Best World War II Films

Who likes "When Trumpets Fade"? A good look at the severe (and not well known) action in the Hurtgen Forest. Dwight Yoakam is great in this film.

 

Love that movie! I was surprised at the amount of horror and insanity they managed to pack into the three days that the movie covered. Quite the grisly, shocking portrayal of war...probably a whole lot closer than the sanitized FX-laden version that makes it to the big screen these days.

 

I remember watching a film in the 1970s about the Battle of Okinawa, it was made in the 1950s I think and it was in colour, one seen showed the US soldiers crossing a field with tank support and the Japanese were hid in bunkers covered with straw and it was a great scene and I would love to remember the films title.

 

finally found, and ordered gallant hours on DVD from turner classic movies today.

[video=youtube;z2wye37sZiQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2wye37sZiQ[/video]

 

I enjoyed "When Trumpets Fade" very tense when the raw recruits were left to fend on there own.

 

Kelly's heroes, is my personal favorite. Oddball. what a character

 

Am I the only one who thinks 'Saving Private Ryan' was a bad movie? I enjoyed it when I was ten, but now... It's just so choking with American optimism it makes me want to break things.... Beyond the opening scene, some dardy explosions and a bloated budget, it really doesn't have anything going for it.
Compared to low budget but cinematic films like 'Come and See' its tripe.
Americans always seem happy to make 'honest' films beyond Vietnam, but anything WW2 always seems to have that freaking optimism, and actors like Hanks and Nick Cage. Not saying there aren't any good ones, but I've at least learned to avoid any movies with covers of dramatic, blown up heads gazing into the distance.

View attachment 13577

See a pattern?

 

its an American thing you don't understand

 

The wonderful thing about living in freedom is that we don't have to watch movies we don't like. We can also join a forum and complain about "American optimism" or "Australian cynicism" or "European whatever-ism" and it's all good. What a wonderful thing freedom is.

Anyway, back to the "tripe", I mean, 'Saving Private Ryan', I think there are two scenes in the movie that make it worth putting on the list. My mother was about 8 years old in 1945 and was living with her grandmother. She clearly remembers the day her grandmother received the news that one of her sons had been KIA. The wail that came from her grandmothers soul as she crumpled to the floor haunts her to this day. My mother said the scene in SPR where the mother sees the men in uniform diving up was the most difficult for her to watch because it was so real and heart wrenching.

The other scene is at the end of the movie when the now much aged Private Ryan stands next to the grave of the men who died to save his life and tearfully asks his wife if he was a good man. He just wanted to know that his life was worth the sacrifice that they made. If only we all had that kind of self-reflection.

So, if 'Saving Private Ryan' is "tripe" and "American optimism", I say let's have more movies like it. Of course, watching those movies would be optional.

 

Bravo, Tom. Outstanding post. And thanks again for the 37th ID information.

 

Okay I'll concede that 'tripe' was a little harsh, but just as your mother was touched by the film, my grandfather, who flew Spitfires at 17, scoffed at it, and my brothers Polish Grandfather, who had all his family killed in Poland at 19, also scoffed at it.
I suppose I don't like the fact that film makers inject their own agendas into film, and that its so glaring in many American war films. That degree of American optimism' is good, as it does seem to reflect American attitudes and values, to an extent, but when it colors an entire film....
It also glamorizes and promotes war, even if its sub-textually, which I can never agree with.

 

see my top 3s 1st http://www.cititube.mn/watch.php?v=4019 click here this is "saving the private ryan"
2nd http://www.cititube.mn/watch.php?v=uVwSKC+a9LY= click here this is "enemy at the gates"
3rd YouTube - ‪ click here this is Sniper "Weapon of retaliation"
those are greatest movies ever.so you must watch

YouTube - ‪Tuntematon Sotilas/The Unknown Soldier 1955 PART1‬‏ tuntematon sotilas
YouTube - ‪Beyond the front line 1/12 (2004)‬‏ framom främsta linjen
YouTube - ‪Tali-Ihantala 1944 (2007) with English subs (1/12)‬‏ tali inhantala
YouTube - ‪Raatteentie -elokuva osa 1/4‬‏ talvisota
please watch all of those please and please

and you must watch this is so old movie and so great movie YouTube - ‪Die Brücke Teil1.‬‏

 

I can't remember the title of foreign film of romanian army at the eastern front from invasion of Russia to retreat from Stalingrad, would you know the name of film?

