re: Older war movies, which is your favorite?

BTW, adding The Blue Max if it hasn't already been mentioned.

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Just the fact they used 10s of thousands of Soviet soldiers as extras makes it look so much better than modern CGI fests.

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I think its an amazing piece of cinema....but, I like epics (made on the ground) not by a nerd in a studio. The complaints about this film seem silly now....and if reviewers had a crystal ball into the CGI future, they would've praised Waterloo.

Objective Burma with Errol Flynn

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Is it overdubbed in English or subtitles?

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Judge for yourself



The Soviet govt put $100M into this; that would be like a billion today? And even that doesn't really cover all the soldiers used as extras.

Here is a doc on the film's production.

The battle scenes are indeed spectacular. The rest of the film is rather cold. Those interested in the story might do better w/the 1956 version (A. Hepburn) or, if you have 26 hours to spare, the 1972 BBC TV series w/Anthony Hopkins

Wake Island was the first WWII movie made in the US I believe.

Unbelievable true story that needs to be remade

Only ones I can think of that hasn't been mentioned are

Von Ryan's Express (1965)
JustWatch Rent or buy on Prime, Microsoft Store or Apple.

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Von Ryan's Express stars Frank Sinatra as a POW colonel who leads a daring escape from WWII Italy by taking over a freight train, but he has to win over the British soldiers he finds himself commanding.

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The Train (1965)
JustWatch Free on Pluto. Rent or buy on Prime, Microsoft Store or Apple.

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As the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim is desperate to take all of France's greatest paintings to Germany. He manages to secure a train to transport the valuable art works even as the chaos of retreat descends upon them. The French resistance however wants to stop them from stealing their national treasures but have received orders from London that they are not to be destroyed. The station master, Labiche, is tasked with scheduling the train and making it all happen smoothly but he is also part of a dwindling group of resistance fighters tasked with preventing the theft. He and others stage an elaborate ruse to keep the train from ever leaving French territory.

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The Sand Pebbles (1966)
JustWatch Free with Fubo subscription. Rent or buy on Prime, Microsoft Store or Apple.

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Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.

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The Blue Max (1966)
JustWatch Rent or buy on Prime, Microsoft Store or Apple.

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A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.

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They Were Expendable (1945) JustWatch ent or buy on Prime, Microsoft Store or Apple..

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After a demonstration of new PT boats, navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.

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Not a combat movie but "The Hill" has some great character actors ( and Connery)

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The cast of A Bridge Too Far makes it a must watch.

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I need to rewatch this and The Longest Day just for the casts of each.

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The Sand Pebbles (1966)

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I have this in the cue to watch I’ve never seen it, despite being a big Steve McQueen fan.

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The Bridge on the River Kwai

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Worth seeing for the performances of Alec Guinness and William Holden alone.

My top 4 classic (I'm setting a break point at 1979) war films are, in no particular order:

1. Lawrence of Arabia
2. The Longest Day
3. Patton
4. A Bridge Too Far

Other war/war-related films that are also on my short list of great films to watch over and over:

1. Casablanca
2. The Best Years of Our Lives
3. Mr. Roberts
4. The Caine Mutiny
5. Stalag 17
6. The Great Escape
7. The Dirty Dozen
8. Kelly's Heroes
9. Catch-22
10. M*A*S*H
11. Apocalypse Now! (I prefer Redux)
12. The Boys in Company C

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Tora Tora Tora

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Excellent choice since it gives the viewer a perspective of both the Japanese and American sides of Pearl Harbor.

I also like the original version of "Midway".