BikerBabe
Senior Master Sergeant
Agree, VB. I had forgotten all about M*A*S*H, love that one too - the original movie, that is. 
The Top Twenty War Movies You Love and Hate
- Thread starter Pong
- Start date
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Everybody has pretty much summed up all the good ones now and I agree with them all. The same goes for the bad ones I would agree with those too. Pearl Harbour, U-571 and The Thin Red Line are all terrible for their own reasons with for me Pearl Harbour and U-571 as the worst two just for the stupid story line of Pearl Harbour and the criminal historical inaccuracy of U-571. Off the top of my head I can't think of any more that I truly hate on the same scale as those two and conversely those that I love as those mentioned are the ones I would choose.
I am going to add that even though neither of them are movies (although each of the episodes could be considered as a short film). Band of Brothers and The Pacific really do stand out from the crowd in the way few films or TV programs have ever done.
I am going to add that even though neither of them are movies (although each of the episodes could be considered as a short film). Band of Brothers and The Pacific really do stand out from the crowd in the way few films or TV programs have ever done.
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
I really need to see The Pacific, I've not heard one bad thing about it.
syscom3
Pacific Historian
Who liked "The Memphis Belle"?
I rate it 8 out of 10. Its more of a composite story of the heavy bombers, rather than a single story about a single aircrew.
I rate it 8 out of 10. Its more of a composite story of the heavy bombers, rather than a single story about a single aircrew.
BombTaxi
Tech Sergeant
I loved Memphis Belle. However, I understood that it was the fictionalisation of an actual event, the final mission flown by the first crew to complete a full tour of 25 missions?
B-17engineer
Colonel
They don't spend as much time introduction the characters is my only gripe.
Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
Looking at some of the posts
a 'top ten' is a bit restrictive, there's alot of good films being mentioned.
Caught one this afternoon, A Matter of Life and Death (1946), with David Niven as a Mosquito pilot who survived when he should have died. God then holds a hearing to decide what his fate should be. The defence was a British doctor and the prosecution was a War of Independence American, I think the character was called Abraham Farlan but the actor was unmistakeably Raymond Massey.
Not essentially a war film but enjoyable.
a 'top ten' is a bit restrictive, there's alot of good films being mentioned.
Caught one this afternoon, A Matter of Life and Death (1946), with David Niven as a Mosquito pilot who survived when he should have died. God then holds a hearing to decide what his fate should be. The defence was a British doctor and the prosecution was a War of Independence American, I think the character was called Abraham Farlan but the actor was unmistakeably Raymond Massey.
Not essentially a war film but enjoyable.
jrw1238
Airman
Yep the Blue Max would be on my list. The only thing that bothered me about that movie was that they relied heavily on the Moth.
renrich
Chief Master Sergeant
I thought that the Memphis Belle was well done. I have often posted that Task Force was one of my favorite war movies. I believe I saw it in 1949 when it first came out. Besides Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan it had a fellow in it whose name escapes me who was an ace in WW2, McCampbell's wing man I think. He was in movies for a while and played in another very good war movie, directed by Stanley Kubrick, I think and starring Kirk Douglas. Has anyone else seen Task Force, remember the name of the ace turned actor and the name of the war movie( actually First World War and an anti-war movie) where the former ace was shot by a firing squad?
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jrw1238
Airman
I am going to add that even though neither of them are movies (although each of the episodes could be considered as a short film). Band of Brothers and The Pacific really do stand out from the crowd in the way few films or TV programs have ever done.[/QUOTE said:
renrich
Chief Master Sergeant
OK, I answered my own question. Wayne Morris played a Navy pilot in Task Force and he was an ace in WW2, I believe. He also played with Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory, an outstanding war film in which Wayne Morris plays a French soldier picked out as an example to be shot by firing squad. Does anyone besides me like Task Force. I think it does a heck of a job describing Naval Aviation from the early twenties through WW2.
RabidAlien
1st Lieutenant
Glad to see TO mentioned "When Trumpets Fade"...not one that was heavily publicized, due to the fact (in my opinion) that the general entertain-me-now-dammit public simply could not handle the grisly and gory reality that is the insanity of war, much less the lower levels of hell that was the Hurtgen campaign. The movie itself only depicts three days' worth of battle, but oh holy crap how it depicts them! My recommendation, do not eat before watching this movie. Its too real.
Also loved John Wayne's "They Were Expendable"...great depiction of the struggle to survive in the Philippines during the opening stages of the war, and the lengths the troops went to in order to try to hold off the tide of the Japanese troops. I found myself yelling at the screen "don't do it!" every time Wayne had to send another PT boat crew over to Bataan to man the lines there, because they didn't have enough boats to go around. Of course, they never heard me.
Also loved John Wayne's "They Were Expendable"...great depiction of the struggle to survive in the Philippines during the opening stages of the war, and the lengths the troops went to in order to try to hold off the tide of the Japanese troops. I found myself yelling at the screen "don't do it!" every time Wayne had to send another PT boat crew over to Bataan to man the lines there, because they didn't have enough boats to go around. Of course, they never heard me.
That is one of my all time favourite films ever since I first saw it as a child. I've always been a fan of Niven (First of the Few! Another classic, but not to be confused with a documentary
) while the Doctor was played by Roger Livesey, another actor I love to see who also played in Colonel Blimp in another classic from the same team.
T Bolt
Colonel
I remember that movie too, but under another title "Stairway to Heaven" Great movie. Kim Hunter was in it too as a nurse. She looked much better than she did in Planet of the Apes with all the monkey makeup. Tried to find it a few years back and could only find old VHS tapes at outrageous prices. I'll have to look again
wheelsup_cavu
1st Sergeant
Robert Morgan said that a lot of the movie was fiction in his book.
The book is a biography of his entire life up to the year 2000 and not just a book about his war years.
I've read it a couple of times and I liked the book.
Wheels
- Thread starter
- #56
Pong
Staff Sergeant
Mods can you rename this thread to "The Top Twenty Movies You Love and Hate"?
Oh, man how can I forget Thirty Seconds over Tokyo and Bataan? One of my B&W favorites!
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Colin1
Senior Master Sergeant
I agree on this film but David Niven played a Lancaster pilot.
syscom3
Pacific Historian
How many have seen "The Best years Of Our Lives"?
It won the "best picture of the year" for 1946
One of the characters is a B17 navigator. In a couple of scenes, he wanders around some authentic aircraft bone yards. Interesting now to see war weary B17's painted in training command markings, all lined up to go to the smelter.
This is a definitely one of the best movies (of any genre) ever made and everyone should check it out.
It won the "best picture of the year" for 1946
One of the characters is a B17 navigator. In a couple of scenes, he wanders around some authentic aircraft bone yards. Interesting now to see war weary B17's painted in training command markings, all lined up to go to the smelter.
This is a definitely one of the best movies (of any genre) ever made and everyone should check it out.
ToughOmbre
Senior Master Sergeant
Have seen it, a great movie. And the bone yard scenes are the best! Also the scenes of them flying home in the B-17.
TO
