Dunkirk is an incredibly visceral movie. Im so glad to have seen it on Imax, cause those dogfight scenes are intense, probably the best put on film. Then you got the beautifully horrific poetry of The Thin Red Line. The rollicking - and at times heartbreaking - adventure of The Great Escape. And while it does take liberties with the real soldier and battle on which it was based, I found Enemy at the Gates to be pretty be pretty enjoyable too, for its different perspective of the war. And not movies, but Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Enough Said.
Yeah, that and Guns of Navarone were regulars on my playlist back then. Even had this badboy, was freaking awesome to play army with: Watched A Bridge Too Far and Midway again recently, still great. Haven't seen Where Eagles Dare in years, need to check it out again.
Some I like that haven't been mentioned Conspiracy Downfall Katyn Warsaw Uprising: https://polska.pl/arts/visual-arts/warsaw-uprising-feature-film-based-documentaries/ Defiance Stalingrad (1993) Cross of Iron Son of Saul Empire of the Sun Grave of the Fireflies Das Boot Run Silent, Run Deep Letters From Iwo Jima Stalag 17
Letters From Iwo Jima was far superior to Flags of Our Fathers. Good film. Hacksaw Ridge. Underrated I feel, but very intense.
Saints and Soldiers is an underrated gem. Also you should take a look at The Way Back if you haven't seen it already.
Agreed on both. To me, Mel Gibson's historical war movies are very hit and miss (great: Gallipoli, We Were Soldiers; okay/meh: Braveheart; horrible: The Patriot) but I really enjoyed Hacksaw Ridge. Even Garfield was good in it, which surprised me. Dunkirk was mentioned and is incredible, and The Longest Day is a great one, even if dated a bit given what we've seen more recently with Saving Matt Damon and Band of Brothers. Forgot about The Way Back, remember liking it and then reading about some controversy wrt the truthiness of the story it was based on. Good flick anyways. The Great Raid is a good one...the book it was based off of is a great read...if you don't know about Cabanatuan (sp?) look it up. Not sure I've ever seen Saints and Soldiers...will check it out.
Man has there been a dearth of good WWII movies over the past two decades, and the older stuff doesn’t age well, imo- I really don’t care for a bunch of smokey-voiced old men standing around and talking for 3/4 of the movie. I need action. I’d say Band I’d Brothers is probably the best ‘movie’ I’ve seen.
That is such an odd, odd movie. I want to see Terrence Malick do a superhero movie or a splatter horror movie.
I absolutely loved it. I'd read the (very good) book before, for all that matters. James Jones, also wrote From Here to Eternity. Coming up, yall don't forget this: It's a shame Catch-22 turned out to be such a mediocre movie (that is absolutely primed for a 10-hour, high budget cable miniseries), one of the greatest war books ever. Still worth watching though. If you like WWII horror, don't forget Dead Snow and Overlord. And if you want funnies Iron Sky is amusing.
Did anyone mention Bridge Over the River Kwai? I forgot to add that one to my list. It is definitely a favorite of mine.
Just remember our criteria: not "popular ones everyone knows about, but I've always found it good stories, fictional or based on something." Unless they're too fictional and only slightly based on something, then he HATEHATEHATES them.
Does Imitation Game count? I'm a big fan of anything about the history of breaking Enigma. Reminds me that it's about time for me to re-read Cryptonomicon.
