Best war movie.

[Raenelle]

Poll question: Best war movie.

[LynneSin]

1. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Geez, this is the best war movie out there!!!!! A close second would be Full Metal Jacket.

Kubrick explained war better than anyone I know.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. What LynneSin said... n/t

[Raenelle]

7. Doh!

:hippie:

[LynneSin]

15. I think your list is those that are actually War - War Movies

Where many of us who watch War Movies prefer those that make a statement against the horrors of war. Kubrick was probably the master of this with 3 such movies: Dr. Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket and Path to Glory. Probably the first major anti-war movie was 'All Quiet on the Western Front'. MASH took a commical look at the horrors of war.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

41. It's "Paths of Glory"

but I quibble. :) http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/1999/03/cov_09feature2.html

[Emboldened Chimp]

33. Not a war movie

It's a satire on the Cold War, but not a bona fide war flick. Great movie, though.

[kybob]

47. since no one mentioned my favorite....................................

"ALLS QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT" the 1930's version.

[curlyred]

57. no fighting in the War Room!

We have a meeting room at my company called the War Room.

[ixion]

2. Dr. Stranglelove or Full Metal Jacket...

Kubrick is one of the best of all time, IMHO.

[peekaloo]

Paths of Glory

Kubrick's finest anti-war statement.

[DemNoir]

40. You Bet

Its Paths of Glory for sure

[Scurrilous]

48. Paths of Glory....

..gets my vote also. Powerful film. :thumbsup:

[Nazgul35]

3. M.A.S.H!!!!!!!!

How could you have forgotten MASH for crying out loud!!!!

[jenm]

65. mash yes

I'm with you

[Norbert]

4. The Big Red One

This is about the 1st Infantry in World War 2. This is the best Lee Marvin movie I ever saw and I like many of his movies.

[BigMcLargehuge]

21. Based on the real life adventures of

the director as a member of the 1st Infanty Division.

Love the end with Hamill and Marvin in the crematoria. Very powerful.

[Norbert]

28. Yes! Very Powerful

The encounter with the Sargent (Marvin) and the young boy was very poignient.

[PurityOfEssence]

103. Read Sam Fuller's Autobiography "The Third Face"

This is a pip. It's an inspiration for all progressives, human beings and working people. It's also an eye-opener for women to read the thoughts of a hardscrabble manly man--in the true sense--who is a truly decent and warm human being. This is one of the best books I've read in the last few years; it's a story of real life.

[displacedtexan]

29. absoluteley!

heartbreaking!

[Samuraimad]

87. that was lame!

Time could have been better spent watching an apple brown.

[proud patriot]

6. Shoot I forgot the name of it but Teli savalis , clint eastwood,

Donald Sutherland are in it and they end up Stealing Gold ..

Great Flick

[Raenelle]

9. Reminds me that I also liked "Three Kings"

n/t

[BurtWorm]

12. That was a great movie!

The script is online somewhere too. Interestingly, it was supposed to have a bleaker ending, but I think Russell got talked out of it.

[LynneSin]

16. Another great Anti-War movie

:bounce:

[displacedvermoter]

10. Kelly's Heroes

Funny movie, a bit over the top, but great cast.

Speaking of great casts, my favorite has always been The Longest Day (Fonda, Mitchum, the Duke, Eddie Albert, Red Buttons, Burton, Peter Lawford, you friggin' name it!)

And Tora, Tora, Tora, as well!

[HawkerHurricane]

96. The Longest Day

Starring every Male star in Hollywood
And
John Wayne.

The final credits, with the list of performers, is incredible...with a final 'and John Wayne' as the topper.

[Dead_Parrot]

11. Kelly's Heroes

n/t

[proud patriot]

14. Thanks displacedvermonter and Dead_Parrot

It slipped my mind :hi:

[Richardo]

17. Kelly's Heroes -- also with Don Rickles, Carroll O'Connor...

...Gavin McLeod(!)...

Sutherland (Oddball): "Don't give me those negative waves, baby...."

[frylock]

39. kelly's heroes.

[HawkerHurricane]

95. Kelly's Heroes

Clint Eastwood was Kelly, a busted down Lt. who discovers that just behind enemy lines, the Germans have Billions in gold...And leads his unit to get it.
It had Telly Savalis as Big Joe, the Sargent of the unit...
Donald Sutherland as Oddball, a tank commander
And Don Rickles as Crapgame, a supply sargent.
And the first realistic looking Tiger Tanks in any movie. (They were plywood frames over Russian T-34 hulls, but looked realer than the usual American M-48's pretending to be German tanks)

[sasquatch]

101. Ditto on Kelly's Heroes

[BurtWorm]

8. Paths of Glory

About World War I, and how the generals casually risk the lives of their men. By Stanley Kubrick, with Kirk Douglas as a French army officer and defendant of a group of insubordinate soldiers during a court martial.

