I'm suprised no one has mentioned Good Morning Vietnam yet. So, the main focus isn't on the war, but it's about a radio DJ and his efforts for truth, troop morale and getting laid. Excellent film starring Robin Williams.
Recommend/Discuss Good War Films and Series
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Battle of Britain - highly recommended if you are a fan of WWII aviation
The Enemy Below - great WWII submarine movie, a battle of wits between a German submarine and an American Destroyer
The Three Kings - I guess you could sort of call it a modern day "Kelly's Heroes" set during the first Gulf War
Platoon - Vietnam War
Tae Guk Gi (The Brotherhood War)- A very good Korean movie about the Korean War
The Memphis Belle - About the crew of a B-17 Bomber in the 8th Air Force
The Enemy Below - great WWII submarine movie, a battle of wits between a German submarine and an American Destroyer
The Three Kings - I guess you could sort of call it a modern day "Kelly's Heroes" set during the first Gulf War
Platoon - Vietnam War
Tae Guk Gi (The Brotherhood War)- A very good Korean movie about the Korean War
The Memphis Belle - About the crew of a B-17 Bomber in the 8th Air Force
Approximately one-fifth of the population of Poland, were killed during the war.Barbas said:
Their forces personnel that managed to make our shores, really wanted another crack at the enemy. Their ranks provided nearly 100 fighter aces alone. Considering they'd already experienced blitzkrieg first hand, and seen the strength of the German military machine, straining at the leash to get back into battle showed incredible bravery.
'Battle of Britain' has some amusing scenes with the Polish airmen, and their radio 'chit-chat'!!
From the Eastern-European perspective, two films worth seeing are 'Defiance' and 'The Pianist'.
My two cents.
WW2:
Band of Brothers.(haven't seen the pacific yet and just realized that it's sitting on my shelf downstairs)
Longest Day. D-day shown from every possible perspective, even down to the french resistance.
The Dam Busters. A bit slow but quite interesting as long as you understand that the first 3/4 of the movie are them preparing for the mission(including the development of the experimental bomb) and the last 1/4 is the actual mission. Also notable because George Lucas more or less ripped off the Death Star Trench sequence from star wars from this film and another, similar film called 633 squadron.
Das Boot. Perhaps the best, most realistic U-boat/Submarine movie ever made. Notable because they rebuilt an entire German U-boat for the film and didn't allow the actors to go outside while filming was in progress(so they'd be appropriately pale). Shown entirely from the German Navy perspective. The directors/extended cut runs an hour longer but has more character development.
Tora! Tora! Tora!. The attack on pearl harbor from both American and Japanese Perspectives.
WW2:
Band of Brothers.(haven't seen the pacific yet and just realized that it's sitting on my shelf downstairs)
Longest Day. D-day shown from every possible perspective, even down to the french resistance.
The Dam Busters. A bit slow but quite interesting as long as you understand that the first 3/4 of the movie are them preparing for the mission(including the development of the experimental bomb) and the last 1/4 is the actual mission. Also notable because George Lucas more or less ripped off the Death Star Trench sequence from star wars from this film and another, similar film called 633 squadron.
Das Boot. Perhaps the best, most realistic U-boat/Submarine movie ever made. Notable because they rebuilt an entire German U-boat for the film and didn't allow the actors to go outside while filming was in progress(so they'd be appropriately pale). Shown entirely from the German Navy perspective. The directors/extended cut runs an hour longer but has more character development.
Tora! Tora! Tora!. The attack on pearl harbor from both American and Japanese Perspectives.
Here's my pick, some of them already mentioned, that only makes them more recommendable to me =D
-Das Boot(German)
-Stalingrad(German)
-The pianist(Made in various countries, but mostly Polish)
-Tora! Tora! Tora! (Japan and US)
-The Memphis Belle (British and US)
-Idi i Smotri (Come and See) (Russian) tough one to see.
And if you're in for some animation, I recommend the Cockpit from Leiji Matsumoto, it glorifies its characters too much, but it's a good watch.
-Das Boot(German)
-Stalingrad(German)
-The pianist(Made in various countries, but mostly Polish)
-Tora! Tora! Tora! (Japan and US)
-The Memphis Belle (British and US)
-Idi i Smotri (Come and See) (Russian) tough one to see.
And if you're in for some animation, I recommend the Cockpit from Leiji Matsumoto, it glorifies its characters too much, but it's a good watch.
A Bridge Too Far is the best war movie I've ever seen. Yes there is a lot of Hollywood in it and some facts get smudged to increase the effect for the audience but it covers a lot of good ground and delivers a lot of anti-war sentiment for a movie with plenty of gunfire and American bravado. The producer Joseph E. Levine financed the $22 million budget himself. That's a lot of money to put into a single film and I don't care how rich you are.
