What's the Best War Movie?

"Private Ryan "was great. I also liked "Full Metal Jacket" and "Apocalypse Now". "Midway" was also very good but I could have done without the father/son and the son/girlfriend crap. That was a major detractor. I liked the sound of the carrier planes warming up on deck in Dolby.

 

I'm disappointed there has been no mention of "Top Gun."

You could cut the sexual tension between these two with a knife.

vs.

 

Apocalypse Now is the best war movie. It shows the horrors of war in frightening honesty and clarity. Saving Ryan is also a great movie as was Patton. But these two latter movies really did not get to the true nature of war and what it is like to be in a world where all reason, honor and humanity has been destroyed by the very act of war. Saving Ryan shows us something of what it may have been like to be a soldier in all out war. Patton was a celebration of victory by the Allies, it did nothing for us but give us a sentimental look at a just war. No, the best war movie will always be the one that makes us think long and hard about the impact of war upon everyone involved. That in essence is the core theme of one of the greatest books ever written, War and Peace. If you think Tolstoy was celebrating war, you missed the point.

 

I did a similar thread a while ago. I had most of those already posted here on my list, but there are a few that aren't here.
. Where Eagles Dare (Clint Eastwood, Richard Burton). Excellent action, great music, stunning locations. If you can find it, watch it and see if you can figure out what's going to happen next (BTW, if you're into that sort of thing, Eastwood kills more people in this movie than all his others combined).

. The Eagle Has Landed (Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland) about the plot to kidnap Winston Churchill.

. The Enemy Below (Robert Mitchum, Curt Jurgens).

. Tora, Tora, Tora was pretty good.

. The Patriot (Mel Gibson).
Enjoy!

 

Remember the TV series "Tour of Duty" ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Duty_(TV_series)

Growing up during the 60's before being sent to Nam, there was TV's longest-running World War II drama "Combat" staring Vic Morro.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat!

But topping the list was "Victory at Sea."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_at_Sea

 

Rickles is also awesome in Vegas.

 

Movies from different eras are hard to compare, but if I had to choose one, "Enemy At The Gates" is pretty darn good.

 

I just remembered:

. Memphis Belle

. Red Tails

. Twelve O'clock High.
Enjoy!

 

My all time favorite and had the pleasure of being a part of the Nijmegen marches and checking out the local history with the older generation in the Netherlands.

 

I thought there was.

 

No record of it and the Germans documented everything.

 

Major Payne

 

There is no war in Major Payne.

But, I love that movie too!

 

I'm not sure it qualifies as a war movie. What war there was was totally contrived. It was more of a recruiting poster.

 

I think Patton has given right wingers the excuse for nutso generals ever since it came out.

 

Although I agree with The Longest Day being the best 'war' movie, I would have to vote on Inglorious Basterds (correct spelling for that movie) as my favorite movie that has a subplot (other than WWII, Civil War etc).

Perhaps I am partial to Quentin Tarantino as I find all his movies interesting.

 

That pretty much settles it then.

 

Utter crap, its not realistic at all, and terrible acting.

 

Opinions vary.

 

No one has mentioned Lawrence of Arabia. Well, it's a war movie, and it is arguably the greatest epic that has ever graced the silver screen.

Apocalypse Now is often discussed as a great war movie. Frankly, I thought it was a disjointed mess. We're to suspend our belief that an overweight, sweaty Marlon Brando is the mythical Colonel Kurtz. Sure, it had the iconic "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" quips that remain firmly entrenched in the collective conscience of popular culture decades later after it was originally uttered on-screen. I still believe it to be highly over-rated, it is at best a mixed bag as a representation of authenticity of the Vietnam war. At least my opinion of it having never actually experienced it. Good movie, yes. Great movie, no. Authentic? mixed.

Jokes aside, my vote for, at least ,the most realistic war movie I've ever seen, goes to *drum roll, and the winner is..." Black Hawk Down.

Mogadishu, 1993.

A movie that represents my generation of warfare.
What they got right -
The uniforms, the way the soldiers behaved, talked and acted, the weapons, the equipment.

It was a realistic depiction of that time.

Granted, I was in the service in 1993 but I was never in the Army. I was as far removed from actual combat as the man on the moon, but the film resonated with me as genuine, as authentic. The little details, one of the characters was reading a John Grisham paperback novel while flying in the back of a helicopter. I thought wow, I've seen that..a soldier in an airport reading a Grisham paperback.

My father, a WW2 veteran told me Saving Private Ryan resonated with him, as authentic. He was not at Normandy, but the overall vibe of the film, the uniforms, the way the soldiers acted and talked, the weapons, the equipment.

Authentic.

Have a good night.

 

For me it was Saving Private Ryan. Many of the older war movies while good were overly dramatic and less realistic. I remember watching on the History Channel a group of WWII vets critique Saving Private Ryan and the only innacuracy they pointed out was a scene when the soldiers silhouetted themselves which no sane soldier would do. One also commented on the sounds that the Panther Tanks made in the move were spot on and made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

 

I was sarcastic. Technically it took place during the Cold War and there were combat sequences...so a war movie. Top Gun would not even register in my top 25 films in the war genre. About as realistic as Gomer Pyle USMC, in terms of it's depiction of military life.

 

Good.

I did enjoy the actual carrier take-off scenes. Filled my need for speed, by golly.

 

They used F-5 aircraft to represent the mythical Soviet MiG 28. The MiG-28 does not exist.
What Top Gun did, was present the military in a positive light. In the 70's and 80's. Film after film, mainly Vietnam war era themes, depicted the military in a negative light. Top Gun changed all that. All of a sudden it was cool to be in the military again. Enlistment spiked after that movie came out. It was a great recruiting film, I will give it that. Authentic? Not so much.

 

To me, there's nothing quite as cool as an F-14. Super Hornets pale in comparison for coolness. I certainly didn't watch that movie because of Kelly McGillis. Meg Ryan maybe.