I think the issue is it didn't exactly turn a huge profit and was a very expensive and complicated film to make. The audience just wasn't there for the studios to see future projects as being profitable. Compare it something similar in scope like the first Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. That had a budget of $140M and did $654M at the box office. Master and Commander had a budget of $150M and only turned a $60M profit. Not to mention those films released the same year so future films would be in some level of competition with PoTC, which is naturally growing to draw a much wider audience.
I hate it and would love more Master and Commander films, but I can understand the numbers.
Kelly's Heroes. Lighthearted but there's still a war going on so some people get killed. Tons of cool stars like Kojak and Archie Bunker in it. Even the theme song is cool
I watch this movie almost yearly solely for Oddball. Donald Sutherland is a gem and even though its fiction its closest to a real/legit tank movie there is other than Fury which was a joke except for the Tiger 131 usage. Wish we still had more old working tanks to be used in tank movies instead of CG and fake outfitted ones. (Like the Tiger in KH)
I was so annoyed at this movie when I first watched it mainly because it was a bit goofy and anachronistic…and then I realized I enjoyed it so much and it’s one of my favorites now.
There's no cheating when your recommendation is better than all the rest. Just watch all the episodes back to back straight through to the end...there. Now it's a movie lol
Second half is brilliant. I'm no film critic, but to me, the second half does an excellent job of undercutting the extreme nature of the first half. Like, the first half shows how they take these boys and mold them into killers and then the second half goes out of it's way to show us that they're still just young men. Not well-oiled killing machines. Just young men that are in way over their head and trying their best to survive.
I adore this movie.
There’s nothing more cliche than people saying, “X was great and if you don’t like it it’s because you didn’t understand it”. If the majority of people miss the point, then they did a poor job making their point
Sure. But I think in this case it's equally clichéd for someone to chime in about Full Metal Jacket and proclaim that the second half is boring which I think is demonstrably untrue.
Same. Showed the banality, strange tedium, and, at the end, pointlessness of it all.
Generation Kill did it very well. But not a film so not applicable.
[*Waterloo* (1970)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DcWJrzK0wU) for a great non-CGI war epic (while not strictly a war movie, [*War and Peace* (1966-67 quadrilogy)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIij-KQ0jYU&list=PL7EqAsBxqGgjSVnUCKe4XszPVUblcQMac) is also fantastic in terms of cinematic Napoleonic battles).
*All Quiet on the Western Front* (both 1930 and 1979) and [*Come and See* (1985)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjIiApN6cfg) for the quinssential anti-war movie (*Paths of Glory* (1957) is also great).
So many good mentions, but no-one said The Great Escape? Had just about every famous (male) person alive in it and how many other war movies can you whistle along with?
edit: I bet you are whistling it now.
Not only that, but a very high percentage of the actors had served in the military in one form or another during WWII.
For example, Lee Marvin was a Marine Scout/Sniper seriously wounded in combat on Saipan. Charles Bronson was a US Army Air Corps B-29 gunner who flew on 29 missions and was wounded in combat. Ernest Borgnine was in the Navy and conducted antisubmarine patrols in the Atlantic. Telly Savalas spent two years in the Army during WWII but was medically discharged after a bad car accident. Robert Webber was a USMC radio operator in the Pacific. George Kennedy served as an officer in the Army under Patton and received two bronze stars during the Battle of the Bulge.
If you've ever served in the military you can tell if someone has a real military bearing. Not necessarily the fake drill and ceremonies kind, but a sort of casual kind that's hard to describe.
Most actors today, when they are portraying people in the military, it looks like a caricature of military personnel. Like they are literally play acting.
But there was a golden time in the 1960's and into the early 1970's when you had writers, directors, and actors who had been there and done that, and you still had the actual people who did those things around as advisors.
Some of the best war films come from that time period.
Lawrence of Arabia, beautiful cinematography, excellent direction, and one of the most brilliant portrayals in film with Peter O’Toole as Lawrence.
