OT: Your top five war films
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."
There are a lot of great war movies so this is hard, but Apocalypse Now is probably my favorite.
Also, one that hasn't been mentioned yet that gives an interesting perspective of war: Jarhead. Definitely not the best ever, but worth watching.
I also question whether Dr. Strangelove qualifies as a war movie, but if so then it's #1 and #1A. Deerhunter & Apocolypse now are 3 & 4.
I won't Top 5 since most of the greats are already mentioned, but I had to put a plug in for "A Very Long Engagement."
It was much better than I expected, and Jodie Foster speaking perfect French is just...awesome. The self-mutilation aspect the film starts with is definitely an angle I don't often see in war stories.
My top 10 in no particular order:
The Thin Red Line
Letter from Iwo Jima
Apocolypse Now
Patton
Bridge on the River Kwai
Band of Brothers (I realize it's not a movie)
Das Boot
Deerhunter
Generation Kill (Again, I realize it's not a movie)
La Grande Illusion (Grand Illusion) - Jean Renior's masterpiece and possibly the best film I have ever seen.
- Saving Private Ryan
- Full Metal Jacket
- Letters From Iwo Jima
- Schindler's List
- Braveheart
Honorable mentions: Apocalypse Now, Stalingrad, The Longest Day, Platoon, The Pianist, Barry Lyndon, Dead Presidents.
-Were Eagles Dare
-The Dirty Dozen
-Tora Tora Tora
-Force Ten from Navarone
-Heartbreak Ridge
Not the most erudite of all the films mentioned, but Where Eagles Dare is a blast.
in no particular order,
Saving Private Ryan
Das Boot
Master and Commander
300
Avatar
Just to name five...
"Red Dawn" = Wolverines = Cool
"300" = Spartans = Gay (I really liked the movie, until MSU had to ruin it for me by using parts of it as a pre-game warm up thing...)
And the Spartans are not cool...
The Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket
Catch-22
Das Boot
Red Dawn, Red Dawn, Red Dawn, Red Dawn, Red Dawn
Wolverines!!!
Teenagers brandishing firearms, blowing stuff up, and generally causing mayhem. And its not even some documentary about the decay of our youth.
1. "Patton" - Maybe the greatest war movie ever made.
2. "Das Boot" - It's long, it's in German, but it's the closest you'll ever get to understanding what it is like to live inside a submarine. Very intense.
3. "Full Metal Jacket" - The insanity of war, broken down before you very eyes, scene-by-scene.
4. "The Deer Hunter" -Christopher Walken....that is all.
5. "Gettysburg" - In terms of recreating a battle footage, is there anything better?
The Battle of Algiers. Shot by an Italian director, using actors who actually participated in the Algerian war for independence. An incredible movie.
Now I need to round up support for The Wind that Shakes the Barley
BAND OF BROTHERS
Saving Private Ryan
Schindlers List
Blackhawk Down
Forrest Gump (Hey he was in the Vietnam War in the movie lol)
Bo & Woody- the ten year war.
I Love Downfall, probably one of my favorite movies ever, but not sure it would qualify as a "War Movie" (same goes for Casablanca for whoever mentioned it). I've excluded those.
Top 5 (not really in order): Patton, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Paths of Glory, Letters from Iwo Jima
Honorable Mention: Come and See, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Das Boot.
Band of Brothers deserves mention as a great miniseries and simply amazing, but isn't a movie.
Did not care for The Deer Hunter. I know that's blasphemy to some.
Self reply. Bah, forgot Bridge on the River Kwai.
So I'll avoid the rehash. Also, some very good foreign movies, Das Boot, Downfall, The Battle of Algiers.
I'll try to list some others haven't listed (NOTE: this is going to be pretty obscure for most part).
- Ran (Akria Kurosawa, samurai movie, would actually be my number one even with all the above included. You could make a case that Seven Samurai, another of his, could be a war movie, but I don't really think it is, so not included)
- Forrest Gump (Edit: Someone beat me to it)
- No Man's Land (about Bosnia and Herzegovina, much of it in subtitles, but good movie)
- Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (Korean film about the Korean war)
- The Fog of War (Documentary, featuring Robert McNamara)
- The Pianist
- Army of Shadows (A once banned 1969 French Film)
- Joyeux Noel (WWI film about a truce made over the Christmas Holiday between enemy armies. Good movie as well)
Was one of the best movies I've ever seen. . .
Another movie no one has mentioned as far as I can tell is Jarhead. The first gulf war gets overlooked a lot for obvious reasons but I thought this movie did a good job of capturing what it must have been like for our soldiers
1. Dr. Strangelove (I see I'm not the only one)
2. Full Metal Jacket
3. Patton
4. Kelly's Heroes
5. Midway
Set in the Boer War with one of the great lines, "This is what comes of empire building."
I'm a pagan too.