I can't recommend it enough.
EDIT: The German Stalingrad movie is also a great watch. Its pretty dark.
I can't recommend it enough.
EDIT: The German Stalingrad movie is also a great watch. Its pretty dark.
One you could check out is a movie called "When Trumpets Fade". It a WW2 movie about the forgotten battle of hergon forest. Forgotten because The US army got stuck in a meatgrinder that only ended after the The Battle of the Bulge made the whole battle pointless.
It's not your usual heroic WW2 film in fact it has more of that Vietnam war is hell motif to it. Also the main character is a sarcastic prick who wants out of the war by any means that isnt dead.
It's not your usual heroic WW2 film in fact it has more of that Vietnam war is hell motif to it. Also the main character is a sarcastic prick who wants out of the war by any means that isnt dead.
Patton is my favorite World War II film. Granted the focus is about the eccentric character of the subject man, but man was he an interesting guy. And it made for a fantastic epic.
I don't have a lot of experience with WWII material unfortunately (though Band of Brothers was truly excellent), nor Vietnam-era material. But for material based in the 90s onwards...
- Another +1 for Generation Kill, very well worth watching.
- Jarhead is well worth a watch. There's not a heap of action, but that's kind of the point. Reasonably faithful to the source material too, IIRC (I read the book too some time back).
- Black Hawk Down has a more action, and is also awesome. One of my favourite movies ever.
- I know The Hurt Locker loses points for its military inaccuracies (even as a layperson I can watch it and say "oh they'd NEVER do that...") and people's mileage on it varies a lot, but I still thought it was a hell of a movie. I felt the same about Zero Dark Thirty too, but I know that one's even more divisive with audiences.
- Someone mentioned Three Kings above, it's very different in tone to the other stuff on the list, but well worth watching.
- Another +1 for Generation Kill, very well worth watching.
- Jarhead is well worth a watch. There's not a heap of action, but that's kind of the point. Reasonably faithful to the source material too, IIRC (I read the book too some time back).
- Black Hawk Down has a more action, and is also awesome. One of my favourite movies ever.
- I know The Hurt Locker loses points for its military inaccuracies (even as a layperson I can watch it and say "oh they'd NEVER do that...") and people's mileage on it varies a lot, but I still thought it was a hell of a movie. I felt the same about Zero Dark Thirty too, but I know that one's even more divisive with audiences.
- Someone mentioned Three Kings above, it's very different in tone to the other stuff on the list, but well worth watching.
I really liked black hawk down, except for the stupid little "This is why we're here" moments that kept showing up in the film and were very transparently inserted by the pentagon.AD-Stu said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned "We Were Soldiers".
Combat veteran, and that's the only war film that nearly brought me to tears.
"Black Hawk Down" is also awesome (though it definitely took liberties with the books).
Combat veteran, and that's the only war film that nearly brought me to tears.
"Black Hawk Down" is also awesome (though it definitely took liberties with the books).
I'll have to 'nth the nomination for A Bridge Too Far, it's really an excellent film.
I really love Enemy At the Gates. It does a good job at showing how horrific the eastern front of World War 2 really was.
The Guns of Navarone and Force 10 from Navarone are decent movies. (They've got flaws, but it is nice to see them featuring the Italian front which doesn't get shown much in movies)
If you're looking for something on the Civil War, look up The Civil War by Ken Burns. It's just pictures and historians talking, so it's not an action movie, but if you want a historically accurate documentary, it's hard to find better.
[edit]Forgot completely about The Desert Rats an excellent movie on the Africa campaign!
I really love Enemy At the Gates. It does a good job at showing how horrific the eastern front of World War 2 really was.
The Guns of Navarone and Force 10 from Navarone are decent movies. (They've got flaws, but it is nice to see them featuring the Italian front which doesn't get shown much in movies)
If you're looking for something on the Civil War, look up The Civil War by Ken Burns. It's just pictures and historians talking, so it's not an action movie, but if you want a historically accurate documentary, it's hard to find better.
If you enjoyed the whimsical side of Kelly's Heroes, I'd very highly recommend Hogan's Heroes. A completely fictional and silly tale of American POWs manipulating their dumb German captors so that they can carry out acts of sabotage and such within Germany.Soviet Heavy said:
[edit]Forgot completely about The Desert Rats an excellent movie on the Africa campaign!
Personally, my favourite war movie is "Breaker Morant"...thogh, mostly about a court martial during the Boer War.