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re: What World War II films do you consider "essential" viewing?
Posted on 5/14/15 at 8:39 pm to RollTide1987
Posted on 5/14/15 at 8:39 pm to RollTide1987
quote:
I find that approach unique
How is viewing the horrors of war from an existential perspective unique? That has been a hallmark of American war films ever since Vietnam.
1
Posted on 5/14/15 at 8:58 pm to LoveThatMoney
quote:
That has been a hallmark of American war films ever since Vietnam.
So you are saying movies like The Thin Red Line are a dime a dozen? Have you even seen the movie?
Posted on 5/14/15 at 9:01 pm to RollTide1987
WWII happens to be my favorite genre and most of the best movies have been mentioned already.
Midway, Empire of the Sun, Patton and The Pianist are my absolute favorite.
Here's some movies on a less traveled road:
Fortress
Saints and Soldiers (very good; lots of action)
Emperor (Tommy Lee Jones as MacAuthur)
Stalingrad (most probably the best Russian made movie up to now).
Midway, Empire of the Sun, Patton and The Pianist are my absolute favorite.
Here's some movies on a less traveled road:
Fortress
Saints and Soldiers (very good; lots of action)
Emperor (Tommy Lee Jones as MacAuthur)
Stalingrad (most probably the best Russian made movie up to now).
Posted on 5/14/15 at 9:08 pm to adono
Have you seen the 3 part on netflix "Our World War"? Set in WWI (which is rare) by the BBC and really good.
Posted on 5/14/15 at 9:22 pm to RollTide1987
Holocaust, Night Will Fall
Posted on 5/14/15 at 9:35 pm to RollTide1987
Inglorious Bastards,Force 10 From Navarone,Von Ryan's Express...
Posted on 5/14/15 at 9:39 pm to goatmilker
quote:
Battle of the Bulge
This is for good/great movies not for the worst. Battle of the Bulge is laughably bad on so many levels, really almost too many to list.
Posted on 5/14/15 at 9:51 pm to Tackle74
quote:I just watched this a few weeks ago. It is almost completely inaccurate historically (so inaccurate that ex-President Eisenhower actually held a press conference to denounce it) and it was shot mostly in the desert in Spain. So it not only is phony, but it looks phony too.
This is for good/great movies not for the worst. Battle of the Bulge is laughably bad on so many levels, really almost too many to list.
But as a popcorn action movie you could do worse. It has a great hissable villain in Robert Shaw, who has a classic scene where he has to punish a small boy who has fired a gun at the Germans, and the boy's father begs for mercy. And as far as I know, BOTB contains the only feature film depiction of the Malmedy Massacre.
Posted on 5/14/15 at 10:01 pm to Kafka
The Imitation Game
Posted on 5/14/15 at 10:42 pm to RollTide1987
Valkyrie needs to be on the list
Posted on 5/14/15 at 11:48 pm to RollTide1987
Caine Mutiny.
To Hell and Back.
To Hell and Back.
Posted on 5/14/15 at 11:56 pm to mikrit54
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Posted on 5/15/15 at 12:52 am to Tubedog13
I would like to add Army of Shadows, about the French Resistance against the German occupation. Also, this may be debatable but I would include The Great Dictator.
Posted on 5/15/15 at 1:55 am to RollTide1987
Overrated: Patton. Turned a fascinating, complicated man into a 'Murica cartoon character for a nation that wanted to feel good about itself in the post-vietnam era.
Also overrated: In Harm's Way, Dirty Dozen, just about every John Wayne WWII movie with the exception of They Were Expendable. People like shoot 'em ups, but they aren't serious films. In Harm's Way in particular is just an awful movie, with a climactic battle scene of what are clearly model ships sailing on a flooded soundstage. In general, the more machine gun fire in a war movie, the less actual story it has.
Worth seeing:
12 O'Clock High
Best Years of Our Lives
Stalag 17
Come And See
Empire Of The Sun
Das Boot
Saboteur
The Cruel Sea
Conspiracy
The Americanization of Emily
King Rat
The Third Man. Postwar, but if Judgement at Nuremberg counts, this one should, too.
There was also an excellent BBC/PBS miniseries about the Battle of Britain called Piece of Cake.
Also overrated: In Harm's Way, Dirty Dozen, just about every John Wayne WWII movie with the exception of They Were Expendable. People like shoot 'em ups, but they aren't serious films. In Harm's Way in particular is just an awful movie, with a climactic battle scene of what are clearly model ships sailing on a flooded soundstage. In general, the more machine gun fire in a war movie, the less actual story it has.
Worth seeing:
12 O'Clock High
Best Years of Our Lives
Stalag 17
Come And See
Empire Of The Sun
Das Boot
Saboteur
The Cruel Sea
Conspiracy
The Americanization of Emily
King Rat
The Third Man. Postwar, but if Judgement at Nuremberg counts, this one should, too.
There was also an excellent BBC/PBS miniseries about the Battle of Britain called Piece of Cake.
Posted on 5/15/15 at 5:02 am to Jim Rockford
Overrated: Patton. Turned a fascinating, complicated man into a 'Murica cartoon character for a nation that wanted to feel good about itself in the post-vietnam era.
As much as I love Patton, I do tend to agree. If that makes sense.
As much as I love Patton, I do tend to agree. If that makes sense.
Posted on 5/15/15 at 5:14 am to SoFla Tideroller
Not "essential" WWII-movie viewing, as it is essentially a comedy, but Mister Roberts is a must-see for any movie fan.
Posted on 5/15/15 at 5:50 am to SoFla Tideroller
Good call. I forgot about that one, and close to reality for many who served in WWII. I researched the war diary of the ship one of my GF's relatives served on. Many entries said nothing but "steaming as before," or "anchored as before," for days on end. Even for a ship in a war zone, days when nothing happened far outnumbered days when something did happen. The tedium must have been mind numbing.
Posted on 5/15/15 at 6:59 am to tigermeat
quote:
Stalag 17
Criminal omission on my part. This is the first DVD I ever purchased - bought it with the DVD player at the Fort Polk PX.
Posted on 5/15/15 at 7:06 am to Jim Rockford
quote:
Overrated: Patton.
Meh. The movie is incredible on a number of levels. It has some of the best acting in a war film, period.
quote:
Turned a fascinating, complicated man into a 'Murica cartoon character for a nation that wanted to feel good about itself in the post-vietnam era.
It tried to. It tried to capture an anti-war sentiment, but, instead, made Patton a hero to a new generation of Americans (like me).
And the complexity is there. I know the movie is long. I know the tanks are wrong. I know that Scott is like half a foot taller than Patton and had a much deeper voice. I get all of that.
But, his love for his men, his drive for glory, his complex relationship with Ike, Bradley, Smith, the press - his intolerance for certain weaknesses in others, belief in reincarnation, poetry, and it goes on an on - all of that comes out. I think it is one of the best biographical films ever made AND one of the best operational level war films of all time.
This post was edited on 5/15/15 at 7:07 am
Posted on 5/15/15 at 7:43 am to RollTide1987
Patton, Schindler's List and Torah Torah Torah are the top 3 IMO
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