Best war movie ever

Leatherbound dykes from hell

Schindler's List with a worthy mention for Das Boot as runner up.

The Assassination, korean movie. Don't like hollywood war movies, you already know whats gonna happen.

Zulu!

I've never seen Private Ryan but might do so now on that recommendation.
Of the ones I have seen Apocalypse now stands out. Another I thoroughly enjoyed was Bat 21.

akabula - SPY is excellent and a hard watch. The futility of war really comes across.

Doesn't matter how good a soldier you were, how tough, how well trained, how brave, if a bullet came your way, that's it...

escape to athena

Akabula, 'Saving Private Ryan' is well worth a viewing, it's a very good film indeed.

*SPR

the hill

the hill

platoon pour moi

Without Saving Private Ryan I don't believe you'd have had "Band of Brothers" - one AFAIK led directly to the other. The latter isn't really a film but is unmissable.

If I couldn't pick that. Rambo 2 is pretty realistic?

Von Ryans Express.

Kajaki.  British low budget. No CGI. No fighting, no sign of the enemy but one of the best war films I've seen.

Das Boot

I like "The longest day" due to the scope of it, quality, sheer amount of stars of the era who put in good performances, but what I really like is the fact it was close enough to the war to have real participants in it, some in the background some not. Richard Todd playing part of the D-Day pegasus assault .. when he was in real life a para in the Pegasus assault! Won't get many ww2 films made now with that. Also I don't think it had any naff by current standard special effects, just lots of real stuff kicking around from then and people who had been there milling around.

breaker morant(on youtube),paths of glory(s kubrick)

The often parodied Downfall closely followed by The Guns of Navarone closely followed by Where Eagles Dare.

Zulu

attack(jack pallance)

caine mutiny

Attack was a very interesting film shown recently on UK tv. But it was too clichéd!

in alphaspaghetti order, all-time favourites are:

Apocalypse Now
Cross of Iron
Downfall
Paths of Glory

Apocalypse Now

by a distance

Apocalypse Now

by a distance

The Battle of Britain, 1969. Freaks me out every time i see it. The flying scenes are extraordinary & considering when it was
filmed a tour de force.
I've heard criticism that there was very little character development. Yea there was very little. Talk about missing the point!!!

Saw Dunkirk the other day, also tremendous, also came in for some very ignorant criticism.

5 War Films That Should Have Been Mentioned Above

5/ Kelly's Heroes
4/ The Bridge on the River Kwai
3/ Zulu
2/ Letters From Iwo Jima (The Japanese Cave One, Not The US One)
1/ Das Boot (Directors Cut)

Oops - it seems some were as I typed.

Will add that 'Brotherhood' one from South Korea, instead. Great film.

Zulu
Unbroken
The Great Escape
The Hurt Locker
The Train
The Longest Day
The Deer Hunter

World Cinema

Life Is Beautiful
Downfall
Underground
City Of Life And Death
Brotherhood
No Mans Land
Army Of Shadows

Johnny got his gun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB7j4C6hBBA

Battle of Britain was interesting, Adolf Galland the famous German Ace was an advisor, and they modelled a character on him. He wanted the guy to have his real name but they chose a fake one. I can see his point, Clothrobert Circlepants is still livid about how he was written out of history in the adaptation of his life.

The Pianist was very very good.

The Killing Fields
Deer Hunter
Great Escape

Apocalypse Now
Deer Hunter
Platoon

The people mentioning Zulu should watch it again, the cinematography is amazing, even to this today, the rest of it is no better than a 'Carry On' film.

Saving Private Ryan - took the genre to a whole new level.

Apocalypse Now. - brilliant film. ' the horror ' .....'  the horror ...'

The Deer Hunter. I remember walking out of the cinema with everyone else. All of us stunned into silence.

