What War Movie Would You Show Your Son or Daughter?

[wingnuts]

In the 1930 release (not sure which version you're watching), the German lines were attacked by a DH.9A

It was the 1979 version, there may have been aircraft in it at some point but I missed some bits (making coffee, toilet breaks etc.).

 

[PlasticHero]

I have a file on my laptop of "Movies to Watch" which just got longer, thanks very much!! Piece of Cake by Derek Robinson is one of my all time favs. I can highly recommend the rest of his aviation novels. On the receiving end of aviation movies, the BBC series "Danger UXB" is a good series and is available on Amazon.

 

[Navalwarrior]

Considering so few A6Ms exist, even fewer D3As and no B5Ns, I think the producers did a good job with the converted AT-6 and BT-13 aircraft.
Especially at a time when CGI didn't exist and they turned out far better than some attempts in other popular movies.

This is heavily subjective, but here is my question.

The other day my son and I decided to watch Midway. My son is very much a film aficionado and I have a graduate minor concentration in film criticism so we usually watch movies with a sharp eye. Twenty minutes in, we both are under impressed by the movie and I made the comment that there were far better aviation war movies and we paused Midway to watch Twelve O'Clock High and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. One thing we both picked up on is that the soldiers/airman all acted like they new what war was and seemed invested differently than current actors do.

Made me wonder, if you were to recommend and aviation based war movie. What would it be and why?

Resp:
Older aviation: 12 O'Clock High, The 1970s Battle of Britain and the Bridges of Toko Ri
Recent aviation: Dunkirk
Older non-aviation: The Sand Pebbles, Band of Brothers,
Recent non-aviation: 1917 (yes !), Saving Private Ryan
- 12 O'Clock High due to being based on two Bomb Groups that suffered same issues... It also addressed leadership.
- Battle of Britain due to the cost of life and the pure determination of the people; same for Dunkirk.
- Bridges of Toko Ri covers the war that is over shadowed by WWII and Vietnam.
- The Sand Pebbles when the US Navy did everything . . . adapting to the situation at hand.
- Band of Brothers again addresses leadership . . . my favorite was when the senior Sgt gets a battlefield commission, and when this 2nd LT later accepts the surrender of a German general.
- Saving Private Ryan covers all aspects of the cost of human life . . . only leaving out the 'smell and concussion' of battle. I know when the movie ended at the Theater . . . everyone walked out in Silence. There was no doubt that it had an impact . . . leaving a lasting impression of war. Call it respect of that generation that few understood . . . until then.

 

[NevadaK]

Resp:
Older aviation: 12 O'Clock High, The 1970s Battle of Britain and the Bridges of Toko Ri
Recent aviation: Dunkirk
Older non-aviation: The Sand Pebbles, Band of Brothers,
Recent non-aviation: 1917 (yes !), Saving Private Ryan
- 12 O'Clock High due to being based on two Bomb Groups that suffered same issues... It also addressed leadership.
- Battle of Britain due to the cost of life and the pure determination of the people; same for Dunkirk.
- Bridges of Toko Ri covers the war that is over shadowed by WWII and Vietnam.
- The Sand Pebbles when the US Navy did everything . . . adapting to the situation at hand.
- Band of Brothers again addresses leadership . . . my favorite was when the senior Sgt gets a battlefield commission, and when this 2nd LT later accepts the surrender of a German general.
- Saving Private Ryan covers all aspects of the cost of human life . . . only leaving out the 'smell and concussion' of battle. I know when the movie ended at the Theater . . . everyone walked out in Silence. There was no doubt that it had an impact . . . leaving a lasting impression of war. Call it respect of that generation that few understood . . . until then.

