What's Your Favorite Movie About WWII?

[arwalden]

I've got two: "The Great Escape" and "Band of Brothers". (Well, yes... I know "Band of Brothers" is a mini-series... but still.)

[GOPisEvil]

1. "The Longest Day" and "A Bridge Too Far"

Both based on books by Cornelius Ryan.

Also, "Tora, Tora, Tora".

[Reverend_Smitty]

2. The Great Escape...

because Steve McQueen is the coolest

[sakabatou]

3. Grave of the Fireflies

[MiniMandaRuth]

20. That one made me cry like a baby.

:cry: And it still does. When I saw the title in the post list, I got a little misty. Great movie, though.

[jobycom]

45. Got my vote. nt

[Lydia Leftcoast]

4. Decision Before Dawn

about a German POW who is recruited as a spy for the Allies and sent back into Germany.

It stars Oskar Werner, who also starred in Fahrenheit 451 and Jules and Jim.

[nytemare]

5. "A Midnight Clear", "Memphis Belle", "Saving Private Ryan"

Midnight Clear is lesser known, but has a wonderful cast, and is very well done.

I might add "Thin Red Line" to this.

[NYCGirl]

6. Sorry, posted in the wrong place.

[jus_the_facts]

15. I thought A Midnight Clear was extraordinary....

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Hissyspit]

19. Yes, Sam Phillips version of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear"

at the end is very moving.

[NYCGirl]

7. "The Story of G.I. Joe" —

From allmovie.com:

The Story of G.I. Joe was based on the columns of Scripps-Howard war correspondent Ernie Pyle. Though already past 40, Pyle insists upon marching along with an Army infantry unit during the Italian campaign. He befriends several of the soldiers, including commanding officer Robert Mitchum (his breakthrough role), family man Freddie Steele and would-be romeo Wally Cassell. The "plot" of the film is moved forward by the progression of the war itself; basically, however, G.I. Joe is an anecdotal collection of comic, dramatic and tragic vignettes. Some of the more memorable moments include Freddie Steele's ongoing efforts to listen to a recording of his infant son's voice; Mitchum's casual reactions to his many field promotions; and a wedding ceremony which is "punctuated" by an air raid. Many infantry veterans consider The Story of GI Joe to be the single most realistic Hollywood war film of the 1940s, eschewing big stars, phony heroics and overblown battle sequences in favor of the everyday trials and tribulations of the humble foot soldier. Ironically, Ernie Pyle, who acted as technical adviser (when he wasn't busy on the front), was killed by an enemy sniper shortly before the release of this film.

[2bfree]

8. The Best Years of Our Lives and.........

Stalag 17. They just don't make movies like these anymore. :)

[Initech]

9. Easy one - Dr. Strangelove

[CanuckAmok]

22. WW2: 1939-1964?

Am I missing something here? I know there were still tiny isands filled with Japanese troops who didn't know the War was over, but....

[asthmaticeog]

25. You're a few decades off, there, I'm afraid.

:hi:

[JVS]

103. Not quite so easy as you say, it seems

:-)

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. Oh, Jeebus

Let's see... "Twelve O' Clock High," "Tora Tora Tora," "Stalag 17," "The Great Escape," "Patton," "Swing Kids," "Memphis Belle" (the War Department film), "Memphis Belle" (the feature film, even though it was bullshit), "Saving Private Ryan," "The Longest Day," "The Best Years of Our Lives"...

:shrug:

[MrScorpio]

11. Catch 22

[Hissyspit]

41. Yup. n/t

[Catch22Dem]

61. I'm rather fond of that one myself

:evilgrin:

[Scurrilous]

62. Catch-22 gets my vote also.

:thumbsup:

[underpants]

69. 1941

No not 1941 but I just wanted to say that I thought Catch22 closely resembled my experience in the Army. Absuh********lutely insane.

"What is good for the M&M Corporation is good for America"

[Xipe Totec]

12. Patton

A classic.

[terrya]

76. I agree with you about "Patton"

My favorite World War II movie. George C. Scott's performance is amazing.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. I have three:

The Bridge on the River Kwai, Das Boot, and Stalingrad.

[Merrick]

112. self delete

[taterguy]

14. Das Boot

I watched it in the theater. Based on the ages of the other people there it seemed like most were World War II vets, I just wondered what side they fought on. I did go see it with someone who served on a US submarine in the 1970s. He said its depection of submarine life was very accurate.

