re: Older war movies, which is your favorite?

Combat was an hour-long drama series that ran on ABC from 1962-7. It's sort of the original Band of Brothers. Created by screenwriter and war film specialist Robert Pirosh (Oscar winner for Battleground), Combat follows an infantry squad after D-Day as they go through France.



Top-notch writing and innovative production, including frequent use of handheld cameras to simulate actual battle footage, give it a grittiness seldom seen in network TV before or since. The late, great Vic Morrow stars as the tough, no-nonsense Sergeant Saunders.



A few notable episodes:

"The Glory Among Men" -- One of my favorite episodes. The most hated member of the squad is wounded and trapped out in the open. But the Germans don't finish him off -- instead they leave him alive, hoping to draw out the Americans to rescue him. Should the squad risk their lives for someone they despise?

"Anatomy of a Patrol" -- Trying to get a wounded pilot and valuable reconnaissance film back to HQ, Saunders must match wits with a German sergeant every bit as shrewd as he is. The sergeant is played by a very young James Caan, who speaks some rather impressive German.



"The Bridge At Chalons" -- The squad must guard a surly demolitions expert while he blows a key bridge. The guest star is no less than the great Lee Marvin.

"The Enemy" w/guest star Robert Duvall. Duvall's German accent isn't so hot (though it's better than his English one in The 7% Solution) but otherwise he gives a subtle performance as a demolitions expert who has booby-trapped an entire town in advance of the American army taking it. He is captured by Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) and forced to defuse the bombs he's planted, resulting in a nerve-racking game of cat and mouse, with script and direction taking every possible advantage of the suspenseful premise.



"Survival" -- Directed by Robert Altman, and another of my favorites. Wounded in a fire and separated from the squad, Saunders wanders through enemy territory in a daze. Virtually half the footage has no dialogue, and Altman employs some unorthodox camera angles (shooting into the sun) previously unheard of in TV.

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I do like Anthony Asquith's "Underground" (1928) a great deal

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I remember reading about a semipro short AA made around that time, but I forgot the title... Its supposed to be more cinematic than his usual drawing room comedies

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a fantastical tale of a Nazi invasion of a little British town

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It Happened Here (also known as It Happened Here: The Story of Hitler's England) is a 1964 British black-and-white war film written, produced and directed by Kevin Brownlow [Yes, Kevin Brownlow, the great silent film historian] and Andrew Mollo, who began work on the film as teenagers. The film's largely amateur and independent production took some eight years, using volunteer actors with some support from professional filmmakers.

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Nope

Starship Troopers.

Sands of Iwo Jima


Twelve O'clock High

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the original Midway (1976)

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One of my favorite movies of any genre.

Platoon is almost 40 years old now. I need to watch it again. been some years.

A good basic war movie based on a true story that I first saw in my late teens and loved (and still enjoy) is Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), about the Doolittle raid during WWII:



Won an Oscar (for Best Special Effects)

Another great old war movie, but more dramatic, less action-oriented is The Caine Mutiny(1954):