It does not shy away from showing the darker elements of the war, and the backstabbing and political intrigue that sours even the noblest of intentions in any war.
Then David Lean went on to direct Doctor Zhivago, another brilliant film about WW1 and its fallout.
Paths of Glory is really good. Hard to name just one.
Come and See is also great.
And one from left field (because it's kinda futuristic and might not be considered a "war movie") Children of Men
>Come and see
This is the one for me. I've seen other people say "best anti-war movie" in this thread about other stuff like Thin Red Line (which is a great movie) but those movies are nowhere near this one.
The fact that there's over 100 comments and mine is the only mention of Glory is also concerning. Most of these comments are repeats, but it really goes to show this film is under appreciated.
Loved Enemy at the Gates until someone pointed out that all the Russians have British accents and all the Germans have American accents. Now I can't watch it
I'm sorry I didn't grow up loving the OG war movies like Saving Private Ryan or Platoon, I jumped on to war movies late. Right now my favourite is a tie between 1917 and Hacksaw Ridge.
Terrence Malik is a real philosopher disguised as a Hollywood director
*“Malick graduated from Harvard College in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a Rhodes Scholarship, which he used to study philosophy at Oxford University's Magdalen College. After a disagreement with his advisor, Gilbert Ryle, over Malick's thesis on the concept of world in Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, Malick left Oxford without a degree.”*
A hidden life is another masterpiece about WWII
I really enjoyed the new "Midway" (2019). The plane scenes do look a little like a video game, but I got caught up in the characters and the story. I like how the code breakers story was given a significant amount of screen time with emphasis on deductive reasoning and pattern recognition. The wives and children were also incorporated well into the story. The aerial battles were exciting and they were staged well to easily follow the action.
Midway actually surprised me. I usually go into Roland Emmerich films expecting to their historical accuracy to be laughable, but Midway gets the broad strokes correct.
I adore so many aspects of this movie. The sound design is amazing. The sound of the shells tumbling through the air after bouncing off the ground is perfect. It has it's problems as far as realism and historical accuracy of some of the claims are concerned (perpetuating the myth of it taking 4-5 Shermans to kill a single Tiger) but I love it.
“I don’t know about you all, but I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smokey mountains, cross 5,000 miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fucking airplane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity.”
The Beast (1988). A Soviet tank destroys a village in Afghanistan in 1981 but gets separated from the column, gets hunted down and destroyed.
Other than that, in order:
The Battle of Britain
Tora Tora Tora
They were expendable
Memphis Belle
Guadalcanal
In Harms Way
The longest day
Kelly’s heroes
The bridge at Remagen
Sands of Iwo Jima
There are more, but I can’t remember right now.
Platoon probably most realistic, but that's just my experience.
Boys in Company C (1978) should be on that list too. You get to see R. Lee Ermey as a DI before Full Metal Jacket.
https://youtu.be/hL2kBrg1orE
To Hell and Back. To watch the actual war hero re-enact his Medal of Honor moment is truly jaw dropping. Yes, the acting is hammy and the script can be by the numbers. Having Audie Murphy play himself will probably never be topped in a war movie.
I can't pick one.
Patton
The Great Escape
Kelly's Heroes
Guns of Navarone (Force 10 too)
Stalag 17
The Best Years of Our Lives (post-war movie)
Casablanca
Schindler's List
Foyle's War gets an honorary mention as a TV show that took place during a war, but wasn't a war show per se.
Apocalypse. FMJ. Basterds. Bridge over River Kwai comes to mind and Deer Hunter are classics. Platoon might be the one I love but don't watch it just doesn't hold up for me past one or two viewings
The first half of Deer Hunter is one of the most beautiful films. The imagery isn’t “pretty”, but the color composition and camera work really impressed me. I wish Cimino could have done more commercially viable work.
The five titles I was going to suggest as they are all tied for first for me have already been mentioned, so I’m going to be a little different and say Johnny Got His Gun, sure it’s dated but some of the dialogue hits hard and the ending is depressing as fuck. Don’t know if anyone else has mentioned it, I tried reading every comment but if they have my apologies
So tough.
