It my favorite series on youtube so far. I really hope they do a WW2 series.
Top 10 World War II action films of all time
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@CWO:
If you like The Eagle has Landed, you should have a look at “Went the Day Well?” – the film I mentioned previously – because they share a key plot element: English-speaking German paratroopers dressed as British soldiers infiltrating a small British town to carry out a potentially war-winning secret mission.
Thanks Marc, I will have to look into that.
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I can see that this list is leaning towards BIG war movies - The Longest Day, The Battle of the Bulge, Midway, Guns of Navarone, etc.
I do enjoy such movies, but would find it hard to describe any of them as great movies. Typically the human stories get swallowed up in the epic scale of the movie. For me the great war movies are driven by a compelling human story around which the action revolves, not the other way around.
For that reason I would rate The Train, Downfall (Hitler was a human), Ice Cold in Alex, etc above any of those action first movies. I can see that I am in a minority though!
In fact, why does a great WWII movie need to have any action at all? If it portrays a compelling story of people caught up in these terrible events then it is a great WWII movie. Schindler’s List, The Pianist (actually does have some battle scenes) and The Hill fall in to this category. These are far greater films than those listed in my first paragraph. Now I am probably in a minority of one! :-)
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@Private:
I can see that this list is leaning towards BIG war movies - The Longest Day, The Battle of the Bulge, Midway, Guns of Navarone, etc.
I do enjoy such movies, but would find it hard to describe any of them as great movies. Typically the human stories get swallowed up in the epic scale of the movie. For me the great war movies are driven by a compelling human story around which the action revolves, not the other way around.
For that reason I would rate The Train, Downfall (Hitler was a human), Ice Cold in Alex, etc above any of those action first movies. I can see that I am in a minority though!
In fact, why does a great WWII movie need to have any action at all? If it portrays a compelling story of people caught up in these terrible events then it is a great WWII movie. Schindler’s List, The Pianist (actually does have some battle scenes) and The Hill fall in to this category. These are far greater films than those listed in my first paragraph. Now I am probably in a minority of one! :-)
I don’t think you are in the minority… I too like the more focused, smaller scale war movies. It’s just that YG’s definition of War Movie for the purposes of this survey was to relegate them more to the big scale, battle-focused war films. It is just one aspect to focus on.
Like I said, depending on how you see them or care to define them, movies I suggested like Flags of Our Fathers, The Eagle has Landed and even Guns of Navarone may not fit under the present definition of War Film.
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YG’s definition of War Movie for the purposes of this survey was to relegate them more to the big scale, battle-focused war films. It is just one aspect to focus on.
All of which is fine Hoff. It’s YG’s thread. :-)
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@Private:
YG’s definition of War Movie for the purposes of this survey was to relegate them more to the big scale, battle-focused war films. It is just one aspect to focus on.
All of which is fine Hoff. It’s YG’s thread. :-)
I will redefine the topic title, it just helps eliminate grey areas this way… perhaps when we finalize this list, we can make a new one for more dramatic WW2 films.
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@Young:
I will redefine the topic title, it just helps eliminate grey areas this way
“Top 10 World War II battle films of all time”
I’m not sure this solves the problem. The Guns of Navarone isn’t a film about a battle, it’s about an infiltration and sabotage mission by a small group of soldiers; there’s very little combat in it. Arguably, you can say the same thing about Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, which depicts the planning, execution and aftermath of the Doolittle Raid – and which does so mostly from the perspective of just one of the bomber crews. Their actual combat time over Japanese soil lasts just a few minutes. Das Boot likewise devotes relatively little time to combat – especially if you go by the full-length German mini-series version.
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I would rather take those titles off the list than redefine the criteria at this point. I disagree somewhat with Das Boot, it’s such a long film that battle minutes seem short in comparison, but the majority of the film places the crew on the front lines in the Atlantic theater making the suspense minutes feel like battle minutes.
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@Young:
I would rather take those titles off the list than redefine the criteria at this point. I disagree somewhat with Das Boot, it’s such a long film that battle minutes seem short in comparison, but the majority of the film places the crew on the front lines in the Atlantic theater making the suspense minutes feel like battle minutes.
I object very strong to take Das Boot off of that list!!
If you have no idea about submarine warfare then Das Boot is the closest what you can get to have a mindset of it.
Das Boot is historically accurate.
It gives you the right impression.Before you take out das Boot, you may better kick out saving ryan.
