What is the best war film?
- Thread starter Gruug
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welsh
Junkmaster
I really enjoyed A Thin Red Line. Also have enjoyed All Quiet on the Western Front and Paths of Glory. Also liked Das Boot and Platoon.
Saving Private Ryan got to be a bit too John Wayne after the first 20 minutes and Speilberg was a bit predictable.
Tora Tora Tora is kind of fun. But the Longest Day, despite some excellent scenes (the battle with the French commandos for the hotel and the storming of Point Du Hoc- exceptional) the book is still better.
Saving Private Ryan got to be a bit too John Wayne after the first 20 minutes and Speilberg was a bit predictable.
Tora Tora Tora is kind of fun. But the Longest Day, despite some excellent scenes (the battle with the French commandos for the hotel and the storming of Point Du Hoc- exceptional) the book is still better.
Saving Private Ryan!
The worst - Thin Red Line. The only war film that manages to be boring for me.
The worst - Thin Red Line. The only war film that manages to be boring for me.
welsh
Junkmaster
A Thin Red Line was a better film than Saving Private Ryan (which I thought was a lot of fun, but come on- 15 guys holding back a full company of German infantry and 3-4 tiger tanks plus other armored vehicles? Please!)
For a fun war movie that a lot of folks miss, check out Nick Nolte in Farewell to the King. Resistance to the Japanese during World War 2 in Borneo- cool flick.
For a fun war movie that a lot of folks miss, check out Nick Nolte in Farewell to the King. Resistance to the Japanese during World War 2 in Borneo- cool flick.
John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
Apocolypse Now. Aleksander Nevsky. The Birth of a Nation, if you can get past the bad stuff.
Thin Red Line was terrible.
Saving Private Ryan is predictable, and at times not very believable, but it is still an excellent film. Look past all that at the core of the film, of what it is...it's about a group of dudes dying for each other, it's about valor.
-Malk
Saving Private Ryan is predictable, and at times not very believable, but it is still an excellent film. Look past all that at the core of the film, of what it is...it's about a group of dudes dying for each other, it's about valor.
-Malk
John Uskglass
Venerable Relic of the Wastes
Lawernce of Arabia, Spartacus, Olivier' Henry the Fith.
The Longest Day! I loved that film! But it's been so long since I've seen it that I don't remember any details about it. If I remember correctly, the last scene shows a soldier's helmet lying on the beach. Somewhat poetic.
Hey, Megatron. Rambo 3? ROTFL! Sorry.
Hey, Megatron. Rambo 3? ROTFL! Sorry.
"To win a war, you gotta become a war"
"'What's going on? Who is this?'
'Your worst nightmare'"
How can you not like rambo 3? It has all the basics for a war movie, rambo killing russians, armies, bow and arrow stuff. It's even dedicated to someone!
Better than saving private ryan anyway.
"'What's going on? Who is this?'
'Your worst nightmare'"
How can you not like rambo 3? It has all the basics for a war movie, rambo killing russians, armies, bow and arrow stuff. It's even dedicated to someone!
Better than saving private ryan anyway.
[PCE]el_Prez
Vault Fossil
Doc stranglove followd by the longest day followd by FMJ
welsh
Junkmaster
To be honest, I liked a lot of Stephen Ambrose's book as an update to Cornelius Ryan, but he's taking the "it was the guys who fought on Omaha that turned the tide of the war" bit somewhat too far. By 1944 the war had turned already (Stalingrad and El Alamein were the turning points). That and Ambrose's almost exclusive focus on the US landings didn't do credit to the actions by the Brits and Canadians who were also landing on three beaches as well. While I would agree that the battle at Omaha was the most significant part of that action, I think Cornelius Ryan's approach (if dated) was a bit more balanced.
THat said, I did like Ambrose's Band of Brothers, but can't decide which I liked better- the book or the HBO series (which even my wife -who hates war flicks- loved).
Alright, and why I like Thin Red Line- it's a different kind of war movie. So many war films are essentially the same layout. The theme of valor is perhaps the most over used theme in any war film. Look at the Sands of Iwo Jima- here you got valor, you have a landing on a hot beach (Tarawa) and you have sacrifice. Look at Bataan- again you have sacrifice.