[citizen snips]

16. Enemy at the Gates

[maveric]

58. The most exciting, first 20 minutes of any war movie I've ever seen.

That whole river crossing seg was intense.

[Paladin]

17. "Twelve O'Clock High"

It's tough for me to select just one WWII movie as a favorite, but I'll go with "Twelve O'Clock High," with "Saving Private Ryan" a close runner-up, and about a dozen others close behind.

That "Just Pretend You're Already Dead" speech that Gregory Peck gives to his hard-luck bomber squadron cannot be improved upon, as to acting, writing, direction, or sheer visceral impact. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. Brilliant movie.....

[OzarkDem]

54. Me, too

Gregory Peck was outstanding in that movie, not his usual kind of role.

[Hissyspit]

18. Why is "Saving Private Ryan" so popular?

A nonsense script of WWII movie cliches, it paved the way for the Dubya era, full of fetishism for the "Good War."

That final scene in the cemetery was ridiculous.

[CanuckAmok]

26. 'zactly.

People get all pissed when I argue that it was just another jingoistic war-fest. If that movie would have been released as JUST the first few minutes (the Invasion of Normandy), it would have been the best war movie ever.

[Hissyspit]

36. The D-Day scene lasts about 30 minutes.

The reviewer (Ken Tucker or Owen Gleiberman) in Entertainment Weekly when it came out graded it thusly: First 30 Minutes - A. Last 2 Hours - F.

[Codeine]

55. Because the first portion

on the beach was so real that I sobbed like a child. All I could think was that just by accident of birth, by being the right age at the right time in the right place, grown men were expected to step into the waves to run on to the shore of a country that most of them had never seen before while men they didn't know killed them by truckloads, impersonally, with machine-like efficiency, and there was nothing they could do to change it.

No other movie has ever been as effective at demonstrating the brutal, cold, horrible calculus of 20th Century warfare for me. None have even come close.

[Hissyspit]

65. And then followed it with absolute garbage in its remaining two hours.

I saw the movie. The verisimilitude of the depiction of individual experience of the entrance into nightmare situations is then put to the service of Spielberg's pandering and manipulating demand for moral absolutes, not to mention a nonsense plot and lousy dialogue, and a revival of us vs. them fascist propaganda.

The movie is a WHOLE visual artwork, not just the first 30 minutes. I thought I was seeing something amazing as I sat through the first 30 minutes and was sorely disappointed and fairly disgusted by what followed, making what came before seem as nothing more than war pornography. The whole loss of hearing thing, as well, was taken from the scene with Sylvester Stallone in "Copland" a couple of years earlier, anyway. "Von Ryan's Express" was a better movie!

Sorry to sound like I'm in GD! This movie just irks the hell out of me.

[eyepaddle]

78. Maybe I just watched it on a more immediate/gut level but

I never got that the following two hours was all that pandering: the near casual murder of a POW, confusion in shattered town resulting in a massacre, a man pleading for his life as he slowly loses a knife fight and especailly the scenes of the sniper's victims pretty much sickened and shocked me to the core. You can go check the history group forums and see that I'm not some slappy whose only knowledge or interest in WWII comes from movies or pop culture--I was pleased with the way the final battle didn't make war look like simply a team sport with higher stakes, but pretty much a horror show where the best thing that could possible happen was merely disgusting.

[fudge stripe cookays]

81. Sorry, some of us don't agree.

I am a genealogist who has contacted many members of extended family, some of whom fought in various battles in WWII and have told me stories. I feel very connected to history...I practically live there instead of the present. My way of coping, I suppose.

The scene in the graveyard makes me bawl every time. Sorry you couldn't enjoy the film. But I feel much closer to my cousins watching what they went through.

fsc

[Hissyspit]

88. The kids woud've been whining about where the McDonald's was.

Movies are not just about 'enjoyment.' They are about values expressed implicit and explicit. The movie was very effective emotional manipulation, but the cliches did a dishonor and the nostalgia for "GOOD WAR" was hardly the thing America needed going into the Dubya era - and we've seen some of the results of this kind of national zeitgeist. "Pearl Harbor" did similar things, but was so laughable, not many people took it seriously.

Sure, Spielberg is a great emotional manipulator, but to what end?

[fudge stripe cookays]

95. .

FFS. What's the point. I didn't watch it as propaganda. I watched it as a movie. You know...entertainment.

Why does everything have to have a larger purpose behind it? I thought it was well done. We obviously disagree.

