WWII Movies Historians Absolutely Hate

[SaparotRob]

I would like to nominate Hell is for Heroes, a pretty mediocre movie, for honourable mention.
Bob Newhart does his telephone routine.

 

[Greg Boeser]

Shining Through, Melenie Griffith and Michael Douglas is pretty barf bag worthy.

 

[special ed]

Battleground - 1949.
As an old person, I like the banter because I have heard similar. My favorite line in the movie is when filling the line with kitchen staff and one man says, "How do you work this thing, I ain't fired nothin' but the 03."
"This is a semi automatic, gas operated, 30 cal..."
"Look. Ya ain't sellin' to me. How does it work?"
"Oh, Ya just pull this back, put in the ammo and you're ready."

I probably should have said I like this one because of accuracy. The way the men show the fatigue of combat seems well done and the equipment is accurate as there was much of it at a cheap price in 1949.

 

[WATU]

Cruel Sea is understated, thoughtful and closely based on reality, the author having been an experienced escort commander.

 

[SaparotRob]

Cruel Sea is understated, thoughtful and closely based on reality, the author having been an experienced escort commander.

"Snorkers! Good-oh!"

 

[WATU]

"Snorkers! Good-oh!"

Often quoted at our dinner table!

 

[fannum]

"1941" and not even funny!
A lot of the early war flicks were laughable for accuracy, starring Bogart, Cagney, Van Johnson, etc. but gee did they stir up patriotic fervor!

Hard to beat "12 O'Clock High," "Midway," "30 Seconds over Tokyo," "Bridge on River Kwai," "Private Ryan," "Greyhound," "Bridge too Far," "Empire of the Sun," "Burma Bridge Busters," and "Fat Man and Little Boy" for story and filming if nothing else.

 

[GrauGeist]

I would also say that "Run Silent, Run Deep" is a good movie as is "Flags of our fathers".

 

[MIflyer]

As I have mentioned before, my next door neighbor when I moved to FL flew B-25's in the Med and his squadron commander had been Ted W Lawson's Co-pilot. He was told that in the movie "A Guy Named Joe" that some of the extras were the actual Doolittle Raiders after they got back from China. "A Guy Named Joe" as well as its modern remake "Always" were both fantasies.

The movie Hanover Street was good, although they had USAAF B-25's flying out of Great Britain, and it was a complete fabrication. Photography was excellent and the flak scenes were the best ever. It was pleasant to watch for the first half (the guy sitting in front of me even fell asleep) and then for the 2nd half it practically turns into Star Wars. It had a Casablanca style ending.

Just watched part of a Youtube documentary about the introduction of the P-38 into Pacific combat. They said that the turbos muffled the P-38 exhausts and so the Japanese could not hear the Lightnings coming.......

 

[Greg Boeser]

Just watched part of a Youtube documentary about the introduction of the P-38 into Pacific combat. They said that the turbos muffled the P-38 exhausts and so the Japanese could not hear the Lightnings coming.......

Well, if you heard it on the internet, it must be true.

 

[GrauGeist]

Most aircraft will be hard to hear if they are coming head-on (approaching) a target (person/position) and this includes jets.

The P-38 is not very quiet and actually has a distinct whine, different than a Merlin, but close.

 

[MIflyer]

Most aircraft will be hard to hear if they are coming head-on (approaching) a target (person/position) and this includes jets.

They are all VERY hard to hear if you are in your own cockpit with the helmet on and with your own engine running.

 

[wuzak]

A few in this list I've never heard of:


View: https://youtu.be/xJxx081KCdg?si=HvteXIwe7v_gynaz

 

[cammerjeff]

I know it is not meant to be Historically accurate, But "Inglorious Basterds" just bothers me for many reasons. Just a personnel peeve.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

I know it is not meant to be Historically accurate, But "Inglorious Basterds" just bothers me for many reasons. Just a personnel peeve.

Not the least of which is the titular misspelling.

