What's Your worst war movie ever

[Puukkoo]

The worst one is Pearl Harbor with the memorable line "I think the Second World war just started". Kate Beckinsale however was good in that one. Because it's Mel Gibson's birthday (50), it's better to give him a special 'honorary' mention.

I have heard that there is some film about Hitler's head and it may be worse than anything presented here.

[Capt. Harlock]

Time for me to really date myself: my nominee is the Errol Flynn version of "The Charge of the Light Brigade". An utterly inaccurate version of what was arguably both the bravest and the stupidest action in the history of warfare.

[BlackVoid]

Thin Red Line
I had to turn it off half-way. I am sure there are worse (eg. Pearl Harbor), but I do not even start watching those. Enemy at the Gates sucked as well.

Strangely the best war movies were made in Germany: Stalingrad, Das Boot.

[jnier]

ORIGINAL: BlackVoid

Thin Red Line
I had to turn it off half-way.

Here we go again...Thin Red Line is my favorite war movie. Different strokes, I guess. BTW, for those of you who liked Thin Red Line, the director (Terrence Malick) has a new movie out about the British colony at Jamestown. Looking forward to seeing it.

[Sarge]

Ok since Battle of Britian with Tom Cruise looks like it will never make it to the shooting stage (thank god), but I am most certain it would have topped all of our list [:D]

I will have to go with Battle of the Bulge as being the biggist piece of censor Hollywierd has ever put out[X(]

[Skyros]

I believe it was Battle beneath the Earth.

ORIGINAL: Pippin

Does anyone remember this one movie... and older one.. where the chinese, or japanese were trying to take over the U.S. by digging tunnels under the oceans etc all the way over to the states, and were planning to do a suprise attack that way?

I forget how most of the plot went along, but something about the americans discovering what was going on, and they ended up saving the typical day in the end. For the life of me, I just can't remember what this one was called, but someone here HAS to have seen it!

And BTW, they ended up sticking caucasians in as the chinese/japs, and put makeup on em. I guess it was too hard to find oriental acters willing to play along with such a story...

[RBWhite]

Skyros

It's on Turner Classic Movies, Saturday, January 21st. at 5:00 am.

[ShermanM4]

The Clonus Horror

That made it onto Mystery Science Theater 3000. It deserved it!

[mutterfudder]

"Saving Ryan's privates"?? That and "Full Meatel Jacket" are the only military movies that have ever made me slack jawed for the first half of the film.

"Hamburger Hill" I hold in high regards because it had the right sight and sounds of real combat.
Ever wonder what it looks like to shoot a human with a M-60?

The death sceens in "The Patroit" and "We were solders" were very realistic.

I don't know if this counts but "Starship Troopers" was a really big let down for me.
Love the book,hate the movie.

Could go on and on but just wanted to make a lil comment....[;)]

[sol_invictus]

Yeah, Thin Red Line was really bad. I just got a copy of March or Die and that is a really good Legion movie. I'm looking for a copy of The Duelists; haven't seen that for ages. Cross of Iron still has to be my favorite.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: mutterfudder

"Saving Ryan's privates"?? That and "Full Meatel Jacket" are the only military movies that have ever made me slack jawed for the first half of the film.

"Hamburger Hill" I hold in high regards because it had the right sight and sounds of real combat.
Ever wonder what it looks like to shoot a human with a M-60?

The death sceens in "The Patroit" and "We were solders" were very realistic.

I don't know if this counts but "Starship Troopers" was a really big let down for me.
Love the book,hate the movie.

Could go on and on but just wanted to make a lil comment....[;)]

I agree "Starship Troopers" was a huge disappointment to me. I spent most of my time watching just ranting about stupid tactics, ridiculous array of trooper armament (glorified M-16's right along Nuke grenades... incredible... and don't get me started on a fleet of transports running so close together that a plasma burst shot out of a bug's A** could hit them!).

Anyway, here's a surprising alternative that you probably ignored after that first movie. Try Starship Troopers 2... yea, low budget, disappeared off the screens almost instantly, BUT....