Of those mentioned Zulu, Bat21, Deer hunter,Downfall,
These are films i don't turn off if started watching them

Kelly's Heroes
Thin Red Line
Platoon
Downfall
Cross of Iron
Full Metal Jacket
Battle of Britain

some very good shouts here. many very difficult to watch but brilliant. It's probably the sign of a good
war film if watching it again seems a bit daunting.
Thin Red Line a very good call. Captures the chaos and absurdity of battle like few other films.
The Killing Fields, gut wrenching but should be seen.
Apocalypse now, over stylised but a great watch.

Some great old black and white films I cannot recall the names.

Judgement at Nuremburg

All Quiet On The Western Front

the great escape
bridge over the river kwai
hamburger hill

The Mel Gibson film from last year with Andrew Garfield was very, very good.

^ switched it off after 5 mins.

cross of iron

Where Eagles Dare

Brilliant !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waterloo.

Live action from 15,000 extras courtesy of the Red Army. And yet, probably not the best war film though it might be the best reenactment.

Loved Rod Steigers Napoleon ^^

Slightly off topic as I wouldn't rate it as one of the best war films ever, or even close, but it did make me reflect: Taking Chance. Based on real-life events, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort officer, accompanies the body of 19-year-old Marine Chance Phelps back to his hometown of Dubois, Wyoming. That's all the film is about. No action, no twists just what it says.

Tora Tora Tora
Battle of Midway

Shaving Ryan's Privates.

Black Hawk Down is a rare breed - an American film which shows them in a pretty poor light.

Some excellent performances - the recently deceased Sam Shepard is superb - and shows what a nightmare getting involved in "street" combat in places like Mogadishu / Syria must be with every male over the age of 10 with some sort of weapon.

According to real life Delta / Rangers, it was pretty accurate in the way it showed the tension between the different units as well.

Occasional bending of the truth apparently according to the Pakistani Army who were not happy with the way their efforts were ignored - but most "experts" agree it was a fairly accurate account of a pretty messed up operation.

Inglorious Bastards, weird ending but some shocking scenes of violence. The initial scene set in a farmhouse when the SS officer grills the farmer is so tense i had sweat running down my face as if i was being grilled and the shocking scene in the Restaurant was superb!
The Deerhunter, very slow start and overlong but what a superb tense film with the superbly cast Christopher Walken.
Schindlers List was another fantastic film and seemed better for being in Black/White with just the splash of colour in the young girls red coat.
Paths of Glory was a very upsetting film to watch also.

The Bridge at Remagen is a good film.

Battle of the Bulge is another.

I'm somewhat amazed that only stewarts rise and myself have nominated Schindler's List, to me it's a bit of a masterpiece.

Some great films ----- Das Boot,  Saving Private Ryan, Schindler`s List, not mentioned I don`t think,The Train (Burt Lancaster).

Plenty of good shouts.

What I can say is Dunkirk is the worst war film I have seen in many, many years.

No wonder we have ISIS, Brexit and Trump with loads of people thinking it has any kudos whatsoever.

Full Metal Jacket
Born On The Fourth Of July
Hamburger Hill
Memphis Belle is technically a war movie
Hacksaw Ridge was pretty good
I also liked Zero Dark Thirty if you can classify that as a war movie

Spot on Captain about Dunkirk......I heard it might be up for an Oscar ffs.......Biggest load of shyte i have ever seen....Even when the troops on the Beech Cheered The Spitfire that was flying overhead...It just looked so staged it was embarrassing.

Romper Stomper.

Platoon and The Great Escape my personal favourites, although surprised no one has mentioned Atonement and American Sniper, both of which I thought were very good.  No mention either for War Horse which was decent enough.  Seems to be a bias to old films.

Best individual performance in a war film must be Alec Guiness in Bridge Over The River Kwai.  He took an otherwise average film and made it into an epic.

Warhorse?????.......

I thought American Sniper was very forgettable.

What strikes me most about historical films in general and especially WW2 films is how they insult the viewer's intellgence. It's as if the director chooses not to do their research just to rile us.

Fury was a classic example of that. I was disappointed by Dunkirk too.

The Colditz Story (1955) is very enjoyable.

The American Sniper bloke using all the technology of today didn't get as many as the female Russian sniper in WWII  .

