Good war movies & what you like about 'em

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Help Me Remember

The original "Tears In The Sun" was released in the '60s starring a new actor named Jim Brown. He had just recently left the NFL to start his acting career. It was set in the Congo during the Mau-Mau up-rising but they were called "Simbas" if I recall correctly. His character died as he was setting in a boxcar and got bayoneted from behind.

There was a war movie from the early '50s about the Battle of the Bulge with James Whitmore as a cigar chewing sargeant. It is always on AMC around Veteran's Day. Does anybody remember the name of that picture show?

I like "Midway" also. "Tobruk" with Rock Hudson.
 
The Whitmore movie you are referring to is Battleground filmed in 1949. He was also good as Sgt Mac in Battle Cry.
 
i admit i have not seen this movie all the way thru,"Ride With The Devil" which is about the american civil war on the kansas missouri border. i checked imdb,and there was enough bitter invective on the boards to prove it hit a nerve. i will see it,but what caught my eyewas Bloody Bill and the rest of the "bushwhackers" costumes were very authentic as was their tack.
 
My favorites are the ones made during the war or just a few years after. Wake Island, Guatalal Cannal Diary, Go For Broke are some of the ones I can think of now.
Just imagine how The War On Terror would inspire us if Hollywood made a film like those made in the 40s about WW2:what: Yeah, right never happpen.
 
definitely "The hunt for red october" kick ass movie.
though i did like forrest gump's war scenes :rolleyes:
 
I agree with a previous threader, 'Sahara' is an EXCELLENT film..recommended...also the Navajo code talkers is a great story to be told but sadly was wasted on that junk movie..'Windtalkers'...ought to be redone on a more sensible screenplay and without dipstick Nick Cage:p
 
The Longest day
A bridge to far
Patton
Battle of the Bulge
Tora, Tora, Tora,
and on, and on. I love most of the WWII movies
 
An exceptionally good Korean War movie is 'Pork Chop Hill'..stayed unusually close to the historical facts....
 
Tora Tora Tora is still a favorite of mine..the P-40 has been a favorite warbird of mine since I was in grammar school and the sequence of the two pilots(Welch & Taylor)attacking the Japanese formation is still one of my favorite aerial scenes(and shown witrh real planes not illusionary computer junk)..far, far better than that awful 'Pearl Harbor'.....PUKE!!!!
 
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i will join others in recommending "Go Tell the Spartans". it may be the consumate viet nam movie.
 
Flags of Our Father's is good. I am priveleged to know two Iwo Jima veterans personally.

I have heard that Eastwood and Speilberg are going to do a movie about Iwo from the Japanese perspective.
 
I can't believe no one has said...

The Patriot

By far the best war movie I have seen...Great story...and Great acting!!

Another great war movie is "The Great Escape" (not much gun play in it, but good movie anyway)


And if you do care if it is a fantsy war "The Lord of the Rings" has great war action in it (again not much guns in it either) :D
 
If you liked GO TELL THE SPARTANS then read

the book that is from. It is called INCIDENT AT MUC WA I believe or something close to that.
I thought SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was extremely good and someone above said the idea of the movie was bad or something to that effect....well the part about that soldier having three siblings killed in the war is essentially from a real historical incident of a family that lost two brothers I believe and the government was worried about the third one dying. So, the basic idea was based on history. Any other movies I would recommend have already been mentioned and ones I have known are critics' choices, but have not seen, are listed above at least once. One that is not mentioned that I think was good was a black and white from the early 60s, THE VICTORS about WW2. I recommend that one.
 
+1 on The Great Raid. A very inspiring true story of how the worst in times can bring out the best in people, especially the American soldier/sailor/airman/Marine/Guardsman.

Of course, I'm biased with my special interest in the War in the Southwest Pacific...
 
Sure was.
He was the one tossing grenades into the ventilator shafts at the end of the raid, when he was shot in the back.
Only Lee Marvin, Charles Bronsen, and the Marvin's second in command (forget his name) made it back. But Sutherland was the last one killed.
MMMmmm, seems I have seen that movie a couple of times:D
 
Thanks McCall!

So the movie starring Jim Brown was "Dark In The Sun". I was 14 years old in 1968. How could I forget Yvette Mimieaux in that flick? She was the hottest starlett to me back then since Ann Margaret or Annette Funicello. Sorry for straying off topic.

The movie "Battleground" is one of my favorite WWII flicks. The actors remind me of my mom's uncles and cousins who served back then and I eagerly listened to as a youngster when they discussed the war. Sadly, they are all gone now.

Has anyone mentioned "The Bridges Of Toko-Ri"?

Also, "The Blue Max"?

I also remember an old movie titled "The Lafayette Escadrille" that had another actor who went on to stardom. The guy who made the greatest movie of 1971! "Billy Jack"!

Honorable mention: "Major Dundee", "The Wild Bunch", "The Professionals"

Anybody remember these movies?
 
Das Boot...The facinating part is that the book's author was indeed a correspondent in the war, and the major occurences were true accounts of events that actually happened. Not to the same boat, of course, but for example, the part of the story about nearly sinking in the Straight of Gibralter actually happened to Jochen Mohr and the crew of the U-124.

The Cruel Sea...Does a good job of depicting the misery of life in a small ship in winter seas. Denholm Elliot looks about 30 years old...

Rough Riders...Hundreds of Krags, Winchester '95s, Colt & Maxim machine guns, Gatlings, and even a couple 1.5-inch Hotchkiss rotary cannon! All wrapped around a great story.
 
Almost forgot about one particularly good WW-II movie! It was the "Eight iron men", with Lee Marvin. Not a whole lot of combat action, but it portrayed the "typical" G.I.'s of that war. Also the typical Lee Marvin "tough guy" in the ending scene, as the squad moves out of the bombed-out house they had called "home" (I'll spoil it for you: Marvin takes one last look around before going outside, and defiantly spits on the ground.)
 
Band of Brothers gets my top spot, by a lot.


Black Hawk Down. One of my favorite movies, not just war movie. What I liked best is that it didn't really have a "movie plot". There was no dramatic plot element like "hero gets the girl" or "hero saves a little boy" etc. It was just running, shooting, screaming, and explosions for an hour and half. Like a real war. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I have heard that it gets pretty close to the mark for showing realistic urban combat.

Saving Private Ryan. All those who say the ending was unrealistic...the Rangers got their @--es kicked. They held out for about 15 minutes, but if you watch it again, most of them die, and they only end up getting saved by the airplanes and reinforcements.
 
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