Top Rated War Movies

[Blindside]

Not on the list? Gettysburg for sure, great cast on a relatively low budget. Four Feathers was excellent. And if we are allowing mostly fictitous accounts of historical figures like "Braveheart," put me in for Henry V with Kenneth Branaugh. Oh and another vote for Band of Brothers, great great show.

Lamont

 

[fyn5000]

"Breaker Morant" should be on the list.

fyn

 

[Steve]

I'll second Band of Brothers even though it's not technically a movie. Also slightly off topic is War

Bridge on the River Kwai was good.

Thin Red Line (1964).

Does Lawrence of Arabia count?

 

[Sukerkin]

Aye, Lawrence of Arabia most certainly counts - both as a war movie and a political commetary.

I was about to castigate you for mentioning the "Thin Red Line", with frothing comments about how could anyone make a boring war film ... then I realised you were talking about the film from 1964 rather than the more recent, unengaging, effort.

 

[MA-Caver]

Does Lawrence of Arabia count?

Technically yes it does though at first glance it doesn't look like it.

Hmm, has Enemy At The Gates been mentioned?

 

[Kreth]

I knew that there would be at least two films on that list that would make me grind my teeth and I wasn't wrong . Braveheart and The Patriot.

Why? Just because he left the bridge out of the Battle of Stirling Bridge? :lol:
I was surprised not to see two classics: Run Silent, Run Deep and Battle Cry.

 

[Sukerkin]

No, CaverI checked back in the thread and it (Enenmy at the Gates) hasn't. I have to say that I didn't think it was very good, to be honest ... despite having Rachael Weisz in it . Maybe I need to go back and give it a second look?

 

[Sukerkin]

Why? Just because he left the bridge out of the Battle of Stirling Bridge? :lol:

Just the wailings of a (former) history professional who happens to be English . Don't get me going on "U-571" either or that episode of "Alias" where it was claimed that the CIA cracked the Enigma code ...

I was surprised not to see two classics: Run Silent, Run Deep and Battle Cry.

Aye, "Run Silent" was a splendid film.

 

[Steve]

Aye, Lawrence of Arabia most certainly counts - both as a war movie and a political commetary.

I was about to castigate you for mentioning the "Thin Red Line", with frothing comments about how could anyone make a boring war film ... then I realised you were talking about the film from 1964 rather than the more recent, unengaging, effort.

The first movie was much better than the more recent one.

 

[Blindside]

Technically yes it does though at first glance it doesn't look like it.

Hmm, has Enemy At The Gates been mentioned?

Great book, but a forgettable movie, well except for Rachel Weisz that is.

 

[matt.m]

Platoon and Hamburger Hill, Heartbreak Ridge. I don't know how many times I have seen those 3 movies. However when looking at late 80's movies I believe my favorite "War" movie has to be "Hunt for Red October".

 

[grydth]

I'll second Band of Brothers even though it's not technically a movie. Also slightly off topic is War

Bridge on the River Kwai was good.

Thin Red Line (1964).

Does Lawrence of Arabia count?

Bridge was terrific, especially the totally different (and conflicting) ways in which the British Colonel (Alec Guiness) and the American officer (Willliam Holden) stood up to the Japanese abuse. When they last encounter each other as Holden returns to destroy the bridge is classic.

Lawrence of Arabia was a performance by Peter O'Toole of the eccentric but effective British officer in the desert during World War I. "Time to be great again", he tells Omar Shariff. Another scene - where the surviving Turk from the railroad ambush shoots repeatedly at Lawrence who never flinches...

 

[grydth]

No, CaverI checked back in the thread and it (Enenmy at the Gates) hasn't. I have to say that I didn't think it was very good, to be honest ... despite having Rachael Weisz in it . Maybe I need to go back and give it a second look?

There are parts of that movie - the Hellish Volga crossing and the advance into battle with only a rifle for every other man - that I am glad Western audiences finally got to see.

I don't know why they changed the story from William Craig's account in the book - the truth was compelling enough without a phony love triangle thrown in. (if memory serves me, Anthony Beevor has questioned whether the entire original Zaitsev story is true).

 

[Sukerkin]

It would be wrong to assume that such events were unknown to 'Western' audiences, Grydth, or at least English ones before our education system decayed to it's current laughable state so that we no longer teach history anymore .

However, I take your points fully that it can only be good that a wider audience was made aware of the tragadies that took place in the Second World War across the breadth of Eurasia.

 

[MA-Caver]

It would be wrong to assume that such events were unknown to 'Western' audiences, Grydth, or at least English ones before our education system decayed to it's current laughable state so that we no longer teach history anymore .

However, I take your points fully that it can only be good that a wider audience was made aware of the tragadies that took place in the Second World War across the breadth of Eurasia.

Yes, well from my own personal studies of the events on the EASTERN front the Russians had it pretty bad. The siege at Stalingrad was horrific to say the least. Those Russians should be held at least in admiration... if not the governing body after the war.

Am wondering if any Euro-films have been documenting those sad events throughout the German invasion of Russia?

 

[Sukerkin]

That's an interesting point, Caver.

I can't think of any films, other than maybe one about the convoys to Russia, off the top of my head but the events were certainly passed on in books (history texts and wartime memoires).

I wonder if we could compile a list of films that have touched on the Russian front? In recent times I can only think of "Stalingrad" and "Enemy At The Gates" ...

 

[grydth]

It would be wrong to assume that such events were unknown to 'Western' audiences, Grydth, or at least English ones before our education system decayed to it's current laughable state so that we no longer teach history anymore .

However, I take your points fully that it can only be good that a wider audience was made aware of the tragadies that took place in the Second World War across the breadth of Eurasia.

There was a reason, you know, why Harrison Salisbury titled his overview work, "The Unknown War".

I believe initially the unfamiliarity with the Eastern Front stemmed from the justifiable pride in the British and American military achievements.... and from the Cold War which turned allies into enemies. Even hinting that decisive battles may have been fought in the East could be seen as insulting 'The Greatest Generation".... and make you seem like one o'them commies yurself.

Later generations subjected to our inaptly titled education systems, of course, wouldn't even understand who Montgomery and Eisenhower even were, much less Zhukov.

 

[grydth]

That's an interesting point, Caver.

I can't think of any films, other than maybe one about the convoys to Russia, off the top of my head but the events were certainly passed on in books (history texts and wartime memoires).

I wonder if we could compile a list of films that have touched on the Russian front? In recent times I can only think of "Stalingrad" and "Enemy At The Gates" ...

There is a film out now, I believe titled Defiance, about the Bielski Partisans in Belorussia. It is in limited release and I have only seen the trailer.

One of Willi Heinrich's novels, I think Cross of Iron, was made into a film with James Coburn in the 70's.

What's sad is that there are so many stories which could and should be told. For a special effects epic, imagine one showing Prokhorovka, the largest tank battle of the war where the SS Panzer Corps collides head on with the 5th Guards Tank Army.... for human dimensions, who could sit casually through a story set in the Leningrad siege?

 

[jarrod]

i haven't looked at the list yet, but if red dawn isn't on there, i'm not interested.

"avenge me, boys! AVENGE MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

jf

 

[Sukerkin]

One of Willi Heinrich's novels, I think Cross of Iron, was made into a film with James Coburn in the 70's.

How could I have forgotten that one :O.

What's sad is that there are so many stories which could and should be told. For a special effects epic, imagine one showing Prokhorovka, the largest tank battle of the war where the SS Panzer Corps collides head on with the 5th Guards Tank Army.... for human dimensions, who could sit casually through a story set in the Leningrad siege?

I agree entirely.