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Really Good War Movies (CM Scenario Inspiration)


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I got to thinking and I realized I've gotten at least 1/2 a dozen great suggestions for war movies (and books) from folks on the BTC Forum. So I thought I would open a topic for anyone to suggest some of their favorites that might inspire CM mods, scenarios or maybe campaigns. Or even inspire the developers. Goodness knows they prolly need a bit of a rest after all the new content and patches we've had lately. 

So here are a couple y'all have recommended:

Warsaw 44 - Polish uprising in Warsaw, https://www.amazon.com/Warsaw-44-Anna-Próchniak/dp/B07R4GSLXG/ref=nodl_

Unknown Soldier - Finnish war series, https://myflixertv.to/watch-tv/unknown-soldier-29904.2822744

Team Yankee (audiobook) - Tank team in a Cold War gone hot, https://www.audible.com/pd/Team-Yankee-Audiobook/B01LXT7NLS

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Viewable on Youtube now (country blackouts may apply, I'm in Asia). Easy to FF through the talky bits if you don't like plot.

"White Tiger"

1944 (Estonian, Bahasa subtitles, a little grainy)

Battleground (1949. English)

The Mountain Road (1960, Jimmy Stewart)

The Odd Angry Shot (1979, Aussies in Vietnam)

Couldn't find Schoendorfer's "Dien Bien Phu" or "317eme Section", but did run across this 1956 film on 'le Battailon Corree."  Action doesn't get underway until 55 minutes in  but then it's worth it for the 57mm recoilless alone. Well ahead of its Hollywood contemporaries too in terms of cinematography. No subtitles. Fighting uphill is hell in any language.

 

Edited by LongLeftFlank
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Since we're here, a few more. Note that these are all a little on the propagandistic side, although kit and tactics are *largely* authentic. (Erwin, I clearly don't gauge war movies using the same metrics you do, and that may be true for others too)

1.  "Assembly." Chinese grand drama view of Korea (and Civil War). HBO style cinematography.

2.  Afghan Breakdown, 1991. Riveting, but just brutal.

3. Dear Elza. Hungarian with English. Of two minds whether to include this one. Intense, but cartoonishly anti-Russian (not that the Red Army wasn't cruel to its enemies, 'bread for bread, blood for blood', but come on). And far too much Sam Peckinpah full auto rock and roll. Ammo loadout anyone? Anyway, you have been warned....

4. Patrolle sans Espoir. Indochine, les Groupes Mobiles. Sans subtitles, good snapshots of the brutalities of guerrilla warfare. But as every CM player knows well, don't bloody well run around when the mortars have you zeroed....

 

Edited by LongLeftFlank
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7 hours ago, LongLeftFlank said:

(Erwin, I clearly don't gauge war movies using the same metrics you do, and that may be true for others too)

Say what?  I like well-made movies on any subject.

So, what are your "metrics"?  Am sure we now all want to know.

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Now, that's interesting that the Chinese Nationalists had German helmets.  Have no idea what weapons they used.  But, does look like one only needs to have Chinese skins (or use "Heaven & Earth" skins?) to get a passable mod.  Did they have much in the way of tanks and vehicles however?  Otherwise it would be a WW1 style inf affair.

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1 hour ago, Erwin said:

Now, that's interesting that the Chinese Nationalists had German helmets.  Have no idea what weapons they used.  But, does look like one only needs to have Chinese skins (or use "Heaven & Earth" skins?) to get a passable mod.  Did they have much in the way of tanks and vehicles however?  Otherwise it would be a WW1 style inf affair.

Hehe !

I will pay attention to these period of war... later... and we will see what we can doing, can not make something wrong we have already the german helmets in CM 😉

(Joking)!

What I wish to see again, is some Japaneses soldiers and theirs "banzaii " ! N play another personly battles like "Iwoshima" or perhaps Heroes shina...! 

😊

Edited by JM Stuff
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3 hours ago, Erwin said:

Say what?  I like well-made movies on any subject.

So, what are your "metrics"?  Am sure we now all want to know.

Mate, you're the one who sailed in here, contributed nothing but dismissed one of my favorite war movies as a 'waste of time' without citing any underlying reason. Don't now try to assign me homework.

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I love Jimmy Stewart, and certainly didn't mean to criticize anyone's tastes in movies.  It was simply my opinion.  Not sure why simply giving one's opinion is so problematic.  Surely you don't believe most folks think like you do.  But there was no real war in that Mountain Road movie.  IIRC it was about a truckload of engineers tasked with destroying bridges during the US/Chinese retreat and a sort of romance thing with an attractive Chinese girl they had to deliver someplace, and some of the US engineers getting killed by Chinese rebels/ gangsters or somesuch.  I found it quite boring - which for a propaganda film is not a good thing.

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9 hours ago, Probus said:

Are there any good cold War army movies? Red Dawn doesn't count. And Hunt for Red October (one of my favorites) is Navy, of course. We need a good Red Storm Rising movie 

“Stripes” with Bill Murray and John Candy? Other than that, I got nuthin, lol. Lots of nuclear holocaust, Vietnam War, and spy vs spy stuff. I think there might have been the ass end of a supposed M48 in “Full Metal Jacket”…

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14 hours ago, Erwin said:

Now, that's interesting that the Chinese Nationalists had German helmets.  Have no idea what weapons they used.  <snipped>

That picture is nonsense.  The Chinese Nationalists (aka Kuomintang) were US equipped.  Helmets were GI steel pots.  Arms were M1 Garand, BAR, Thompson smg, and such.

It's the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) which wore soft caps and used bolt-action rifles (German stocks from old Imperial arsenals and US Springfields left over from US WW2 lend-lease).  In the 1950's the PLA adopted Soviet style equipment, especially in Korea.

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4 hours ago, Badger73 said:

That picture is nonsense.  The Chinese Nationalists (aka Kuomintang) were US equipped.  Helmets were GI steel pots.  Arms were M1 Garand, BAR, Thompson smg, and such.

It's the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) which wore soft caps and used bolt-action rifles (German stocks from old Imperial arsenals and US Springfields left over from US WW2 lend-lease).  In the 1950's the PLA adopted Soviet style equipment, especially in Korea.

After 1942 that was certainly true. But following the KMT Left-Right split of 1927, General von Falkenhausen stepped into the shoes of the Soviets as the KMT's key military adviser, and reorganized their forces on German lines. That of course ended after 1937 when the Germans chose the invading Japanese as their preferred partner in East Asia.

But while it's plausible that some German kit, including helmets, remained in use by 1945, yes, I'd expect frontline formations to have US gear. Like this! (NOT a war movie, though one of the finest Chinese films I have ever seen, and highly recommended.  Minute 27:30)

... But remember, the Chinese do love their costume dramas, and the coal scuttles underline that whole 'KMT = wicked fascist foreign puppets' meme the CPC still likes to push today.

Continuing my ongoing (and I hope, good natured) joust with my esteemed old comrade @Erwin, war films need to be considered in the context of their time and cultural agenda: that includes the HBO Pantone stuff!

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