A movie question.

[Guroburov]

I completely forgot Das Boot. Awesome film.

[piersyf]

I'll vote for Kelly's Heroes. It was made as an anti-war movie. I place it alongside Three Kings (also a fun movie).

Zulu. Or the Siege at Jadotville. Both good movie on a similar(ish) theme.

Theirs is the Glory. A Bridge too Far done by the actual paras involved in Market Garden.

I hate Saving Private Ryan with a passion. Visually splendid, but the story is American propaganda jingoistic rubbish. It is NOT a part of my collection.

I have not watched Fury, nor do I have any interest in doing so for reasons similar to my attitude to SPR. The shorts were enough to make me sick, but also looks visually fantastic.

[Submariner]

The Guns of Navarone

Back to Bataan

Where Eagles Dare

Bonus: (Star Wars)

All these movies have their faults and may not reflect reality, but underlying them are aspirations to show a greater good. They are also great stories.

[panzergator]

Love Zulu. Have seen bits of Fury - seemed the goal was to just shock people, watched no further. Haven't watched Saving Private Ryan, either. Sometimes, the premise just doesn't agree with me. As for Kelly's Heroes and the movie MASH, I was in ROTC and a junior officer when those movies were made. Walking across campus in uniform or going downtown for entertainment in those days will give you a bit of an attitude. My values didn,'t match the times and tongue in cheek humor or not, I still don't like the direction of those movies. As a cadet, we provided honor guards for KIAs in the area and as a junior officer, I knew vets and led burial details. One of our ROTC cadre had been WIA before his ROTC assignment and another departed to Vietnam and was killed over the summer. Our first task on arrival at campus the next year was to put together honors for medal presentations to his widow and kids. Hollywood joking about that stuff turned my stomach. It still does. Hey, I'm 71 I say what I want to. I still don't watch Jane Fonda movies, either.

[Pekedog]

Sink The Bismark
The Longest Day
Bridge Too Far

Saw Sink the Bismark when I was a kid in 60’s and it pretty much sowed the seeds for me getting into wargaming. The cat and mouse before actual battle is compelling The other two movies, plus Tora, Tora, Tora and Battle of the River Platt emphasize that phase as well

Saving Private Ryan was better at special effects, but I was more troubled by closing scenes of Sink the Bismark where the ship is just about underwater and it flashes to sailors still struggling through passageways inside

[Hoth_902]

All valid points panzer, I respect your your position.

[Tanker Mike]

So many great movies out there. I will and list three USA produced and three foreign produced.

USA Produced

"Attack". A great cast and in B/W which adds to the atmosphere. Some of the German uniforms details are poor but the excellent storytelling more than makes up for it.

"The Outpost" Without a doubt, the most intense battle scenes I've ever seen in a film.

"Saving Private Ryan" The scenes on the beach were quite sobering. I have a friend whose father was on the beach and lived to tell the tale. He told his daughter not to see the film because the beach scenes were too close to what he saw that day.

Foreign Produced

"Das Boot" Quite a film.

"The Downfall" The Bruno Gatz portayal of Hitler is well done, just like the rest of the film.

"Zulu" First rate film about a hopelessly outnumbered British Army detachment in Africa.

[redleg]

This thread turned into my weekend movie-watching plan, but I'm having some trouble convincing my wife that all of these flicks are important and can't wait. I have to see them now! Lots of movies tat I had forgotten abut that are definitely greats like Das Boot and Zulu. I need to add Glory to the list too.

[panzergator]

Tanker Mike, is The Outpost movie taken from Jake Rapper's book, The Outpost?

[embuchho]

Das Boot and Stalingrad, same producer.

Platoon.

I loved those. Never been so freaked out by any other movies. The failures of regular folks to support each other in the face of a very serious enemy trying to kill them, or worse, still make my bones actually feel shaky.

[Tanker Mike]

Tanker Mike, is The Outpost movie taken from Jake Rapper's book, The Outpost?

Yes, it is.

Mike

[nashorn88]

Zulu
Bridge too far
Schindler‘s list ( maybe not a war movie but I like watch otherwise the longest day )
Saving Private Ryan is great maybe too realistic

[panzergator]

ZULU! OH, YEAH! ESPECIALLY the volley fire sequence.

[Wild Geese]

Oddly enough, Kelly's Heros was "based on an actual event."
The book on the subject was titled "Nazi Gold: The Sensational Story of the World's Greatest Robbery - and the Greatest Criminal Cover-up"
(Ian Sayer & Douglas Botting, 1984)

Does "Band of Brothers" count, even though a series?

[jwbolen]

They were Expendable, Red Badge of Courage. Used to watch Battleground with a neighbor who was in Glider Infantry there. He would start crying at the scene where they lay out their last ammo and fix bayonets. He said he was down to 3 clips and a grenade. This was before video tape and he insisted on watching it whenever it was on, definitely had PTSD