XBradTC

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XBradTC

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Top Ten War Movies

Update: Ace-alanche! (Sorta, DinT put it up after I begged) I hope you morons will take a look around. The EFP post was popular. The Exurban League, via The Sporting News, has a list of the 25 movies that make men cry. I’m not going to go down that road, but it did get me…

Update: Ace-alanche! (Sorta, DinT put it up after I begged)

I hope you morons will take a look around. The EFP post was popular.

The Exurban League, via The Sporting News, has a list of the 25 movies that make men cry. I’m not going to go down that road, but it did get me thinking about this: What are the Top Ten War Movies? I’ll give you a list, but by all means, let us hear YOUR nominations.

In no particular order:

  1. Apocalypse Now
  2. Blackhawk Down
  3. Hamburger Hill
  4. Full Metal Jacket (if only for Private Pyle)
  5. Saving Private Ryan
  6. The Longest Day
  7. A Bridge Too Far
  8. The Bridges of Toko-Ri
  9. Patton
  10. Gettysburg

Readers may note a bias towards WWII and later in my list. So sue me? Got a better idea? Here’s your chance to be heard.

Honorable Mention? Stripes. I always used to joke that it was the most realistic war movie ever.

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  1. Exurban Jon

    Great point about Stripes! Hollywood doesn’t realize that most enlisted guys spend most their time trying to avoid work (or was that just me?)

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  2. xbradtc

    Most guys I knew didn’t mind work, per se, but make work led to a lot of guys pulling a “Casper” and ghosting.

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  3. doubleplusundead

    Tora! Tora! Tora! would probably be a good addition to a war film list.

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  4. xbradtc

    D’oh!

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  5. Dave in Texas

    Always hard to do these, I certainly like your choices.

    We Were Soldiers Once (also an awesome book)

    Paths of Glory (takes a little work to suspend disbelief with Kirk Douglas as a French officer, but he gives a stellar performance, along with several others).

    Glory

    Shenandoah

    off the top of my head.

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  6. Dave in Texas

    In Harm’s Way

    From Here to Eternity

    Sands of Iwo Jima (really, just about any John Wayne war flick, I like them all)

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  7. it’s vintage, duh

    I really liked Letters from Iwo Jima.

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  8. Moron Pundit

    Well, let’s see.

    Some glaring oversights:

    The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai, Midway, Tora Tora Tora…

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  9. Moron Pundit

    Oh…

    And your list is awesome. All ten would have been early choices for me.

    Others:

    Rourke’s Drift
    Charge of the Light Brigade
    Braveheart
    El Cid

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  10. Dave in Texas

    Zulu

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  11. Mike

    12 O’Clock High…about the only Air Farce related film worth putting on a list, although Strategic Air Command is pretty good. Not technically a war movie, I suppose, since it’s about SAC in the ’50s, but it has Jimmy Stewart and lots of good footage of B-36s and B-47s.

    I usually include Band of Brothers on these sorts of lists, even though it’s not technically a movie. There aren’t many lists for “best military miniseries,” and Band of Brothers definitely deserves to be on some sort of list.

    Das Boot, the best submarine film ever.

    Where Eagles Dare, while not technically a standard war film (more of a spy thriller) is set during WWII, has lots of Nazis, and also has Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton. Pretty good film.

    Finally, The Battle of Algiers. Who would’ve thought that an Italian Communist, using the memoirs of one of the FLN’s leaders, would make one of the best and most even handed portrayals of an insurgency/counter-insurgency?

    Oh, one addition..when I looked at 12 O’Clock High I knew there was another film with Gregory Peck I needed to include: Pork Chop Hill. It and the Bridges at Toko-Ri are probably the best movies about that otherwise forgotten war.

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  12. xbradtc

    Yo! DinT, feel free to pimp this at “that other site you post at”

    12 o’clock- watched it recently, aged very well.
    SAC- great movie, loved June Allyson in it.
    Das Boot- epic
    Zulu- do I dare mention I never saw the whole thing?
    Tora!3X rocks, but Midway didn’t age well.
    Pork Chop Hill? Great Movie, interesting take on integration, also.
    Any John Wayne- of course…
    We Were Soldiers- Gibson was over the top. Spoiled a great movie- that and Chris Klein
    In Harm’s Way- good flick- on my netflix list somewhere…
    Glory- lost out to Gettysburg on my list, but it was close

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  13. Moron Pundit

    Speaking of good submarine movies, how about Enemy Below? I love that movie.

    Dave in Texas, of course I was thinking of Zulu when I wrote Rourke’s Drift. Reading the book Carnage and Culture (By Victor Davis Hanson) really opened my eyes to how amazing that battle was.

    I only wish the Brits hadn’t turned into a bunch of shirt-lifters who worried about how big a kiwi was.

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  14. xbradtc

    Enemy Below is on my Netflix instant que. Haven’t seen it in 25 years.

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  15. MikeD

    It’s on Comcast’s OnDemand service for free. Really good film.

