WWII movie recommendations!

[Guest phoenix]

The gang here responded big time for my last request for book recommendations. Now

what movies do you recommend as "must see" or at least "worth a look" in the WWII genre.

Here's some I've seen -

Stalingrad - Just rented this last week.

A real stinker I thought. German made but no better than a bad Hollywood flick. Can't believe the producers from Das Boat did it.

Das Boat - Incredible.

A Bridge Too Far - Eh, so so.

Terrible casting in many parts

(Ryan O'neal as General Gavin??? Ugh.)

Patton - The best one in my book.

Bridge over River Kwai - Outstanding

The Big Red One - Blah. Mark Hamil?

"The Beast" - Excellent, lone Russian tank vs Mujahedeen (sp) (ok, not WWII, but very good)

Anyway, comments, recommendations?

[Guest Tom punkrawk]

THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE!! yeah the greatest movie ever,'cause like it had a big tank battle where there was supposed to be snow and it was all grassy hills, then desert haha that was great! =) I think it was the battle of the bulge,I just remember my dad always making remarks about it while we watched it.

I'd like to see some recommendations as well.

------------------

We ain't got no place to go,let's go to a punk rawk show

[Berlichtingen]

Hell Is For Heros -- interesting cast

Enemy Below -- best u-boat movie prior to Das Boot

Cross of Iron -- from the good guys pint of view Hey, that reminds me... are we going to get Sgt Steiner in CM2?

Dirty Dozen -- its a classic

And now for the worst movie ever made about any war... Battle Of The Bulge

[Berlichtingen]

Wow, my mind must be slipping... I forgot to mention Kelly's Heros

[Compassion]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Wow, my mind must be slipping... I forgot o mention Kelly's Heroes<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Damn you for over looking the best source material for the best way of dealing with a Tiger commander!

[Guest Lokesa]

Pheonix, I'll definitely second "the Beast" as a great movie. Very watchable.

[Guest Gunnerdream]

Loved "The Beast".

And although it's more a coming of age story than a war story, I think "Empire of the Sun" is my favorite WWII era flick.

Gunnerdream...floating down through the clouds...

[Das Boot]

Das Boot, obviously

Stalingrad is great, and I have to agree with Berlichtingen on Cross of Iron.

Also Battle of Britain because everybody dies, not your average hero conquers all-stuff.

Tora! Tora! Tora! Go Nippon - teach those yanks a lesson.

"You can teach monkeys to fly better than that"

[not here]

A great ra-rah flick from the period was Operation:Burma with Errol Flynn. Haven't seen it in a long time, but it made the jungle look hot, dirty, and dangerous. You rarely saw the Japs, just the casualties.

[Das Boot]

How about "Sands of Iwo Jima" and "The Longest Day" - John Wayne is the greatest

[AR]

"The Finnish Winter War" (I´m not sure about the proper translation of the title)

A very brutal Finnish made movie. See it if you can get you hands on it.

[NIX]

Movie called Shining Through. I had never heard of it, but saw it on cable. Excellent movie.

[killmore]

Russians made some good movies.

Try "Kurskaya duga". About Citadel...

[ebaker]

Has anybody seen a movie called "When Trumpets Fade" (or something close to that title)? I think it was overwhelmed by the release of Saving Private Ryan. It was set in the Hurtgen (sp?)Forest. Certainly showed the ugliness of war. I was wondering what you WWII histroy vets thought of its tactics and accuracy.

[Boris Balaban]

The Longest Day. The best in my opinion.

The Great Excape. Another good film.

Stalak 13. I misspelled it but another good film.

[Major Tom]

Has anyone seen "How I won the war?"

It is one of those weird comedy/dreaded war type movies. I saw it a long time ago on A&E, but, that must have been back in the late 1980's. It was a weird film, all about a British soldier. If my mind serves me, I think it starts off in France, then, they are in North Africa, and then in Western Europe again. The thing that really sticks in my mind, is, that practically all of the extras, those who are British soldiers, were coloured head to to (in full military gear) in bright florescent colours. It was like it was painted on. I am sure that these blokes were representative of all who died, and that in fact this British soldier was going gradualy insaine throughout the film.

I would surely like to see it again. It probably won't turn out to be as good as my memory says it is.

The best war film I have seen would probably not be a World War Two film. It is a contest between "Apocalypse Now" and "Hamburger Hill". Some might remember "HH" as being chalked full of violence, which it was, but, I saw an "edited for television" version on the history channel. It was a really good movie beyond the violence. It showed, really well I might add, that in war soldiers tend not to focus on the "bigger goals", that of winning the war for king and country. What it does show, is that soldiers fought and died for eachother.

[Los]

I finally got around to watching "When Trumpet's Fade" and liked it. Sure a few incongruities with the tactics but no show stoppers. And any movie where every other word out of a soldier's mouth is "****" automatically gets a major realism bonus in my book.

Hey if you didn't like the 1996? Stalingrad (didn't grab me too much eitehr) try the original 1959 BW version: "Stalingrad ogs do you want to live for ever?" very good.

And while we're at it how about Attacka nd retreat (BW: Italian) Italians on ethRussain Front.