"Don't make a mess of it!" - Lt. Morant, at the end.
So many good movies mentioned, and Breaker Morant is usually the obscure one I bring up.
The whole scene just before the end is packed with great lines:
Sentry: Do you want the padre?
Harry Morant: No, thank you, I'm a pagan.
Peter Handcock: What's a pagan?
Harry Morant: Well ... it's it's somebody who doesn't believe there's a divine being dispensing justice to mankind.
Peter Handcock: I'm a pagan, too.
Harry Morant: There is an epitaph I'd like: Matthew 10:36. Well, Peter... this is what comes of 'empire building.'
Major Thomas: Matthew 10:36?
Minister: "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household."
Das Boot story: I saw it (with subtitles) many, many winters ago in MLB 4 IIRC. The heaters were working overtime and the room was packed, actually making for a great atmosphere, so at the end I was emotionally drained from the tension in the movie and sweaty from the heat. Kinda felt like I was there.
But I have to point out (as a former Submariner), Das Boot is the best portrayal of the conditions and more importantly the attitude and characteristics of a sub crew I have ever seen put out by Hollywood (great book too).
Das Boot
Glory
Patton
Saving Private Ryan
We Were Soldiers
Edit: Oops, gave too much credit to Hollywood about Das Boot.
I am very suprised that there has been no mention of A Bridge Too Far in any top five. For personal reasons my favorite.
This was excellent.
WWII- Saving Private Ryan would be the best movie IMHE because it is the one that doesn't glamorize war. You get kind of a first hand image of what it would have been like and no one I know left the theater thinking "who war is so cool, I want to go to war!".
Vietnam- We were soldiers. Again, a very good movie that gives an eye as to what things were actually like while fighting a war. Nothing fun about it and made me appreciate more the environment these soldiers faced.
Those would be my most favorite (if you could call them favorite, I think a better phrase would be the ones that made the biggest impression on me) modern war films.
I actually prefer the more medievil war movies that retain historical accuracy. I can actually watch them and enjoy the films while learning things, while watching the more modern wars on film hit home in a more real way since I have many close relatives who fought (both grandfathers, a few great uncles etc) and died in them.
We Were Soldiers is incredible. My best friend's dad flew helicopters in 'nam, and we watched the movie with him. When the movie was done, my friend asked him "is that what it really was like," his dad didn't say anything-- he just nodded. Great movie.
Schindler's List - maybe one of the best MOVIES of all time.
Saving Private Ryan - nothing explains war better than the opening.
Letters from Iwo Jima - Much better than the companion Flags of Our Fathers (as flicks if not books).
Dirty Dozen - pretty much a must see movie if you want to earn your man card.
And while I'd love to go Star Wars, and it is true as a fit, sticking to the spirit of the question, and really, using it as a chance to ad about the only one I haven't seen listed so far (which is a crime considering what's going on right now)-
Victory. I love that silly little camp prisoner soccer movie.
(And honorable mention, not because it rates quite as high as other flicks mentioned, but haven't really seen it listed yet - Inglourious Basterds).
The order stinks, but if you want to see if there are any movies you might have forgotten that you love, check out here-
http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_war.html
Forget 5, how about 100?
Best Years of Our Lives
Zulu
Wild Geese
Balck Hawk Down
Enemy at the Gates
We Were Soldiers falls off the list because it descends into farce when it has the Colonel fix bayonets to lead a suicidal spoiling attack followed by the timely arrival of a copter. Until the end it was pretty faithful to the book, which means to reality.
FTW
Edit: OK people, check sarcasm meters.
I've seen a large number of war films, it's hard to make a top 5, I'll give it a shot.
1. Bridge Too Far - historically accurate, lots of top actors.
2. Longest Day - another movie based on a book by Cornelius Ryan, good stuff, also very accurate
3. Katyn - not a film about a battle per se, but certainly WW2 relevant. FYI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyń_(film)
4. Patton - brilliant performance by Scott
5. Zulu - Brits v. Zulu in South Africa.
I would like to point out a foreign film, "Come and See" - it's very disturbing and several scenes have a very surreal feel, but worth watching.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_see
Tom Cruise's Valkyrie was very good too, although not about a battle per se.
EDIT: couple more that deserve a mention: Stalag 17, The Great Escape
I was surprised how much I liked Valkyrie. I don't normally like Tom Cruise, but he was tolerable, and they really ratcheted up the tension as the movie went on. Of course you know the result, but I was nonetheless on the edge of my seat.
Personally, I didn't really like it, but it is highly regarded as a great Soviet film. It is pretty messed up though, so if anyone is going to watch it, be prepared for that.
Enemy At the Gates
i think that wuz the name.
movie bout dat rushin sniper who capped dat kraut
and that movie with Robert Mitchen when he was chasing that sub with the kraut on it.
and McKales navy