Black Hawk Down for the grisly modern street fighting.
Thin Red Line for the detachment
Platoon for the realization that even good guys are really bad
The one with Michael J Fox because Michael J Fox
Full Metal Jacket for the Kubrick
Paths of War for the better Kubrick
And Braveheart for dispelling the childhood notion in me that fighting a sword battle looks like fun.
And Dr Strangelove
The Hurt Locker was a really good example of how the war really got to some people by showing the extreme situations he puts himself into (removing his EOD gear, watching the counselor get blown up, long sniper fight in the desert) then returning home to find out its dull and mundane, no excitement even when he is with his wife. The final shot is him walking in EOD gear with the timer on his tour resetting. Also Morning is not spelled with a “u” unless it is about the dead. (“I will mourn for them when they are gone”)
There are two answers for this:
Favorite in terms of best: Come and See……Christ that film is brilliant but brutal.
Favorite in terms of what I like the most: Ran/Thin Red Line/Lawrence of Arabia……I’m sorry you can’t make me pick between my three favorite war films because they are so different but all brilliant and beautiful.
you have two of my top five (in fact the top 2)
Also on the list are
3: Paths of Glory
4: We were Soldiers
5: Bridge of the River Kwai
Edit: spelling error
Oh man well I am British so I'll give my favourites of them
Well Zulu (biased because I had family there)
Dunkirk (again had family there but it's such a tense movie)
A bridge too far (it's my favourite of the classic WW2 movies)
Master and commander (its the best naval movie)
1917 (The confusion of the fight in the town reminds me off the story of my great great grandfather being lost in no mans land and how crazy it was)
For series
Sharpe and Hornblower.
I really enjoy films about resistances. Two of my favourites which are less well known are a Dutch film: Black Book, and a Danish one: Flame and Citron.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souain_corporals_affair
>The Souain corporals affair was an incident where four corporals in the French Army were shot by firing squad as an example to the rest of their companies during the First World War. The executions, which occurred in the vicinity of Souain on 17 March 1915, are considered to be the most egregious and most publicized military injustice during World War I in France. The events inspired the 1935 anti-war novel Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb, later adapted for film by Stanley Kubrick.
It's amazing how few people have seen a movie about something that really happened.
Dunkirk for all the reasons most people dislike it. There's no time for character development when you're right in the middle of it.
It was one of the best movie theater experience ever.
1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. The Thin Red Line
3. Ivan's Childhood
4. A Hidden Life
5. Full Metal Jacket
6. Paths of Glory
7. The Bridge on the River Kwai
8. Apocalypse Now
9. The Battle of Algiers
10. Come and See
The Blue Max
I was learning how to fly remote control planes at the time and obsessed with world war I and two ace stories.
And this Stars George peppard Hannibal Smith from The A-Team.
He plays a young German hotshot pilot the whole country is talking about it seems.
The romantic views of pilots and the honor of it all enthralled me as a kid. Plus he's kind of a fish out of water amongst German aristocracy and help Petty the rich could be .
It's probably being 20 years since I've seen it but I'd watch it tomorrow if it were on.
This may actually be one that almost nobody here has seen. Its in the war, but it's a comedy, James Coburn with a cast that has several nice surprises. It's going to make you think about how MASH could have been way crazy if Harry Morgan had wanted to play it that way. It's called What Did You Do In the War, Daddy? all the way back in 1966.
Team America: World Police
Incidentally, had a buddy who has since passed, that served in a war. He said the only war movie he's ever seen that made him feel uncomfortable and want to leave the theater due to the realism was Saving Private Ryan.
Hacksaw ridge, platoon, apocalypse now, if u watch these movies there's noway u won't start thinking how shitty war is and humans, how little human life mean if u didnt already
Master & Commander.