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  16. Dave in Texas

    Oh, well shoot, I thought there might have been a movie called Rourke’s Drift.

    That battle took place after the Brits got stomped/overun at Islandwana. IIRC the engagement at Rourke’s Drift saw more VC’s awarded in any single engagement.

    I’m trying to remember the book – The Washing of the Spears… read it 20 years ago.

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  17. xbradtc

    Well, iff’n we’re gonna go all British here, howzabout Gunga Din?

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  18. cranky

    I agree with adding in Band of Brothers. I liked We Were Soldiers Once, General Moore lives up the interstate in the Auburn/Opelika area. Air Farce? There’s an airstrike waiting for you. I liked 12 O’Clock High as well. Haven’t seen it in forever. June Allyson — yummy. What was that John Wayne in the Philipines movie — They Were Expendable? Donna Reed in that and another hottie.

    Although I’ve never thought of Braveheart as a war movie it makes perfect sense. Love that movie. Enemy Below — that’s the Robert Mitchum as the destroyer captain, right? Excellent nomination.

    Not a movie but a DVD set I must buy — Victory at Sea.

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  19. xbradtc

    Gen. Moore spoke to us (all the NCOs on post) when I was at Carson, 93 or 94. That’s why I thought Gibson was so over the top.

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  20. Moron Pundit

    Dave, there IS a movie called Rourke’s Drift but it was made in 1914 and I was thinking of the Michael Caine vehicle.

    Yeah, Islandawana was a disaster but the chaps at Rourke’s kept a stiff upper lip and wore out the vastly inferior Zulu forces. It really was astounding. Add in the fact that reinforcements arrived and turned back during the day after seeing the battle as lost and you’ve got a true epic on the scale of THermopylae.

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  21. FUBAR

    THE DIRTY DOZEN

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  22. Steve

    Consider “The Best Years of Our Lives”. Not a film about war itself, but what happens to the troops when they come after the war is over. Great movie.

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  23. Gman

    Sands of Iwo Jima starring John Wayne is notable.

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  24. Vercingetorix

    Siege on Firebase Gloria… awesome

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  25. John McKenna

    Warr is all ugliness – except for those who rise (or are depicted as rising) above its horror.

    My top ten picks; not necessarilly in any order:

    Attack!
    The Seventh Cross
    Glory
    All Quiet on the Western Front
    Paths of Glory
    Red Badge of Courage
    Revolution
    Das Boot
    Saving Private Ryan
    The Men

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  26. PrestoPundit

    In Harm’s Way

    Mr. Roberts

    Gone With The Wind

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  27. xbradtc

    You guys are coming up with some awesome selections. Most of these stories, I note, deal with the human condition, very few paint war as glorious. Noble, yes, but not glorious.

    I also not that there aren’t many “anti”-war movies. By that I don’t mean the selections are pro-war, per se, but if you look at so many movies of the 70’s, there was a distinct undercurrent of repudiation of Vietnam, or the concept of service.

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  28. xbradtc

    How the heck did I forget “The Green Berets?” Not really a great movie, but it is the Duke, and I watched it the night before I went to basic. That’s like forgetting to breath!

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  29. Mike

    I’ve never understood how Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket (and Platoon, while we’re on the subject) ever make it onto these lists. None of them portray Vietnam Veterans in a good light, and for the most part they help perpetuate the stereotype of the drug abusing, raping, baby-killing, unable-to-cope loser that has long been debunked (read Stolen Valor). I’m particularly surprised when veterans include them in their lists.

    I guess having watched each of them with my father (101st Abn. Vietnam 66-67), I have a particular bias against them. He did think Hamburger Hill was pretty good.

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  30. YatYas

    “Halls of Montezuma” is my top movie of Marines in WWII and Corpsmen.

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  31. Terry

    I strongly endorse the suggestions above about “Twelve O’Clock High,” and would add “Command Decision” to the list. This was a movie starring Clark Gable that covered similar territory to Twelve O’Clock. I would also add “Battleground,” a movie from William Wellman that dealt with the ground soldiers around the Battle of the Bulge timeframe.

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  32. xbradtc

    Command Decision, like, Cagney? A war movie with no war? Great movie, but just didn’t pop into my head, and it’s a short list.

    For folks who like realism, Hamburger Hill has always been underrated.

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  33. xbradtc

    I think part of why Apocalypse Now and FMJ make it is because that’s all we had new in theatres when I was growing up. I probably wouldn’t have signed up if it weren’t for Bill Killgore.

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  34. neil

    My favorite war movies are ther serious “Breaker Morant”, “The Deer Hunter” and the fun “The Guns of Navarone”.

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  35. Gunslinger

    My suggestion (from over at Ace’s) is Midway. I saw it as a kid in the movies in “Sensurround” and can still feel my sphincter vibrating from the crash scenes.
    It had everyone in Hollywood in it, as well as every Japanese actor ever to grace the silver screen. At that time, of course. I still watch it every time it comes on.

