Top Ten War Movies

Thanks for the warning. That's disappointing. I have only seen the movie once, but was planning on picking it up. If this is true, I'll skip it just on general principle, unless I find a good reason for the edit. Which I don't expect.

 

"Pork Chop Hill", 1959, with Gregory Peck, is an excellent war film in my opinion.

 

The only explanation for the edit that I can possibly think of is that, because the longer version is the "extended television version", perhaps the shot of the severed arm was considered too gruesome for TV? (Even though there's no blood). I've only ever watched the film on DVD, so I have no idea if the edit was present in any TV broadcasts of the extended version or not. The previous DVD contained the "theatrical version", so that might account for why the shot is intact on that disc. Just a theory.

Either way, I think it was an extremely poor decision to market the new DVD as the "uncut version" when it is clearly not. The edit only amounts to a second or two, but that's beside the point... there is footage missing and therefore calling it "uncut" is a flat-out case of false advertising. A more appropriate tag would've been "extended television version", especially if my above theory is correct.

 

good for you. DO IT! how else would they know we're not gonna take cuts no matter how many seconds...

 

My list:

Platoon
The Dirty Dozen
Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket
Last of the Mohicans (I'm counting this one as a war movie. It is one of my all-time favorite movies. Love the time period and wish there were more Colonial-period films and Revolutionary War movies)
Braveheart (I'm counting this one as a war movie, as well, even though it is more historical drama revolving around William Wallace.)
Gods And Generals
Saving Private Ryan
Enemy At The Gates
Bridge On The River Kwai


Those are 10.

I want to mention:


North And South TV Mini-series from the mid '80s. I loved that mini-series
The Blue And The Gray TV mini-series from the early '80s was good too.
Band of Brothers mini-series on HBO I really liked too.


As for All Quiet on The Western Front, I really enjoyed the book and I liked the Richard Thomas 1980 version. As for the old black and white version, I never saw it completely and only caught the last 10 minutes of the movie once on TV.

I also love Civil War movies and I wish there were more of them. Same with WWI movies (I don't know many.)

Like I said earlier, I also wish there were more War movies about the Colonial and Revolutionary War eras. Mel Gibson's The Patriot was good, but not top-10 worthy.

With the success of Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket, the '80s got flooded with Vietnam War movies. I saw most of them, such as Hamburger Hill, Born On The Fourth of July, also the one with Sean Penn and Michael J. Fox (can't remember the name), and Bat 21 with Gene Hackman and Danny Glover. None of those are worthy except for Born on the Forth of July, but that really isn't a war movie and more about the life of one man after the War.

WWII and Vietnam movies are the most abundant. Also, now, it seems like there are many recent Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Iraq War movies (and all the ones that came after in Afghanistan and Pakistan about hunting down Osama and the Taliban. Not to mention Black Hawk Down in Somalia.)

 

The Longest Day
Patton
The Patriot
300

 

"The Bridges at Toko-Ri" (1954)
"Twelve O'Clock High" (1949)

Post-war movie:
"Best Years of Our LIves" (1946)

 

Some of my favorites:

Apocalypse Now
Das Boot
Black Hawk Down
Assembly
The Hurt Locker
Saving Private Ryan
The Thin Red Line
Fury
Downfall
Throne Of Blood
Kagemusha

 

My fave Top 10:

They Were Expendable (1945)
Decision Before Dawn (1951)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The One That Got Away (1957)
The Great Escape (1963)
The Train (1964)
Hell in the Pacific (1968)
The Bridge at Remagen (1969)
Downfall (2004)

 

The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
The Train (1964)
Paths of Glory (1957)
The Ascent (1977)
Army of Shadows (1969)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Zulu (1964)
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
The Great Escape (1963)

 

I just watch war movies for the action, thrills and spills. No message movies for me. And only WWII. I'll watch documentaries (The World at War is top class) for the history.

1. Von Ryan's Express
2. The Great Escape
3. The Guns Of Navarone
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai
5. Ice Cold In Alex
6. Where Eagles Dare
7. Saving Private Ryan
8. The Dirty Dozen
9. Battle of Britain
10. Operation Petticoat!!