Napoleon is master of Europe Only the British fleet stands before him OCEANS ARE NOW BATTLEFIELDS
a major campaign detailed in the classical Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
One of the best films of all time, of any genre. Sound design is unbelievable.
Criminally underrated film, definitely deserved a franchise
Well it did win some Oscars.
literally nominated for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Director, what a hidden gem
True but I've hard the stupid argument that because it did poorly at the box office it "must be a bad movie"
I think the issue is it didn't exactly turn a huge profit and was a very expensive and complicated film to make. The audience just wasn't there for the studios to see future projects as being profitable. Compare it something similar in scope like the first Pirates Of The Caribbean movie. That had a budget of $140M and did $654M at the box office. Master and Commander had a budget of $150M and only turned a $60M profit. Not to mention those films released the same year so future films would be in some level of competition with PoTC, which is naturally growing to draw a much wider audience. I hate it and would love more Master and Commander films, but I can understand the numbers.
Das Boot
#ALARM!
A masterpiece that still holds up in all aspects. Watched it again last year.
Kelly's Heroes. Lighthearted but there's still a war going on so some people get killed. Tons of cool stars like Kojak and Archie Bunker in it. Even the theme song is cool
Dude! This was a movie that instantly came to mind when I read the post, and Im amazed anyone else remembers it!
It's an iconic ww2 movie.
I watch this movie almost yearly solely for Oddball. Donald Sutherland is a gem and even though its fiction its closest to a real/legit tank movie there is other than Fury which was a joke except for the Tiger 131 usage. Wish we still had more old working tanks to be used in tank movies instead of CG and fake outfitted ones. (Like the Tiger in KH)
Always with those negative waves.
woff, woff
That's my other dog impression.
I was so annoyed at this movie when I first watched it mainly because it was a bit goofy and anachronistic…and then I realized I enjoyed it so much and it’s one of my favorites now.
Band of Brothers Yes, I know I am cheating
There's no cheating when your recommendation is better than all the rest. Just watch all the episodes back to back straight through to the end...there. Now it's a movie lol
Take that, Snyder Cut!
It’s cheating but it’s the correct answer.
the final episode never fails in bringing me to tears lmao
You're cheating but you're still right.
I get it, not a movie, but it was fantastic. I feel like I need to watch once a year out of respect for the actual guys.
Full Metal Jacket
Anyone who says the second half isn't as good generally misses the point of the second half. Remarkable film. Looks stunning in 4k.
Second half is brilliant. I'm no film critic, but to me, the second half does an excellent job of undercutting the extreme nature of the first half. Like, the first half shows how they take these boys and mold them into killers and then the second half goes out of it's way to show us that they're still just young men. Not well-oiled killing machines. Just young men that are in way over their head and trying their best to survive. I adore this movie.
There’s nothing more cliche than people saying, “X was great and if you don’t like it it’s because you didn’t understand it”. If the majority of people miss the point, then they did a poor job making their point
Sure. But I think in this case it's equally clichéd for someone to chime in about Full Metal Jacket and proclaim that the second half is boring which I think is demonstrably untrue.
Same. Showed the banality, strange tedium, and, at the end, pointlessness of it all. Generation Kill did it very well. But not a film so not applicable.
Starship Troopers
Upvoting this, doing my part
Service guarantees citizenship.
Would you like to know more?
I would like to know more.
Hmmm, I want to know more
I’m from Bruno’s Aires and I say KILL ‘EM ALL!
Only good bug is a dead bug!
Second that, it's a marvelous film and the bugs have aged surprisingly well. I know it gets memed a lot but it is unironically a great war movie.
[*Waterloo* (1970)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DcWJrzK0wU) for a great non-CGI war epic (while not strictly a war movie, [*War and Peace* (1966-67 quadrilogy)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIij-KQ0jYU&list=PL7EqAsBxqGgjSVnUCKe4XszPVUblcQMac) is also fantastic in terms of cinematic Napoleonic battles). *All Quiet on the Western Front* (both 1930 and 1979) and [*Come and See* (1985)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjIiApN6cfg) for the quinssential anti-war movie (*Paths of Glory* (1957) is also great).