If you get it and watch it, you'll find that it really does do a far better job of depicting combat. Characters are gritty and realistic, the plot is reasonable, and their weapons are more realistically effective. Lots of new defensive technology that fits the sci-fi era of the story. I liked it. Too bad the high budget original hadn't been done this way (or GASP... they had actually followed Heinlein's novel!).

[Plodder]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn


I agree "Starship Troopers" was a huge disappointment to me. I spent most of my time watching just ranting about stupid tactics, ridiculous array of trooper armament (glorified M-16's right along Nuke grenades... incredible... and don't get me started on a fleet of transports running so close together that a plasma burst shot out of a bug's A** could hit them!).

Anyway, here's a surprising alternative that you probably ignored after that first movie. Try Starship Troopers 2... yea, low budget, disappeared off the screens almost instantly, BUT....

If you get it and watch it, you'll find that it really does do a far better job of depicting combat. Characters are gritty and realistic, the plot is reasonable, and their weapons are more realistically effective. Lots of new defensive technology that fits the sci-fi era of the story. I liked it. Too bad the high budget original hadn't been done this way (or GASP... they had actually followed Heinlein's novel!).

You've totally missed the point of the film. Starship Troopers the movie was a satire on war movies and in that vein it works brilliantly IMHO.Having said that, I would like to see the book given the proper treatment it deserves in film.

[Terminus]

Starship Troopers... Bleech... "Beverly Hills 90210 in Space". And why the hell were they in football uniforms?

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: The Plodder

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn


I agree "Starship Troopers" was a huge disappointment to me. I spent most of my time watching just ranting about stupid tactics, ridiculous array of trooper armament (glorified M-16's right along Nuke grenades... incredible... and don't get me started on a fleet of transports running so close together that a plasma burst shot out of a bug's A** could hit them!).

Anyway, here's a surprising alternative that you probably ignored after that first movie. Try Starship Troopers 2... yea, low budget, disappeared off the screens almost instantly, BUT....

If you get it and watch it, you'll find that it really does do a far better job of depicting combat. Characters are gritty and realistic, the plot is reasonable, and their weapons are more realistically effective. Lots of new defensive technology that fits the sci-fi era of the story. I liked it. Too bad the high budget original hadn't been done this way (or GASP... they had actually followed Heinlein's novel!).

You've totally missed the point of the film. Starship Troopers the movie was a satire on war movies and in that vein it works brilliantly IMHO.Having said that, I would like to see the book given the proper treatment it deserves in film.

Well, that's the first time I've ever heard that defense put forth for this bomb.... oh, it's a "satire"... I get it now. [&:]

[civdiv]

Walking Dead. What a horrible movie. I'm not sure it's been mentioned yet, but I'm not going to read through all the replies. And the movie is only worse for me as I used to bbe a member of the Walking Dead; 1st Battalion, 9th Marines.

[Pippin]

One movie has just sprung to mind... I Forget the name, but it was another silly movie based around a submarine. No, it was not that u-571 abomination.

Lets see, the movie was poorly written, and poorly directed (etc,etc). There were only a couple shots that looked like something a highschool kid with a cam-corder didn't do, but those were obvious stolen frames from Hunt for Red October.

The movie was so bad I only could watch it once, I remember the one captain mentioning to his XO regarding a D/E enemy submarine. It seems his XO must have been so incompetant, the captain had to inform him that D/E ran on Deisel and Electric. When on Deisel they made lots of noise, but when on electric they were silent. Well, excuse my pun but, duh...

[Plodder]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn
Well, that's the first time I've ever heard that defense put forth for this bomb.... oh, it's a "satire"... I get it now. [&:]

Couldn't you tell by the in-movie commercials and fascist looking uniforms?check out the reviews at www.imdb.com

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: The Plodder

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn
Well, that's the first time I've ever heard that defense put forth for this bomb.... oh, it's a "satire"... I get it now. [&:]

Couldn't you tell by the in-movie commercials and fascist looking uniforms?check out the reviews at www.imdb.com

Sure, I got the humour of the announcements, the Morman colony getting wiped out etc etc, but that wasn't enough of the movie to make this a "brillian" satire. It was a mild political diatribe against militaristic, fascist societies, but that was in line with Heinlein's original novel.