[long_green]

21. "Hope and Glory" and "Danger UXB"

I can put in a miniseries if you can. These are Home Front movies set in England.

"Das Boot" was originally a miniseries as well. The version we saw was a condensed version of a much longer series.

[CanuckAmok]

24. Ever see the miniseries "Piece of Cake"?

Very good. On par with UXB, but with higher productio values and more tragedy (if that's even possible!).

[long_green]

27. Never heard of it

More tragedy? Cool!

[CanuckAmok]

28. It's unbelieveable bleak.

It was a Channel4/PBS co-prod. Worth renting if you can find it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157239/

Very, very good. It had the BofB Vets up in arms because it didn't portray every character as a "Son of England". There were complete pricks in the squadron, liars, adulterers, and good guys...just like in real life. The characters were so complex, and just like in the real Battle, some would arrive and be with the squadron for the whole series while others were killed on their fist sortie, without any clue or reason who was going to get it. There were other "atypical" roles, too: Free Poles, Canadians, even an American volunteer or two.

[long_green]

29. Thank you for the heads up

I will look for it.

[sarge43]

35. Second that. Excellent series

I loved the scene where the wife is at the edge of flight line, waiting for her missing husband to return and the lads' reaction to it - no Hollywood cliche here.


UXB is another Beeb production worth running down.

[fudge stripe cookays]

82. I loved the little boy.

"Pauline, would you like some shrapnel?"

after her mother's just died. Poor kid was just trying to make her feel better. Sad, but poignantly cute.

[CanuckAmok]

23. Without a doubt, "Braveheart".

n/t

[arwalden]

51. ~

:rofl: You nut!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

30. The Colditz Story

Tora! Tora! Tora! in second place.

[zonkers]

31. Heaven Knows Mr. Allison - an overlooked classic w/ Bob Mitchum, Deb. Kerr

directed by John Huston. It is an amazing little film.

"Marine Corporal Allison is ship-wrecked on a Pacific island during world war II. The only other person on the island is a Nun, sister Angela..."

[CatWoman]

32. the one and only

[zonkers]

33. This film no doubt shaped my life. Saw it in the movies as a kid. It's a

little silly now but still endearing. "Woof Woof". And you gotta love Don Rickles as "Crapgame".

[CatWoman]

37. Drinking some wine, and eating some cheese

and catching some rays :D

[zonkers]

42. Was Donald Sutherland ever cooler? Don't think so.

[Hissyspit]

39. Always with the negative waves, Moriarity! Always with the negative waves!

woof, woof

[GoddessOfGuinness]

34. Mr. Roberts

Band of Brothers...Phenomenal!

[arwalden]

38. For Comedies: "Operation Petticoat"

[Scurrilous]

63. For Comedies: Kelley's Heroes.

[arwalden]

64. For Musicals: "South Pacific"

[sarge43]

40. My favorites

The Big Red One
The Enemy Below
Hope and Glory
Twelve O'clock High

[Arkham House]

43. The Dirty Dozen

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

44. Big Red One, Pearl Harbor and Patton

[MrSlayer]

46. The first 24 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan".

The rest of the movie was ok but that opening sequence was excellent.

[evlbstrd]

47. Slaughterhouse Five.

Vonnegut is one of my heroes, and it's the only good film adaptation of his writing.

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Generic Brad]

49. Kelly's Heros

Damn good movie and funny too.

[southpaw]

118. Another vote for 'Kelly's Heros'

"...it's a mother-beautiful bridge... and it's gonna be there!"

[catbert836]

50. Patton

Not that I think much of the man's politics, but he was a true soldier and I think the movie did him justice.

[ForrestGump]

52. Too many good ones

Some that leap to mind include:

The Longest Day
A Bridge Too Far
The Big Red One
Battleground
Saving Private Ryan
Patton
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Bridge At Remagen
Battle Of Britain



And, of course, ripping yarns like The Eagle Has Landed, Heaven Knows, Mr Allison, and 633 Squadron, as well as the glory of the anachronistic Kelly's Heroes. :D

Enemy At The Gates was pretty good, too, and I've got to see Stalingrad one day soon.

Never seen Band of Brothers...I'll have to remedy that situation.

[arwalden]

53. The Best Years of Our Lives

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036868/

Three American servicemen return home to Boone City after the war, to find their lives irrevocably changed by their military experience. Homer Parrish has lost his hands, and has become distant from his fiancee and family as he struggles to overcome his disability. Al Stephenson returns to a family which has grown and changed during his three years away. And Fred Derry finds himself stuck in a lousy job and a loveless marriage, while at the same time falling in love with Al's daughter. Together, the three must find a way to come to terms with their experiences and pick up the pieces, lest wartime turn out to be "the best years of their lives".