Historically inaccurate, gives you a wrong impression and the movie makers didn’t even spend time and money to come up with a real looking Tiger Tank. -
@Young:
I would rather take those titles off the list than redefine the criteria at this point. I disagree somewhat with Das Boot, it’s such a long film that battle minutes seem short in comparison, but the majority of the film places the crew on the front lines in the Atlantic theater making the suspense minutes feel like battle minutes.
I would agree with YG’s reasoning. Das Boot is very much a battle type war film in my mind because it involves a crew in their machine on the front lines in the fighting. It is not a Battle of the (blank) movie, but there seem to be relatively few of the grand scale battle films out there. Saving Private Ryan has its moments, but it isn’t really a film about a single battle either. The single battle narratives, absent of a main character with a story arc, seem to have been out of vogue in Hollywood for a long time; probably since the 1970s.
Das Boat could also be considered a war drama given how intimate the setting is. I vote we keep Das Boat in this list.
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Check this list to see if you missed any:
http://www.timeout.com/london/film/50-best-world-war-ii-movies
Has anyone here seen Come and See?
For a more mainstream list (warning! Contains Pearl Harbor!):
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls052642566/
But remember that The Dam Busters is just a rip-off of Star Wars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNdb03Hw18M
List of TV shows has to start with:
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But remember that The Dam Busters is just a rip-off of Star Wars:
:lol:
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@Young:
I would rather take those titles off the list than redefine the criteria at this point. I disagree somewhat with Das Boot, it’s such a long film that battle minutes seem short in comparison, but the majority of the film places the crew on the front lines in the Atlantic theater making the suspense minutes feel like battle minutes.
I would agree with YG’s reasoning. Das Boot is very much a battle type war film in my mind because it involves a crew in their machine on the front lines in the fighting. It is not a Battle of the (blank) movie, but there seem to be relatively few of the grand scale battle films out there. Saving Private Ryan has its moments, but it isn’t really a film about a single battle either. The single battle narratives, absent of a main character with a story arc, seem to have been out of vogue in Hollywood for a long time; probably since the 1970s.
Das Boat could also be considered a war drama given how intimate the setting is. I vote we keep Das Boat in this list.
Thank you LHoffman, you wrote what I was thinking.
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There’s also a list over here:
http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-world-war-ii-movies-of-all-time?ref=collections&pos=2<ype=l&l=1894511&g=4&collectionId=1153
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@aequitas:
Thank you LHoffman, you wrote what I was thinking.
I will have to add psychic to my list of abilities. No prob AeV. :wink:
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@CWO:
There’s also a list over here:
http://www.ranker.com/crowdranked-list/the-best-world-war-ii-movies-of-all-time?ref=collections&pos=2<ype=l&l=1894511&g=4&collectionId=1153
I have two main issues with these kind of “Top (whatever number) Lists” that populate the internet.
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There are those that tend to be done by an individual which, more often than not, reflect the most pointed level of biased OPINION. It is one person who ranks things based on their personal preferences and rarely takes into account broader social appeal, cultural importance or film legacy. There are exceptions with people who really analyze their subject and take other factors into account, but it’s usually a case of “I like _____”.
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There are those lists which are little more than popular opinion polls (like the Marc one linked to above). These lists offer very little on how well an item meets the requirements for being there, but rather are a larger sampling of opinionated people who say “I like _____”. I tend to view these as popularity contests with anonymous and wide-ranging voters who probably don’t read or care to understand the limitations or nuances of said poll.
A third category would be a list from a small group of truly knowledgeable people who are more than likely “experts” or dedicated critics. These lists are better, since they have decent cohesion, adhere to the requirements and are intellectually vetted to some degree. As much as these types of polls are better, they are not perfect. It is rare that you see an attempt to be truly scientific or unbiasedly rational when creating a Top (whatever number) List. I think it can be done, though there are elements that still involve opinion.
Ha, now all that said, let me rail on the poll in the link Marc posted (no offense directed at him).
How the F#&$ is Dirty Dozen number 5?! That is so beyond reason as to be insulting. Dirty Dozen is a complete joke of a movie. It is entertaining and even funny, but as a war film it has a few things counting against it: (1) it is a different parts comedy and black comedy; no self-respecting or serious war movie should have comedy as a main element. (2) It isn’t even based on a real story. (3) The film strays into whimsical and morbid elements for the final act which convey a detachment from reality. (4) The characters operate in a mode completely bereft of consequences and none of the death in the movie occurs with any impact. The operation without consequences goes beyond the reason that these are men on borrowed time with nothing to lose. It is more like there is no emotional impact for the things they do or the thing that happen to them.