Roger Ebert's Review

Ebert missed the "brilliance" of the satire too.

Anyway, my point being made abpve was that Starship Troopers 2 IS a serious looking war story that eliminates much of the stupidity of the original and delivers some great action and fighting sequences, grisly "alien bugs within you" scenes, and a real "anti-war" hero who consistently defies his superiors while saving the poor grunts (and incidentally the Human race) while he is at it. Not great art, but worth a view for your typical wargamer. My mention of "Starship Troopers" was only peripheral... someone else nominated it for worst movie honors, not me. I did enjoy the action and special effects, but could never get past the totally unrealistic nature of most of it.

Hey, I still have trouble with the "German" tanks in "Battle of the Bulge" [:D]

[Doggie]

ORIGINAL: Makoto

I'm not nominationg "A Bridge To Far" but I have a question about the movie. After the Irish Guards jump off we have the whole bombardment scene with the bomber planes. I'm wondering if those were accurate, they look like Hawk 75 A3 or A4s to me, were the Brits still using those in 1944?

The fighter bombers in A Bridge too Far were AT-6 Texans modified with a camelback and painted up as either P-47s or RAF Typhoons. It's not clear what they're supposed to be, but these would be the two most common Allied CAS aircraft during that period. The British also used P-47s. Most P-47s were scrapped immediately following the end of the war, so they were scarce even in 1978. Thousands of surplus AT-6's were bought as surplus by civilians, and they're relatively common sights even today. They often double as Japanese Zeros in movies.

[Oleg Mastruko]

ORIGINAL: gunny

There's also an Italian flick about the Eastern Front that is pretty darn good. Can't remember the title.

would that be "The Battle of Neretva" by any chance? it was pretty good, Italian movie made in Yugoslavia about partisans vs italians/germans.

Battle of Neretva is Yugoslav movie, and very good at that. It was shot during late sixties or early seventies when Yugo national board of movies or whatever that body was called wasn't cheap when it was about to make a high budget movie.

So when you see a house being blown up in Yugoslav war movies from 60s/70s you can be sure someone actually blew the real house up, not some poor 10$ studio replica or model. Aerial shots of battlefield, mass charges over a mile-wide front, you name it. Whatever it was, it wasn't cheap movie making or CGI trickery. One may disagree with the motives and ideology behind the movie, but I for one truely enjoy good old Yugo war spectacles of the 70s.

Also, foreign movie stars were used: Neretva features Yul Brynner as partisan miner/engineer (great role, he had to blow the bridge against wishes of civilian refugees, but on direct order from Tito), Hardy Krüger (one of the best SS officer roles captured on film), great Orson Welles in the hilariously outworldly role of Chetnik "senator" (whatever it means). He gets killed by even worse badass chetnik dude, in a scene reminding of classic westerns.

(Later movie Sutjeska had Richard Burton in the role of Tito, too solemn for my taste, but I guess Burton wanted to make an impression on Tito himself, who occassionally dropped on the set to see what goes on.)

Italian star Franco Nero played the relatively prominent (and tragic) role of ex-Italian officer turned partisan in Neretva, which may be the reason why you confused it for an Italian movie.

Neretva is well worth renting in your local DVD outlet if you can find it.

Now, since I jumped in, as for the bad movies.... U-571 is everyone's favorite. Pretty much anything with that guy Dudikoff or S. Seagal is hilariously trashy (even if it's borderline as "war movie"). Windtalkers sucked big time but every movie featuring that IJA cap with "curtain" at the back gets points for style in my book.

I loved Thin Red Line, watched it couple times and was never bored, so count me in "I don't understand why TRL sucks for some guys" club.

Many of the John Wayne movies suck, though they are obviously product of some other, bygone era, and should be viewed as such. (Some have oneliners usable as sigs too.)

Pearl Harbor was fun though, if you knew what to expect and had FF button ready.

German Stalingrad was disappointement for me, I expected so much more from the team that made legendary Das Boot, but it's still far from being "bad".

O.