 

It depends. If it KNOWS it's a "war film", then it is not. But if it doesn't know it's a war film, then it is.

Jeff

 

Attack (1956)
Men in War (1957)
The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)

 

Yes, it's on my top ten list!

 

As a kid, through the 60s, my mom used to take me to a lot of war films. I can still recall my stomach lurching as the plane goes over the dropping valley/cliff-edge in the opening scene of 'Where Eagles Dare'. Was terrified of flying for years after that (and you can **** right off if you think I'm ever going in a cable car). When I was a few years older she encouraged me to read Alistair MacLean's books. They still remain a marvellous nostalgia read even after all these years. So it's no surprise that my first two flicks here are adaptions of his work:

Guns Of Navarone
Where Eagles Dare

...and from there it's mostly 60s fare.
633 Squadron
Battle Of Britain
Great Escape
Kelly's Heroes

'Must see's from a simpler age:
A Matter Of Life And Death
The Dambusters

'Must see's from the more recent past:
Glory
Good Morning Viet Nam!

 

Most of my favorites have been mentioned, with one major exception:
Hell To Eternity (1960)
This was a remarkable and gripping true story, with some of the most realistic
and violent battle scenes (bloody) up until that time. Here's the IMDB description:
"True life story of Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family. Later, during the war, as his foster parents are interned at a camp for Japanese Americans, Gabaldon's ability to speak Japanese helps him become a lone-operating Marine hero. During the bloody capture of the island of Saipan, he convinces 800 Japanese to surrender after their general commits suicide."
I finally was able to get this on DVD a few years ago. When I first saw it at 10 years old (in 1960) it
had a profound affect on me. Why it hasn't been remade as a major film today (are you listening
Clint Eastwood?) is a real mystery. Here's the trailer, which really doesn't do the film justice.

 

Most of my favorites have been mentioned. I really like the submarine movie sub genre. The Hunt for Red October and The Enemy Below were mentioned, and I will add Run Silent Run Deep.

 

Wow, I also saw this film at age 10 in 1960, but had completely forgotten about it. I believe Jeffery Hunter played Guy Gabaldon, right?

EDIT: After watching the trailer, yes, he did.

 

The scene where the Saipan women and children leap to their deaths off the cliffs is chilling, and even
more so since it really happened.......

 

If you're in or near London, this looks like an interesting exhibition:

FRIDAY NIGHT BOYS: The Battle of the Somme and The War Film »

 

Has anyone read any reviews that confirm/deny my theory?

 

Ice Cold In Alex.(1958)
Poor old John Mills had to drink 13 glasses of Carlsberg Lager to get the take right in the last scene in the bar. He was the only one who could knock the glass back in one go and was very inebriated on the last take.

 

I'm a sucker for the WW II espionage flick. The ones that have covert operations, where commandos are usually dropped behind enemy lines, infiltrate and sabotage various Nazi installations. The 60's was a big decade for the spy genre, so it figured many of the greats came out in the 60's. And I guess I'm thinking post WW II era films, where the ones made during the war were a bit too "propaganda-y" (new word).

Where Eagles Dare
Guns of Navarone
Force 10 From Navarone
The Dirty Dozen
The Heroes of the Telemark
The Man Who Never Was
The Bridge on the River Kwai (not Nazis, but still good)
Inglorious Bastards

 

I think this thread should be retitled Top Ten 20th Century Wars films by the look of some of these lists, and they are all WWII or WWI or Nam.

So I'll go out of my way to list some different ones:

Culloden (Peter Watkins, 1964) - a great look at the reality and sadness of war.

Henry V (1944)

Red Cliff (2008)

Ran (1985)

Waterloo (1970) - perhaps the most accurate battle on film, thanks to thousands of extras from the Russian army

Zulu (1964) and Zulu Dawn (1979)

Cromwell (1970) - Richard Harris as Cromwell, Alec Guineas as Charles I

Troy (2004) - a little cheesy in parts but great fun

The 300 Spartans (1962)

 

Patton
Bridge Over The River Kwai
Platoon
King Rat
The Great Escape
Catch 22