    The story is awesome as well. We faught it out big time. And turned the war around.

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  36. xbradtc

    Sorry, Midway deserved a better telling. They stole a ton of footage from Tora!x3 and the love story fubared everything. A straight history story would have been much better. So close, and yet so far…

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  37. daveintexas

    I think this was a hit Brad. Thanks.

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  38. xbradtc

    Yep. Many, many thanks.

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  39. bcoz

    Breaker Morant.

    More about men during war than it is about war itself, but it’s one of the best.

    Anyone familiar with some of the real life courts martial of late will appreciate this movie.

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  40. twinsdad

    anything Stone touches is crap…except Scarface….but here’s a great weekend
    Zulu…In Harms way….Saving Private Ryan….They were expendable….The Great Escape…Stalag 17…..Gettysburg……Mr. Roberts…..Band of Brothers

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  41. Mike

    Command Decision isn’t bad, but I generally list 12 O’Clock High instead of it given that they cover similar territory and I consider 12 O’Clock High to be the superior film.

    Re: Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket, I consider them all excellent movies and movies that tell the general story of war well as long as you don’t take them to be literal interpretations of what actually happened. As long as you take it to be an allegory you’re alright, it’s when you start thinking that the U.S. Army at the time was made up of a bunch of guys like Sgt. Barnes and Col. Kurtz that you get into trouble.

    re: the comments about “pro-” and “anti-” war, the best war movies will, at their heart, be anti-war films. Like you said, it may be noble, but it certainly isn’t glamorous.

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  42. ben

    soldier in the rain. triple cross. dam busters.

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  43. Cal Patriot

    May I posit the following additions to your list:

    ALAMO
    LIGHTHORSEMEN (an Aussie movie about their WWI fight against the Turks)

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  44. DJMoore

    The Lighthorsemen. Not available on DVD; I bought a used VHS tape through Amazon, and I love being able to watch this tale anytime I want. It’s a beautiful little gem of a tale, with a lovely deception at its heart.

    There’s a Viet Nam era movie I can’t remember the name of. It’s framed as footage taken by an Army battle photographer. I don’t think it had any message other than, “This is what it was like.” I really liked it at the time.

    It was but a small skirmish in The Long War, and I understand it is not historically accurate, but I have a soft spot for The Wind and the Lion. That last scene, with the Raisuli riding out the gate, gets me every time. This is a John Milius film, which naturally brings to mind Red Dawn, a war movie about a war that will never happen–partly, I’m convinced, because of the warning it gave, however luridly.

    I expect to take a lot of flack for this: The Last Samurai. I know, I know. Never happened, never could happen. The Samurai were never so noble, the US Army never so wicked. It’s got a wacko Scientologist as a star instead of an actor. It’s pretty. But I, a non-warrior, find this story expresses something about the warrior spirit, if there is such a thing, in a very beautiful way. It speaks of dignity, and courage, and grace under fire; of coming to that terrible time when you must fight even though the battle is hopeless; of fighting when those you fight for believe you fight against them. If there is any movie that makes me wish I were a warrior, this is it.

    Damn it, now I need to watch it again. I’m gonna break down and buy it this time.

    Now that I’ve mentioned the Samurai, I must of course nominate another movie set in the time of their passing: The Seven Samurai. This too is a fable, about a battle that never took place, but showing a crucial event nevertheless. If you think this movie is about the Samurai themselves, watch it again. It is about the People, the Militia our Second Amendment speaks of, being taught to fight for themselves.

    For pure fun and spectacle, doesn’t 300 count?

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  45. DJMoore

    Cal Patriot beats me on Lighthorsemen.

    And sorry about the unclosed italics tag.

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  46. xbradtc

    DJ, I kinda liked last samuri. I thought of it as a story of redemption from despair.

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  47. joan

    Forgot about Stripes, that would have to be one of my fav’s too. I liked Mr Roberts a lot. Breaker Morant was great too. Apocylpse Now was stunning visually and was also an adaptation of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

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  48. Uncle Jefe

    Hey, what about Guadalcanal Diary?
    And really, the best of all time, how could you exclude ‘Kelly’s Heroes’??
    “Hey Oddball, watcha doin?”
    “Eatin’ cheese, drinkin’ wine, and catchin’ some rays.”

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  49. OldTexan

    I see a lot of good choices above and I would like to add a few more.

    Tom Berenger’s 1997 TV movie the Rough Riders with Sam Elliot playing Bucky O’neal. That is a real fine movie about the Spanish/American war.

    Sergeant York, 1941 with Gary Cooper about winning the Medal of Honor in WWI.

    To Hell and Back 1955 with Audi Murphy playing himself winning the Medal of Honor in WWII.

    That’s all I have to say about that.

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  50. xbradtc

    Never saw Rough Riders. Sam Elliot sounds like he’d fit into the times though. Loved him in We Were Soldiers.

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