Best war film?

[The Cap]

What are some of your favorites?

Mine are:
The Patriot
Saving Private Ryan
Black hawk down
Windtalkers

Those are the ones I thought off the top of my head.

[Sunrider]

Saving Private Ryan
The Deer Hunter

[mcgaffer]

Full Metal Jacket.
Waterloo.
Saving Private Ryan.
The Dirty Dozen films.
And my number one Kelly's Hero's.
Damn forgot Where Eagles Dare, there's soo many good ones.

[HulkSmash666]

Mine are:

Saving Private Ryan: Some of the most spectacular, realistic action I have ever seen in a war movie. The pinnacle that all battle scenes should strive to achieve. The story was good, but it was the battle scenes that make this one of my favourite war movies.

Brotherhood of War (Korean): This movie blew me away. It was a 3 hour epic with battle scenes as intense, if not more so, than Saving Private Ryan, and there were at least a dozen of them, as opposed to SPR 3-4 battle scenes. This movie was brutal, bloody and intense. It would have cost half of Korea's national budget to make this, but it worked. It's sub-title states "It makes Saving Private Ryan seem like a walk in the park". And it does.

Four Feathers: Being an Aussie, I'm automatically a fan of Heath Ledger, and when this movie came out, it cemented that fact. This movie was awesome. I love seeing wars set in different time periods, and apart from Zulu and Zulu Dawn, I hadn't seen many movies about the British Empire during the 1800's, and I loved seeing how they fought their battles. Djimon Honsou was as brilliant as ever, and the prison scene later in the film was jaw dropping. I never want to go to an African prison. Ever. I loved everything about this movie; the battle, the story, the acting, the location......everything except Kate Fuckin Hudson. I cringe when I see her, and she should not have been cast in this role, but other than that, this movie rocked.

Assembly (Chinese): Pretty much the same reason I loved Brotherhood of War. It has some full on, huge and bloody battle scenes on par with BoW and SPR, and is set in a slightly different time period. SPR was WW2, BoW was the Korean War, and Assembly is set in the Chinese Civil War. It was a full on, intense 2 1/2 hours of realistic, brutal battle scenes, with a pretty cool story tied in amongst it. Asian war movies are starting to become my favourite type of war movies.

The Hurt Locker: The best, and I mean THE BEST Iraq war movie to come out so far. This movie kicked all kinds of arse. Coming from a military background, this was the most realistic war movie I have seen in a long time. The intensity, suspense, and final payoff of the different scenarios these bomb disposal blokes endure is incredible. I was hooked from the opening minute of this movie all the way untl the final credits. Man, what a cool fuckin movie.

Zulu: A classic that still holds up today. Again, a movie about the British Empire in Africa in the 1800's, and if ever a movie could do with a modern day remake it's this one. I'd love to see this movie done with today's film making techniques. Seeing thousands of Zulu warriors clashing against a handle full of British troops, with all the blood, gore and brutality of todays battle scenes would be fuckin awesome. The younger generation of today won't sit through any of the classic movies, and this is a movie that needs to be seen by all. So a remake (as much as I don't like them, mostly) could be an awesome way to get the story the attention it deserves.

[Libaax]

The Dirty Dozen
The Platoon
Brotherhood of War

[Shade]

The Longest Day
Bridge over River Kwai
Platoon
Thin Red Line

[Zero Hunter]

I am with you on Kellys Heroes mcgaffer. That movie still stands up today. Also I have to give a nod to Patton just for George C Scotts acting.

[ALEX-23]

Saving Private Ryan
The Patriot
The Deer Hunter
Enemy at the Gates

[Dark Galaxy]

Saving Private Ryan was the first war movie I saw that didn't romanticize war in the slightest. I was shaken after seeing that movie, and have never really wanted to see it again. Very well done and honest, but not something I wanted to watch over and over. J

ust the scene with Adam Goldburg alone, when he gets stabbed, still haunts me. So, intimate, so awful.

[ALEX-23]

Saving Private Ryan was the first war movie I saw that didn't romanticize war in the slightest. I was shaken after seeing that movie, and have never really wanted to see it again. Very well done and honest, but not something I wanted to watch over and over. J

ust the scene with Adam Goldburg alone, when he gets stabbed, still haunts me. So, intimate, so awful.

