Most Accurate War Film

[Matt308]

Thanks for telling me. That's another movie I won't rent. I hate wasting my time on crappy movies.

 

[Wildcat]

Heard Sam Fuller (the guy who wrote and directed "The Big Red One") talk about making a war movie. Fuller was in the 1st Division during the war (from North Africa to the Death Camps) and had always had problems making movies for the point Adler just made. Can't live it, breath it, ect. He said (paraphrasing), "The only way to make a real war movie is to have somebody shooting at the audience from behind the screen while the movie is being shown".

The Big red one by Sam Fuller was OK, but IMO his best war movie was Merrills Marauders

 

[pbfoot]

There was a German made film about Staligrad and its scary and Paths of Glory by Stanley Kubrick

 

[Njaco]

I have the Stalingrad movie. Very good. Put a good spin on it ... more that the high command didn't know what they were doing. Ending in the cellar was stretching it though.

 

[timshatz]

I have the Stalingrad movie. Very good. Put a good spin on it ... more that the high command didn't know what they were doing. Ending in the cellar was stretching it though.

Yeah, good film in terms of being graphic. Liked the T34s running around. Decent movie.

Often wondered about that last scene in the cellar. Would the Russians have found him sooner or later? He was going to be found, but I wonder how long it would've taken.

 

[Njaco]

Hey I can forgive Hollywood, Bollywood or wherever these come from, for embellishing a bit. Movie was still great to watch.

Wondered if anybody caught the little trick I threw in at the beginning of this thread?

"Tobruk" and "Raid On Rommel" ?

 

[7thphoenix]

I'd have to say "El Alamein" although it was a B grade movie it was a more accurate portrayal of that battle than the garbage produced by hollywood and the BBC. Too bad it was shot as a low budget film though.
The English version was cut to bits entire key scebes were edited out for the DVD release, the better version was the Italian version with Japanese subtitles, its the whole movie uncut as was intended.

 

[Njaco]

Yeah I agree. One of the worst was "Battle of the Bulge"

December 1944
Ardennes

WHERES THE SNOW AND THE TREES!!!


Among other faults.

 

[Clave]

Band of Brothers is pretty much the best thing ever to hit DVD... 8)

I liked the human drama side of Enemy at the Gates as well, it was quite tense, and involving as a drama...

The Battle of Britain is not bad also...

I have not seen Das Boot..

 

[Njaco]

Clave, you MUST see "Das Boot". The original version not the edited with overdubbs. Awesome!

Those that you mentioned are quite good but Das Boot is on another level.

 

[Matt308]

It certainly is.

 

[Negative Creep]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERBTMuwEcbU

I have this on DVD -its absolutely superb. Seriously violent as well; the hand to hand fighting at the end is really brutal, and it's nice to see a movie that doesn't just focus on the Americans. Ok, you could argue some bits are a little cliched, but no more so than Saving Private Ryan.

 

[Matt308]

I checked out some of the composites for Tae Guk Gi. The war scenes are NOT Saving Private Ryan quality, as I had originally read in paper reviews.

 

[Torch]

Just rented Cross of Iron, I had read the book and thought that was pretty good. The movie was not bad except for the "Russian Corsairs" bombing the Germans near the end. Story about heroism and cowardnice in the trenches.

 

[syscom3]

"The Cruel Sea" was quite well done and accurate.

A companion piece to "Das Boot".

 

[renrich]

I agree with" Das Boot"as what seems to be an accurate war film. Let me tell you something about" Bridge Over the River Kwai". I just finished a book about the survivors from the USS Houston and there were many personal interviews of them and bunch of Texas National Guardsmen of the 36th Div that got to work on the Burma-Siam rail road. They said the Bridge movie was the biggest bunch of crap that was ever made. First, the Japanese engineers that worked on the bridges and railroad knew exactly what to do and did not need any British officer to tell them what to do. Second, all that were interviewed said everyone did everything they could get away with to sabotage the work to the extent that when the railroad was finished and the POWs were put on the train to take them to another work camp, the first bridge they went over they all held their breath, afraid it would collapse. The sanitary conditions in the camp were so bad and the flies so bad that even though they were only fed 1/2 canteen cup of rice twice a day, if before they could eat it a fly landed on it they knew they had to throw the rice away because they would almost certainly get dysentery and probably die since they had no medicine and if you could not work the Japanese would not feed you. I thought "We Were Soldiers" was pretty realistic. I read the book and the movie followed the book pretty closely. I know Hal Moore ( the bat. cmdr. played by Mel Gibson) quite well and had many conversations with him about the book before and after the movie was made. Hal was an advisor on the movie but he said they did not pay much attention to him. Hal retired as a Lt General and he is a wonderful gentleman. His wife Julie does not look anything like Madeleine Stowe(surprise) who played her in the movie but Hal said he spent a lot of time with Mel Gibson and liked him very much. "The Pursuit of the Graf Spee" was well done. If you look at a track chart of the battle the movie replicated the battle almost exactly as it was. On top of that, one of the cruisers, the Achilles, actually played it's on role in the movie although it was at the time the movie was made called the New Delhi, having been given to the Indian Navy. Also no one has mentioned "Task Force" a movie about carrier aviation which starred Gay Cooper that had a lot of combat film in it and was realistic.

 

[Wildcat]

I agree Renrich, the bridge on the river Kwai is a great movie, but as a history of the true horrors faced by the POW's there, it fails miserably. For a realistic movie on the horror and hardships of jungle warfare check out "Kokoda".

 

[timshatz]

"Kokoda".

Never heard of it. I know (or better said, I have read) about the Kokoda Trail and the battles that went on up and down it. Did not know they made a movie about it.

What's the deal? Is it on Video? Who made it and when?

 

[Wildcat]

Never heard of it. I know (or better said, I have read) about the Kokoda Trail and the battles that went on up and down it. Did not know they made a movie about it.

What's the deal? Is it on Video? Who made it and when?

Tim, it was released here on ANZAC day last year. It's out on DVD here but not sure if it's been released overseas yet. Good movie, though not great if you want an overall view of the battles on the track, however like I said, I believe very realistic in the jungle warfare scenes and overall misery faced by troops fighting in these environments.
See the bottom of this thread for some scenes from the movie
http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/personal-gallery/wildcats-warbirds-2094-9.html

 

[timshatz]

Thanks Wildcat. Seen plenty of Australian flicks and they are generally well done. Thanks for the links. Look forward to watching them later today.