WWII Movies

The Outside World Movie Corner (Non-QT)
1

I’ve always been interested more into Vietnam War movies.

But does anyone have some good recommendations for WWII movies? I never really got into them, and in my War in Literatue class at school, I’d like to recommend some to the teacher.



We’re currently on WWI and today we watched Paths of Glory directed by Stanley Kubrick. I enjoyed it. But I haven’t see many WWII movies and I’d like to check out a few. thanks

2

Well,my favorite 2 are Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare.They both got some great ensemble casts!

I also like Guns Of the Navarone and The Great Escape.



You could say those are the big 4.

3

THE LONGEST DAY-Much of the film is dated (Especially the American & British segments) but there’s 2 things that I absolutely love about this film.

  1. An overhead, one-take shot during the battle of Ouistreham. VERY Impressive!
  2. The 2nd to last scene with Richard Burton & Richard Beymer. One of my most favorite sequences in cinema. The dialouge is unforgettable.



    DAS BOOT-The German U-Boat epic. A Must-see, plain and simple.



    BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI-True story which drags a little bit in the middle act, but nothing can be said about the brilliant 1st half and the climactic finale.



    KELLY’S HEROES-As long as you don’t take things seriously, this one can become a fun ride.



    OPEN CITY-A very hard film to find, but this Italian classic of a war-torn town never ceases to astonish.



    SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE-One of the most unique and strangest films ever made. There’s not a whole lot of WWII to be found here, but this is one of the few films that covers the fire bombing of Dresden.



    EMPIRE OF THE SUN-One of the great Prisoner of War stories ever made (IMO) and one of the few Speilberg flicks that I can tolerate. Watch specifically for young Christian Bale’s great performance.



    A MIDNIGHT CLEAR-A Different representation of the war, but highly recommended.



    Some mini-series have made great WWII dramas. Including WAR AND REMEMBRANCE (I dont know if this is on DVD or video, but it damn near covered everything I needed to know at the time) and HBO’s BAND OF BROTHERS.



    Just for the hell of it:



    SALO

    MAN BEHIND THE SUN

    ILSA



4

well there is a difference between ww2 movies like navarone and ww2 movies like saving private ryan.

i’d call the second kind more “real” or “anti-war” and the first (like navarone) more pro-war or just entertainment.



now i love both. my recommendations are:


  • The Thin Red Line (beautiful movie set in the pacific)
  • Stalingrad (the most realistic ww2 movie ever, hard and brutal)
  • Force 10 from Navarone (of the “first” kind, good actors, good story, just fun)
  • The longest day (first big epic battle movie about the D-Day, great movie)
5

Nobody’s mentioned “A Bridge Too Far” yet!



Personally i think that is the best WW2 film ever! Sean Connery ruled in it!

6

Some of my favorites:



The Big Red One

The Great Escape

The Dirty Dozen

Kellys Heroes

Guns of Navarone

Patton

The Steel Helmet



Newer WW2 Films to take a look at:



Saving Private Ryan

The Thin Red Line

Schindlers List

U-571

The Pianist

7

Thanks for all the replies. I suggested a lot of them, but the only one we watched was Patton. Now it’s Vietnam time! 8)

8

ah vietnam. my favorite war movie genre. i just finished my research paper about the vietnam war movies and We Were Soldiers last Monday. 34 pages.

I will post that once I get it returned.



I think I will watch The Thin Red Line this weekend. Again. Its an amazing visually stunning film. With great actors and music. Better than Ryan in my opinion. It just captures the crazy-ness of war a lot better.



As for Schindler’s List and The Pianist (as well as Life Is Beautiful or Anne Frank’s Diary or similar movies): I think they are an extra cathegory, since they aren’t battle films. But they are more important.



A little tip: if you find Schindler’s List too sad and exhausting to watch, watch Life Is Beautiful, its the same subject, just funnier to watch. And it’s made by the guy who flipped out during the Oscars (Roberto Begnini).

9

[quote]


A little tip: if you find Schindler’s List too sad and exhausting to watch, watch Life Is Beautiful, its the same subject, just funnier to watch. And it’s made by the guy who flipped out during the Oscars (Roberto Begnini).[/quote]

I have one word for Life is Beautiful: Overrated.



Everyone was pissing and moaning about how great and funny it was. I didnt laugh ONCE through the whole movie. Roberto Benignini is just a nutcase!! That movie was more boring than watching paint dry.

10

i think it was funny enough for a holocaust film. i think it was the best way (next to the Schindler’s List way) to tell a story like that.

11

In class, we ended up staying on the WWII tip and watched Schindler’s List. This past week, we started Vietnam with We Were Soldiers, which I didn’t like very much. I hated the whole Vietnam enemy scenes, they were so stereotypical. I didn’t enjoy the whole “wives club” scenes either. All in all, it wasn’t a very good movie, in my opinion.

12

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

The Small Back Room

The 49th Parallel

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp



all by the wonderful Powell and Pressburger

13

Well my additions might not neccessarily be about the war but the time periods.



WW1 *All Quiet on the western front



WW2 *Enemy at the Gates “It was an impossible shot.”

*Lawrence of Arabia

*Casablanca



Vietnam *Tigerland - Schumakers return to good movies. Batman and Robin, what was he thinking.

14

in my opinon the best WW2 movie is Band of Brothers, if you dont what its about its about a paratroop company that went thru D-Day to capturing Hitlers Eagle Nest. very good directing, and acting.

15

It’s very realistic, because when they are in Holland the people really speak Dutch. You don’t see that in Schindler’s List, all the Germans speak english in that movie.

16

[quote=“Justin666”]
didnt spielberg direct it?
[/quote]

Yeah, he did. But Band Of Brothers was a TV Series, not a movie

17

I don’t think he directed any of the episodes; he just helped to produce it.



Directed by

Tony To (segment 8 “The Last Patrol”)

Mikael Salomon (parts 3 “Carentan” and 10 “Points”)

Phil Alden Robinson (part 1 “Currahee”)

David Nutter (part 4 “Replacements”)

Richard Loncraine (part 2 “Day of Days”)

David Leland (part 6 “Bastogne”)

Tom Hanks (part 5 “Crossroads”)

David Frankel (parts 7 “The Breaking Point” and 9 “Why We Fight”)



Band of Brothers (TV Mini Series 2001) - Full Cast & Crew - IMDb

18

[quote=“Justin666”]
yeah i knew it was a show, it had a cool story and stuff but i member not seeing anyone die brutatly for a while and not much swearing, so i got vexxed and changed the channel
[/quote]

?wtf? must not have watched the later ones, in Bastogne you fallow a doctor and he sees some crazy shit man, guys leg blows off, you see him doing a guy surgery…

19

The Big Red One is my most favorite war film.

20

I just watched the dirty dozen, i thought it was great