Thanks NavalWarrior,

My uncle was a 2nd Lieutenant combat engineer in Omaha Beach on D-Day. The day before the invasion he was reassigned to another engineer unit as a field liaison and went ashore on the right side of the beachhead. His unit was on the left edge of the beach. Both units were out of the position. He went ashore with the second wave. When they landed, he was one of the first off the ship which (edited) was an LCI(L). Moments after stepping in the water the ship was hit by artillery and the remainder of troops were lost. He spent the remainder of the day traveling the length of the beach a number of times to coordinate between the engineering teams. I spoke with him him about Saving Private Ryan and whether it captured some of the atmosphere and he replied that it wasn't loud enough, cold and wet, and you couldn't ever capture the smell.

Late in life he was featured in a local documentary about D-Day

Visionalist

 

[MiTasol]

EDIT - found the link and added it.

My top vote goes to a documentary shot by Damien Parer during the battle in 1943. . It is real live footage of the battle, most of it shot by Parer standing up behind the pilot of a Beaufighter. Anything by Damien Parrer is worth watching -- he won an academy award for one of his docos.

The full doco used to be shown here every ANZAC day (Australia's remembrance day) until someone realized it showed RAAF and USAAF aircraft strafing people in lifeboats. As such it demonstrates that history is written by the victors and the myth that only the enemy committed atrocities is just a myth.

 

[GrauGeist]

My uncle's sub was assigned picket duty off the coast of Japan late war and they were kept busy rescuing downed airmen - both Allied and Japanese.
On several occasions, Japanese did not want to be rescued and would wait 'til the sub got close and would open fire with their side-arm at sailors on the deck.
On one such occasion, there was a war correspondent aboard with a cameraman who captured the event and now, it's being taken out of context, oftentimes only showing the pilot in the water (alongside the boat) being shot.
So there can be a lot more to the story than what's being seen.

By the way, according to my uncle, the vast majority of Japanese (aviators and seamen) were grateful to be saved from the water.

 

[Navalwarrior]

Thanks NavalWarrior,

My uncle was a 2nd Lieutenant combat engineer in Omaha Beach on D-Day. The day before the invasion he was reassigned to another engineer unit as a field liaison and went ashore on the right side of the beachhead. His unit was on the left edge of the beach. Both units were out of the position. He went ashore with the second wave. When they landed, he was one of the first off the ship which IIRC was an LST. Moments after stepping in the water the ship was hit by artillery and the remainder of troops were lost. He spent the remainder of the day traveling the length of the beach a number of times to coordinate between the engineering teams. I spoke with him him about Saving Private Ryan and whether it captured some of the atmosphere and he replied that it wasn't loud enough, cold and wet, and you couldn't ever capture the smell.

Late in life he was featured in a local documentary about D-Day

Visionalist

Resp:
Do you (or anyone) remember when CAPT Miller wouldn't let his Sgt be part of the assault of the 'lone' MG emplacement (near a bombed out radar station)? This occurred the day after he and his Sgt discussed the men they knew (and lost) the night they slept in the Church? I believe that Miller was tired of his men dying and was ready to end it all right then and there. That the discussion brought forth what he had been able to repress up until then. So he insisted that he would go up the middle. He left the Sgt out so he would be able to lead his men if he was killed.
Every father in my neighborhood (except two, my father who was blind in his R eye, and the other served in Korea) served in some capacity during WWII. None, and I mean none, ever volunteered any discussion of their part. The one I remember most (found out later while in my 20s) was a Marine rifleman who fought in 3 campaigns; Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Pelelieu. He was in the process of climbing into a Duce and a Half when he slipped and broke his tail bone (full pack, extra ammo and M1 Garand). The trucks were taking the Marines to an LST . . . bound for Iwo Jima. Instead, he was put on a hospital ship destined for Hawaii. Every man in his company was killed! I was told by his daughter that he suffered from survivors' guilt. Most served in the Army, but there were two pilots; a Marine who flew F4F and F4U-1D and the other B-17s in Europe. In later years the Marine aviator began to talk about his experiences. But we were older then.