[BigMcLargehuge]

13. another vote for Paths of Glory here!!!

shame that didn't make the list.

[BurtWorm]

22. That's three of us here so far.

:hi:

[BigMcLargehuge]

18. Other's that could have made the poll

The Big Red One
The Dirty Dozen
All Quiet on the Western Front
Cross of Iron
The Blue Max
Hamburger Hill
Uncommon Valor (not truly a war movie... but close enough)
Man Behind the Sun
Johnny Got his Gun
The Dawn Patrol
Gallipoli

[chiburb]

19. Das Boot... n/t

.

[meatloaf]

20. Don't know if there is a single one.

None of them can do 'war' justice.

Saving Private Ryan captured several elements, from absolute carnage to the sheer insanity of storming a beachhead, and moments of calm sanity, violently interupted by 'get him before he gets you.

Hamburger Hill captures a certain type of warfare, the innocence of boys fighting old men's wars, the senseless waste of it all.

We Were Soldiers harkens back to old sentimental war movies but doesn't short change the esprit de corps that can and does still exist in many military units, while still revealing the senseless waste.

HBO's Band of Brothers does an excellent job of relating the long term toll of prolonged exposure to combat, and the ways in which we process things just to survive.

Schindler's List reveals the attrocities hidden by war.

Countless others need to be mentioned here, but I've yet to see the definitive war movie.

[Zero Gravitas]

23. Lawrence of Arabia

[regnaD kciN]

58. Same here...

...or, if it had to be a film about an American war, The Deer Hunter.

[Forkboy]

24. Stalingrad or Das Boot

[LionInWinter]

38. Stalingrad

Absolutely. I could't get that film out of my head for days after seeing it in the theater in Austin.

[Forkboy]

51. Stalingrad was a truly disturbing film

after I watched it I just sat there feeling like crap for about 3 hours.The movie hits hard.

[denverbill]

56. OK, now I'm intrigued.

I've never heard of that movie. When did it come out and where was it made? Why so depressing?

Care to give a brief synopsis?

[Kellanved]

69. OK

The film is rather new (92) and was made by the "Das Boot" team. Yes, that makes it a German movie.

It is about a German squad (in Stalingrad / on it's way there) slowly comprehending the reality of the war and, as the struggle for food and warmth gets more important than fighting the Russians, the inhumanity of their own countrymen, officers and comrades.


The parallels to "All Quiet on the Western Front" aren't coincidences.

[4_Legs_Good]

25. The Thin Red Line

Certainly one of the best. *WAY* better (IMO) than SPR.

AN is best of those listed, though, IMO

david

Kucinich 2004

Arianna YES
Recall No

[McDiggy]

70. Maybe "Malick's Meditation"

I don't even think The Thin Red Line should really be considered a war film. I mean this in a good way.

[Samuraimad]

88. hear hear

very moving and absorbing

[PurityOfEssence]

102. Great Picture, glad to hear y'all

In all fairness, you can't really compare it with Saving Private Ryan; that one was a movie, whereas this one is a film. That wasn't meant in too snotty a way, actually, it was meant as a distinction between the types of experiences: a movieish movie follows a pattern with set expectations and a story that has enough adherence to popular convention to invite the viewer without too much trouble. A film is anything that doesn't fall into this, be it a character study, or any number of other things.

This movie is a very fragmented tale of the interchangeability of individuals in the maelstrom of war. Themes of redemption and duty intertwine, as do loneliness and friendship. It's derided as slow and obtuse, yet it crackles with the nuances of individuals in moments of crisis. The resolute duty of Lt. Col. Tall (Nolte) is a whopper of a performance, seeking glory, yet caring devoutly for his men and trying to do things the right way in a sticky situation. His nobility of a somewhat failed man who is in no way a failure on a human level is beautiful.

The character of Sgt. Walsh (Penn) is one that will deeply resonate if you've ever spent much time in intimate leadership positions when not inherently an extrovert. Stunning performances abound, with the only clunker on a performance level being Travolta--regrettably at the beginning--while sporting a truly bad mustache.

