there are a lot of good war films out there, both accurate historically, and those that just use the historical as a backdrop.
I also like movies set in the era of the African bushfire wars of the 1960's and 1970's. Two of my favorites are The Wild Geese and The Dogs of War (the last one is a decent film, and a spectacular novel).
I also enjoy obscure war films like Beach Red (1967) and The Steel Helmet (1951). Also, anything with John Wayne in it.
Looks like Saints and Soldiers was never put here though. Ignore its two awful sequels. It's not a war movie for everyone, but I rather liked it for its juggling of the trials of a man of faith in war.
9th Company, Soviet Afghanistan
(not fully historically correct, but It gives a view of the entire war)
Yeah, 9th Company is overly dramatized at parts (especially the ending), but there's some memorable scenes in there (the bit when they capture a Mujahedeen fighter for instance). Its nowhere near as bad as Burnt by the Sun II though.
California Dreamin' springs to mind. Its technically a "war" film. Well its set in Yugoslavia from the perspective of Romanian & US troops and civilians, but the troops are stuck miles from the war in a small town for a week because they don't have the right customs papers. True story.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Freakazoitt wrote: How about "Fury"? An interesting idea to make living photograph scenes.
As a work of fiction is alright, but it throws out historical accuracy too often and is a bit too grim (everyone is a git 100% of the time) for my liking. Tanks have locking hatches FFS.
Yeah, 9th Company is overly dramatized at parts (especially the ending)
In reality, all crew and passengers of the stinger-shot aircraft were survived. Most of the 9th company were survived. Fighting was during night and it was firefight. And some other differences.
Easy E wrote: I would love to see a movie about Jutland.
So of my favorites in no particular order:
Paths to Glory
Apocalypse Now
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Blue Max
Spartacus (Kurt Douglas)
I also use to really enjoy the old Tour of Duty TV show, and Combat! I think Combat! is one of the greatest shows about war set to film.
Two more for you:
Battleground-one of the best war movies I've ever seen. If you like Band of Brothers, here's another take. Eerily similar.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041163/
Historical war movies in no particular order
Stalingrad (1993)
Das Boot
Der Untergang
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979) - this one in particular is screaming for a quality remake for the centenniary.
Beneath Hill 60
Master and Commander
Last of the Mohicans
Saving Private Ryan
Full Metal Jacket
These ones have some cool battle scenes/period costumes which I enjoyed but had limited historical value
The Patriot
Braveheart
300
Brotherhood of War
The Beast is fantastic. Russian tank crew lost in Afghanistan, hunted by Mujahadeen. Gripping.
Cuckoo. Not really a war movie, but a story of a Russian and a Finnish soldier, wounded and stranded on a very remote Finnish farm with the widowed farmer.
Battle of Britain. Really, really well done aircraft porn. Spitfires vs Bf-109s. Maximum dakka.
Hope and Glory. Another not really war movie, but a story about a boy growing up during the London Blitz. Great fun.
Wow thanks for breaking the Da Vinci code there guys I had no idea
Lol, as someone who studies history "professionally," I thought it necessary to point out that the issues with "300" were due to it being based on the comic book version of events, not the Herodotus version of events (and, while it's been a long while since I've done it, I remember Herodotus is boring, even for someone who loves history as I do).
Wow thanks for breaking the Da Vinci code there guys I had no idea
Lol, as someone who studies history "professionally," I thought it necessary to point out that the issues with "300" were due to it being based on the comic book version of events, not the Herodotus version of events (and, while it's been a long while since I've done it, I remember Herodotus is boring, even for someone who loves history as I do).
We both have a love of history in common then. When the movie was announced as in production over a decade ago it was common knowledge that it was basically an adapted comic. It also included mutant war rhinos, super-Xerxes, samurai Immortals etc. Considering I listed it alongside titles such as The Patriot I kinda felt the `no gak sherlock` comment was warranted.
No one watched 300 for historical accuracy. We watched it to see manly men being manly in a manly battle against less manly men. The 80s style of manly, filled with homoerotic suggestions because where your that manly you need men to match your manliness
LordofHats wrote: No one watched 300 for historical accuracy. We watched it to see manly men being manly in a manly battle against less manly men. The 80s style of manly, filled with homoerotic suggestions because where your that manly you need men to match your manliness
Precisely! And there's nothing wrong with that either.
youbedead wrote: i wish someone would make a movie about the bttle of wizna
750 polls holding off 42,000 german soldiers for thee day has got to make a good movie
Well, most of the time was spent building a ponton bridge after the Polish army destroyed the only bridge to cross the Narew, while most of the 40k Wehrmacht were waiting to come across, so if you are an engineering enthusiast it could be the movie of your life!