 

[Navalwarrior]

My uncle's sub was assigned picket duty off the coast of Japan late war and they were kept busy rescuing downed airmen - both Allied and Japanese.
On several occasions, Japanese did not want to be rescued and would wait 'til the sub got close and would open fire with their side-arm at sailors on the deck.
On one such occasion, there was a war correspondent aboard with a cameraman who captured the event and now, it's being taken out of context, oftentimes only showing the pilot in the water (alongside the boat) being shot.
So there can be a lot more to the story than what's being seen.

By the way, according to my uncle, the vast majority of Japanese (aviators and seamen) were grateful to be saved from the water.

Resp:
Yes, I remember reading, fairly recently . . . about a P-47 pilot who flew low and dropped his life raft to a downed Japanese pilot. The P-47 shot down three planes that day. However, it was many years after the end of WWII that he disclosed 'dropping the raft' to his wife. He kept it quiet because most Americans would not have understood. He told his wife that he 'just couldn't let him drown' as he couldn't face and explain to God why he didn't help him, when he could.

 

[NevadaK]

Resp:
Do you (or anyone) remember when CAPT Miller wouldn't let his Sgt be part of the assault of the 'lone' MG emplacement (near a bombed out radar station)? This occurred the day after he and his Sgt discussed the men they knew (and lost) the night they slept in the Church? I believe that Miller was tired of his men dying and was ready to end it all right then and there. That the discussion brought forth what he had been able to repress up until then. So he insisted that he would go up the middle. He left the Sgt out so he would be able to lead his men if he was killed.
Every father in my neighborhood (except two, my father who was blind in his R eye, and the other served in Korea) served in some capacity during WWII. None, and I mean none, ever volunteered any discussion of their part. The one I remember most (found out later while in my 20s) was a Marine rifleman who fought in 3 campaigns; Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Pelelieu. He was in the process of climbing into a Duce and a Half when he slipped and broke his tail bone (full pack, extra ammo and M1 Garand). The trucks were taking the Marines to an LST . . . bound for Iwo Jima. Instead, he was put on a hospital ship destined for Hawaii. Every man in his company was killed! I was told by his daughter that he suffered from survivors' guilt. Most served in the Army, but there were two pilots; a Marine who flew F4F and F4U-1D and the other B-17s in Europe. In later years the Marine aviator began to talk about his experiences. But we were older then.

We had a pretty large extended family and In the 60's we would have family reunions at Thanksgiving that pushed 100 people. More than half of the men were veterans of either WW1, WW2, Korea or Vietnam. There wasn't a whole lot of talk about the wars back then other than references to some relatives who hadn't come back, or a couple who "just weren't the same". I lived with my grandparents and they let me read all the old letters which gave me a different understanding of what had gone on. My uncle never really discussed the war until he was in eighties. Even then there were some things he wouldn't discuss. My family members who fought the Japanese would never talk about what they had seen or done.

 

[davparlr]

Our neighbor growing up was on the USS Laffey when it was on patrol as a radar picket ship, the closest one to Japan. Known as "the ship that would not die" it was featured on one of the "Dogfight" episodes. He was in the 5" turret that was struck by a Kamikaze. We were told that of the 25 men manning the turret, he and one other were the only ones to come out alive. My brother said that he never wanted to talk about it. Pix from Wiki.

 

[Warbirdnutball]

Ok. Here I go:

In Harm's Way. Can't beat a good John Wayne movie
Dive Bomber with Errol Flynn. (Gotta love the pre-was Enterprise shots in the beginning)
Battle of Britain
The Dogfights series from history channel
Memphis Belle. Not the greatest but his favorite bomber.
Wings of Eagles. Yes another Flick.
Tora Tora Tora.

Yeah, that'll do it.