I know what you mean, my father had a hard time sitting through that movie!

[Ed Sullivan]

It's not a movie, it's an HBO mini-series, but Band of Brothers is friggin' awesome. Ten episodes that are around an hour long. Similar feel as Saving Private Ryan as Tom Hanks was involved a lot in it's creation. You get to really love the characters.

[Gary Joyce]

Platoon for me.

Also while it's not a movie i loved Generation Kill.

[passer-by]

Richard Attenborough's A Bridge Too Far.

Zulu Dawn.

We Were Soldiers.

Black Hawk Down.

Apocalypse Now.

Platoon.

The Deer Hunter.

[mgs]

Star Wars, the first 3.

A war in space, epic.

[Damiean Dark]

Apocalypse now probabbly the most recent major war after Iraq and a movie written by a guy who was there to see Nams terrors and atrocities first hand.

Nam is a very sore point for americans And you still get dumb commentators like Sean Hannity saying "we won" and "no atrocitys happend" at least i can respect Oreilly who says he saw what happend to returning soldiers and avoided the war like the plauge.

Thats the sign of a great movie though.

[mjhayman]

A sub-category might be best war documentary series. World at War and The Ten Thousand Day War are probably the best known, and excellent overall, but my preference is the (UK version) of Battlefield, released by Polygram in the early-mid 90's. It was a world war two series later followed by Battlefield: Vietnam (which suffered from some silly computer graphics but remains superior to most on the subject). The current crop of History Channel original programming, with computer recreated naval/aerial battles are pale substitutes for either Battlefield or World at War.

As for films...

Apocalypse Now
Lawrence of Arabia
Bridge on the River Kwai
Patton
All Quiet on the Western Front

That's a hands-down, no question list. I also enjoyed The Dirty Dozen, MASH, and several others.

(Still can't quite wrap my brain around Apocalypse Now being shafted in favour of Kramer vs. Kramer for the Oscar.)

[Bill Thompson]

For me it's Letters From Iwo Jima followed by Saving Private Ryan.

[thehod]

The right answer is, of course, Where Eagles Dare.

It isn't about realism, it isn't about delivering a message. The best war films are boys own adventure stuff, and Where Eagles Dare does it better than any other movie.

[The Confessor]

It's not a movie, it's an HBO mini-series, but Band of Brothers is friggin' awesome. Ten episodes that are around an hour long. Similar feel as Saving Private Ryan as Tom Hanks was involved a lot in it's creation. You get to really love the characters.


Quite f***ing right! Band Of Brothers is excellent from start to finish.


My favourite war movies are probably...


Full Metal Jacket
Saving Private Ryan
Memphis Belle

[Kaos]

Apocalypse Now
Black Hawk Down
Platoon

Tropic Thunder

[Ilash]

I haven't seen a huge amount of war films but Apocolypse Now is an absolute, flat-out masterpiece though I see it more as an art film than a generic (I mean generic in the non-judgemental sense) war film. I actually think it's a far more interesting, impressive work than the Godfather even if it's certainly a lot more flawed.

And for the record, Black Hawk Down is one of my least favourite films ever. I really, REALLY hate that movie.

[gorthon616]

I haven't seen a huge amount of war films but Apocolypse Now is an absolute, flat-out masterpiece though I see it more as an art film than a generic (I mean generic in the non-judgemental sense) war film. I actually think it's a far more interesting, impressive work than the Godfather even if it's certainly a lot more flawed.

And for the record, Black Hawk Down is one of my least favourite films ever. I really, REALLY hate that movie.

What do you hate about it? It's my favorite contemporary war movie. (better than Saving Private Ryan in my eyes).

[Trey]

Saving Private Ryan is garbage.
That is all.

Best war movie is Platoon.

[Ontir]

Private Ryan absolutely blows!

the Big Red One

Johnny Got His Gun

Saints & Soldiers

[The Batman]

There's been a lot of war movies that I've enjoyed, but Apocalypse Now (the original not the Redux) is the only one that came to mind when I thought of "best".

[passer-by]

IAnd for the record, Black Hawk Down is one of my least favourite films ever. I really, REALLY hate that movie.Why? It is based on a real event and some of the Army Rangers who were in Somalia were consultants of the film. IIRC in the DVD bonuses they said that the film recreated perfectly the way things happened.

