Zulu Dawn (famous qoutes: I ain't afraid of no one man, but, them Zulu, they come in the thousands, stabbing with those asigais! These bloody bullets run out, them spears DON'T!)
Zulu (famous quotes: Hold them! HOLD THEM! lol while I run and see about Chard. ;) And everyone had to love HOOK, lol, most unrealistic depicted character in the movie according to what I read about him in the encyclopedia)
< Message edited by ravinhood -- 5/12/2004 1:32:15 PM >
Alright Dave B, "The Thing", do you mean Matt Dillon, ala "Gunsmoke", James Arness' first role as the monster?
That's the one. The remake with Kurt Russell is also a favorite movie of mine and is much closer to the original short story, but the original 50's "The Thing" is just an excellent and neat little movie.
Someone above mentioned Waterloo (the one with Rod Stieger I assume). That is also one of my favorite war movies. Picking out just three is just too difficult. I also would like to submit "Hell is for Heroes" with Steve McQueen and James Coburne. Another one of my all time favorites.
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El Cid! I haven't thought of that movie in YEARS!!!!!!!!! Yep, definitely a classic, though historically a bit iffy, and it had Chuck Heston and Sophia Loren to boot!!!!
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My biggest criteria for war movies are accuracy and the degree to which it moves me:
In no particular order:
Battle of Britain Das Boot Band of Brothers
Runner up: Red Dawn (one of the more underrated movies--just imagine it's Poland in '39 not America in '85 and it becomes a great WWII movie . . . minus the Cubans)
1) Paths to Glory - Kubrich's exploration of courage during the Great War. 2) Stalingrad - Uncompromisingly grim portrayal of the collapsing German Army at the mercy of an Army that didn't know the meaning of the word. 3) Troy - (OK, insert flame here but understand its only because of my Greek heritage. We have so little to cling to in the last 2,000 years. And the battle scenes are the best of ancient warfare ever done imho. Plus I actually liked the the whole theme of Achilles need for imortality and how it drove him to be a great warrior. He didn't fear death. He feared being forgotten by history.)
I can't add All Quiet on the Western Front because I read the book first and so the movie didn't have the impact of the book. The most important and best book I have ever read.
I'm surprised that Vietnam movies don't rate higher, but unfortunately the Director's political spin has spoiled too many promising films. I would put the Oscar-winning "The Deer Hunter" in this category, as well as "Platoon" and the classic but definitely ahistorical "Apocalypse Now".
Other than "The Anderson Platoon", which is a real-life documentary film, I had to include "We Were Soldiers" as one of my three all-time favorites. This film has actors portraying real soldiers and other participants in the battle, including Barry Pepper as reporter Joe Galloway. An honorable mention goes to "Hamburger Hill".
1. A bridge too far - It was the first war movie I saw, I still watch it 2 or 3 times per year, and it will be the last movie I watch before I'm ready to follow the angel...
2. Band of Brothers - While not being exactly a movie but a series, you get the feeling of being one of those guys as the story continues.
3. Battle of Midway - If the story were not written by history, only a genius could come up with it.
< Message edited by Losqualo -- 5/19/2004 9:23:37 PM >
1. A bridge too far - It was the first war movie I saw, I still watch it 2 or 3 times per year, and it will be the last movie I watch before I'm ready to follow the angel...
2. Band of Brothers - While not being exactly a movie but a series, you get the feeling of being one of those guys as the story continues.
3. Battle of Midway - If the story were not written by history, only a genius could come up with it.
I love A Bridge Too Far, but it has one fatal flaw: the music--it's HORRIBLE. Since a movie's score is usually used to help the viewer know what he/she is supposed to be feeling, ABTF's score simply makes the viewer confused. It reminds me of a university's marching band at halftime. With a decent soundtrack that includes some good melancholy string music, the movie could have been vastly better.
I love A Bridge Too Far, but it has one fatal flaw: the music--it's HORRIBLE. Since a movie's score is usually used to help the viewer know what he/she is supposed to be feeling, ABTF's score simply makes the viewer confused. It reminds me of a university's marching band at halftime. With a decent soundtrack that includes some good melancholy string music, the movie could have been vastly better.
Well, I have the score on CD in my car. I also have the BoB score in my car and guess what? I think the BoB score is boring while the ABTF on is really good.
While watching the movies, both are IMHO really good but each in its own way.