Certainly an extraordinary and underappreciated film, but not what I'd call the best war movie. I'm saying "Das Boot" just for sake of argument. I also like lots of movieish movies like "The Blue Max" and "Gallipoli". You could hardly get a more "war movieish" movie than "Gallipoli". Spectacles are lots of fun, too, like "Waterloo" and "Zulu".

[rucky]

26. The Dirty Dozen...

...also The Train (burt lanchaster)

[Japhy_Ryder]

27. Catch-22

Book is better, but the movie is still good.

[bicentennial_baby]

30. Das Boot

Original Director's Cut

[BiggJawn]

55. 3rd vote for "Das Boot"...

This is No Shit, now, Ol' BiggJawn is as crusty as the crustiest of 'em, but I cried at the end of "Das Boot"...

[FloridaJudy]

79. "Das Boot"

I clawed the armrest of my theatre seat to shreads during the scene in which the sub dives to dangerous depths, and you hear the sound of metal bending under stress...

It was no help whatsoever to remind myself "you're Jewish. Those poor adolescents trapped in a tin can about to be crushed to jelly are the BAD guys!"

Making me really care about what happened to those men is what makes this a great movie

[Kathy in Cambridge]

31. Full Metal Jacket, The Grand Illusion, All Quiet on the Western Front

Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket

The Grand Illusion: Jean Renoir's masterpiece about WWI from the 1930s

AQOTWF: Also from around 1930

[NashVegas]

32. Band of Brothers

Okay, it would be a really really really really long movie.

But nothing else committed to film has ever brought war home in the way this series does.

[RetroLounge]

64. I agree. Band of Brothers. One of the best.

Okay, 10 of the best (episodes) really.

I watched the videos over a 6 week period. Very intense...

[tokenlib]

104. We need a Band of Brothers directors cut...

According to the word on the HBO discussion forums during the initial broadcasts...They shot a lot more film than they actually used. And a lot of the stuff that was cut was good stuff. I keep hoping for a directors cut with a lot of the extra footage.

Since Das Boot was originally a mini-series--I think we can include Band of Brothers as a great film about the horror of war.

[Emboldened Chimp]

34. Platoon

Such an emotionally gripping film, mainly because it's so personal for Oliver Stone. Samuel Barber's "Adagio For Strings" is truly heartbreaking. I've seen it a dozen times, and it still makes me cry (and I'm a guy, dammit! Movies never make me cry!)

[Dogmudgeon]

35. Starship Troopers

A war movie AND a satire at the same time.

One that's more relevant to 2003 than to the time it was released, which was 1997.

--bkl

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

89. SS Troopers was better satire.

The combat scenes were total bullshit.

[HawkerHurricane]

97. Let's not forget

How they mangled the novel...

Juan Rico was from the Phillipines, not Buenos Aires. He spoke Tagalog, for pete's sake.

His friend, Carl, was killed on Pluto doing electronics research.

He never dated Carmen.

'Dizzy' Flores was a guy, and killed early in the book.

His father was not at Buenos Aires when it was nuked, and later signed up himself.

His history teacher was Lt. Col. Dubois, a retired officer.

A good portion of the book talks about people sacrificing themselves for the good of the group, the movie has a officer murder one of his men without even attempting to save him.

On and on and on. The director never read the whole book; the script was cobbled together by gluing on the names from the book vice making following the actual story.

[section321]

36. The Longest Day...

My favorite scene is when they are trying to take a casino by the waterfront.

The scene starts close in on one platoon that is trying to make there way to a bridge. The casino is on the other side of the bridge. There is fighting every, and the Nazis are firing from the casino.

As they break for the bridge the camera starts to pull back and you see fighting everywhere. The camera continues to pull back and you see more and more and more fighting.

The scene gives me the impression of all these "little" fights summing up to the whole battle. And this is just one part of the invasion of Normandy.

Great flick!

Second choice would be Patton, because I am fascinated by him. Truly one of America's greatest generals of all time. A mean hardass, but his philosophy was: The sooner we get to Berlin, the sooner Americans stop dying. Also, never asked his troops to do something he wouldn't do himself. He was usually very close to the front.

[rene moon]

37. The Dirty Dozen

I think it is a great war film.

[WillyT]

42. In Harms Way !!!

Directed by Otto Preminger. Excellent!

[NewYorkerfromMass]

43. SO I'm the only one who'd pick "The Deer Hunter"?

I can't believe that! One of the first movies I openly cried at, and a great cast- Walken, DeNiro, Streep. C'MON!

[regnaD kciN]

59. No...

See my post 58, above.

[soleft]

44. Galipoli

Back when Mel was swell

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

45. Battleground (1949)

A old, but pretty well-written, film about the Battle of the Bulge.

