KG's Top 5 Essential WWII Movies

[KG Erwin]

These are my personal faves in my WWII film library:

1. The Pacific HBO Series
2. Band of Brothers HBO Series
3. Das Boot: the 5 hour German TV version
4. Talvisota : the 2 disc 195 min version
5. Stalingrad

There are many others I like, but these 5 belong in every war movie collection. If I had made it a top 10, I would've included Saving Private Ryan . It was tough to leave that one out.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't know what Talivosta is - so Saving Private Ryan would take that slot.

As for Stalingrad - I loved the film - but the bad dubbing really spoiled it for me. I never did find a copy in German with subtitles! For that reason, I think I'd slip Battle of Britain in it's place. I'd also replace The Pacific with The Dambusters. To keep it to a top 5 and not start squeezing in more I won't mention others that would make it in my top 10...so here's my top 5 (in order)

1. Band of Brothers
2. Das Boot
3. Saving Private Ryn
4. Battle of Britain
5. The Dambusters

A wee note (whilst we're on the subject of war movies) - I don't know what is happening with the apprent remake of The Dambusters - but having seen a few trailers for Red Tails, I hope it never gets completed! Hollywood is losing the ability to make good war films and instead caters for the mass market by sticking a shed load of CRASH!BANG!WALLOP! in there with a little bit of romance for some sugar...no thanks.

[warspite1]

Top 5 WWII war films. Difficult to choose, but I would go for:

1. Battle of Britain
2. Tora Tora Tora
3. Saving Private Ryan.
4. Operation Daybreak.
5. Dam Busters

Best play - Conspiracy
Best series - Band of Brothers / Das Boot (cannot separate)
Best. Film. Ever - Schindler's List

[KG Erwin]

Talvisota -- the Winter War -- is a 1989 Finnish film about the war between the Russians and Finns between 1939-40. The Finns got support from the USSR to supply WWII era tanks and airplanes, so it looks almost like a documentary.

I know that personal interests and biases play a large part in deciding which DVDs to buy, which is why I posted the title as I did.

[Dennistoun]

My Favorite WWII movies are;
1. A Bridge Too Far
2. The Longest Day
3. Tora Tora Tora
4. Went The Day Well
5. Battle of Britain

[SLAAKMAN]

1) Kelly's Hero's
1) Catch-22
1) Tora Tora Tora
1) Bridge over the River Kwai
1) Talvisota (directors verion)
1) The Longest Day
1) The Great Escape
1) The Dirty Dozen
1) Patton
1) Von Ryans Express
1) War of the Worlds (1953)
1) Das Boot
1) The Guns of Navarone
1) The Blue Max
1) The Desert Fox
1) Tobruk
1) The Train
1) The Caine Mutiny
1) The Desert Rats
1) Where Eagles Dare
1) Battle of the Bulge
1) Sink the Bismarck
1) The Bridge at Remagen
1) 633 Squadron
1) Operation Crossbow
1) Come and See (1985)

My top 1 Pre-WWII Films that led up to the war;
1) Dr Zhivago
1) Battleship Potemkin (1925)
1) The Beast (1989)
1) The Man Who Would Be King
1) The Beast (1989)
1) All Quiet on the Western Front (1980)
1) Ben Hur
1) The Sand Pebbles
1) Spartacus

[vonRocko]

Hmnn..tough question. My five:
Kelly's Heros
Cross of Iron
The longest Day
Tora Tora Tora
Bridge to far
Many others, tough to pick!

[wodin]

In no particular order.

1.Cross of Iron
2.Stalingrad
3. Das Boot
4. When trumpets Fade
5. Thin Red Line (Beautiful cinematography a work of art)

As choosing 5 was difficult I must mention these.

Shindlers List (Speilbergs greatest film to date)
Come and See
Europa Europa
The Fortress
Band of Brothers (Not a film though)
Aces High (WW1)
Paths fo Glory (If you want to see the inspiration to the battle scenes in Pirvate Ryan here it is, so far ahead of it's time)Again WW1

[Prince of Eckmühl]

No votes for Triumph of the Will or Memory of the Camps?

In fact, I'd humbly suggest that the best "films" about WW2 are documentaries, many of them made into series, such as Victory at Sea and Capra's Why We Fight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ZBtdTiHsQqI#t=280s

[redcoat]

I find it difficult to narrow it down to my favourite 10 films - let alone five.