The score of ABTF is good in a way that you can tell by the theme to what nationality a certain scenes refers to. You have themes for the Allies, for the Germans and for the Dutch, and the themes are varied often according to the story.
The BoB score surely is the better one, but only while watching the movie. Surely it reflects the story better, but the producers didn't had to reflect three different nations. But without the movie I think most of the tracks are rather boring.
In the end it's a matter of musical taste and of what happens in our brains while listening to the scores.
< Message edited by Losqualo -- 5/22/2004 11:23:55 AM >
About the BoB soundtrack: the liner notes mention that Michael Kamen wrote this as a requiem for his father, a US soldier who was killed during the last few weeks of WWII. Taken in this context, it was perfect for the series, which didn't wrap itself in rah-rah flag-waving patriotism: while the cause was just, BoB focused on honoring the soldiers themselves.
I love A Bridge Too Far, but it has one fatal flaw: the music--it's HORRIBLE. Since a movie's score is usually used to help the viewer know what he/she is supposed to be feeling, ABTF's score simply makes the viewer confused. It reminds me of a university's marching band at halftime. With a decent soundtrack that includes some good melancholy string music, the movie could have been vastly better.
Well, I have the score on CD in my car. I also have the BoB score in my car and guess what? I think the BoB score is boring while the ABTF on is really good.
While watching the movies, both are IMHO really good but each in its own way.
The score of ABTF is good in a way that you can tell by the theme to what nationality a certain scenes refers to. You have themes for the Allies, for the Germans and for the Dutch, and the themes are varied often according to the story.
The BoB score surely is the better one, but only while watching the movie. Surely it reflects the story better, but the producers didn't had to reflect three different nations. But without the movie I think most of the stracks are rather boring.
In the end it's a matter of musical taste and of what happens in our brains while listening to the scores.
Good comments. Totally agree with you on the Battle of Britain score--I get chills whenever I listen to it. A piece of music that fits perfectly with the movie.
(You won't change my mind though on the ABTF score . . . ugh.)
Good comments. Totally agree with you on the Battle of Britain score--I get chills whenever I listen to it. A piece of music that fits perfectly with the movie.
(You won't change my mind though on the ABTF score . . . ugh.)
Ahem, while mentioning BoB I was talking about "Band of Brothers".
Sorry about the confusion.
< Message edited by Losqualo -- 5/22/2004 12:51:06 AM >
Failsafe - I was assigned to a Pershing missile site and I can tell you what a nuclear warhead smells like. It smells like extinction.
The Enemy Below - I think every war boils down to good men on both sides doing their duty. Respect may come from figuring out what your enemy may do next, but you must still destroy him.
Mister Roberts - I guess that every serviceman and woman has that self-destructive urge to be a hero, not realizing that they already are.
Great lines:
Major Dundee - I gave you specific orders. No Sir, you gave me the command. From then on, I gave the orders.
Wind and the Lion - What sort of rifle does your President Roosevelt shoot? A Winchester!
Starship Troopers - I need a squad leader. You're it, until you're dead or I find someone better.
BTW, John Wayne made an anti-war movie. I don't remember the title. It was during the Civil War. He was an engineer that had built railroads before the war and was given the mission to destroy railroads deep in the south. Bill Holden played a pacifist doctor.
Right you are! Ten bonus points if you can name the TV show where John Wayne dressed up in a giant bunny suit in a scene with Goldie Hawn.
Sorry for the tangent thought. I have often wondered why the most decisive battle of World War Two, the battle for Moscow, has never been filmed. Maybe I'll send that one to Mel Gibson.
Another great Civil War film is the silent movie "Birth of a Nation". The scene where the movie's hero rams the Confederate Battle flag down the barrel of the Union artillery piece after Pickett's Charge is classic.
what i liked about this movie, for the battle and wide scenes at least, it looked like a painting. Theres some shots of the two ships chasing each other and fighting and what not, and it really looked like one of those old oil paintings depicting the same sort of thing. Pretty cool.
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1# Wing commander (saffron burrows...I love long legs!!!!) 2#the last starfighter. 3#Starship troopers.
Saving private ryan while it had great cinematography, blew, stupid unbeliveble plot wooden characters(they were horrible!) and seriously near-sighted Nazis'
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RE: Your Top Three Best War Movies of All Time - 
....Number twelve sir
kills me every time
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