OT: Your top five war films

Submitted by Crime Reporter on

We at MGoBlog love lists.

I wanted to start a discussion on your favorite war films. There are so many good ones, but if you had to narrow it down to a top five, what would that list look like?

For me, it was a struggle. Here's my five:

1. "Patton." It has one of my favorite opening scenes in film ever, and George C. Scott gives such a memorable performance.

2. "Saving Private Ryan". The D-Day scene alone gives me chills and the editing is fantastic.

3. "The Longest Day." Great cast.

4. "Downfall." Bruno Ganz is very believable as Hitler. He captures Hitler's mannerisms and little tendencies so well that it is almost scary. I felt like I was actually watching real footage of the man.

5. "All Quiet on the Western Front." I'm a sucker for the black and white pictures.

Other notables: "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket," "Kelly's Heroes," "Letters from Iwo Jima" and "Apocalypse Now."

JeepinBen

July 5th, 2010 at 10:41 PM ^

So rather than repeat ill add "crimson tide" to the list. Its one of my favorite denzel movies not to mention gene hackman, james gandolfini, vigo mortensen, etc.

Aside from my hatred for all things 'bama (and sec in general) it was a damn good movie

Robbie Moore

July 6th, 2010 at 10:40 AM ^

I had no idea how long I would scroll down until someone mentioned Das Boot.  Anyone who saw it in the theatre, in German (you didn't need to know exactly what they were saying, the visuals conveyed the terror) had to be blown away.  Far more frightening than any horror flick.  And Jurgen Prochnow as the U-Boat captain, what a performance.

Runners up:

Bridge on the River Kwai ("Kill him! KILL HIM!!")

Lawrence of Arabia ("With Major Lawrence, mercy is a passion. With me, it is merely good manners. You may judge which motive is the more reliable.”)

Apocalypse Now ("When you find the Colonel, infiltrate his team by whatever means available and... "terminate the Colonel's command.")

Dr. Strangelove ("You can't fight here, it's the War Room!)

919 Brown

July 5th, 2010 at 10:51 PM ^

All of my favorites have been mentioned, but I have to add Heartbreak Ridge because of Clint's performance. This movie is certainly not a classic war film, but Clint as Gunny Highway had me rolling throughout the entire film.

GunnersApe

July 6th, 2010 at 9:06 AM ^

Highway: My name's Gunnery Sergeant Highway and I've drunk more beer and banged more quiff and pissed more blood and stomped more ass that all of you numbnuts put together. Now Major Powers has put me in charge of this reconisence platoon.

Lance Corporal Fragatti: We take care of ourselves.

Highway: You couldn't take care of a wet dream. God loves you.

Collins: I know that!

Highway: You men do not impress me!

Profile: Recon platoon kicks butt.

Highway: [grabs Profile by the nose] If you ladies think that you can slip and slide just because your last sergeant was a pussy, well queer bait, you're going to start acting like Marines right now!

Lance Corporal Fragatti: Who invited ya!

Highway: I'm not doing this because I want to take long showers with you assholes and I don't want to get my head shot off in some far away land because you don't habla, comprende?

Aponte: Ruh!

Highway: You?

Quinones: Yes, Gunney.

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones: [singing] And you really look so fine and you've got that big behind.

Highway: [sees Jones] Well, well, well, well. I'm here to tell you that life as you knew it has ended. You all may as well go into town tonight. You may as well laugh and make fools out of yourselves. Rub your pathetic little peckers against your honies or stick it in a knothole in the fence but whatever it is, get rid of it. Because at 0600 tomorrow your ass is mine.

[to Jones]

Highway: Where's your bunk.

Highway: [walking toward the barracks holding Jones by the ear] Where is it?

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones: Where's what, man?

Highway: The money for my ticket.

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones: Hey, no need to resort to unnecessary violence. I was a little down on the money, you know, but I got a little money for you right here. But that's all I got.

[hands Highway some cash]

Highway: And the meal.

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones: The meal.

Highway: Yeah, the meal.

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones: Ok, I got a little more for you here but that's definitely all I got.

Highway: And the tip.

Corporal 'Stitch' Jones: No, man, that's really it that's all I got.

Highway: You owe me.

[rips Jones' earring off]

Highway: Now it's my will against yours and you will lose. So don't forget, 0600. That's six o'clock in the morning for those of you who don't habla.

maizenbluenc

July 5th, 2010 at 11:05 PM ^

A Bridge Too Far (my grandfather flew a WACO glider for the 101st into Market Garden.)

Midway (Saw it in the theatre as a kid. Pivotal point in history.)

Das Boot (I'm not a submariner, and this movie plus the ancient Skate class I did second class cruise on are both good reasons why. I like the storm scene with the guy acting crazy topsides.)

Master and Commander (This one is a toss up. On the one hand Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey series are absolutely the best piece of Naval Fiction out there, and Russel Crowe has been good to us. Plus I love sailing. I might trade it for Savign Private Ryan.)

In Harm's Way  (A black shoe movie with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas)

What can I say, I am Navy ...

The Great Escape, Patton, Saving Private Ryan, Apocolypse Now, Platoon, Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora --  all up there. I also like Ba Ba Black Sheep and Band of Brothers as far as TV series are concerned. (Haven't seen The Pacific yet.)

kenwil

July 5th, 2010 at 11:21 PM ^

Does Red Dawn count? I'm not sure it's top 5 either way, but a memorable flick. To make it topical, I believe I read something about a remake that is being shot at least in part in Michigan. Probably read this on mgoblog...

