Best war movie ever?

[RF]

To answer the last paragraph, when a southern states Republican presidential candidate goes to the White House.....

[Bgile]

Gettysburg
Saving Private Ryan
A Thin Red Line
A Bridge To Far
The Dirty Dozen
Midway
All Quiet on the Western Front
Lawrence of Arabia
Miniseries "Band of Brothers"

I have a few more but these are my favorite off the top of my head

All great!

A few more off the top of my head:

Tora! Tora! Tora!
Run Silent, Run Deep
Cross of Iron
Blue Max
The Bridges at Toko Ri (sp?)
The Longest Day
Sink the Bismarck
Das Boot

... and there are a few good ones about Korea and Vietnam and some bad ones.

[RF]

There is also ''Bridge over the River Kwai'' wqhich is a very good film but a distorted portrayal of real events.

[Kyler]

There is also ''Bridge over the River Kwai'' wqhich is a very good film but a distorted portrayal of real events.

Good observation

[Byron Angel]

There are some rumors circulating about a Jutland movie to be made.


Byron

[marcelo_malara]

5) Stalingrad, an accomplished film.

Guys, I watched today a movie with that name...I wonder if there is more than one, because this one was a piece of scrap, even Pearl is better. Does it begin with a group of German soldiers in Italy before being sent to the East?

[RNfanDan]

I love war-related movies of the "classics" era, probably my favorites being Lawrence of Arabia, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind. Each of these magnificent films contains an element of war, but I do not consider any of the three as "war movies" (although Lawrence of Arabia comes closest of the three).

I think there is a distinction to be made between movies that include one war or another in their story lines or backdrops, such as Gone with the Wind or The Blue Max, and proper "war movies". In other words if a movie is a love story or character study, fictional or otherwise, set against a war backdrop, that doesn't make it a war movie per se.

It is however, sometimes difficult to make that distinction---the stories of T.E. Lawrence and G.S. Patton are two that are so heavily involved with the wars each character became known for---and it is this conundrum that allows these great films to be classified as "war movies", in my opinion.

That stated, I still feel no better examples of war films exist, than many which have been mentioned in this thread already. My personal favorites are Das Boot, Apocalypse Now, Gettysburg, The Longest Day, and Saving Private Ryan (the first movie I ever attended in a theater where the patrons spoke not a word it seems, as we rose to leave at the end--I think EVERYONE there was too choked-up!).

Great thread, by the way, I enjoy reading the many opinions!

Dan

[RF]

You also ought to make a distinction also between films that are purely fictional and those that do portray actual events, which is why I think ''Lawrence of Arabia'' is such a good epic.

[marcelo_malara]

I watched in the last days "Run silent..." and "The enemy below". I can´t believe somebody thinks they are serious war movies. In the first case, one submarine torpedoing another one...submerged, this is close to U-571. The second one is something better...but an escort taking a torpedo?, she would go straight to the bottom, and finnaly climbing over the submarine hull, how is a sub suppose to support all that weight withou sinking????

[Karl Heidenreich]

The "Enemy Below" has a good song. It does not resemble real life but it´s cool and fair.

[Bgile]

I watched in the last days "Run silent..." and "The enemy below". I can´t believe somebody thinks they are serious war movies. In the first case, one submarine torpedoing another one...submerged, this is close to U-571. The second one is something better...but an escort taking a torpedo?, she would go straight to the bottom, and finnaly climbing over the submarine hull, how is a sub suppose to support all that weight withou sinking????

I suggested Run Silent Run Deep. Sorry you didn't like it. It was made right after WWII and the submarines are real and I thought many of the other engagements were well done. IIRC the submarine that was torpedoed was on the surface, but I don't understand your problem with that. A number of submarines torpedoed and sank enemy submarines in WWII. What is the problem with this?

Edit: I have to admit it's been quite a long time since I've seen that movie and I might not like it as well now. I saw it first as a kid and I watched it six times.

[Bgile]

I watched in the last days "Run silent..." and "The enemy below". I can´t believe somebody thinks they are serious war movies. In the first case, one submarine torpedoing another one...submerged, this is close to U-571. The second one is something better...but an escort taking a torpedo?, she would go straight to the bottom, and finnaly climbing over the submarine hull, how is a sub suppose to support all that weight withou sinking????

I agree that the DE would probably have sunk right away, but I liked the movie because they used a real DE in it, and it had some interesting hide and seek between the sub and the DE. You are right about the outcome of course.

[dunmunro]

I watched in the last days "Run silent..." and "The enemy below". I can´t believe somebody thinks they are serious war movies. In the first case, one submarine torpedoing another one...submerged, this is close to U-571. The second one is something better...but an escort taking a torpedo?, she would go straight to the bottom, and finnaly climbing over the submarine hull, how is a sub suppose to support all that weight withou sinking????

Lots of escorts took a torpedo and sank quickly but many didn't. IIRC, there was a similar scenario to the enemy below in real life in 1944 between a u-boat and a USN escort that ended in hand to hand combat. The u-boat crew were able to board the escort after it rammed the u-boat...

An RN sub sank a u-boat while both were submerged.

[marcelo_malara]

I suggested Run Silent Run Deep. Sorry you didn't like it.

No problem with that Bgile. I agree that both movies have wonderful ship scenes..with real ships. The procedures of the attacks in both are interesting watching too.

An RN sub sank a u-boat while both were submerged.

Dunmunro, can you provide details on this?

[marcelo_malara]

the submarine that was torpedoed was on the surface, but I don't understand your problem with that. A number of submarines torpedoed and sank enemy submarines in WWII. What is the problem with this?

I agree that a sub can be torpedoed in the surface, but there is a sequence in which the Jap sub fired a torpedo to the US one, both boats submerged. And it is made clear that the submerged firing is what sank te previuos USN subs in the Bongo Strait.