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Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6478

Anyone like war films as much as I do?

I've been into war films since I was a kid. I've read many a book about WWII and The Vietnam War as well. Chickenhawk is a great book.

I watched Saving Private Ryan last night for the first time in years. I've been watching alot of Spielberg movies lately actually not on purpose but he's really not too bad is he? SPR is a different kind of Spielberg movie though because it's just so brutal. Especially that opening beach landing scene which is just incredible. I like how he used that same water POV that he learned to do in Jaws in this movie. Tom Hanks was great it in. I'm not much of a fan. Tom Sizemore was great too although I think his role in Black Hawk Down suited him better. Anyway great flick. Oh and Vin Diesel dies right away and I enjoy that too.

I also watched the trifecta of Vietnam movies that all came out together; Platoon, Full Metal Jacket and Hamburger Hill. Platoon and FMJ are just great movies period. Platoon was making the cable rounds a few months back and I think I watched it every time it was on. Between Platoon and FMJ I can't say which one is better. I like Hamburger Hill as well but it is definitely not as tightly written or filmed as other Vietnam flicks. Still enjoyable though.

We Were Soldiers Once and Young is a really good one as well about the first Air Cav assault in Vietnam. Mel Gibson played his role very well.

Of course, there's Apocalypse Now which always makes me feel like I'm trippin when I watch it. I love it. I haven't watched that one in a long time either but am going to have to soon.

I have never seen The Green Berets and unless someone tells me it's an amazing movie I'll never see it. I just don't like John Wayne as unamerican as that is. "Is that you John Wayne? Is it me?"

I refuse to watch Tunnel Rats and Rescue Dawn sucks.

Haven't seen The Deerhunter in years either.

There's alot of great WWII movies which I cut my teeth on.

Patton is by far the best. George C Scott owned that role. Anyone with the least bit of interest in military history has to watch this movie and read a book about Patton. The greatest general in military history.

Then there's movies like Tora, Tora, Tora, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Longest Day, A Bridge too Far, The Bridge Over the River Kwai, The Guns of Navarone, etc, I could go on all day.

Das Boot is also an absolutely intense, amazing WWII movie that is a must see.

Black Hawk Down is the best modern warfare flick out there and is pretty damn brutal as well and as I said Tom Sizemore is great in it.

Spielberg and Scott know how to make the shaky cam effective. Everyone else sucks at it.

Just watched Zulu the other day as well. Great movie but could use a remake.

Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 3869 Location: New York

Excellent thread. I do enjoy a good war film, not limited to a specific period in time. You've mentioned some very good films but your mention of Zulu piqued my interest. I've studied that war quite extensively few years back, bought just about every conceivable book on it and actually wore out my VHS copy of Zulu! I agree, a remake would be welcome, with the right cast and director behind it.

Zulu Dawn was a decent film, at best, but it did have some great actors in it and battle scenes.

All The King's Men is a solid BBc production about WW1-It is based on the story of the 1/5th (Territorial) Battalion of the Norfolk Regiment which included men from the King's estate at Sandringham House. The battalion suffered heavy losses in action at Gallipoli on 12 August 1915 and a myth grew up later that the unit had advanced into a mist and simply disappeared.[1] The film dramatises these events, the origins of the myth back home, and a royal investigator sent after the war to find the truth about the unit's fate. This fate is depicted as being taken prisoner by the Ottoman Army and then massacred, for which the drama was criticised by a relative, but was largely accurately portrayed.

Gallipoli and The Light Horsemen are also quite good, but one of the best war films ever mad is Breaker Morant about the Boer War. I've seen it too many times to count and it still is as compelling as the first time I watched it.
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Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 4360 Location: NYC baby!

Not my favourite genre by far but I do like me some war films.

Black Hawk Down is my absolute farvourite. Intense and incredibly well acted.

Inglorious Basterds is pure fantasy and there isn't a whole lot of war, but I think it fits in the category.

The Green Berets is a really good old school war film that does have some shocking moments. My favourite John Wayne film.

And I really enjoy the first half of Full Metal Jacket.

Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 3690 Location: Chicago, Illinois

Stalag fucking 17, bitches
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Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 3690 Location: Chicago, Illinois

oh, and Ran
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Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Posts: 1301 Location: Eating Lo Mein!!!

I'm obsessed with World War II so naturally most of the war movies I've seen are WWII films. A war film to me doesn't always rely on action but if a movie is set during the time of the war, then it counts as one to me. Which is why I put Schindler's List on my list further down.

Downfall by Oliver Hirschbiegel is one powerful WWII film. If you hate subtitles, tough shit, cause the film is entirely in German and there's no dub. It's about the last days of the Reich and yes there is some action in it. It also does something interesting, which many would find offensive, and that's that it tries to somewhat humanize Hitler.

Tora! Tora! Tora! is also great. I mainly watched that one cause Fukasaku co-directed it and I was surprised at how good it turned out.

Schindler's List, I love it to death even with how sadistic the Nazis are in it. I know plenty of people that to this day can't watch it due to the realism Spielberg put in it.

I don't think I need to mention Saving Private Ryan as everyone's mentioned it already.

I think part of the reason why I'm obsessed with WWII is because my great grandparents fled Italy just as Hitler came to power in Germany and started his invasions and the Holocaust. But not only that, but also because I don't know how to feel about it due to that side of the family having a small bit of German and Jewish heritage in it too. Hitler would've had a field day with my ancestors if he knew. That'd be an interesting film to make. I remember in junior high we were forced to watch the Nazi propaganda films for our research...... that was some of the hardest shit to ever watch as in quite a few of them you seen real executions and tons of real dead bodies. Most of them were Hitler's speeches and such subtitled, and the more obscure ones were the Holocaust videos with the real death and shit. Never again will I watch that shit. They taught us both sides but they made damn sure we knew how evil Nazis are by forcing us to watch that disgusting shit.
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Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 4360 Location: NYC baby!

Oh yeah, I want to add Pan's Labyrinth to my list.

Joined: 28 Aug 2006 Posts: 3869 Location: New York

Ah. Mixing of the genres, but still a war film setting.

One could include the Orphanage,but I have to see that.
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Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6478

Downfall is awesome.

Haven't seen Zulu Dawn. I know nothing about it or the movie Zulu really. I've always pretty much stuck to WWII and Vietnam although I have seen some pretty good Civil War flicks and documentaries.

Good to see you back Richard! Cool

Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 3690 Location: Chicago, Illinois

I would add Amen, starring Mathieu Kassovitz. Very good, quite depressing. (Set in WWII.)

I have yet to see Indigenes (Days of Glory) but I keep hearing good things about it.

Deathwatch, starring Jamie Bell (so to not mix it with other Deathwatch named movies), was quite good I thought.

Joined: 20 Jun 2006 Posts: 4360 Location: NYC baby!

Empire of the Sun, 30 Seconds over Tokyo, The Thin Red Line, The Flying Tigers, The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora, Saving Private Ryan, M.A.S.H. , Patton, The Dirty fucking Dozen,

And of course, The Great Escape.

I love war films. Grew up on em, and will always love them.
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Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 6478

Forgot to mention Pearl Harbor.

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