I saw Dunkirk a few weeks ago and very nearly fell asleep half way through, I gave it a score of 1/10.

Mrs Miniver
The Pianist
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

All unbearably sad

American Sniper was poor. the whole film for me was about the PTSD and the way they didnt' even try and dramatise him committing suicide blew the film. they concentrated too much on the "action" when there was a great film in there about a man's breakdown. they just told us in writing what happened at the end. v. disappointed.

I really liked FURY. i thought the acting and the story was brilliant

Schindler's List

Excellent film in which Liam Neeson should have won an oscar. Iirc Tom Hanks was awarded it for Forrest Gump.

Kelly's Heroes

The Battle Of The Bulge

Gallipoli

All very good films.

'story' being the word. To have an immovable sherman defeat dozens of SS troops was embarrassing to watch.

The earlier scene where it destroyed a Tiger was ludicrous too.

I watched Fury but can't recall what happened so I'd say it was forgettable.  Like plenty of the films mentioned.  I know I've seen them but that's about it.  Everyone has different opinions otherwise life would be boring.  The only film mentioned that I really didn't like was Apocalypse Now.  I thought it was pretentious and self indulgent rubbish.

I do have a soft spot for Kelly's Heroes. I like the theme song, and the general corruption for personal gain hits the spot. SPR a classic though too US-centric. Das Boot great. Memphis Belle has plenty of actual footage shot on raids (people died). Waterloo from a previous era.  Come And See captures the horror of the Eastern Front and the Einsatzgruppen. Master and Commander for Napoleonic sea war. Band Of Brothers not strictly a war movie but excellent. Apocalypse Now is damn fine - the insanity, horror and beauty of war.

Lots mentioned that I enjoyed, one missing I liked is Defiance with Daniel Craig, Liev Schrieber and Billy Elliot ( can't remember the guys name, but he is good in it )

The Dam Busters

Sadly, what would have been the best ever war movie never got made: "Leningrad: The 900 Days", dir. Sergio Leone.  Leone had a fatal heart attack shortly before contracts were signed. One can only imagine how great this film would have been.

The 1993 German film Stalingrad is good.

Last night I watched  a 1958 b/w British film called Sea of Sand.   Some big names in it but I'd never seen it before.  Surprisingly good.

Escape to Victory. - Coming back from 4-0 down and saving that penalty at the end. Truly mesmerising.

Escape to Victory!

What a call!

End of Thread.

ps I thought Pele went down far too easily on one occasion.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (American Civil War).

The Great Escape

Not saying it's the best, but it's the one I liked best.

The Great Escape (nap)

Not saying it's the best, but it's the one I liked best.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (American Civil War). ?????..more a Western to me, but I liked it

Also Zulu was that really a war film, although it did show if you had the choice between a spear and a rifle

a rifle is best

Apocalypse Now

The Deer Hunter

If you include Zulu how about Zulu Dawn

is a 1979 American war film about the historical Battle of Isandlwana between British and Zulu forces in 1879 in South Africa

Experts are still puzzling how on earth the Zulus won that one....spears should not beat rifles?

I think we played up Rourke's Drift with all those VC's to hide the defeat at Isandlwana

Can I still say Cross Of Iron end of thread?

The Deer Hunter for me...Probably went on for an hour to long but the Russian Roulette Scene I will never forget.

Aug 17, 2017 -- 11:20AM, detraveller wrote:

The Assassination, korean movie. Don't like hollywood war movies, you already know whats gonna happen.

Bullet in the head -1990
Courage under Fire
Dead presidents
Nanking
The Pacific (miniseries)
Black book

Oh What A Lovely War

A musical parody of WW1

Historical War - Waterloo

'Apocalypse Now' was generally stunning, the ending less good though.

"Downfall' was outstanding.

Can I also put in a good word for 'Generation War', a German film about WW2 which was maybe made for TV as I saw it over 3 weeks on BBC2 a few years ago. Well worth a look.

Stalingrad , the German film .
Downfall