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Favourite War Movies

Band Of Brothers,
Gettysburg,
A Bridge Too Far,
Black Hawk Down,
Saving Private Ryan,
The Battle Of Britian,
Zulu,
Full Metal Jacket,
Sharp,
Sands Of Iwo Jima.




 
Band of Brothers was excellent.
Cross of Iron is one of my favourites and I think has some of the best dialogue of any war movie.
I can't believe how many people on this site liked Tears of the Sun- I thought it was really bad.
other films- Full Metal Jacket, MASH (the movie), Men in War (Korean war, late 50s, with Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray and very young Vic Morrow), Stalingrad, Gardens of Stone (no fighting but very good), A Bridge Too Far, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Catch 22," heck is for Heroes" (IMHO Steve Mcqueen's best role), The Thin Red Line.

Talking about Australian mini-series, has anyone else ever seen The Heroes and the sequel Heroes 2: The Return? They were made around the mid-80s and are the story of the two raids on Singapore (Ops Jaywick and Rimau) by British and Australian small boat men in 1943 and 1944. I also remember seeing an aussie series called Z Force or something like that as a kid, the main characters were an Australian commando and his Dutch sidekick. Someone else mentioned the series Anzacs- that was on Tv here about 20 years ago, as a kid I thought it was pretty good.
 
There's a new movie out called "Tae Guk Gi -the brotherhood of war." It's an amazing movie but it might annoying trying to read the subtitles.
 
Tae Guk Gi blew my mind - it was an incredible piece, and I personally didn't mind the subtitles at all... the story was worth it.  Just as interesting was the historical perspective on the Special Features DVD.  This movie isn't Hollywood - you end up hating the "good guys" as much as the bad guys by the end of it, that was what the director was aiming for.  It's a very intense film, definetely not a date movie, and probably not a good one to watch on a full stomach even...  It's the only movie except for Saving Private Ryan I've walked away from feeling really moved...
 
In no specific order:

Stalingrad
Where Eagles Dare
A Bridge to Far
Bridge over the River Kwai
Band of Brothers
Platoon
The Great Escape
Das Boot (and for the love of god it's pronounced close to 'boat', not 'boot')
Sharp'

I am sure more will come to mind
 
(SiC)CADET said:
I WOULD SAY BLACK HAWK DOWN, TEARS OF THE SUN AND TOUR OF DUTY(SHOW ON HISTORY)

Stop shouting.

Some of us here are old and it scares us.  8)
 
Tour of duty was a really great show on history , the song in the intro " paint it black" - the rolling stones was my favorite for a while.

      other war movies in nor order :
      black hawk down    das boot
      a bridge to far        enemy at the gates
      saving private Ryan  thin red line
      full metal jacket        tears of the sun
        tigerland                Apocalypse now  navy seals  seals 2
        we were soldiers      etc etc i no the movie store doesn't have any i haven't seen.
       
       
 
enemy at the gates?

Good story ruined by that silly love triangle.

They always do, don't get me wrong I was more then happy to see Rachel Weizes ass, but the rest of it sucked. I guess they need something to get the chicks to go to the movies, if their going to do that then they should do what Starship Troopers did ;D

Tae Guk Ai was a good movie, I think I spelled it correctly. The scene with the flags unit coming in to do battle was amazing.
 
"The Tuskegee Airmen", the story of African-American pilots during WW2, from initial training in Tuskegee to combat in Africa and Europe.  Excellent acting by Lawrence Fishburne and Cuba Gooding Jr.

"The Hunt for Red October".  Ok, it's *cold* war, but not bad at all.

"The Final Countdown".  Turn off your brain for the story, which find the USS Nimitz sucked through a temporal wormhole back to the days before Pearl Harbor.  Watch for the excellent dogfights between a Tomcat and a "Zero".

"Tora Tora Tora".  Don't watch "Pearl Harbor"...watch this instead.

TV - "SAS - Are You Tough Enough".  Showing on the History Channel, this reality show takes a bunch of Brits and throws them into the jungle (1rst season) or desert (2nd season) for realistic training...including getting slapped around during SERE.  No 'luxury rewards' here, no big prize at the end.  Just a handshake from the DS saying you're tough enough.
 
there is also that new show on history (i think) were there are pilots competing to see who will win the chance to fly one of the only remaining spitfires from the 2nd world war. it looks pretty neat. i think it is a spin off of the SAS show.
 