[Broken_Hero]

56. Band of Brothers is my favorite

it was a good series...

than...

2. Longest Day

3. Mister Roberts....

[CatholicEdHead]

57. Tora Tora Tora, Longest Day

[barb162]

114. same here

Epecially Tora for its accuracy

[Allenberg]

59. I've got a few.

Band of Brothers
Hart's War
Schindler's List
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Von Ryan's Express

[Catch22Dem]

60. Bridge at Remagen

And all of the others listed already. :)

[Fox Mulder]

66. "U-571" and "Enemy at the Gates"

[Glorfindel]

67. "The Winds of War" (a mini-series with wonderful actors)

and its sequel, "War and Remembrance"

[fudge stripe cookays]

83. I think every schoolchild the world over...

should be forced to watch "War and Remembrance" to know everything that happened in that war. Books can only impart so much. Today's kids learn by seeing.

This should be required junior high/high school viewing.

And if seeing John Gielgud going into that "shower" doesn't scare the hell out of them enough to keep that kind of fascism from happening again, nothing will.

[Blue_In_AK]

90. Those were great

and followed the books closely.

[Deep13]

68. Das Boot

intense.

Cross of Iron

12 O'Clock High

[ForrestGump]

72. Oh, yeah -- forgot that. "Empire Of The Sun" is excellent, too. It's

a phenomenal film...I didn't see it until a little earlier this year. A very young Christian Bale is amazing in it, too. Whenever people criticize Spielberg's films -- this happens a lot here on DU, that's for sure -- this film's one that can be used as part of any counterargument.

[Ohio Joe]

70. A few not mentioned

The Grey Zone
Uprising

Both seem to be little known movies that are really very excellent.

[ForrestGump]

73. "Uprising" was great, I agree, as were "The Pianist" and "Jakob The Liar"

Didn't see "The Pianist" until a little while ago -- got a lot of movies to catch up with from years in academia and out in the boonies -- and I thought it was pretty brilliant.

[Ohio Joe]

79. The Pianist is definitely a great movie

I've not had the chance to see Jakob the Liar yet, I'll put it on my list of things to see though.

[Blue_In_AK]

92. I was going to say "The Pianist" too

Adrian Brody was outstanding. *spoiler* That scene there toward the end with the German officer breaks my heart every time I see it.

[Bridget Burke]

71. 12 O'Clock High....

Memphis Belle--the feature film--mostly for the visuals.

And I keep admiring the end of Tora! Tora! Tora! on TV--I need to watch the whole thing. Someone realized that the real story was so dramatic that no fake romance was needed.

Then, there's an English miniseries whose name I've forgotten. A British general stationed in Malaya is transferred to England as the war begins; he spends the war in London, doing staff work. Later, his wife is captured by the Japanese. She becomes "leader" of the women in a Japanese POW (?) camp.

After the war, he comes home. She has problems readjusting....

[deutsey]

74. The Incredible Mr. Limpet

:evilgrin:

[femmocrat]

75. "Bridge Over the River Kwai"

[Tyrone Slothrop]

77. The Guns of Navarone

Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn and David Niven on a desperate mission behind enemy lines.

I'd also say Where Eagles Dare (I love the whole romantic notion of the desperate mission behind enemy lines!), The Dirty Dozen and The Bridge on the River Kwai.

I used to love watching WWII movies on TBS or WGN with my dad on Sunday mornings when I was growing up.

[Ohio Joe]

80. I just re-watched Where Eagles Dare this weekend

A great movie.

[calico1]

84. Stalag 17, Bridge Over the River Kwai,

The Longest Day. And although not a war movie I also like "The Best Years of Our Lives" which is about 3 service men from the same hometown and what happens AFTER the war ends and they return home.

[Jara sang]

85. A Bridge Too Far

[blindpig]

86. Cross Of Iron

Possibly the best anti-war film ever made. Eastern Front from the view of German infantrymen. Combines extreme historical accuracy with the horrid utter stupidity of it all. Starred James Colburn, James Mason and Maximilian Shell.

[fudge stripe cookays]

87. "Come and See"

Russian made. One of the most brutal movies I've ever seen.

[reyd reid reed]

89. I like The Great Escape...

It's one of the few DVDs that I actually have...and have watched.