As far as Bulge goes you gotta love "Battleground".

Of course "Winter War" is the Mac Daddy of WW2 movies (With SPR right along side)

What we need are some more good Bulge flicks.

Los

[Rommel]

yea saw "when trumpets fade" pretty good story about how soldiers aren't all gung ho.

Would have to say the first 30 minutes of SPR. And seeing those different panzers at the end were cool too.

Das Boot of course, no video collection is complete without it.

Personally loved Big red one. Battle of britain's a classic.

[Eichmann2]

'Ice cold in Alex'- an absolute classic Johnny Mills at his best. I watch it at least every other week! '....the desert is the true enemy....'. Antony Quayle, outstanding.

Cross of iron, excellent. '....your loyalty now is to us-the platoon..'

The hill. Slightly off the beaten track, but the setting is WW2-Sean Connery, top dog.

[Zulu]

Good war movies;

I believe it was called "Compass Rose" - story about a Canadian corvette in the North Atlantic in WW2. Good story, gave a good idea of what life was like on those little sub hunters.

I also liked "12-Oclock High". B-17's going into the heart of Germany.

[dumbo]

I once saw a russian movie called "Come and see." Far more shocking than things like private ryan this one left permanent images in my mind. I would never watch it again, its that disturbing.

There is a really good italin movie about italins fighting in desert as well whose title I forget, damn my memory.

Defintly see "Das Boot" and for some English propaganda movies I would reccomend "Dambusters" and "633 squadron" <this movie has the best music btw.

_dumbo

[Major Tom]

Zulu,

I read the book, which, I think along with the movie, is actually called "Cruel Sea". Indeed the Corvette is named the Compass Rose. The book is much more descriptive and indeed has another entire part to it than the movie. I REALLY recommend this book.

[erich]

Where Eagles Dare -- brilliant, though really more a spy thriller set in ww2 than a bona fide war movie.

The Dam Busters -- very entertaining, though the dog's name is somewhat jarring.

633 Squadron -- kinda slow moving, but I think the end was copied by George Lucas for the death-star-destruction mission in Star Wars.

Cross of Iron -- Simply the best (by land)

Das Boot (director's cut) -- Simply the best (by sea)

A Walk in the Sun -- Funny and Sad at the same time. Well acted.

Kelly's Heroes -- One of the best caper flicks ever.

Battle of Britain -- Great aerial footage, but cheesy soap-opera-ish subplots bring it down. Everybody dies, though, so it redeems itself somewhat.

Stalingrad -- Begins well, but seems to lose focus, and just gets depressing. The scene where they get assaulted by soviet armour was spectacular. I've mixed feelings about this one, but recommend it anyway.

There are many more, but I do have a life, contrary evidence notwithstanding

------------------

Eric

[This message has been edited by erich (edited 12-08-99).]

[MOS was 71331]

Zulu -- I think the movie you remember was "The Cruel Sea" from the novel by Nicholas Montserrat (spelling of last name probably wrong). "Compass Rose" may have been the name of the corvette.

By the way, you're using the title of a great war movie: "Zulu" with Michael Caine (his first starring role). It was the Zulu War <corrected from "Boer War" on 9Jan>, and the movie shows the battle of Roarke's Drift. Thousands of Zulus attacking a stockade defended by roughly a company of Brit infantry. (If you rent this film, watch for a Brit sergeant with a bayonet fighting a Zulu warrior with a spear. Someone trained the Brit actor pretty well!)

I second an earlier post recommending "The Hill." It's NOT a WWII combat movie. The setting is a Brit military prison in North Africa to which Sean Connery has been sentenced for refusing to engage the enemy. One warning: Connery's Scot accent makes some of his dialog hard to understand.

One movie I haven't seen mentioned in any of the movie discussion threads is "The Bridges of Toko-Ri." This one has William Holden flying jets off a carrier into North Korea. I still remember the shock I felt as a ten year old when Holden's character was killed by NK soldiers after his plane was shot down.

For a good Battle of the Bulge movie, see "Attack!" with Jack Palance as a good platoon leader, Eddie Albert as a cowardly company commander, and Lee Marvin as an officer at regimental HQ who wants the political support of Eddie Albert's father, a judge back home.

Once again, I recommend "The Caine Mutiny."

Along with "Twelve O'Clock High," catch "Command Decision," with BG Clark Gable commanding a bomber group in England taking heavy casualties attacking German jet factories. [Ray Collins (Lt Tragg on the old Perry Mason TV show) as Gable's G2 has some good lines disparaging the top brass.]

I'll stop with two more ground combat movies: "Paths of Glory" with Kirk Douglas commanding a French battalion in WWI and "Pork Chop Hill" with Gregory Peck commanding a US company in Korea.

[This message has been edited by MOS was 71331 (edited 12-09-99).]

[This message has been edited by MOS was 71331 (edited 12-09-99).]

[Berlichtingen]

MOS

Zulu was set during the Zulu War, or The Expedition into Zululand... not the Boer War. It is a really good movie... it does take liberties with history. Zulu Dawn (not as good a movie) covers the battle just prior to Roarke's Drift.