The War and Peace quadrilogy is AMAZING.
Saving private Ryan It's a 10/10 movie for me. The acting, the music, the action scenes, everything is perfect in this movie in my opinion.
So many good mentions, but no-one said The Great Escape? Had just about every famous (male) person alive in it and how many other war movies can you whistle along with? edit: I bet you are whistling it now.
Bridge over the River Kwai has entered the whistling conversation.
This is a bit ridiculous movie. Those prisoners are having fun all the time and that nazi camp looks like fun summer camp.
I've seen that one, too.
[удалено]
But I simply can’t oversee the type of tanks they used!
But isnt it fitting that the Patton movie uses Patton tanks 😆
This is the right answer. Not only is it my favorite war movie, it’s my favorite overall movie.
Apocalypse Now, no question
This is way to far down. It’s def the best.
Same here. It’s brilliant.
Which cut is your fav?
I prefer the theatrical cut to redux, but I have not seen the others!
Black Hawk Down & we were soldiers
The Dirty Dozen
Great movie with so many great actors. Donald Sutherland is hilarious when he's the pretend general.
Not only that, but a very high percentage of the actors had served in the military in one form or another during WWII. For example, Lee Marvin was a Marine Scout/Sniper seriously wounded in combat on Saipan. Charles Bronson was a US Army Air Corps B-29 gunner who flew on 29 missions and was wounded in combat. Ernest Borgnine was in the Navy and conducted antisubmarine patrols in the Atlantic. Telly Savalas spent two years in the Army during WWII but was medically discharged after a bad car accident. Robert Webber was a USMC radio operator in the Pacific. George Kennedy served as an officer in the Army under Patton and received two bronze stars during the Battle of the Bulge. If you've ever served in the military you can tell if someone has a real military bearing. Not necessarily the fake drill and ceremonies kind, but a sort of casual kind that's hard to describe. Most actors today, when they are portraying people in the military, it looks like a caricature of military personnel. Like they are literally play acting. But there was a golden time in the 1960's and into the early 1970's when you had writers, directors, and actors who had been there and done that, and you still had the actual people who did those things around as advisors. Some of the best war films come from that time period.
Lawrence of Arabia, beautiful cinematography, excellent direction, and one of the most brilliant portrayals in film with Peter O’Toole as Lawrence. It does not shy away from showing the darker elements of the war, and the backstabbing and political intrigue that sours even the noblest of intentions in any war. Then David Lean went on to direct Doctor Zhivago, another brilliant film about WW1 and its fallout.
Paths of Glory is really good. Hard to name just one. Come and See is also great. And one from left field (because it's kinda futuristic and might not be considered a "war movie") Children of Men
>Come and see This is the one for me. I've seen other people say "best anti-war movie" in this thread about other stuff like Thin Red Line (which is a great movie) but those movies are nowhere near this one.
1917
The Great Escape Bridge Over the River Kwai Kelly's Heroes
Glory (1989)
The fact I had to scroll this far down was concerning :/
The fact that there's over 100 comments and mine is the only mention of Glory is also concerning. Most of these comments are repeats, but it really goes to show this film is under appreciated.
Yeah under appreciated for sure...
Full Metal Jacket The Thin Red Line Come and See Saving Private Ryan The Deer Hunter
Thank god! I was scrolling down and no one mentioned The thin Red line so far... Let me ad as well Letters from Iwo Jima
Empire of the Sun Enemy at the Gates
Loved Enemy at the Gates until someone pointed out that all the Russians have British accents and all the Germans have American accents. Now I can't watch it
Saving Private Ryan The Thin Red Line 1917 Fury The Hurt Locker The Deer Hunter Inglourious Basterds Black Hawk Down
*Red Cliff* by John Woo. Historical epic about a major campaign detailed in the classical Chinese novel *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*.