-Hutch- said:
there is also that new show on history (i think) were there are pilots competing to see who will win the chance to fly one of the only remaining spitfires from the 2nd world war. it looks pretty neat. i think it is a spin off of the SAS show.
Flying a spitfire in and of it self can be acomplished by anyone with enough disposable income and a pilots license. What is special about this one is that unlike most, it has not been scrapped and rebuilt, or built new. It is the WWII 'real deal' so to speak.
 
Pte. Gaisford said:
Flying a spitfire in and of it self can be acomplished by anyone with enough disposable income and a pilots license. What is special about this one is that unlike most, it has not been scrapped and rebuilt, or built new. It is the WWII 'real deal' so to speak.

Actually, you can buy a ride in a twin stick Spitfire, flying out of Colorado, for ~$900 USD.  Granted...you don't do much of the flying, but you don't need a licence either.  Mustang flights are cheaper at $750 USD out of Florida...and you do more of the flying and get a better view.  (The back of the twin Spit is a *very* crowded place.  Um...even more crowded than the front office.)

As for the show...which, if you've got a name, please provide!...I shudder to think of it.  I hope that the producers have the brains to ensure the contestants have many, many hours on high performance single engine a/c.  And they better show that they can *properly* operate the Spit's unique control column.  (Trivia time...the 'joystick' on a Spitfire doesn't swivel just at the bottom; it controls pitch {nose up & down} from a pivot point at the bottom, but roll {rocking wings up & down} from a second pivot roughly halfway up.  The handle is this wierd semi circle thingy, complete with the world's most awkwardly placed trigger.)

Now, if they did a show where they took those with basic flying experience, and placed them through 'wartime training' on replica Spits & Hurricanes, dogfighting veterans as a final reward...that would be nice to watch.

But putting an original at risk?

The loss of an original warbird is a horrible thing.  Seeing it on the ground...or worse, on a post somewhere...is bad...but a mishap?  For a TV show?  Not worth it.

Yes, mishaps happen, even to highly experienced pilots.  The loss of Jeff "Fighter Writer" Ethell was tragic, and shows that the air can be an unforgiving place to the most experienced warbird pilots.  (Jeff was a very highly respected writer, and frequent contributer to aviation magazines and documentaries, and was an authority on warbirds, racking up many hours in various types.  He was one of the first western pilots permitted to fly former Soviet jets.  He died while flying a P-38, his favourite aircraft...the type his father flew in WW2.)

 
What the producers are hoping to replicate is the actual Spitfire jockey training.  Some of these guys found themselves behind the stick with as little as 9 hours training at the height of the Battle of Britain.  This one and SAS Tough Enough do an excellent job of showing that not everyone, no matter how badass, have the mind set to be a successful soldier/sailor/airman.  Also History Channel showed one last year of recruits undergoing Roman Legionnaire training... brutal, man.
  Oh, also catch "Battlefield Britain" on history... Very cool..

CHIMO,  Kat
 
Battlefield Britain is an awesome show, I caught the first night on Monday about Queen Boudicca (sp?) and her struggles against the Romans, and after that, the Battle of Hastings. Excellent historical overviews of the battles, 3D renderings of the battles / tactics and good re-enactments from the actors. I would highly recommend watching it. 8:00 and 9:00 PM EST on History until Friday.
 
sguido said:
*snip*
As for the show...which, if you've got a name, please provide!...
*snip*

Answering my own question, for anybody interested...

"Spitfire Ace" starts Thursday 19th May @ 2000 on the History Channel.
 
FYI

HMV has a deal on now 3 selected DVDs for $20.00 some of the titles available include some classic war movies:

Battle of Britain
Platoon
Zulu
The Magnificent Seven ( Western not War, but still must see â Å“guy movieâ ?)
The Great Escape
 
Oh, also catch "Battlefield Britain" on history... Very cool

I've been following this and it's great, taping the whole series (what's a..VCR?)

My personal faves are:

The Great Escape, How can you not like steve mcqueen, put him in a war movie and you've got instant classic.

Zulu, Great example of a SNCO doing their job..despite its historical inaccuracies.

Tae Guk Gi, see my review in that thread, brill.

Full Metal Jacket, it's really like watching 2 seperate movies and you can watch either half and be entertained and think a bit.

Apocolypse now, entertaining but also interesting, worth reading the heart of darkness by joseph conrad too which as far as I can see the movie is based on.

 
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