[chaumont58]

67. William Wellman directed, a fighter pilot vet of WW one

*

[electricmonk]

73. One of my faves of all time

Overlooked everytime a discussion of war movies comes up anywhere. 100 times better than The Battle of the Bulge movie. You actually feel like a part of the unit while watching it.

[tokenlib]

105. Good movie...

A classic for sure.

[dolo amber]

46. Heh...

Whoever guesses which one I picked wins fudge!! :P

[ronzo]

49. Gettysburg / iffy, i know....

Sure, it was a Turner miniseries, but it was a good one.

[catpower2000]

50. Full Metal Jacket! Kubrick's finest nt

[jus_the_facts]

80. 1....2.....3.....4......I.....love....the Marine Corps.......

....Private Joker...do you love the Virgin Mary? :evilgrin:

[kodi]

52. how quickly we forget the lessons of war "all quiet on the western front"

that film released in 1931 was a masterpiece and in reflection of what occurred the following decade and a half makes it all the more important a lesson for humanity and a tragedy of the human condition.

[maveric]

53. Enemy at the Gates.

The first 15 minutes were breathtakingly graphic(crossing of the Volga into Stalingrad),and how they showed the other war, the propaganda war,was interesting as well as historically correct.
Ed Harris, Jude Law and Ron Pearlman played great roles.

[leftofthedial]

54. Das Boot

and All Quiet on the Western Front

both German interestingly.

[chaumont58]

60. John Wayne's Green Berets!

Joke!
Paths of Glory is awfully good, but I wish they all could have the realism of Saving Private Ryan, not I have first hand experience. I grew up in the late 40s and 50s, and so many of so called war movies from those days were nothing but propaganda, John Wayne bullshit where wounds never bled much, and those that had to die did so without pain.

[Norbert]

83. Don't forget, in the Green Beret Movie

The sun sets in the East. That was a big blunder.

[Nazgul35]

61. How's about Die Brucke....

It a German anti-war film (circa 1950s) that show the story of five youg germans asked to guard a bridge at the end of the war...when things were really bad for germany....

It takes your breath away...truely moving!!


Paths of Glory is my favorite Kirk Douglas film....and the 1930s version of All Quiet is stunning...

[Duncan Grant]

62. Full Metal Jacket -- hands down!

Now, if you're looking for the old fashion John Wayne thing...try Otto Preminger's "In Harm's Way".

[SoCalDem]

63. Battle Cry..with Aldo Ray..

I always watch that one when it's on late at night.. and of course Best Years of Our Lives is a favorite too:(

and The Twenty Fifth Hour.. The one with Anthony Quinn.. that is the quintessential wwII movie for me.. Too bad it was not one of his more popular ones...They never show it.. I want it on DVD or VHS and cannot find it :(

[fishnfla]

66. Breaker Morant

Subject matter: the Boer War.

made for TV: "Too Late the Hero"

[Kolesar]

84. I did not know they made a TV version.

The book was "Scapegoats of the Empire". I remember taking it out years ago.

[FloridaJudy]

68. "Go Tell the Spartans"

This one sank without a trace in American movie theatres. Too depressing. Insufficiently patriotic.

I saw it in Europe, with Portuguese subtitles. It devastated me. I'd cared for *many* wounded Viet-Nam veterans during my nurse's training (despite the Right Wing slur, many of us anti-war activists did NOT spit on Viet-Nam Vets: we were too busy trying to put the broken pieces of those traumatized teen-agers back together during our working hours).

It's a tribute to the courage of the American grunt, and a condemnation of the folly of American foreign policy. It made me cry. It confirmed just how horrible that war must have been to enlisted men.

It deserved a large audience.

It never got it. Why am I not surprised?

[electricmonk]

76. Love that movie

Burt Lancaster was awesome in it as the cynical co. I used to have it on tape but loaned it to somebody and never got it back and haven't seen it since. :mad:

My favorite Vietnam movie that always gets overlooked is A Rumor of War. It's based on one of the best books to come out of the Vietnam War and is awesome.

[DemoTex]

71. Hamburger Hill

The excellent film based on the book about the battle for Ap Bai mountain in the A Shau (The Valley of the Shadow of Death) in 1969. This battle inspired Ted Kennedy to give an eloquent anti-war speech to the US Senate. The insanity of Hamburger Hill may well have been a pivot point, like the Nixon/Kissinger invasion of Cambodia a year later, for the US anti-war movement.

