- The Big Red One (Reconstruction)
- Cross of Iron
- When Trumpets Fade
- A Bridge Too Far
- Saving Private Ryan (mostly for it's technical merit)
- The Thin Red Line
These are ones that I go back frequently to watch. Although I have yet to see Stalingrad, I've heard good things about that film as well.
"Give a guy a gun,he's Superman. Give him two and he's God."
Das Boot is prolly my favorite WWII film. Its such an unbelievably tense feeling of being under bombardment of depth charges & the hearing of the hunters ping from above is almost nerve racking. I really liked SPR, but Speilberg hollywoodfied it just abit to much. Plus I ain't a big fan of the heroic story of saving a mother from losing all of her sons at the cost of other mother's sons expense. I mean this war wiped out an insane amount of entire families wiped out in the unbelievably attrocious conflict of WWII. The first half hour of the movie is magnificent though. Battle of Britain is a solid movie too. A good story of the first real setback of the Nazi-led assault on Europe.
I shagged her pink ass & she LOVED it!
I'll chip in with two you don't see mentioned much. come and see (russian) is worth seeking out on ebay.
and the terry rattigan script for Way to the Stars I think, is one of the most moving. I think most movies about the WW2 tend to be a little disappointing.
I totally forgot about Das Boot. I also love Patton and The Bridge at Remagen. I've seen Come and See for sale at the local Border's bookstore and I think it is distributed by Kino Video in the U.S. (not sure about elsewhere, though).
"Give a guy a gun,he's Superman. Give him two and he's God."
"Plus I ain't a big fan of the heroic story of saving a mother from losing all of her sons at the cost of other mother's sons expense."
I think that was part of the point of SPR. Saving Ryan was a publicity stunt for America in WWII. In fact, didn't one of the soldiers question why all of them had to go save one guy? And something like "This Ryan guy better be worth it."
(A)Pacific Theater of Opperations
1.To End All Wars
2.None but the Brave
3.Empire of the Sun-(Steven Spielburg Directs)
4.Tora, Tora, Tora
5.Windtalkers-(OK, it's a little cheeze, but You get to see HUGE 12" Japanese field guns at the End
6.Hiroshima(Out of the Ashes)
(B)European Theater of Opperations
1.Saveing Private Ryan
2. The longest Day
3. Battle OF Brittan
4. Captian Correllie's Mandalin
5. Tuskegee Airmen
6. Schlinder's List
My favorite Picks
1. "Go For Broke" (About the greatest American Unit in history) the 442nd RCT
2. Come See The Paradice
Please excuse me if I don't think life is all tea, and biscuits
My favorite WW2 films, in no specific order, are:
Band of Brothers ( i know its not a film, but come oooon, its so great!)
A bridge too far
Saving Private Ryan
Bridge over the River Kwai (not very accurate but still a great movie)
Bridge at Remagen
Black Hawk Down
Kellys Heroes
The Longest Day
Platoon
Hamburger Hill
Catch 22
Full Metal JAcket
The Patriot
Thin Red Line
Force 10 from Navarone
The Guns of Navarone
PAtton
The Great Escape
I think thats enough, Some of the postings had some more that I really like.
Chico, Black Hawk Down is a great war film but it's set in Somalia and almost 50 years after WWII ended...
My favourites:
The Big Red One (Reconstrucion) (Lee Marvin in one of his best roles)
Dr Strangelove - No fighting in the war room!
Patton
Catch 22
Cross of Iron (Peckinpah is becoming my fave director the more of his stuff I see)
Definitely not WW2 movies, Blackhawk Down (somalia as stated elsewhere), Platoon, Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket (Vietnam), The Patriot (War of Independence)
shareI forgot about The Guns of Navarone...great adventure.
shareOnly Old Men Are Going to Battle - it is Ukrainian movie made by L. Bykov (RIP)
you can find it's description here on imdb. As V Boy Idut Odni Stariki
A few excellent films I see no one mentioned are also:
The Devil's Brigade
Battle Cry
Band of Brothers (miniseries)
When Trumpets Fade
Guadalcanal Diary
Attack
these are in no particular order
battle of the bulge
patton
saving private ryan
dirty dozzen
49th parrallel
the devils brigade (well cause canadians are kick ass in it)
U571(factual errors)
longest day
a bridge too far (hugest cast of celebrities and oscar winners)
who ever said captain correllies mandalin was a good war movie well you're on
crack.
All good lists
Don't forget M*A*SH
I still can't stop laughing that Black Hawk Down made the list.
Whilst we're at it.
We were Soldiers
Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Three Kings
;)
P.S I'm only 1/2 way thru the The Reconstruction now.. Damn, its good, but the budget constraints do stand out.. Damn the tanks!
(I'm mainly watching this because of the game Call of Duty 2 and the fact Mark Hamill does voice in it aswell)
www.fatal05.tk
When Trumpets fade
Sahara
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers
Enemy at the gates
Big Red One the reconstruction
Saints And Soldiers
Go for Broke
Flags of our Fathers(hate me)
Letters from Iwo JIma
Sands of Iwo JIma
"Vichy??!! I thought Vichy was a soda pop"
Thin Red Line(just a massive cast perhaps one of the biggest ever some used in such small roles so cool cause thats war people come and go,)
Saving Private Ryan(amazing opening alone)
[deleted]
The Thin Red Line (1998)
Come and See (the most disturbing war movie ever)
Patton
Stalingrad
Downfall
Letters from Iwo Jima
Those are what I'd consider the best WW2 movies, but if I had to say what my absolute favorite is I'd choose The Thin Red Line by Terrence Malick. I know there was an adaptation of that book in the 1960s, but I never saw it so I can't comment on that. And as for Saving Private Ryan, I'm one of those people who admire it's technical achievements but find everything else conventional and bland.
SPR is by far the greatest WWII movie of all time.
The dirty dozen
the guns of navarone
_______________________________________________________
Wow, two pages of lists and no one included "Enemy at the Gates".
My favorite World War II movies:
- Bridge On The River Kwai
- The Longest Day
- The Big Red One
- Paradise Road
- De Aanslag (The Assault)
- From Here To Eternity
- Tora! Tora! Tora!
- Empire Of The Sun
- The Pianist
- Das Boot
- The Guns Of Navarone
- Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games)
- Foreign Correspondent
- The Small Back Room
- Soldaat Van Oranje (Soldier Of Orange)
- Mephisto
"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."
I'm surprised nobody mentioned "The Train" with Burt Lancaster and Paul Scofield, directed by John Frankenheimer. Scofield is in charge is moving stolen French masterpieces to Germany, Lancaster is trying to stop him. Good, small scale action scenes and a lot of tension and suspense.
shareI can't believe it wasn't mentioned either. One of my favorites that never gets old.
shareSo much is done with the sound...the various sounds of the train: the chuh-chuh...chuh-chuh...sound when it's idling, the chooka-chooka-chooka sound when it's moving, and the shrill sound of the whistle.
shareNo doubt. Along with the rich B/W cinematography, the whole film has a beautiful grittiness to it. I was finally able to grab it on DVD a few months ago (Kino Lorber) but I really want to catch it on the big screen. I've been keeping an eye out for it to play at one of the historic theaters in my area.
shareFrankenheimer got his start directing some of the best live TV in the 50's. He also made The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May, Seconds, the little know 52-Pick-up...and late in his career, the excellent Ronin.
share