Best War Movie Ever

[warriorant]

[Sean Oliver]

Sticking to WW2, faves include Stalag 17,
Das Boot, and others but
Bridge on the River Kwai, hands down is the best war flick, ever, so far. It's anti war yet heroic, tragicomic, etc. Characters drive the story not "action" or "spectacular" effects.

[Paul Lakowski]

"A Bridge to Far" & "Das Boot"

[OpanaPointer]

der längste Tag

[Sean Oliver]

Sticking to WW2, faves include Stalag 17,
Das Boot, and others but
Bridge on the River Kwai, hands down is the best war flick, ever, so far. It's anti war yet heroic, tragicomic, etc. Characters drive the story not "action" or "spectacular" effects.

And, one that is really great, William Wyler"s Battleground, from 1948 . It's somewhat unknown, but very good.
There are so many others that I can't think of right now!

[von thoma]

Stanley Kubrick master piece "Paths of Glory", deserves to be among the first of the War genre
A careful realization.

[Ivan Ž.]

1a) Cross of Iron (a lesson for film directors on how a war movie should be made)
1b) Der Untergang (as a friend of mine said: Bruno Ganz portrayed Hitler better than Hitler himself)
1c) Иди и смотри (see the true horror of war)
2) Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter (a fantastic TV mini-series, on so many levels)
3) Das Boot (a well known masterpiece, no comments needed)

There's quite a few more good movies, but these are the exceptional ones (as is Eisenstein's "Alexander Nevsky"). "Under sandet" and "Into the White" are some of my more recent favourites, but both are more drama than war movies (as is the good old "Hell in the Pacific"). There are some excellent scenes in "Full Metal Jacket" (Surfin' Bird scene), Yugoslav movie "Tri" (human hunt scene) and, of course, the beach landing scene in "Saving Private Ryan" was absolutely amazing and eye-opening for many film directors.

Cheers,
Ivan

[Rickshaw_665]

Danger Close, the Battle of Long Tan. A recent Australian movie. Superbly done. The Australian Army really went to town on this one, providing weapons, vehicles, APCs, etc. Well worth seeing. It is very close to the accounts of the battles, although with obvious dramatic effect.

[OpanaPointer]

Danger Close, the Battle of Long Tan. A recent Australian movie. Superbly done. The Australian Army really went to town on this one, providing weapons, vehicles, APCs, etc. Well worth seeing. It is very close to the accounts of the battles, although with obvious dramatic effect.

:drool:

[KV-Wink]

Warriors of the Rainbow

Its set in 1930 Taiwan and a bunch of Tribe people under Japanese occupation rebel. I haven't watched it in a long time but I remember the fight scenes in the Taiwanese Jungles fondly with the wacky Japanese falling for camo tarp tricks and drop boulder banging and there were a lot of clever camerawork and effects used standard of big explosion battle films. I don't watch many War Movies and have not viewed this one in a while so pardon if its actually a sucky dumpster garbage of movie.

cheers

[OpanaPointer]

Taiwan had Ewoks?

[KV-Wink]

pfff slick

I think they're called the Seediq people.

[Sejanus]

Surprised that nobody has yet mentioned a movie released in 1965 called The Hill. Starring Sean Connery, Harry Andrews (as the RSM and this guy fits that role perfectly) and others all superbly cast, the movie is a taut psychological thriller set in the confines of a British Army prison located in the Libyan Desert during WWII.

Perhaps in the ensuing years The Hill has grown more obscure than I had thought? It is truly outstanding though and also available on DVD.

Another classic is The Wild Geese (1978) starring Richard Burton, about a mercenary mission in Africa. Well worth seeking out! Also extremely violent, so you have been warned. There was a sequel called Wild Geese II with a wildly implausible plot (this version did not star Richard Burton and was nonsense about helping Rudolf Hess to escape, the film was made prior to Hess' death in prison) that I did not care for, but the original Wild Geese was outstanding. And for that matter, Dogs of War (1980) starring Christopher Walken was another good merc film. "Welcome to Zangaro! Long live President Kimba!"

All highly recommended.

[Sejanus]

Since this is a German WWII forum, here are some noteworthy works I have not seen mentioned yet in this tread that are related to the NS period, I found them all to be excellent:

Flame & Citron (some sources indicate this was first released in 2008, others in 2009), about Danish resistance fighters during WWII. Portraying the two resistance fighters the film follows as not necessarily heroic and morally ambiguous gives the film a more realistic approach. Be careful whom you trust!

Black Book (2008), following a Jewish woman that, passing for Aryan, becomes a spy for the resistance in The Netherlands during WWII.

Sophie Scholl - The Final Days (2005), about the real life Sophie Scholl and the members of the White Rose resistance group shortly prior to and after their arrest by the Gestapo, and what happened next. Among the excellent casting is André Hennicke as the emaciated, nearly frothing-at-the-mouth-gone-berzerk Peoples Court Judge Roland Freisler (acting in just the same haranguing way Friesler behaved in real life judging by newsreel footage produced by the Nazis during numerous trials I have seen, including that of the July 20 plotters).

Alone in Berlin (2016), another film about resistance, this one concerns the heartbroken parents of a fallen German soldier (their only son) that decide to act against the state that insisted on his sacrifice that was ultimately and sadly in vain.

Notice a theme here? And probably already mentioned earlier in the thread is Downfall (2004) starring Bruno Ganz (he passed away just about a year ago) as Hitler in his last days in Berlin. Another good one is North Face (2008), about two close friends that resign from the Gebirgsjäger in pre-WWII Germany (before conscription) in order to pursue their dream of mountain climbing (uniforms & equipment are absolutely top notch as is everything else).

[Rickshaw_665]

Surprised that nobody has yet mentioned a movie released in 1965 called The Hill. Starring Sean Connery, Harry Andrews (as the RSM and this guy fits that role perfectly) and others all superbly cast, the movie is a taut psychological thriller set in the confines of a British Army prison located in the Libyan Desert during WWII.

The Hill is a superbly cast and acted movie. Well worth watching. It shows just how much of bastard they were in the Glasshouses. Things haven't changed that much either. They are still bastards. Military prison is not fun.