AVATAR shoulda WON!!! WTF??

[Aussie Mark]

"A" WWII movies for me = Patton, Tora,tora,tora and Battle of Britain 

also Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers.

[uwe]

"A" WWII movies for me = Patton, Tora,tora,tora and Battle of Britain 

also Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers.

I agree with the two Clint Eastwood films and of course Saving Private Ryan, but Patton, Tora, tora, tora and Battle of Britain were action movies in a WW II setting, nothing more or less and their historical accuracy is debatable, though nostalgia might put them in a more favorable light. BoB's redeeming features were really the original (or: Spanish) planes they used, the acting was pretty naff, the film might as well have been about a cricket game between England and Germany.

What those sixties war movies lacked was any in depth psychological analysis of what war does to you - I think it was Private Ryan who showed for the first time that in WW II even the good guys committed crimes (shooting of surrendering German soldiers from machine gun nests after being aggravated by the loss of friends gunned down previously). Or the way Private Ryan showed the shooting of wounded enemy soldiers by advancing soldiers, a routine measure in most wars, but never seen (at least by me) in those sixties war films where - the occasional sadistic Japanese or Nazi officer aside - both sides would be depicted as fighting with some chivalrous dignity.

Inglourious Basterds war gory at times, but it had some more perceptive insights. The fact that a black/jewish couple (everything the Nazis despised) would kill off the Nazi elite was nice irony or the scene where the captured German answers to Brad Pitt's question whether he got the Iron Cross for "killing jews" with the stoic "no, for valor" before having his head smashed in for not giving away German positions. Tarantino could be a much better film maker if, like the very smart kid that clowns in class, he would not have such a strong desire not to be taken too seriously.

And of course Inglourious Basterds was a B movie, Tarantino bent over backwards to make sure it was. Weirdly enough the film is widely appreciated by people who generally don't like war films at all. Or Tarantino films for that matter. It is certainly among his best stuff, the much lauded Kill Bill overstayed its welcome pretty quickly I thought. 

[Highlander]

How about "classically British movies..."

"Bridge On The River Kwai"
"The Dam Busters"
"Ice Cold In Alex"
"The Great Escape" (with a bit of US influence, I'll admit - "The Cooler King" himself...)

Kelly's Heroes, and Schindler's List must also be mentioned...

Damn...! nearly forgot a truly brilliant one... "Hell In The Pacific"  - Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune iirc - awesome film...

Another personal fave - "Murphy's War" - if only for the scenes with the "Duck"

... And Uwe, shame forever be upon you for not mentioning one of the truly great pictures about Germany... "Das Boot" (which can only be viewed in German) I think I have all the available versions... sheer brilliance...

[Pilgrim]

I'll agree to disagree with Uwe on Patton - IMO one of the great character portrayals every put on film....

Completely agree about "Bridge On The River Kwai"..........onf the great film classics, ranking up there with Lawrence of Arabia.

And I got The Great Escape on the first round - Steve McQueen's Cooler King was just icing on the cake in that movie.

[TBird1958]

For me Patton will always be a classic, it does draw heavily from his own memoir and Bradley's who was a technical advisor on the movie. Most of the small incidents in the movie are drawn from real life, and some of the visual images are quite good, in particular the scence from the battle of the Bulge where he joins his doggies as they march along behind a tank recovery vehicle - damn cool!  I think it was George C. Scott's high point as an actor, he never played a role better. 
Considering the state of movie making technology for the time I find Tora tora tora impressive too, no lame CGI!  Check out the scene of the P-40s being strafed while trying to take off, the prop flies off of one and almost hits some guys - I doubt they planned it! The dogfight sequence with the P-40s is also good, with the Amis executing the one manuver that could actually allow them to escape a trailing Zero - a dive with a snap roll......Good technical advice on this film.

[Aussie Mark]

No love for David Bowie and "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence"?  LOL

[uwe]

Excellent film, but more a Brokeback Mountain of the eighties (early nineties?) than a war movie.

Prison, concentration camp (Schindler's List) and escape movies, single character movies (Patton, Rommel etc), Third Reich movies (Der Untergang) and even those weapons duel scenarios between fighter planes, submarines or battle ships are not really war movies to me, they just use war as a background, sort of Top Gun in WW II.

Platoon and Saving Private Ryan are true war movies in my book, but I accept that my definition is a narrow one.

[Pilgrim]

Don't know how I forgot Saving Private Ryan!

Sitting through the beach landing scene was one of the most impressive moments I've witnessed on film.  I think it gave the viewer some sense of what it was like to be there.

[Barklessdog]

I was watching the show Rotten Tomatoes and they showed how Lucus "did a Nick Simmons" or "payed homage" to the movie "Dam Busters" with Star Wars & The Death Star scene. Played side by side they feature almost identical camera shots, sequences & even dialogue that is almost spot on to Dam Busters.

I forgot what a cool movie Dam Busters was (or remember it).

[Highlander]

And I got The Great Escape on the first round - Steve McQueen's Cooler King was just icing on the cake in that movie.

Oops...

Thought of another "props" movie... "The Cruel Sea"... oh yeah, and Curt Jurgens and Robert Mitchum in "The Enemy Below"

2 more classics...

Gonna have to try and find one now... believe it or not... never seen "Patton" (wanders back into the corner...)

[eb2]

My favorite WWII movie - Stalag 17

Peter Graves' death was sad, but to hear him only remembered for Airplane and Mission Impossible was tough.  Space 1999 of course, but Stalag 17 is fantastic.

Sprechen Sie Deutsch?  Maybe just one word?  Like Kaput?  'Cause you're Kaput, Price!

[uwe]

Stalag 17 is a great movie, but again more a prison drama than a war flic.

[TBird1958]

Oops...

Thought of another "props" movie... "The Cruel Sea"... oh yeah, and Curt Jurgens and Robert Mitchum in "The Enema Below"

2 more classics...

Gonna have to try and find one now... believe it or not... never seen "Patton" (wanders back into the corner...)

 


You really do need to see Patton

[nofi]

das love boot and guns of navarone. also sink the bismark although it is a ww1 movie.

[rahock]

Sink The Bismark is a WWII flick.
Rick