 

Hey! A point on which we are in complete agreement.

I don't see Saving Private Ryan as a pro-war movie. Nothing in the film glamorizes or promotes war. The D-Day landing was probably one of the most brutal, realistic (as far as I can tell anyway), unpleasant portrayals of war I have ever seen. The scene that "moved" (I would prefer to say 'grieved') my mother was anything but glamorous. It showed the pain and cost of war on the home front. The other scene I mentioned showed the price paid by those soldiers who survived the War. There's nothing glamorous or war promoting in that either. I had a family member who came back from WW2 a shattered man from what he went through and because of the survivor's guilt of not coming home in a box like his brother did. I see nothing glamorous in that.

It seems to me that your real complaint isn't so much the "American optimism" in the movie, but that it is not a blatant, anti-war movie. Well, that's your prerogative to make that objection. After all, the topic of this thread inherently involves subjective assessments. I am satisfied that we will have to agree to disagree on this particular film.

Do you have any WW2 movies you would like to nominate, Minnie?

 

I think Saving Private Ryan showed a side of war that other films dont, the shooting of German troops in anger when they are either surrendering or running away, runners getting chopped up my machine gun fire even when they are dead, the way men kill each other when comming face to face with no chivalry, I think it showed some truths that other films gloss over.

 

Well, without pointing out what your relatives were "scoffing" at, your statement is somewhat pointless. Were they scoffing at the almost total lack of non-American main characters, the way the soldiers were portrayed in the film, their reactions in combat, the use of the German 2nd SS as an adversary(the 2nd SS didn't see action until, IIRC, July and it was against the British), the use of foolish or poor tactics by the soldiers, or was it some other artistic/dramatic license used by Spielberg? At least TD-Tommy776 noted which scene and why it brought up the memories it did. So, lacking any context for the "scoffing", it is hard to have a serious discussion about such.

Have you watched the D-Day landing scene? Please tell me how that glamorizes war? In this scene, the only glorification is for those that still believe in "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."

 

As I mentioned in my last reply to Minnie, this topic is inherently subjective. Here's how the OP began way back when (emphasis mine):

So, what makes a WW2 movie a "good" movie? It seems in Minnie's case it needs to have a blatant anti-war message. That's fine, but then just say that. Don't use some vaguely meaningless, thinly veiled America-bashing phrase like "American optimism". Just say why it is or isn't a good WW2 movie.

Maybe some think it needs to be historically accurate. Someone else might think it needs to be artistically well done and are less concerned with historical accuracy. Others might think it needs to elicit an emotional reaction or resonate with certain ideals. I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Personally, I might put a film on the list for any number of reasons.

As for SPR, clearly it resonates with me personally, but I also agree with the points Yan and Takao made about the film. I think it's a good WW2 movie. It's not necessarily the best, but good enough to be on the list. IMHO, of course.

 

I wonder what you guys made of the mini series the pacific, I thought it was ok, but band of brothers was much better, when I watch a war movie I lose interest when it gose back and too from war to civilian life, the same with Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of our Fathers, I enjoyed Letters better because it stayed on the Island and the fighting through eyes of the Japanese, Flags on the other hand took you back to the states and all thet stuff back home.

 

SPR, is beyond any shadow of a doubt, the LEAST optimistic movie ever made.

As to The Pacific, to me while historically accurate, it lacked continuity that makes a story. It was three stories. If it was music, it would have been "Admiral Halsey" by Paul McCartney. What made Band of Brothers so good is following one story.

 

Right theatre of war, wrong movie. You are thinking of Days of Glory (1944)
________________

(The North Star) June 1941, 1 Hr 45 minutes at: ‪Armored Attack!‬‏ - YouTube

Five friends celebrate the end of the school year is just ending by setting out on a walking trip to Kiev. Their travels are brutally interrupted when they are attacked by German planes, in the first wave of the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union. The village attacked and occupied. The men flee to the hills to form a resistance army. The village comes under the control of a Nazi doctor who uses the town's children's blood for wounded German soldiers. Meanwhile, the small group tries to get firearms to the guerrillas in the hills.


[h=4]Category:[/h] Movies
[h=4]Starring:[/h]

• Anne Baxter
• Dana Andrews
• Walter Huston
• Walter Brennan
• Ann Harding
• Jane Withers
• Farley Granger
• Erich von Stroheim
• Dean Jagger
• Eric Roberts