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No Star Wars? I'm dissapointed (Semi seriously, as Star wars is only slightly less made up than Braveheart and 300.)

Dambusters
Full Metal Jacket
Schindler’s List
Mash
Dr Strangelove

I think it says something about me that I love all of these films and all but one of them deal with the futility of war and a nihilistic view of the militery machine.

 Compel wrote:
I'm surprised at Jarhead being mentioned.

I thought it was almost unanimous as being one of the worst major war films made in recent years.

Am I missing something? I can't see Jarhead in there. Have they changed the list?

For me, it was several tough choices, but my list was:

- Black Hawk Down
- MASH
- Dr. Strangelove
- Good Morning, Vietnam
- All Quiet on the Western Front

*I'm really surprised Master & Commander wasn't on the list. That's suuuuch a good movie.

I voted for:
MASH
Dr. Strangelove
Paths of Glory
Saving Private Ryan
Full Metal Jacket

I'd go with :
Kelly's Heroes
A bridge too far
Der untergang (downfall.)
Stalingrad (1993)
Cross of Iron.

Well I voted for:
The Guns of Navaronne
Battle of Britain
Longest Day
Deer Hunter
Dambusters
Having only watched about 15-20 films on the list cut it down and including gak like Braveheart made it easier

 Steve steveson wrote:

Am I missing something? I can't see Jarhead in there. Have they changed the list?

5th row down, underneath Gallipoli and to the left of Kelly's Heroes.

As for my films. My list was:

Zulu (As previously mentioned)
The Dambusters
Black Hawk Down
A Bridge Too Far
The Dirty Dozen

Admittedly, a lot of the other films I've been meaning to see but never quite got around to it.

 mega_bassist wrote:

I'm really surprised Master & Commander wasn't on the list. That's suuuuch a good movie.

Agreed that it's a stunning movie, but I can see why it didn't make the list. It's so much more than a war film compared to out-and-out war films like Saving Pvt Ryan or A Bridge Too Far.

Still one of the greats, though. I must watch it again. Also, this thread is making me want to go on a war film binge.

 Compel wrote:
Admittedly, a lot of the other films I've been meaning to see but never quite got around to it.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I've actually never watched Zulu...

/runsandhides

That is a tough list to choose from. I just went off the top of my head without putting to much time into it, and went with:

Apocalypse Now
Dr. Strangelove
MASH
Platoon
Lawrence of Arabia

I'd go for MASH if it was based off of the TV show.

However, the actual film itself turns from a really excellent film to some gakky movie about American Handball halfway through it.

 mega_bassist wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Admittedly, a lot of the other films I've been meaning to see but never quite got around to it.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I've actually never watched Zulu...

/runsandhides

Watch it. Seriously, you won't regret it. Awesome battle scenes, great acting and characters, and one of the best soundtracks of all time. Also, Michael Caine trying to sound posh is very amusing.

 Paradigm wrote:

 mega_bassist wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Admittedly, a lot of the other films I've been meaning to see but never quite got around to it.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I've actually never watched Zulu...

/runsandhides

Watch it. Seriously, you won't regret it. Awesome battle scenes, great acting and characters, and one of the best soundtracks of all time. Also, Michael Caine trying to sound posh is very amusing.

After all the people putting it in their Top 5, It's definitely on the watch list now.

 mega_bassist wrote:

After all the people putting it in their Top 5, It's definitely on the watch list now.

"Why does it have to be us? Why us?"
"Because we're here, lad. Nobody else. Just us."

My list :

The Dambusters
A Bridge Too Far
Saving Private Ryan
Battle of Britain
Zulu

Others in my own list are :

The Great Escape
Das Boot
The Bridge At Remagen
Von Ryan's Express
Kelly's Heroes
The Dirty Dozen
Paths of Glory
Cross of Iron
The Eagle Has Landed
The Cruel Sea
Platoon
In Which We Serve
We Were Soldiers and many more besides.

 mega_bassist wrote:

 Paradigm wrote:

 mega_bassist wrote:

 Compel wrote:
Admittedly, a lot of the other films I've been meaning to see but never quite got around to it.

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I've actually never watched Zulu...

/runsandhides

Watch it. Seriously, you won't regret it. Awesome battle scenes, great acting and characters, and one of the best soundtracks of all time. Also, Michael Caine trying to sound posh is very amusing.