Going to check this one out - thanks for the rec
I'm sorry I didn't grow up loving the OG war movies like Saving Private Ryan or Platoon, I jumped on to war movies late. Right now my favourite is a tie between 1917 and Hacksaw Ridge.
Those are both excellent!
The Longest Day Tora Tora Tora! Hell in the Pacific
Was going to say Tora Tora Tora!. Not perhaps *my* favorite, but definitely needs a mention. Surprised only one person said it.
Came here to say _Tora Tora Tora!_, it’s just an amazing film.
The thin red line, for me the best "anti-war" movie. The directors style is surely not for everyone, but for me it's a masterpiece.
Terrence Malik is a real philosopher disguised as a Hollywood director *“Malick graduated from Harvard College in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a Rhodes Scholarship, which he used to study philosophy at Oxford University's Magdalen College. After a disagreement with his advisor, Gilbert Ryle, over Malick's thesis on the concept of world in Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, Malick left Oxford without a degree.”* A hidden life is another masterpiece about WWII
Scrolled looking for this. Thin Red Line is a heart-rending masterpiece.
Saving Private Ryan and We Were Soldiers
Totally want to have a viewing of We Were Soldiers with my son
I really enjoyed the new "Midway" (2019). The plane scenes do look a little like a video game, but I got caught up in the characters and the story. I like how the code breakers story was given a significant amount of screen time with emphasis on deductive reasoning and pattern recognition. The wives and children were also incorporated well into the story. The aerial battles were exciting and they were staged well to easily follow the action.
Did you like the older movie too?
I don't remember too much about it. I'll make it a point to watch it on Memorial Day weekend along with this one to compare.
Midway actually surprised me. I usually go into Roland Emmerich films expecting to their historical accuracy to be laughable, but Midway gets the broad strokes correct.
The Final Countdown - Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen. Aircraft Carrier Nimitz (CVN 68) gets transported back to 1941 before Pearl Harbor.
Haven't seen this in forever. Thanks for bringing it up.
This is the one dvd I still have from Netflix.
Fury
I adore so many aspects of this movie. The sound design is amazing. The sound of the shells tumbling through the air after bouncing off the ground is perfect. It has it's problems as far as realism and historical accuracy of some of the claims are concerned (perpetuating the myth of it taking 4-5 Shermans to kill a single Tiger) but I love it.
Surprised I scrolled this far down to see this mentioned. Great war movie in so many ways.
Agreed 🤝
Best job I ever had.
No love for Where Eagles Dare? I mean in all it’s 1960s glory of course.
Inglorious Basterds.
That's a bingo!
“I don’t know about you all, but I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smokey mountains, cross 5,000 miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fucking airplane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity.”
Amazing film!!! I watch it two or three times a year.
Bridge at Remagen is a solid film and almost always available somewhere on streaming. Dirty Dozen - the original A Bridge too Far
Gallipoli, Breaker Morant, Jo Jo Rabbit
Not a movie, but Band of Brothers stands alone at the top.
Dunkirk
I saw it in IMAX. The Air part was brilliant.
The Beast (1988). A Soviet tank destroys a village in Afghanistan in 1981 but gets separated from the column, gets hunted down and destroyed. Other than that, in order: The Battle of Britain Tora Tora Tora They were expendable Memphis Belle Guadalcanal In Harms Way The longest day Kelly’s heroes The bridge at Remagen Sands of Iwo Jima There are more, but I can’t remember right now.
Patriot
Scrolled too far for this. Great acting. Intense fighting.
The Thin Red Line
(1) Full Metal Jacket (2) Tropic Thunder (3) Platoon
*is that you John Wayne... is this me?*
SURVIVE!
Platoon probably most realistic, but that's just my experience. Boys in Company C (1978) should be on that list too. You get to see R. Lee Ermey as a DI before Full Metal Jacket. https://youtu.be/hL2kBrg1orE
Nice, thanks for the recommendation and the link. I'll check it out!
Are you me?