 

[Navalwarrior]

Our neighbor growing up was on the USS Laffey when it was on patrol as a radar picket ship, the closest one to Japan. Known as "the ship that would not die" it was featured on one of the "Dogfight" episodes. He was in the 5" turret that was struck by a Kamikaze. We were told that of the 25 men manning the turret, he and one other were the only ones to come out alive. My brother said that he never wanted to talk about it. Pix from Wiki.
View attachment 592466

Our neighbor growing up was on the USS Laffey when it was on patrol as a radar picket ship, the closest one to Japan. Known as "the ship that would not die" it was featured on one of the "Dogfight" episodes. He was in the 5" turret that was struck by a Kamikaze. We were told that of the 25 men manning the turret, he and one other were the only ones to come out alive. My brother said that he never wanted to talk about it. Pix from Wiki.
View attachment 592466

Resp:
I would like to add a positive note. One movie that describes the relationships among military men: "The Lost Battalion" during October 1918.
Maj Whittlesey to CAPT McMurty - "These Italians, Irish, Jews and Poles, they would never hire me as an attorney; we wouldn't be seen at the same events. But we will never, in our lives, enjoy the company of finer soldiers or better men then we do tonight!" A bond that few relationships can match.

 

[Currell]

Murphy's War. Steve McQueen

This is heavily subjective, but here is my question.

The other day my son and I decided to watch Midway. My son is very much a film aficionado and I have a graduate minor concentration in film criticism so we usually watch movies with a sharp eye. Twenty minutes in, we both are under impressed by the movie and I made the comment that there were far better aviation war movies and we paused Midway to watch Twelve O'Clock High and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. One thing we both picked up on is that the soldiers/airman all acted like they new what war was and seemed invested differently than current actors do.

Made me wonder, if you were to recommend and aviation based war movie. What would it be and why?

Dr. Strangelove is a good catch the aviation part of that, as in a strategic bomber raid and world war 3 was very well done.

Bridges of toko-ri I remember that when I think it was pretty good, were those f9f Panthers or f7f?

I haven't seen a lot of the old black-and-white war movies but I would love to see a good one. I've been really disappointed even by the later ones that I loved as a kid like Midway & Tora Tora Tora from the 70s and I don't think hold up very well today. Too much completely mismatched war footage and not very accurate replicas (T-6 Texan) and so on.

The Japanese did a film during the war with some very well done combat scenes using models and real footage:

it's one of the few that seems plausible to mw. Most of the air-to-air combat seems like so bad to me. I really like to know which one of the old films really hold up cause I'll go and watch them.

as much as I like p-40s I didn't think the flying tigers was very good for example.

Catch 22 I think was a little bit mixed as a film I liked the book better, but it had some pretty neat flying scenes with a lot of real b25 s.

Resp:
I would like to add a positive note. One movie that describes the relationships among military men: "The Lost Battalion" during October 1918.
Maj Whittlesey to CAPT McMurty - "These Italians, Irish, Jews and Poles, they would never hire me as an attorney; we wouldn't be seen at the same events. But we will never, in our lives, enjoy the company of finer soldiers or better men then we do tonight!" A bond that few relationships can match.

 

[Currell]

Murphy's War, a 1971 film starring Steve McQueen. He teaches himself to fly a Grumman OA-12 Duck! Currell

 

[Navalwarrior]

Murphy's War, a 1971 film starring Steve McQueen. He teaches himself to fly a Grumman OA-12 Duck! Currell

Resp:
Peter O'Toole, I believe was the wannabe pilot. It did have some good flying footage. Another good b/w one was 'God Is My Co-pilot.'

 

[GrauGeist]

The J2F-6 that starred in Murphy's war (and Baa Baa Black Sheep) is on display at the USAF museum in Ohio.

Grumman OA-12 Duck > National Museum of the United States Air Force™ > Display

 

[Currell]

Resp:
Peter O'Toole, I believe was the wannabe pilot. It did have some good flying footage. Another good b/w one was 'God Is My Co-pilot.'

You are correct: Peter O'toole...

 

[drgondog]

Band of Brothers.

 

[glennasher]

Not a movie, but the old NBC series "Victory at Sea" is pretty good. They cover a lot more than the Pacific or CBI, theaters, too. I drag that DVD set out whenever I get bored. The production quality is, of course, 1940's documentary quality, but the subjects are very good and interesting.

 

[at6]

"What Did You Do In The War Daddy"