After all the people putting it in their Top 5, It's definitely on the watch list now.

Watch Zulu Dawn first (later movie about Islandawa noted in the beginning of Zulu) and then Zulu.

Lawrence of Arabia
Battle of Britain
Zulu
Downfall
The Dambusters

 Frazzled wrote:


Watch Zulu Dawn first (later movie about Islandawa noted in the beginning of Zulu) and then Zulu.

Will do!

Good deal BUT DO NOT STOP at Zulu Dawn. Its an inferior production, unless you're in love with old breech loading rifles like I am. But it shows an important part of the story - prologue as it were.

And its epically large, not Gettysberg big but panoramic. IIRC its actually filmed at the battle site.

What is a "war film"?

For instance, The Great Escape isn't fundamentally different to Escape From Alcatraz, except that it involves PoWs escaping.

I would argue that a war film has to depict actual combat.

Similarly, why is Schindler's List a war film and The Diary of Anne Frank is not?

 Kilkrazy wrote:
What is a "war film"?

I was asking myself the same thing. I was on the fence about Dr. Strangelove, but it is about the Cold War, and nails the paranoia and lunacy of it, even if it didn't have any military battles. On the other hand it is one reason why I didn't pick Schindler's list, as I didn't quite feel it was a 'war film'. Genre can be tricky.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
What is a "war film"?

Yay, some strange choices in there. If "300" qualifies, I don't know why Starship Troopers shouldn't.

My votes go to

Zulu
Bridge on the river Kwai
Apocalypse Now
Doctor Strangelove
Cross of Iron

Personal faves regardless of artistic value?

Battle of Britain - Good memories of watching this one with my granpa and my uncle, who was an aircracft mechanic and liked to show us this movie to see his beloved "Buchones" -Me109's with RR Merlin engines- back in action.

Where Eagles Dare - With this OTT romp of a movie in the list, Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" feels redundant. Serious fun, really.

The Great Escape - Again, childhood memories.

Off the top of my head...

1. Apocalypse Now
2. Path to Glory
3. Das Boot
4. The Blue Maxx
5. Glory

Yes i miss Das Boot, Tora Tora Tora, Soldaat van Oranje, Hunt for red october

And if Dr. Strangelove is on it, why not

The day After, Red Dawn (the original)

And Girls and Panzer

Oh man, I forgot Tora Tora Tora, that might knock Sands of Iwo Jima out of my top five. Sorry, Duke.

Forgot a few classics;
The Cockleshell Heroes
Gift Horse/Attack on the Iron Coast (effectively the same story).

And if we are doing sorta related to war films how about The Mouse that Roared where the plucky residents of the Duchy or Grand Fenwick take on the might of the dastardly United States of America?

I had a hard time narrowing that down to 5.

In the end I went for:

Bridge On The River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Cross of Iron
Zulu
A Bridge Too Far

In no order and subject to the old brain kicking on and remembering other movies:

*Glory
*Gettysberg
*Ran (hey when there's ten thousand guys, it may be Japanese Shakespeare, but its also a war movie!)
*Band of Brothers
*Tora Tora Tora
*Battleground
*A Bridge Too Far
*Patton
*Platoon
*Black Hawk Down
*Battle of Britain
*Saving Private Ryan
*Spartacus
*The Lost Battalion

Pseudo War movies:
*Last of the Mohicans
*Starship Troopers
*Schindler's List
*Cleopatra

I may be the only person who absolutely hated Bridge over River Kwai.

The lack of Apocalypse Now in some of these lists is kind of making me sad.

I went for:

A Bridge Too Far
Zulu
Ice Cold in Alex
Kelly's Heroes
The Dambusters

 Dreadwinter wrote:
The lack of Apocalypse Now in some of these lists is kind of making me sad.

I was strongly tempted but in the end I didn’t include it because I don’t consider Apocalypse Now to be a war film in the traditional sense. Rather I think of it as a film about decent into madness that uses a war as it’s setting.

I also didn’t include with Dr Strangelove for similar reasons. It’s more about paranoia and cold war realpolitik so I don’t think of it as a ‘war’ film in the same way something like Zulu or Where Eagles Dare is.