1. The Battle of Britain
2. A Bridge Too Far
3. The Longest Day
4. The Dambusters
5. In Which We Serve (made during WW2)
6. Cross of Iron
7. The Bridge at Remagen
8. Stalingrad
9. Ice Cold in Alex
10. Malta Story

[freeboy]

WHAT Cross of Iron.. it has everything.. t34's, bad officers.. Lee Marvin.. and its dipicts the Germans failing in the East without politicising
others? thats atough one.. and I HATED BOB in the pacific, just ecpected too much and good nausiated by the out of theatre crap.. oops.. stay positive..
Well.. Certainly Das Boot...
Band was not a movie fyi lol
The Enemy Below.. omg... finishess with sub crew being rescued by us destroyer .. fantastic..
Twelve Oklock High.. lots and lots of footage, gets the hopeless us airforce in Britain feel, remember the first crews saw their tours as a death sentance unill rules for rotation came into play.. LOTS of great conflict inside the airgroup, and reveals the leadership challenges as the hard ass commander cracks... after fashioning a well developed leadership core in is Bomber Sqdrn.. the best of its kind...
ok thats four... two naval.. one airwar.. one Eastern front... what about a non ww2??? I know there must have been a "war" movie that was great not set in WW2...
 
 
?? and the number five movie for my list.... does space count?
that would screw it up.. lets void all space movies from the list?>??? hum
ok decision for fifth movie... Braveheart...
 
Its tough to seperate the fun, tora tora and longest day epics, heck even Ben Hur was a war movie of sorts .. and the Kelly Heroes type and say for Best movie, and for me its BOTH entertainment and movies that have that something extra.. an intangible that has relistm
 
oops.. ok.. I have another naval movie... this is tough.. six movies make my list now! lol
 
Master and Commander, again great feel, the relationships between the Senior officers, the Ship Captain and Surgen,sp?, the junior officers nd the crew, with each group having htere own rules and codes of conduct.. brilliant score and with good surrond sound you find yourself ducking as the wood splinter fly after the ships engage, lol
sorry six is the best I can do

[terje439]

1. Das Boot
2. Tora Tora Tora
3. Schindler's list
4. Stalingrad
5. Memphis Belle (probably because it is a fond memory of a childhood Xmas but nevertheless I place it here [:)])


Terje

[Titanwarrior89]

1.  The Pacific HBO
2.   Band of Brothers
3.   Saving Private Ryan
4.   Dos Boot
5.   They were Exspendable.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

WHAT Cross of Iron.. it has everything.. t34's, bad officers.. Lee Marvin.. and its dipicts the Germans failing in the East without politicising
others? thats atough one.. and I HATED BOB in the pacific, just ecpected too much and good nausiated by the out of theatre crap.. oops.. stay positive..

Warspite1

Lee Marvin? Wasn't this Maximillian Schell, James Mason and James Coburn?

[wodin]

Warpsite yes it was, though I also in the past get confused between James Coburn and Lee Marvin.

Cross of Iron is my No1 war movie of all time to be honest. Amazing book aswell. Infact the book is one of my all time favourite War novels, written by someone who fought on the Eastern front aswell. Imay even give it another read now actually. I've always wanted to get the second book and will do at some point.

[warspite1]

Yes, I agree that it is an excellent film - and would appear in my top 10; just didn't quite make it into the five.

[Fred98]

I could not make a list limted to 10.

As Wodin said, I too liked the Thin Red Line. The combat scenes were very good!

.

[Fred98]

Has anybody seen the recent WW1 movie War Horse?

.

[JudgeDredd]

Yes

It's good - but not a patch on the book. The book is from the horses' point of view (like it or not - that's the way it's told and I liked it) but the film is about a horse.

It's good with some good WW1 action - not much - but some good snippets. I wasn't disappointed as Speilberg couldn't do the film in the way the book was written - it just wouldn't have come across well - so he did what he did and it came out good. But my views of it are tarnished by the book, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading to my daughter - with both of us sniffing our way through it.

[freeboy]

war hourse.. too long too manipulative would be a very good 1 hour 45 minute movie..
SORRY I flunked this thread
war movies from WW2.. then deleat BH, and Master and commander ..
lets add First
Band then.. hands down for feel and acting..story
wow..
The thread is causing me to remember a lot of ww2 movies that just are not around..
Anyone see Steve Mqueen in The War Lover ?