War Films?

[Monsieur Remings]

Das Boot - exceptional, and needs no introduction...I think the series is better.
Apocalypse Now - although it has other dimensions, this film is truly all about war, perhaps more than a lot.
Glory - cheesy in places but well worth it for the night before the big battle, where the 54th have a sing-song and a last word to each other.
Zulu - 'Do carry on with your mud pies!'
Operation Daybreak - about the assassination of Reinhardt Heydrich in Prague and the subsequent hounding down of the resistance men.

 

[AndyRM]

Not sure I've seen The Enemy Below mentioned yet.

Bit of a daft ending, but considering when it was made (1957) it's an impressive cinematic achievement.

 

[Fab Foodie]

The Cruel Sea gets my vote.

Absolutely! A perennial 'favourite film' in my book.

 

[djmc]

Indigènes about French north African troops is very good.

 

[ianrauk]

A few more great movies that come to mind.

The Pianist with Aiden Brody. Telling the story of a Jewish Musician trying to survive in the Warsaw ghetto's.
The Boy With The Striped Pyjama's. Very grim and sad ending.
Rescue Dawn starring Christian Bale as a pilot shot down over Laos. Gripping.

 

[Ron-da-Valli]

I recently watched Went The Day Well? (1942) after it being recommended on Entertainment Chat. From the synopsis it was obvious this film was later remade as The Eagle Has Landed, and like many remakes, was far inferior to the original (although i do enjoy TEHL)... so that's my recommendation...

Jack Higgins wrote the book TEHL and obviously used WTDW as his inspiration. The original is an Ealing masterpiece. Incidentally, the location for WTDW was Turville the same village used in the Vicar of Dibley. TEHL was filmed at nearby Mapledurham.

 

[Hover Fly]

"Duties of a Demolition Guard Commander"
"Conduct After Capture"
Both Cold War era training films but suprisingly gripping.

 

[RWright]

A year or two ago I got tired of all the rubbish movies Hollywood was churning out and started looking for foreign movies. I am a fan of war movies. I found some Russian war movies that I enjoyed a lot. I didn't even mind the subtitles...well not too much anyway. Several of these held my attention almost the entire length of the film, something that the past several years of most of the Hollywood drab can only do for maybe 10 minutes. These may not be for everyone but I liked them. In no particular order:

- Come and See (Idi I smotn) *one of my favorites
- Downfall (Der Untergang) *this one is German. Hitler movie, also highly rated by me.
- Attack on Leningrad *Excellent
- Brest Fortress
- Zvezda
- 9th Company
- War and Peace (Voyna i mir) *1960's costumer, very long( maybe 8 hours or so ), didn't really hold my attention but was fun to see some of the costumes and scenery.

 

[flatflr]

Another vote for Das Boot, also a very interesting book (written by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim the war correspondent on the film) which is more of a collection of experiences and has some of the technical details of U Boats for the geeks in the room.

 

[nappadang]

Broadsword calling Danny Boy, come in Danny Boy

 

[glenn forger]

Highest grossing MGM film of the year and Clint's highest ever body count in a film.

 

[LarryDuff]

The Longest Day - classic. On now on TCM.

 

[Mattonsea]

Catch 22 so funny and tragic ,just shows how futile it is.
Sophie Scholl . The true story of a brother and sister who sent leaflets around there University in Hamburg during the war.
Iron Cross , really horrific

 

[ianrauk]

Catch 22 so funny and tragic ,just shows how futile it is.
Sophie Scholl . The true story of a brother and sister who sent leaflets around there University in Hamburg during the war.
Iron Cross , really horrific

Damn, forgot about iron Cross... grim.....

 

[Boris Bajic]

Catch 22 so funny and tragic ,just shows how futile it is.
Sophie Scholl . The true story of a brother and sister who sent leaflets around there University in Hamburg during the war.
Iron Cross , really horrific

I couldn't believe Alan Arkin as Yossarian. I so wanted to enjoy the film, but I didn't quite.

A part of me thinks that all war films should either have a young Richard Attenborough in them (The Gift Horse, In Which We serve etc) or be a little bit foreign (Stalingrad, Downfall, No Man's Land, Perfect Circle, Das Boot).

I forgot to put Sergeant York on my original list (Gary Cooper). Much of it is dull and the final shoot-em-up is not well done, but the scene where they teach him to shoot is a peach:

"Folks say I could shoot before I was weaned, but I figure they was exaggerating some..."