The Thin Red Line got you into the minds of the people fighting, what they were thinking and the issues had have- from the colonel who is trying to look decisive and sends his men on a foolhardy attack, to the guy who just shot someone and is trying to morally deal with that. One of the best parts is where a lieutenant tells his scouts to go ahead. THe Scouts look at him like "what are you fucking kidding" he sends them ahead, and they both get popped in a blink. Yes, there were some long parts and sometimes it got a bit boring, but war is sometimes a bit boring, but the action scenes were pretty intense and realistic. But the best thing about the film is that it examined the idea of war not as an anti-war or pro-war flick, but as a condition of human nature, and as such a natural condition. I don't think any film has done a better job of that, or raising new issues. Yes, a Thin Red Line is a more difficult film because its new- much like Catch-22 was a difficult film. But I think it was a better film than something we have seen before in a new package.
THat said, I did like Ambrose's Band of Brothers, but can't decide which I liked better- the book or the HBO series (which even my wife -who hates war flicks- loved).
Alright, and why I like Thin Red Line- it's a different kind of war movie. So many war films are essentially the same layout. The theme of valor is perhaps the most over used theme in any war film. Look at the Sands of Iwo Jima- here you got valor, you have a landing on a hot beach (Tarawa) and you have sacrifice. Look at Bataan- again you have sacrifice.
The Thin Red Line got you into the minds of the people fighting, what they were thinking and the issues had have- from the colonel who is trying to look decisive and sends his men on a foolhardy attack, to the guy who just shot someone and is trying to morally deal with that. One of the best parts is where a lieutenant tells his scouts to go ahead. THe Scouts look at him like "what are you fucking kidding" he sends them ahead, and they both get popped in a blink. Yes, there were some long parts and sometimes it got a bit boring, but war is sometimes a bit boring, but the action scenes were pretty intense and realistic. But the best thing about the film is that it examined the idea of war not as an anti-war or pro-war flick, but as a condition of human nature, and as such a natural condition. I don't think any film has done a better job of that, or raising new issues. Yes, a Thin Red Line is a more difficult film because its new- much like Catch-22 was a difficult film. But I think it was a better film than something we have seen before in a new package.
Band of Brothers (ok it's a series...)
Best? Platoon, hands down. Apocalypse Now was sad in the way it couldn't *really* depict the war, because it's too recent, making it an excellent flick, but a terrible war flick.
Thin Red Line is really good, too, as is All's Quiet on the Western Front. FMJ is good too.
Saving Private Ryan was Spielberg, AKA pathetic. I dislike the whole philosphy behind his filmmaking, and he rarely makes a film I can even stand (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones and Hook (Bob Hoskins) I could bear)...most of them make me want to hurl, Saving Private Ryan was one of them.
And no, I haven´t seen Schindler´s List or AI. I might like Schindler, from the look of it...
Band of Brothers...I couldn´t drag myself through one melodramatic episode, that series was just too bad to stand. Ugh.
Thin Red Line is really good, too, as is All's Quiet on the Western Front. FMJ is good too.
Saving Private Ryan was Spielberg, AKA pathetic. I dislike the whole philosphy behind his filmmaking, and he rarely makes a film I can even stand (Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones and Hook (Bob Hoskins) I could bear)...most of them make me want to hurl, Saving Private Ryan was one of them.
And no, I haven´t seen Schindler´s List or AI. I might like Schindler, from the look of it...
Band of Brothers...I couldn´t drag myself through one melodramatic episode, that series was just too bad to stand. Ugh.
APTYP said:
Partially, yeah, but not exactly.
Welsh, I didn't find his approach to be too much on the american side... I thought he pretty much covered the british side as well.
He even wrote an entire book about Pegasus bridge, which was a british operation.
And, Kharn, Don't matter what you don't watch A.I... That movie was so bad...
I did like Private Ryan though, and band of brothers is a great series.
He even wrote an entire book about Pegasus bridge, which was a british operation.
And, Kharn, Don't matter what you don't watch A.I... That movie was so bad...
I did like Private Ryan though, and band of brothers is a great series.