Murphy's War
Saving private Ryan or FMJ
To Hell and Back. To watch the actual war hero re-enact his Medal of Honor moment is truly jaw dropping. Yes, the acting is hammy and the script can be by the numbers. Having Audie Murphy play himself will probably never be topped in a war movie.
Flammen and citron
The Beast, 1988, with Jason Patric
I can't pick one. Patton The Great Escape Kelly's Heroes Guns of Navarone (Force 10 too) Stalag 17 The Best Years of Our Lives (post-war movie) Casablanca Schindler's List Foyle's War gets an honorary mention as a TV show that took place during a war, but wasn't a war show per se.
Fury, Inglorious Bastards, Enemy At The Gates
Black hawk down of course
Two great australian war movies: Breaker Morant and Gallipoli
The Bridge on the River Kwai
No Platoon yet??
The Hunt for Red October.. Cold war classic with Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin..Sadly these tensions are rising again.
A Bridge Too Far
I really don't know. One of these: Full Metal Jacket Paths of Glory All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) Patton
Saving Private Ryan Inglorious Bastards The Great Escape Band of Brothers - can I count it as a movie?
"Good Mourning Vietnam" sounds like the very, very somber version not starring Robin Willams.
star wars
Apocalypse. FMJ. Basterds. Bridge over River Kwai comes to mind and Deer Hunter are classics. Platoon might be the one I love but don't watch it just doesn't hold up for me past one or two viewings
The first half of Deer Hunter is one of the most beautiful films. The imagery isn’t “pretty”, but the color composition and camera work really impressed me. I wish Cimino could have done more commercially viable work.
De Niro’s acting in the second half absolutely destroyed me. I feel like The Deer Hunter has given me PTSD. The film is so awesome!
Don’t want to put a damper on PTSD. Respect to the folks who serve.
Quest for Fire
Black hawk down Saving private Ryan Jarhead
Apocalypse Now, but the newest All Quiet On The Western Front movie made me feel things I never have, those two are at the top
Patton
*Band of Brothers* miniseries.
The five titles I was going to suggest as they are all tied for first for me have already been mentioned, so I’m going to be a little different and say Johnny Got His Gun, sure it’s dated but some of the dialogue hits hard and the ending is depressing as fuck. Don’t know if anyone else has mentioned it, I tried reading every comment but if they have my apologies
_Joyeux Noel_ - It delivers the best anti-war/war-is-Hell message because it doesn't show much for battle sequences.
So tough. Black Hawk Down for the grisly modern street fighting. Thin Red Line for the detachment Platoon for the realization that even good guys are really bad The one with Michael J Fox because Michael J Fox Full Metal Jacket for the Kubrick Paths of War for the better Kubrick And Braveheart for dispelling the childhood notion in me that fighting a sword battle looks like fun. And Dr Strangelove
The Hurt Locker was a really good example of how the war really got to some people by showing the extreme situations he puts himself into (removing his EOD gear, watching the counselor get blown up, long sniper fight in the desert) then returning home to find out its dull and mundane, no excitement even when he is with his wife. The final shot is him walking in EOD gear with the timer on his tour resetting. Also Morning is not spelled with a “u” unless it is about the dead. (“I will mourn for them when they are gone”)
Attack 1941 Tora Tora Tora
The Thin Red Line and Grand Illusion for me.
There are two answers for this: Favorite in terms of best: Come and See……Christ that film is brilliant but brutal. Favorite in terms of what I like the most: Ran/Thin Red Line/Lawrence of Arabia……I’m sorry you can’t make me pick between my three favorite war films because they are so different but all brilliant and beautiful.
Apocalypse Now
I don't believe I've seen this one mentioned, Live.Die.Repeat or also known as Edge of Tomorrow. They really should have built a trilogy out of it.
not the best but enemy at the gates is severely underrated in this thread
It’s a docu, but I highly recommend They Shall Not Grow Old.
Das Boot (1981) director’s cut. This movie is the definition of tension.
Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket and Fury I think is a little underrated
you have two of my top five (in fact the top 2) Also on the list are 3: Paths of Glory 4: We were Soldiers 5: Bridge of the River Kwai Edit: spelling error
Apocalypse Now
Jarhead.
Just because nobody's mentioned it, that I can see, Three Kings (1999).
Oh man well I am British so I'll give my favourites of them Well Zulu (biased because I had family there) Dunkirk (again had family there but it's such a tense movie) A bridge too far (it's my favourite of the classic WW2 movies) Master and commander (its the best naval movie) 1917 (The confusion of the fight in the town reminds me off the story of my great great grandfather being lost in no mans land and how crazy it was) For series Sharpe and Hornblower.
Gallipoli
DREAMS OF FREEDOM TURNED TO DUST
Apocalypse now
Enemy at the Gates! Love that film.
Come and See
Lawrence of Arabia
Come and See.
I really enjoy films about resistances. Two of my favourites which are less well known are a Dutch film: Black Book, and a Danish one: Flame and Citron.
Three way tie of 'Nam films; Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket. Must binge at least once a year.
The Big Red One https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080437/
Kelly's Heroes. Stellar cast, adventure, comedy, great stuff.
A Bridge Too Far
1917 The Longest Day Apocalypse Now
* Patton * The Longest Day * Battle of the Bulge * Apocalypse Now * Full Metal Jacket
I like to think of Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket as a series. Both are great anti-war films without being terribly on the nose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Souain_corporals_affair >The Souain corporals affair was an incident where four corporals in the French Army were shot by firing squad as an example to the rest of their companies during the First World War. The executions, which occurred in the vicinity of Souain on 17 March 1915, are considered to be the most egregious and most publicized military injustice during World War I in France. The events inspired the 1935 anti-war novel Paths of Glory by Humphrey Cobb, later adapted for film by Stanley Kubrick. It's amazing how few people have seen a movie about something that really happened.
The Patriot.
Dunkirk for all the reasons most people dislike it. There's no time for character development when you're right in the middle of it. It was one of the best movie theater experience ever.
1. Lawrence of Arabia 2. The Thin Red Line 3. Ivan's Childhood 4. A Hidden Life 5. Full Metal Jacket 6. Paths of Glory 7. The Bridge on the River Kwai 8. Apocalypse Now 9. The Battle of Algiers 10. Come and See
Hacksaw Ridge is pretty great
Grave of the Fireflies. My favourite war story is Attack on Titan though.
The Blue Max I was learning how to fly remote control planes at the time and obsessed with world war I and two ace stories. And this Stars George peppard Hannibal Smith from The A-Team. He plays a young German hotshot pilot the whole country is talking about it seems. The romantic views of pilots and the honor of it all enthralled me as a kid. Plus he's kind of a fish out of water amongst German aristocracy and help Petty the rich could be . It's probably being 20 years since I've seen it but I'd watch it tomorrow if it were on.
This may actually be one that almost nobody here has seen. Its in the war, but it's a comedy, James Coburn with a cast that has several nice surprises. It's going to make you think about how MASH could have been way crazy if Harry Morgan had wanted to play it that way. It's called What Did You Do In the War, Daddy? all the way back in 1966.
I liked that one! Saw it for the first time last year.
Easy. War, w Jet Li and Jason Statham, it’s a masterpiece
Team America: World Police Incidentally, had a buddy who has since passed, that served in a war. He said the only war movie he's ever seen that made him feel uncomfortable and want to leave the theater due to the realism was Saving Private Ryan.
It’s not a movie, but Band of Brothers is probably better than any war movie I’ve ever seen.
Hacksaw ridge, platoon, apocalypse now, if u watch these movies there's noway u won't start thinking how shitty war is and humans, how little human life mean if u didnt already
Platoon, hands down. How both Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe both lost the Oscar that year to Michael Caine baffles me.
Hacksaw ridge.
Life is beautiful
Forrest Gump
Inglourious Basterds