In honor of Memorial day...10 best war movies

my list:

1 Schindler's List
2 Saving Private Ryan
3 Hunt for Red October
4 Good Morning Vietnam
5 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
6 Das Boot
7 Apocalypse Now
8 Sink the Bismark
9 The Bedford Incident
10 Forrest Gump

...might add The Thin Red Line, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket... also, I realize its not a movie, but Band of Brothers should be mentioned when discussing war dramas.

Oh, and We Were Soldiers.


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This will wind up being a great list before it is over as it is off to a tremendous start.

The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Dirty Dozen
From Here to Eternity
The Dam Busters
Kelly's Heroes
The Great Escape
Battle of Midway
12 O'Clock High
The Bridges of Toko-Ri
Flying Leathernecks
Run Silent Run Deep
Tora! Tora! Tora!

Some great choices here. Some others I'd throw in, in no particular order:

--Being an attorney and former JAG, I'd throw in 3 military courtroom dramas: Breaker Morant (set during the Boer War), Paths of Glory (WWI) and The Caine Mutiny (WW2). (I wouldn't call A Few Good Men a war movie because it didn't happen during wartime);
--My all-time favorite movie, Lawrence of Arabia, set in the Middle East theater of operations in WWI;
--Midway;
--It goes on FOREVER, but I really like Gettysburg and try to watch it every 4th of July.

I like Gardens of Stone, a Coppola movie set during the Vietnam War. Probably not a 10 Best choice, but underrated IMHO and worth a watch if you come across it, especially on Memorial Day.

Are there any good Revolutionary War movies? I have a hard time thinking of any. I guess the closest would be The Patriot, but it's pretty overwrought and I wouldn't include it in any 10 best list.

is Casablanca a war movie? It's set during WW2 and the theme of neutrality in the face of evil plays throughout the movie. But it's probably not strictly a war movie.

I just finished watching Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Not movies but excellent miniseries (BoB is the best miniseries ever IMHO) and definitely worth a look if you haven't seen them.

Great thread topic.

BEvans for the Revoltionary war I think The Crossing with Jeff Daniels is very well done. Others I can think of are mostly mini-series and not theater movies, like "John Adams", which historians say is very well done. John Adams is about the revolution overall, not really so much combat. The Crossing is Washington's crossing of the Delaware.

I had to google to find them, b/c I remembered them but couldn't place the names. Funny enough both are by Disney. one is "The Swamp Fox" and the other is "Johnny Tremain". very Disney, but well done IMO for what they are. Not gritty of course.

There is one gritty one I had to google too, b/c I only remembered Al Pacino was in it. It's called "Revolution", and it's much more "real" that way.



I put Apocalypse Now and Full Metal Jacket at the very top of my list.

Patton has to go on this list IMO. Haven't seen that one yet.

Not my favorite, but The Deer Hunter IMO qualifies, and is a very on point film.

Not a US film but if we go foreign then Gallipoli is a great movie too, with a very young Mel Gibson.

Not gritty but I really like the old Sergeant York movie with Gary Cooper. Classic Howard Hawks movie.

For more comedic put Stalag 17 on the list. it was the film on which Hogan's Heroes was based. Same category put Inglorious basterds.

Also a bunch of John Wayne war movies I like:

- In Harm's Way
- The Were Expendable
- Back to Bataan
- The Green Berets (interesting on several levels)

I don't know if we count all his calvary pictures, which were military and some of the Indian Wars are in them, but not a "war" in particular. There were three John Ford movies plus a few others.

A newer movie, based on a true story, "12 Strong".
The story of America's first response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack.
It was supposed to have taken ODA 595(5th Special Forces, Ft. Campbell, KY) two years to accomplish this mission. They captured Mazar-I-Sharif in 23 days.

Doc's choice of "Das Boot" with Jurgen Prochnow is an excellent and very underrated movie. Very gritty.

Hope and Glory was a good one, as is Memphis Belle.

I like my top 5, and 6-10 are more fluid.

I probably haven't even seen half of the movies on this list, but I am chomping at the bit to see all of them. Every one I've seen on the list is fantastic.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Darrell KSR

I probably haven't even seen half of the movies on this list, but I am chomping at the bit to see all of them. Every one I've seen on the list is fantastic.

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Surely you have seen "Sink the Bismark" and "The Bedford Incident". Both are classic old Black and White films. As a kid it seems Sink the Bismark was on at least once a year.. and a movie I would watch anytime, everytime (like Shawshank Redemption). As for the Bedford Incident..an old Sidney Portier movie. Really good flick


Other honorable mentions..
Dr Strangelove and How I learned to Love the Bomb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6WD7B_I_9c


The Day After (remember that "miniseries) which I watched a couple months ago
The Great Escape
The Longest Day
Born on the 4th of July
Mash
Midway
Tora, Tora, Tora
30 seconds over Tokoyo

I just ran across a listing for Bridge At Remagen... I’d forgotten about that one, but it’s a good one...


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