Pacific: Letters from Iwo Jima - fantastic film and being in Japanese makes all the better. This movie was way better than Flags of our Fathers. And there is a lack of really good authentic Pacific war movies. Lots of them just not always that good.
Europe: Saving Private Ryan - an epic
Honorable mention;
Cross of Iron, Patton, The Great Raid, Tora Tora Tora, Enemy at the Gates.
Non WW2 I always like to add…Zulu. :wink:
anyone mention the german film Stalingrad? its very good.
Hell is for heroes with steve Mcqueen(sp?) is a fav of mine.
there is also a japanese film in black and white from the 50’s……where japanese in retreat are surrounded.
its an EXCELLENT movie about the terrible misery of warfare. they have to eat “monkey meat” and i wont spoil anything else.
i’m going to look it up right now…
hmmmm can’t figure it out. its one of these…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_films#1950s
i saw it on TCM turner classic movies if that helps anybody…
its in black and white…and it seems to not by on my hand dandy list…wtf?
Has anyone seen Guadalcanal Story? I like that for Pacific War along with most submarine movies. And I like Das Boat for the Atlantic war. Is there a specific one for the Afrikan war?
Downfall.
Black Book.
Saving… (only because it’s that good am I listing it again)
Hong Kong 1941.
The Sorrow & the Pity.
Inglorious Basterds.
The Tin Drum.
The Pianist.
Life is Beautiful.
Schindler’s List.
Grave of the Fireflies.
Empire of the Sun.
There are a few I’ve wanted to see but haven’t made it yet that are probably good movies. Come and See, Defiance, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
sorry, got mixed up between civil wars…
Was the American Civil War sub the one with the hand-powered screw and the warhead on a long lance at the front?
The name of the American Civil War Sub was the Hunley. It had a spar torpedo. You can find a bit more out here.
Lion of the Desert is also pretty good…with Oliver Reed as Marshal Graziani
Actually I really liked letters from Iwo Jima. It reminds people that there are always two sides to a story. When it comes to the european theatre I fell in love with Band of Brothers.
P.S. IF you disagree thats cool
(PS: My choice if best world war movie is Schindler’s List)
Hey, I am looking for a world war movie in which two soldiers of a group are either seperate from it or desert their group and go through jungles and war ravaged europe and enter a village where they go to seemingly deserted house which is actually occupied, by a lady some kids and a young woman who always wears a mask and also a man who comes after some time. there’s a handicapped kid who later in the movie blasts a tank sacrificing his life and when the two soldiers enter the house one of them tries to molest the lady and later out of guilt or what he comes out of the house screaming and goes straight into an incoming shell and is dead…i don’t remember when i saw the movie…may be half asleep or may be some time ago on tv where i could not watch full… tried searching but couldn’t… in this attempt have watched many mindless WW movies… can anybody help with the name??
Downfall.
Black Book.
Saving… (only because it’s that good am I listing it again)
Hong Kong 1941.
The Sorrow & the Pity.
Inglorious Basterds.
The Tin Drum.
The Pianist.
Life is Beautiful.
Schindler’s List.
Grave of the Fireflies.
Empire of the Sun.There are a few I’ve wanted to see but haven’t made it yet that are probably good movies. Come and See, Defiance, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Lots of good ones there. Add in A Thin Red Line, Patton, Stalingrad……hmmm what else?
anyone mention the german film Stalingrad? its very good.
I did
Stalingrad for Europe,
and I second IL’s choice Tora Tora Tora, its how all war movies should be made.
Downfall.
Black Book.
Saving… (only because it’s that good am I listing it again)
Hong Kong 1941.
The Sorrow & the Pity.
Inglorious Basterds.
The Tin Drum.
The Pianist.
Life is Beautiful.
Schindler’s List.
Grave of the Fireflies.
Empire of the Sun.There are a few I’ve wanted to see but haven’t made it yet that are probably good movies. Come and See, Defiance, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Lots of good ones there. Add in A Thin Red Line, Patton, Stalingrad……hmmm what else?
Oh I think all of the ones listed in here are good, I was just trying to think of others that hadn’t been named yet.
well many good ones so far.
I have to say that well Tora Tora Tora was good nothng beats the visual effect of seeing a bomb plowing into the Airzona and see trapped saliors in the Oklahoma as the water overtakes them. So Pearl Harbor is one of my Fav, minus the whole Battle of Britian BS.
Speaking of which another Favorite Battle of Britain
others not mentioned yet
Desert Rats
War and Rememberence
1941
I have seen The Land that Time Forgot, first when I was a kid and I thought it was awesome, then again just recently and I thought it was a good but the “special effects” are so old now it looked a little funny. The story is good one.
It seems that everyone has picked most of the movies I would have already but here goes my list:
Midway is a classic.
Force 10 from Navarone and The Guns of Navarone are also classics.
TORA TORA
Enemy at the Gates, especially the beginning sequences when Vasily first gets to Stalingrad, thats some great film work.
Saving Private Ryan, the beach landing scene is brutally realistic.
Patton
Battle of the Buldge
A Bridge too Far and A bridge Over the River Kwai
The Longest Day, John Wayne classic and The Sands of Iwo Jima (another John Wayne Classic)
Memphis Belle
DasBoot
Kelly’s Heroes
The Dirty Dozen
Where Eagle’s Dare
The Big Red One
and can’t forget The Great Escape - Awesome movie.
These are some of my favorites. As you can tell I like my WW2 movies alot.
Other movies that I haven’t seen listed yet:
King Rat
Catch-22
Run Silent, Run Deep
Stalag 17
Hell in the Pacific
Wow…King Rat…i also forgot about that one…a book written by James Clavell…and a damn good film…saw it a few years ago on the TV…
once I was a big Saving Ryan fan but I took my distance from it because to me the movie is not accurate to History enough…Spielberg did a better job w. Schindlers List!..For me it took a whileto understand why some Veterans wouldn’t watch the movie or just stood up after a half an hour…
Combat! was much better, because for the most part most of the guys didn’t come back and it had the feel of a gritty war drama.
@aequitas:
once I was a big Saving Ryan fan but I took my distance from it because to me the movie is not accurate to History enough…Spielberg did a better job w. Schindlers List!..For me it took a whileto understand why some Veterans wouldn’t watch the movie or just stood up after a half an hour…
Please elaborate. I would love to hear this.
@Brain:
@aequitas:
once I was a big Saving Ryan fan but I took my distance from it because to me the movie is not accurate to History enough…Spielberg did a better job w. Schindlers List!..For me it took a whileto understand why some Veterans wouldn’t watch the movie or just stood up after a half an hour…
Please elaborate. I would love to hear this.
Probably because Ted Danson and Ben Affleck’s wife are in it.