[ewagner]

72. What Price Glory?

James Cagney and Dan Daley. WWI scenario.

[gp]

74. Haven't seen The Pianist and the Killing Fields mentioned yet...

both very good

[Oracle]

75. Coming Home and Johnny Got His Gun...

Both anti-war movies.

[Rhiannon12866]

77. Sink the Bismarck! n/t

[Catshrink]

78. Does Casablanca count?

It was a story set in wartime. I love that movie.

"And what if you track down these men and kill them? What if you murdered all of us? From every corner of Europe hundreds, thousands would rise to take our places. Even Nazis can't kill that fast."

[Rhiannon12866]

85. I would certainly think so, even though they don't show the

traditional battle scenes. Casablanca was more a behind-the-scenes type of war film. Great movie!:-)

[Catshrink]

90. Yep... It's about what happens to civilians during war n/t

[bobthedrummer]

81. The Anderson Platoon-documentary

n/t

[Unknown Known]

82. Das Boot

Stupendous film! And please watch it with subtitles - not dubbed.

[Rhiannon12866]

94. I did especially like this one!

I grew up watching war movies with my dad and I rented this one for him and we watched it together. He enjoyed it immensely and that made me happy. Thanks for bringing back a nice memory for me!:-)

And yes... it was the version with subtitles!:-)

[TheZoo]

86. "Why didn't their Radar warn them...?"

From Marie O8)

I just watched the REAL (IMHO) movie about Pearl Harbor - "Tora! Tora! Tora!" made in 1970.

When Marie and I watched it, as the Japanese start their attack, the camera pans over the harbor. In the background was the "modern" Navy - complete with radar towers.

Marie looks at me and says "With all those ships back there, why didn't the radar warn them of the attack?"

(Marie was a blonde)

Also, I watched "A Bridge Too Far" last night - not great, but pretty good in it's own right.

[HawkerHurricane]

98. Hehe

You can also see modern ships in the backround of Pearl Harbor...with as much computer generated special effects as they used, couldn't they have covered up the modern era Spruance Class destroyers?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

91. Besides saving Private Ryan....

Hamburger Hill and We Were Soldiers are my two favorites.

The characters in Hamburger Hill were so similar to those I had served in the Army with it was unreal.

As one who grew up in a military family during the Vietnam War I think "We Were Soldiers" portrayed the anxiety of those families who had loved ones in the conflict really well.

[Fatima]

92. The Sand Pebbles and 12 O'Clock High

are tied as my all-time favorites

and as others have mentioned, Das Boot, Lawrence of Arabia, MASH, and Catch-22 are all wonderful.

My tastes run to the "anti" war themes.

[Aidoneus]

93. Johnny Got His Gun

.

[HawkerHurricane]

99. Midway

ok, I'm biased; it's my favorite battle. But...
It follows the actual battle pretty closely (except for deleting the ineffective Air Force attacks that helped convice the Japanese to launch a second strike at Midway).
The love story added in isn't bad, either. Hokey, but it adds in a little of the Japanese-American detentions.

[PurityOfEssence]

107. Are you kidding? They could have at least admitted we lost a carrier too.

You're letting your interests cloud your judgement.

Terrible acting and a great bad moment of makeup: if you look in some of the operations rooms scenes, you can see all of the guys with these obvious, identical, perfectly rectangular sponge marks down the back to simulate sweat. It's up there with the bad beards in "Gettysburg" for amateurish moments.

They don't even admit that the Yorktown was sunk. Okay, it actually foundered a couple of days (I think it was two, and I'm too tired to fact-check now) after the battle, but it was from hits sustained in the battle and torpedoing while being assisted.

Besides being clunky, it's just ridiculous jingoism: hell, we beat the snot out of them and sank four of their front-rank fleet carriers, all that were there; we could at least admit that we got a bit roughed up in the process...

[Capn Sunshine]

100. SALVADOR

Not officially a "war" movie, yet the war was the force behind everyones lives . Pretty close to what it is. It was MY war.

"Three Kings" was interesting take on Gulf War 1

[tokenlib]

106. A Bridge Too Far...

Gets across the point of what happens when a plan gets set in motion and cannot be stopped...even when it should be.
Also the takeoff scene with all the C-47's taking off is awesome.

[Nikia]

108. Black Hawk Down

It was actually about real combat. I felt that it was impressive in that. Of the lighter, less intense combat movies, Good Morning Vietnam.

[rppper]

109. "DAS BOOT"

real war movies???.....try the WW2 german submarine movie "das boot", in english or sub-titled...the most gripping sea story i have ever watched.....