War Films

The explosion of a shell, the roar of a aircraft falling from the sky… These are the aspects most we remember about the War film, a genre that stretches back to nearly the begining of film.

Here are my favorites…

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  1. Lawrence of Arabia (Dir. David Lean) 1962.
  2. The Bridge on River Kwai (Dir. David Lean) 1957.
  3. Das Boot (Dir. Wolfgang Petersen) 1981.
  4. Apocalypse Now (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola) 1979.
  5. Casablanca (Dir. Michael Curtiz) B/W 1942.
  6. Paths of Glory (Dir. Stanley Kubrick) B/W 1957.
  7. King Rat (Dir. Bryan Forbes) B/W 1965.
  8. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger) 1943.
  9. Dr. Strangelove, or; How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Dir. Stanley Kubrick) B/W 1963.
  10. The Great Escape (Dir. John Sturges) 1963.
  11. All Quiet on the Western Front (Dir. Lewis Milestone) B/W 1930.
  12. The Pianist (Dir. Roman Polanski) 2002.
  13. Three Kings (Dir. David O. Russell) 1999.
  14. The Battleship Potemkin (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein) Silent B/W 1925.
  15. A Matter of Life and Death (Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger) 1945.
  16. Patton (Dir. Franklin Schaffner) 1969.
  17. The Dam Busters (Dir. Michael Anderson) B/W 1954.
  18. Ill Met by Moonlight (Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger) B/W 1957.
  19. A Walk in the Sun (Dir. Lewis Milestone) B/W 1946.
  20. A Bridge too Far (Dir. Richard Attenborough) 1977.
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Check out ASSEMBLY if you can :wink:

Some of my favortes in the genre.

Go and See (Elem Klimov)
The Battle of Algiers (Gilio Pontecorvo)
Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen)
Der Untergang (Oliver Hirschbigel)
Stalingrad (Joseph Vilsmaier)
The deer hunter (Michael Cimino)
Cross of Iron (Sam Peckinpah)
Full metal Jacket (Stanley Kubric)

This is a damn good film, which is still modern nearly 50 years on.

I’ve not seen Battle of Algiers but i love the soundtrack.

Yep, Morricone can do no wrong!

you don’t rate “Saving Private Ryan” then John?

I’ve never seen it. It’s one of the many “modern classics” I haven’t seen.

[quote=“John Welles, post:8, topic:2209”]I’ve never seen it. It’s one of the many “modern classics” I haven’t seen.[/quote]give it a try sometime, i would think you’ll like it especially the first 25 minutes or so.

[quote=“man with a name, post:9, topic:2209”]give it a try sometime, i would think you’ll like it especially the first 25 minutes or so.[/quote]If it wasn’t “Spielberg” it wouldn’t have got a 15 cert here i can tell you, any other director and it would have been an 18.

I like:

Das Boot
The Thin Red Line
Letters From Iwo Jima
Slaughterhouse Five
Inglorious Basterds
A Bridge Too Far

but there are so many more…

Heres mine

Bullet in the Head
Born on the Forth of July
Breaker Morant
Three Kings
The Sand Pebbles

Saw Windtalkers recently, probably the worst war film ive seen.

I like A Bridge Too Far as well. I actually quite like all those sixties and seventies huge budget, all-star war epics. They’re great fun. A Bridge Too Far] is my favorite of them all, but The Longest Day isn’t far behind.

10 War films i like, in no particular order
CROSS OF IRON
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
THE LONGEST DAY
THE SAND PEBBLES ( this one hardly gets a mention, so good choice Chuck Connors Brother :slight_smile:
BULLET IN THE HEAD
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (ORIGINAL)
GETTYSBURG
GLORY
PATHS OF GLORY
GO TELL THE SPARTANS

[quote=“man with a name, post:14, topic:2209”]ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (ORIGINAL)
PATHS OF GLORY[/quote]
These two are undoubtably the best First World War movies ever made.

The Logest Day is far off for me.

My favorites in this either guts and glory or anti-war genre…

Inglorious Bastards (1978 dir: Castellari)
Inglourious Basterds (2009 dir: Tarantino)
Libertarias (1996 dir: Aranda)
Land And Freedom (1995 dir: Loach)
Churchill’s Leopards (1970 dir: Pradeaux)
Cross of Iron (1977 dir: Peckinpah)
Kelly’s Heroes (1970 dir: Hutton)
Full Metal Jacket (1987 dir: Kubrick)
Dr. Strangelove (1964 dir: Kubrick)
The Longest Day (1962 dirs: Annakin, Marton, Wicki)
Platoon (1986 dir: Stone)
Stalingrad (1993 dir: Vilsmaier)
Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever? (1958 dir: Wisbar)

going through this list makes me want to revisit some of these movies…

If you watch A bridge too Far again, watch the scenes with the ‘Bridge of Son’ (there are two)

Son (= Son en Breugel) is a village north of Eindhoven, and the bridge over the Wilhelmina canal was of great strategic importance. Actually the entire area around Son was crucial during the last stages of the war in the South of Holland. A regiment of American soldiers landed north-west of Son during operation Market Garden (September '44) and there were a few fierce battles between the allies and the Germans. In '94, fifty years after the events, I did some work for the local authorities (I already lived in Belgium then) as an interpretor. I spoke to several American veterans and their families and to a few Germans as well. Most of them were in their (late) seventies. I suppose several of them have died since then. Some conversations were very emotional. Several veterans remembered names and adresses of Dutch girls they had known in those days and asked me if I could arrange a meeting. I some cases I could.

I lived some twenty-five years at a distance of not more than 50 meters from the Son Bridge. The roof of the house in which I lived, was damaged by the explosion of the bridge.

The ‘Son scenes’ weren’t shot in Son, but I have no idea were they were actually shot

Not a big fan of the war genre, but i would like to throw out one i haven’t seen mentioned yet that i do like. THE BOYS IN COMPANY C (1978)

Very intrresting scherpschutter; I imagine that the Bridge of Son squence in the movie was just some mock-up built and then taken down again.

A really fun film this Frank (P. S: Welcome back to the forum after your Christmas break!). I notice you include a lot of Italian war films in your list; do you know how to get hold of any as I am quite interrested in watching some movies from this sub-genre.