You could say that Kelley’s Heroes has many of those same elements, which it does. However, it differs because while there is comedy, there is also a point for the characters where things no longer are funny. People get hurt or die and the consequences of that are very real. Beyond that, the dynamics of the plot in Kelley’s Heroes are much more plausible than those in Dirty Dozen.
Schindler’s List - Great movie to be sure, but it is hardly a war film. Wikipedia immediately calls this an “Epic historical period drama film”. Not a war film. This is another point where I find these lists to be very poorly defined. The requirements listed at the top of the page for this list is that “The film must take place during WWII.”. That is a ridiculously broad limitation for a list on the “Best World War 2 Movies” –- that title becomes very misleading if not meaningless.
Enemy at the Gates - This film is just not very good overall, without going through the metrics on it. No reason at all for it to be up at No. 14 ahead of Midway, Where Eagles Dare and Letters From Iwo Jima. It falls prey to the poorly done and totally misplaced romance arc too. Its more of a thriller than an intelligently crafted war film. That said, it would still fall into the war film category.
This list should be further suspect because it contains films like Captain America, The Reader, Glory??? (WTF?) and Indiana Jones. I don’t think anyone here put those up for their top 10 WWII films, or would even think to.
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in the link Marc posted (no offense directed at him).
I’m glad to hear this because I just posted the link for whatever it might be worth. I wasn’t endorsing the list. In fact, I didn’t even read it in detail; I just scrolled through it for a couple of seconds to see if it really was a list of war movies.
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I have questions about our list…
1. Should “Patton” be on it? (This is one of my most favorite films, but not sure if it meets battle criteria)
2. “Went the Day Well”… battle scenes??? (I’ve never seen it)
3. I love “Sink the Bismarck”… does it deserve nomination?
4. Should “Thin Red Line” get boosted to the list? if so… what gets removed? -
2. Went the Day Well… battle scenes??? <<
Yes. In the last part of the film, the German paratroopers (who are disguised as British troops) fight both against British regulars and against citizens of the village who have taken up arms to battle the invaders. Including quite a few female civilians, I might add. One of them, an elderly woman, grabs a hand grenade that’s been tossed into a room full of children, runs out the door with it, and is blown apart a second later. The scene is actually more shocking than anything in The Longest Day, whose battle sequences are rather sanitized. One woman in the film, who’s firing a rifle from a second-floor house window, manages to kill one of the Germans outside. Her reaction is interesting: after just a fleeting moment of satisfaction, her face falls and she says quietly, “Oh. I…got one.” Another woman who’s about the same age, roughly mid-20s or so, and who’s shooting from the adjoining window, takes a completely practical position: she says (more or less, based on what I can remember), “Good for you. Now I’ll see if I can get me one. Let’s keep score.”
3. I love “Sink the Bismarck”… does it deserve nomination? <<
As an enjoyable WWII movie, yes; as one of the top-10 best, no. The Kriegsmarine side of the story is an annoying, almost over-the-top caricature of the Germans. Admiral Lutyens is portrayed as a strutting, bombastic Nazi and a rather stupid leader who spends much of his time saying, “Ah, zat is good, zat is very good,” and who often ignores the wise advice of Captain Lindemann, who is portrayed as a competent but feeble officer who is reduced to saying “But, sir…” whenever Lutyens makes a bad call. The Royal Navy side of the story is better, but it tends to veer into stereotyped romantic melodrama. The main character is a tough, unfeeling officer who takes over the RN’s Operations Room and immediately makes it clear to his staff (including a pretty WREN officer) that he’s an insufferable by-the-book son-of-a-you-know-what – a hard shell that, we eventually learn, can be cracked by the love of a good woman (guess who that turns out to be) to reveal his mushy, anguished interior. I know, I know: it’s a drama, not a documentary, so you need a human interest angle…but I still find that narrative choice annoying. The original C.S. Forrester novel is very different. On the other hand, I love the Admiralty map table that features prominently in the film, and the movie has some pretty decent ship miniature action for the 1950s.
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Great post… thanks. BTW, I changed the title to read “action”
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@CWO:
in the link Marc posted (no offense directed at him).
I’m glad to hear this because I just posted the link for whatever it might be worth. I wasn’t endorsing the list. In fact, I didn’t even read it in detail; I just scrolled through it for a couple of seconds to see if it really was a list of war movies.
No worries. I did not think it reflected upon you in any way. I figured it was posted simply because it was another list.
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