There are other movies that I really like...but I can never remember them until I see 'em. Then I do the monkey thing, "Oooh, oooh...I LOVE this one!"

Yeah...so I never claimed to be cool.

:eyes:

[pitohui]

91. "empire of the sun"

a good book also, i am a big ballard fan

i haven't seen many war flicks but i guess i must like spielberg for these because i also like "saving private ryan" and "schindler's list"

i can certainly live w.out battle scenes tho and the indirect look at the war in "empire of the sun" is really something special in my view

[Hissyspit]

93. "How I Won The War"

Directed by Richard Lester and featuring John Lennon.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

94. Great Escape

'cause it had Steve McQueen in it. Hell, any movie with Steve McQueen (or Paul Newman) is my favorite movie - except Dr Stangelove, anyway. Saw it with a friend while visiting in CA.

[datasuspect]

96. that german movie about the last days in hitler's bunker

can't remember the name.

but the woman who played hitler's secretary was totally hot.

[JVS]

102. Was it the one with Alec Guiness as Hitler

It was called "Hitler the last ten days" not German, but fits the rest of your description

[datasuspect]

108. recent movie

someone else named it correctly: downfall . . . in german with english subtitles.

[sarge43]

106. Downfall n/t

[Ramsey]

97. The Eagle Has Landed and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence

Both kind of off-beat films, showing a different take than the usual battlefield action.

The Eagle Has Landed:
In 1943 sixteen German paratroopers landed in England. In three days they nearly won the War with a plot to kidnap Winston Churchill.

Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence:
In 1942 British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honour and glory. In his view, the allied prisoners are cowards when they chose to surrender instead of commiting suicide. One of the prisoners, interpreter John Lawrence, tries to explain the japanese way of thinking, but is considered a traitor.

[YankeyMCC]

98. This is more difficult than I thought it would be when I first saw this

thread.

The WWII Movies I like are
"The Great Escape" - This maybe should get my top vote as my sentimental favorite.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" - I find this almost documentary like movie fasinating
"Band of Brothers" - Outstanding, probably the best as a character study of the men on the American side and in terms of protraying the realism of the war.

[hedgehog]

99. Jakob the Liar

It showed how people trapped inathe on-going disaster that was WWII made it through just one day at a time.

[gollygee]

100. From Here to Eternity and Empire of the Sun

though I really love all of them.

My husband would agree with you that those are the two best. He's also fond of Tora Tora Tora and Bridge Over the River Kwaii.

[JesterCS]

101. Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers

Gotta love those types

[JVS]

104. "Ballad of a Soldier" is the shizz!

[Magrittes Pipe]

105. Shaving Ryan's Privates

:thumbsup:

[LibertyLover]

107. A moldy oldy - "Destination Tokyo"

with Cary Grant as a sub captain. And "Patton".

[krispos42]

109. The Dirty Dozen

That movie I always wind up watching whenever it's on. Been a while, though...

Enemy at the Gates
Das Boot
Saving Private Ryan
Schlindler's List
Life is Beautiful (I sobbed like crazy at the end of it)


I watched "The Enemy Below" a few days ago on AMC as well... wasn't too bad.

[jrandom421]

110. My Favs

Twelve O'Clock High
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Flying Tigers
Go for Broke!
A Bridge Too Far
Saving Private Ryan
Stalag 17
Rats of Tobruk
Midway
Tora! Tora! Tora!
They were Expendable
To Hell and Back
Battle of Britain
Convoy
Up Periscope
Torpedo Run
In Harm's Way
The Thin Red Line

[jrandom421]

111. My Favs

Twelve O'Clock High
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Flying Tigers
Go for Broke!
A Bridge Too Far
Saving Private Ryan
Stalag 17
Rats of Tobruk
Midway
Tora! Tora! Tora!
They were Expendable
To Hell and Back
Battle of Britain
Convoy
Up Periscope
Torpedo Run
In Harm's Way
The Thin Red Line

[Merrick]

113. Thin Red Line

brilliant. haters can kiss my pale white ass.

[WoodyTobiasJr]

115. Where Eagles Dare

[WoodyTobiasJr]

116. Delete

[paulk]

117. Cross of Iron - Sam Peckinpah

great anti - war movie

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/cteq/01/16/cross.html

[Sequoia]

119. Tora, Tora, Tora.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha

[BigMama50]

120. Land of Hope and Glory

[Ekirh]

121. Patton

And Tora Tora Tora are my favorites . . .