 

[kalani]

Well, the part about the US forces at PH having models of fighter planes that did not come out until later presumably refers to the P-40E's being used to depict P-40B's. But while there were no P-40E's at PH in fact the P-40E was already in service and the majority of the P-40's in the PI were in fact E models, with only one unit equipped with B's.

While there wee Patton tanks portraying Tigers in the Bulge movie, it would have hard to use anything else. Funny thing is a totally fictional movie "Kelly's Heroes" has the best looking Tigers until "Fury" came out decades later, using a real one. The Tigers in KH reportedly were modified T-34's and look very convincing.

Pearl Harbor, predominantly P40B's with a small number of C's.

 

[kalani]

30 seconds over Tokyo and Tora! Tora! Tora! were actually well done, especially in an era before CGI.

Pearl Harbor was basically the Titanic without icebergs - it was a sloppy love interest interrupted by explosions.

Patton was actually a good movie - yes, there were accuracy issues and they did the best they could with their pre-CGI props and the same can be said for Battle of the Bulge, too.

The M. Bay Pearl Harbor version was a ridiculous smear of a movie. Even the PH survivors at the premier were panning it. Tora was far better.

 

[special ed]

It may be of interest, I went to see Tora at the theater when first released. Coming out after, most people were silent and those who spoke were very quiet. It was an older crowd and many may have been WW2 vets.
Many years later, I went to the theater for a re release or anniversary or something. This crowd was young computer game types. Much whooping during the show, where the old crowd years before were noiseless. The young bunch all yelled very loudly when the sailors jumped overboard with the flag. It was as if they were at a game. After, walking out, they were discussing and whooping about the explosions and destruction.
My conclusion is there is very little WW2 history taught and the lack is more evident in the 21st century. Perhaps this is why today's young have very little regard for patriotism.
Just an old guy's rant.

 

[Alan Stevens]

So, my personal fave's would be, Battle of Britain (1968), 12O'clock high (1949), Das Boot (German, TV about '87) and Catch-22 (1972?).
There are others that are good, I haven't seen All quiet on the Western front for over 50 years, same for The Cruel sea.

Eng

The Longest Day (1962) at top tier.

Midway (1976) is actually near the top considering what it meant to put that battle to film, despite use of WW II color combat footage meant seeing some hardware that wasn't at the battle.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

It may be of interest, I went to see Tora at the theater when first released. Coming out after, most people were silent and those who spoke were very quiet. It was an older crowd and many may have been WW2 vets.
Many years later, I went to the theater for a re release or anniversary or something. This crowd was young computer game types. Much whooping during the show, where the old crowd years before were noiseless. The young bunch all yelled very loudly when the sailors jumped overboard with the flag. It was as if they were at a game. After, walking out, they were discussing and whooping about the explosions and destruction.
My conclusion is there is very little WW2 history taught and the lack is more evident in the 21st century. Perhaps this is why today's young have very little regard for patriotism.
Just an old guy's rant.

That's exactly why I made sure that I raised my son with an awareness that people, including people in his own family, have fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy.

To be fair, people all over the world cheered and groaned while watching dogfights sway back and forth. Brits kept scoreboards in 1940, no doubt Germans as well either clapped or shook their fists, and so on.

But teaching history in America, that's a lot of horseshit. We rebelled, and won. Then we fought ourselves because this whole slavery thing I can't teach you about any more. Then we saved the world from the Nazis. After that the Commies took one look and said "I quit".

It's crap, and it was crap even when I was in high school. As a junior in 1983, my history teacher had a very poor grading scheme: 10% of your grade was homework, 90% multiple choice exams. Well, that suited me fine, because I knew me some history. So I aced exam after exam and refused to do any homework at all. He called me in after class one day to ask me to please, please turn in some homework, and I flatly refused. He asked "Why?" My answer was simple: "I already know this crap." Names, dates, places, no context, no understanding, sleepwalk schoolwork.