T4L

July 5th, 2010 at 11:45 PM ^

They are doing a remake, and part of it is in Michigan. I don't know where exactly, but one of the teachers at my High School (who is a veteran) is actually going to be in it, so that is why I know this.

MGoShoe

July 5th, 2010 at 11:24 PM ^

...to consider:

  1. Twelve O'Clock High
  2. The Bridges at Toko-Ri
  3. The Horse Soldiers
  4. Drums Along the Mohawk
  5. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
  6. Henry V (1989)

And my favorite Navy movie of all time, bar none (better than the ones I listed earlier):

  1. The Sand Pebbles

the_big_house 500th

July 5th, 2010 at 11:30 PM ^

1. Saving Private Ryan. No other WWII movie that I have seen that shows the landings on Omaha Beach on D-Day so accurately and vividly. Overall the greatest WWII movie of all time.

2. Schindler's List. This movie grabs the heart and captures the horror and brutality of the Holocaust and makes you realize and see the true evils of the SS and the Nazi Party.

3. Paths of Glory. Arguably one of Kirk Douglas's greatest roles and one of Kubrick's finest works in film. This movie shows the insanity and brutality of warfare in WWI.

4. Platoon. Not the most accurate depiction of the Vietnam War but the most emotional when it comes to the mindsets of the soldiers who fought in it. Two scenes define this movie and the horror of war. Defoe's arms raised to the sky as he is shot and Sheen's emotional breakdown after the sight of dead soldiers on the ground in mass graves below him.

5. Das Boot. If you don't know what life was like on a U-Boat underwater during WWII then no other movie will capture the terror of the crews that served in them than this film. It might be a 5 hour movie but it is 5 hours that will leave you in suspense, terror, shock and awe when it is all said and done. I recommend the directors cut too.

husker4life

July 5th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^

is an insane film. I would never want to be in one of those subs during WWII. My grandfather served on a destroyer during Midway and saw some pretty scary stuff but being in that thing while charges blow up around you, being chased by other subs and boats above the water trying to kill you too and being 500+ feet underwater? Scary stuff.

bjk

July 6th, 2010 at 12:24 AM ^

I actually like the tighter editing of the commercial version of Das Boot over the director's version. (OT -- I like the commercial cut of Blade Runner as well.)

My dad was in the Navy in the Pacific during the island campaigns. He doesn't talk much about the war, but one of the few depictions of navy life for which I ever heard him express real approbation was Das Boot.

bjk

July 6th, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^

since I saw either one, so I've forgotten a lot of details.

But maybe I liked the commercial version because it left more unsaid. I recall I felt the director's cut ending was comparatively sprawling.

4godkingandwol…

July 5th, 2010 at 11:31 PM ^

... I really never understood why it is so popular.  I will grant you the first 40 minutes are amazing.  But then the rest of the film falls into one serious melodrama that I felt really used every war story cliche in the book.  I thought it was entertaining as hell, but best war movie ever?  I guess I just don't see it.  What do I think?

1. Deerhunter (by about 1000 miles)

2. Apocolypse Now

3. Lawrence of Arabia

4. All's Quiet On The Western Front

5. Thin Red Line

I haven't seen an insane number of war movies, but these are the ones that jump out to me as just great character driven movies.  In war films, this is what I look for, because the plots can really bleed together.

Michiganian for Life

July 5th, 2010 at 11:37 PM ^

 

1.  We Were Soldiers

2.  Saving Private Ryan

3.  The Patriot

4.  Braveheart

5.  Patton

 

Apparently I am a big fan of Mel Gibson in war movies, but We Were Soldiers takes my pick for top war movie.  While watching it with my Dad I witnessed something rarer than an intelligent tOSU grad, my Dad crying - lots of intense imagery in that film.

bjk

July 6th, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^

all of my potential contributions have been pretty much covered.

There is a German film Stalingrad (1993), which I was going to say reflects the graphic anti-war sensibility, without romanticism, that characterizes Europeans in general and Germans in particular. Consequently, I am surprised to read the following at the above link:

The original screenplay was written by Christoph Fromm but the producers disagreed with his more realistic direction and had it rewritten. Consequently, Fromm took his name of [sic.] the film.

It is a very graphic and disturbing movie.

T4L

July 5th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^

1. Deer Hunter - by far the best. It's incredibly moving and intense, and Christopher Walken and Robert DeNiro are awesome in it.

2. Apocalypse Now

3. Downfall

4. Saving Private Ryan

T5. Star Wars:  The Original Trilogy

Sac Fly

July 5th, 2010 at 11:55 PM ^

... miracle at st. anna. my family is from salerno not tuscany, but it still hits close to home. i also liked flags of our fathers, i thought tigerland was good to, i have a bunch more but i can't remember right now

hailtothevictors08

July 6th, 2010 at 1:44 AM ^

Casablanca ... i am going with the schindler's list idea that it happened during the war ... and it gave us maybe my favorite exchange ever

Rick Blaine----------------- How can you close me up? On what grounds?

Captain Renault----------- I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

random casino worker---Your winnings, sir.

Captain Renault------------Oh, thank you very much

 

all the other greats have been mentioned above

 

(edit: I forgot an underwatched fav of mine --- "Saints and Soldiers" ... if you liked Saving Private Ryan you will love this flick ... it used to be free on hulu .... watch it now)