Bad intelligence leading to going in the wrong house, refusal of the Pentagon to give them heavy-armoured gunships, the hell of street-fighting - I think it was all well-rendered.

So what exactly do you hate about Black Hawk Down?

[jesse_custer]

Paths of Glory - Stanley Kubrick is able to deliver about 10 interesting characters in 90 minutes. The ending is a powerful anti-war chorus.

Saving Private Ryan - I've heard all the arguments against it: glorifies war, isn't that realistic, etc. But none of that matters. This movie affected me when I first saw it, and it still does. Watching a man hold his guts and call out to his mother made me understand what a war sacrifice is more than any other film. Plus, the cinematography is outstanding, taking Kubrick's work in Paths of Glory to the next level.

Also, if Ilash is like me, he thinks Black Hawk Dawn is a seen-it-all-before boring piece of shit with no memorable characters.

[The Cap]

I haven't even heard of a lot of these.

[Howard Allan]

1 Kelly's Heroes
2 The Devils Brigade
3 The Great Escape
4 Bridge on the River Kwaii
5 The Dirty Dozen
6 Grey Lady Down
7 Patton
8 They were Expendable
9 Tora Tora Tora
10 Gallipoli

[GRANT!]

Only one movie dared to capture the gritty realism of combat. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JEhn0swpfQ)

[Nefarius]

Waterloo.



Thanks God,someone knew this movie except me.I love it.It's one of my favourite(and more faithfull)historical/war movies i've ever seen.Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer were great andvery look alike to their historical roles.

Also,i loved Der Untergang(The Downfall).The most faithfull movie about Hitler's last days.Also,it depicts the brutality of the siege of Berlin and the madness of war.

[BeastieRunner]

Thin Red Line

Glory

Apocalypse Now

Das Boot

Starship Troopers

Lawrence of Arabia

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Full Metal Jacket

All Quiet on the Western Front

Gone with the Wind

The Longest Day

Schindler's List

The Train

The Dawn Patrol

Soldier of Orange

Heartbreak Ridge

Cross of Iron

Force 10 From Navarone

Hell Is For Heroes

[Ilash]

What do you hate about it? It's my favorite contemporary war movie. (better than Saving Private Ryan in my eyes).

Why? It is based on a real event and some of the Army Rangers who were in Somalia were consultants of the film. IIRC in the DVD bonuses they said that the film recreated perfectly the way things happened.

Bad intelligence leading to going in the wrong house, refusal of the Pentagon to give them heavy-armoured gunships, the hell of street-fighting - I think it was all well-rendered.

So what exactly do you hate about Black Hawk Down?

Why do I hate it? Well, it basically spends the first half an hour introducing you to a bunch of obnoxious characters who spend the next two hours getting shot at by a bunch of other characters I didn't give a crap about. Yes, it shows how horrible war is. So what? The first half an hour of Saving Private Ryan did that but in a far more effective and concise way. Black Hawk Down is a well directed film, yes, but that doesn't help when you have absolutely NO emotional investment or interest in anything that's going on. The fact that it went on for what seemed like forever didn't help matters in the slightest either.

[Enyo]

That's a great list. Mine are:

1- Lawrence of Arabia

2- Dogs of War

3- Das Boot

4- We Were Soldiers

5- Patton


Thin Red Line

Glory

Apocalypse Now

Das Boot

Starship Troopers

Lawrence of Arabia

The Bridge on the River Kwai

Full Metal Jacket

All Quiet on the Western Front

Gone with the Wind

The Longest Day

Schindler's List

The Train

The Dawn Patrol

Soldier of Orange

Heartbreak Ridge

Cross of Iron

Force 10 From Navarone

Hell Is For Heroes

[Pauly T]

Three Kings

Casualties of War

Glory

[jdwrocks]

2 faves of mine not listed, ( and top 10 in my book) are:

-"A Midnight Clear" starring Gary Sinise
-"When Trumpets Fade" - starring Ron Eldard

When Trumpets Fade is a great underrated war film. I can never understand why Eldard hasn't been more successfull in his acting career. He was damn good in this movie.