MovieChat Forums > Battle Cry (1955) Discussion > What makes a war movie a good war movie?

What makes a war movie a good war movie?

posted 19 years ago by hondo551
12 replies | jump to latest

Needless to say, war movies are right up there with westerns and film noir as my favorite genres of films. First one I ever saw was They Were Expendable and that still ranks as one of my all time favorites. I had an occasion a while back to view Saving Private Ryan for the second time and I wondered why I've never cared for the film. Usually as times goes by I learn to appreciate certain movies I didn't care for before, but Saving Private Ryan is still one I don't care for.

I watched Battle Cry today for the first time in probably 10 years and it answered my question as to what makes a war movie a good war movie. Forget about science fiction monsters and horror story slashing maniacs and demons, the real horror story in the real world is war. A really good/great war movie gives you characters you like, characters you can identify with, characters you would want as friends or brothers or fathers or uncles, characters with at least one or two qualities that make you like them, and then drops them into harm's way so that your emotions are tied to their survival, and you're touched by the tragedy of their demise. Unlike Saving Private Ryan, where with the exception of Matt Damon and Edward Burns none of the other characters are particularly appealing, all of the characters in Battle Cry, in spite of their excentricities or shortcomings, are likeable and decent guys you want to see survive the horrors of war.

I rated this movie an 8 out of 10 because there are so many characters and subplots in the first 2/3rds of the movie that there isn't enough time spent with the horrors of combat. I sometimes get the feeling some editor chopped it down to a manageable 2-1/2 hours. Frankly, another half hour showing exactly how some of the characters who died off screen died would have been better and gotten it a higher number.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wolflair-1 17 years ago

Two others I thought were good:

The Longest Day - great depiction of D-Day.

In Harm's Way - although fictional I really enjoyed this movie.

[–] amolad-1 17 years ago

To be honest, you probably didn't like "Saving Private Ryan" because it was too realistic.
The characters aren't likeable and the violence is graphic.
In "Battle Cry" all the characters are nice guys and nobody has their guts spilled all over.
Which do you think is truer to what war is really like?

[–] cplprice 15 years ago

Which do you think is truer to what war is really like?
In "Battle Cry" while most of the characters are likeable, they are all also flawed. While the war scenes aren't as graphic as "Saving Private Ryan", it does a very good job of depicting what being a Marine in WWII was like. It does a much better than average job of giving some sense of what it's like to lose a comrade or be wounded.

[–] bluesguy 16 years ago

Go and buy Come and See. Your life will be different.....

[–] verbusen 16 years ago

Wow, I love war movies and Saving Private Ryan absolutly blew me away the first time I saw it. I'm a Tom Hanks fan from his early movies so I liked his character as well as all the others really. I think a great war movie is when the guys you are rooting for get killed in the end, I'm a sucker for that every time and I never expect it. The Dirty Dozen, The Bedford Incident, Play Dirty, Hell Divers, Dogs Of War, Hell Is For Hero's, Road Warrior, Go Tell The Spartans, The Thin Red Line (1950's version), The Bridge, are all somewhat minor "war" movies that got a big boost in their stature because either the lead or a top co-host star died at the end. Oh here's another one a great book also, All Quiet On The Western Front (the 1930's version and even the Hallmark remake version are both great). Where Eagles Dare would have been better if Eastwood got snuffed even though I still enjoy it a lot. It's not a sure fire thing but I think more often than not, it helps.

[–] sionxxii 16 years ago

For me it's always been, American soldiers dressing up like Nazis and killing Nazis with their own guns.

[–] stanleybix-1 14 years ago

There are so many different war movies, involving different types of forces and weaponry, that it is hard to compare different films. How many wars have Americans been involved in ? Mel Gibsons "The Patriot" is an excellent Revolutionary War movie. "Saving Private Ryan" is a great WW2 movie! But it is shot in color in the '90s. How does it compare with great black and white films like "Breakthrough" or "A Walk In The Sun" from the '40s?? How about Holocaust moviess?, or Vietnam era movies?, or "Sergeant York" (WW1)? Good or Great is subjective. Let us all converse and enjoy our favorite movies with our favorite stars!!

[–] Sputnoidal 14 years ago

What makes a war movie a good war movie? It is not just the action, it is the story. War is the most devastating experience humans encounter and the stories of both courage and frailty are what is compelling about the war movie genre.

I have never really considered Battle Cry to be a standard war movie. I believe that is mostly faithful to the characters and spirit of the novel, even though a lot of the action is left out or mentioned in passing.

Compared to what other people have said about this movie, I think the acting is top notch. Van Heflin, James Whitmore and Tab Hunter are all terrific, but the movie belongs to Aldo Ray as Andy Hookens.

Ray's performance here as the tough lumberjack who finally has to come to terms with finding love is perhaps the best in his career.

There are noteworthy things missing from the book in this film. An example is that in the book I believe the character of LQ Jones is actually Jewish and puts up with anti-semitism and dies saving his comrades.

I also didn't like Saving Private Ryan, though I thought the performances of Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore and Barry Pepper were good. In some ways the cliches were just too heavy there. You expect a 1950s movie depicting WWII to have a farmboy, a city kid, a hustler, a braniac, etc, but it seems a 1990s film should have been able to do better.

As far as realism goes, NO film can ever capture the full horror of war. A friend of mine who landed on Omaha Beach once told me that to fully appreciate that experience would be to take the scenes from Saving Private Ryan, make them 100 times more horrific and have them go on for hours on end.

[–] Enrique-8 13 years ago

@sputnoidal - I suspect no, I truly believe - that what your friend who was on Omaha Beach said was the absolute truth about war - to the extent that none of us who who have gone to war will ever understand or believe. But I believe it, 100%

War is beyond what the average will ever comprehend and those who serve are truly the bravest of the brave and I owe them everything I can dish out to them in respect, admiration and understanding. And I will never be able to pay them back for their daring and dedication to upholding the highest ideals of fighting those who would want us to be destroyed.

Thank you for your fine review and commentary.

Enrique Sanchez

[–] cdjunkee-1 8 years ago

I've been on a roll lately. Been watching a ton of movies. Ones I enjoyed were "The Longest Day", "Hamburger Hill", "Porkchop Hill", "The Deer Hunter", "Stalag 17", "Bridge over the River","The Bridge at Toko-Ri", "The Great Escape", "The Dirty Dozen", "Hall of Montezuma", "Heartbreak Ridge", "The Green Berets". "Full metal Jacket", "All quiet on the Western front", "Is Paris burning?", "Saving Prvt. Ryan", "We were Soldiers", "Flags of our Fathers", "Flags of Iwo Jiima", "Beach Red", "Battle of the Bulge",

If a War movie doesn't have equal parts a great script peppered with likeable characters and some action to me it's no good. I didn't care for "Tigerland" because it felt too much like a play with cardboard characters reciting monologues. Far too much time spent with characters. Maybe I should give it another whirl and another chance.

So far I am invested in "Battle Cry". I'm about 30 minutes in. Guess I like the characters. I want to see what happens next.

My Dad is a Vietnam Vet and will watch some War movies but not often. It's too hard for him.

[–] chrissso 7 years ago

I liked John Lupton's character ... Cpl. Marion 'Sister Mary' Hotchkiss a lot. I thought he and Rae had chemistry and could see them happily ever after ... then he died and I was disappointed. But this never lead me to think this was a good film. It was a way too long soap opera ... filled with all kinds of DRAMA ... that featured really bad special effects (was that Jap plane dropping fire crackers?)... that had little historical context.

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