From the poll choices I will go with a “Thin Red Line”, but that’s pretty subjective cause I haven’t seen all the choices and its been years since I saw “Das Boot”.
The first 90 minutes of “Thin Red Line” is pretty much the best war movie I’ve ever seen. However, after they finally storm and take the Japanese camp (possibly the best scene in the film) the movie begins to meander. I think some folks might be disappointed by the end that wouldn’t have been disappointed if the story had resolved itself a bit earlier. The novel was too big for one feature film–they should have attempted a mini-series.
Idk if anyone has mentioned “Bridge of River Kwai” but that is also a very interesting WW2 film. I also rate “Untergang”, especially the performance of Bruno Ganz.
The first 90 minutes of “Thin Red Line” is pretty much the best war movie I’ve ever seen. However, after they finally storm and take the Japanese camp (possibly the best scene in the film) the movie begins to meander.
Is this the 1964 or the 1998 version of the film? I’ve never seen the 1964 one, but I own the 1998 version (which came as part of a package of three movies I bought). I did my best to get through it, but after about 25 minutes (which felt more like two hours) I couldn’t take it anymore: I thought the film had no focus, no movement, no story, and no apparent idea of what it was trying to do. I later looked at the user reviews for it on the Internet Movie Database and saw that comments about this film are very polarized, with people regarding it either as a masterpiece or a cinematic disaster. Maybe it’s a bit of both, to have attracted so many divergent opinions. In my case I have to agree with the E.W. critic who called the film “too paralyzingly high-minded to connect with audiences.”
@CWO:
The first 90 minutes of “Thin Red Line” is pretty much the best war movie I’ve ever seen. However, after they finally storm and take the Japanese camp (possibly the best scene in the film) the movie begins to meander.
Is this the 1964 or the 1998 version of the film? I’ve never seen the 1964 one, but I own the 1998 version (which came as part of a package of three movies I bought). I did my best to get through it, but after about 25 minutes (which felt more like two hours) I couldn’t take it anymore: I thought the film had no focus, no movement, no story, and no apparent idea of what it was trying to do. I later looked at the user reviews for it on the Internet Movie Database and saw that comments about this film are very polarized, with people regarding it either as a masterpiece or a cinematic disaster. Maybe it’s a bit of both, to have attracted so many divergent opinions. In my case I have to agree with the E.W. critic who called the film “too paralyzingly high-minded to connect with audiences.”
I lived with about 4 other people back around 2000, and we watched the 98 one and Saving Private Ryan. I like both for different reasons, but feel SPR is the better movie, but my roommates (and one of our cinema major friends) thought TRL was superior in all ways. I told them that TRL was a very poetic and philosophical view of war, which is fine and has its place, but I really took in SPR’s guttural realism. I thought it was far more appropriate for war films that always seemed to be dramatized, and got many people to really see what war is like.
My favorite part in TRL is Woody Harrelson blowing his ass off with a grenade.
The world needs a remake of “sink the Bismarck” and a “Saving private Ryan” equivalent for the naval battles in the Pacific, anyways……
Is there a film on or off the list that can beat " Das Boot"?
@Young:
The world needs a remake of “sink the Bismarck”
I’d love to see a Bismarck movie along those lines. The script would be a tricky proposition, however. The original movie had lots of fictionalized elements (including the two main characters, Director of Operations Sheppard and his WREN assistant), and reflected (as did the C.S. Forrester novel on which it was based) the relatively limited knowledge of the Bismarck’s cruise which existed in the early 1950s, compared with what is known today. The movie also reflected some lingering anti-German prejudices. The depictions of Admiral Lutjens and Captain Lindemann are particularly annoying and inaccurate. Lutjens is portrayed as a bombastic and somewhat stupid Nazi who keeps saying “Zat is good…zat is very good” throughout the movie. Lindemann fares a bit better: he’s shown to be a capable and sensible officer, but his primary role in the film is to offer ineffectual “But, Sir…” objections to the unwise decisions made by Lutjens. If a more accurate new version was shot today, it would be hard to call it a “Sink the Bismarck” remake since the film would be so different. On the other hand, considering how freely scriptwriters depart from their original source material, and how much remakes can differ from their originals, that might not be considered an obstacle.
Nice article, lists 50 good WWII movies…food for thought.
http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/8362/
The author chooses a Russian film called “Come and See” as the best WWII film.
Nice article, lists 50 good WWII movies…food for thought.
http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/8362/
The author chooses a Russian film called “Come and See” as the best WWII film.
Has any one here seen or heard of this film?
How the hell does Das Boot have more votes then the Longest Day
How the hell does Das Boot have more votes then the Longest Day
I voted for “Das Boot” because I think it’s a better film than “the longest day” however, it was a close second.
damn it feels good
Watched the 293 min. version of DAS BOOT today. A very good movie. A loooong movie. But not my number one!
Thin Red Line shouldn’t be on this list. I fell asleep IN the theatre - it was SO terrible.
It should be on the “Worst movies EVER made” list instead.
Thin Red Line shouldn’t be on this list. I fell asleep IN the theatre - it was SO terrible.
It should be on the “Worst movies EVER made” list instead.
It looks as though “Tora Tora Tora” is the one movie that shouldn’t be on the list. I understand what you’re saying, I thought “Magnolia” was crap and everyone loved it.
There are not enough votes to reach any conclusion. Shows a lack of interest.
There are not enough votes to reach any conclusion. Shows a lack of interest.
It may also show that some of the movies which some people consider to be the best WWII film ever made aren’t even among the eight ones listed as response choices. There are countless WWII films out there, including lots of excellent ones, so a list of just eight films is hardly a broad sample range. Plus there’s the point I made previously that the same person could give different answers to the survey question depending on what exactly it means (best submarine movie? best realistic portayal of war? best [fill in the blank]?). When taken at its widest meaning – best WWII movie of all time in all categories – the question is so broad, the range of films made is so enormous, and any possible answer would be so subjective, that I don’t think any firm conclusions could be drawn from the responses. It’s a subject on which there will always be disagreement on the answer, in the same way that (as a historian whose name I forget once pointed out) it would be impossible to write a book called, “The Definitive History of the Second World War, officially approved by American, British, Russian, French, German, Japanese, conservative, liberal, Marxist and Jewish historians.”
@Young:
Nice article, lists 50 good WWII movies…food for thought.
http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/8362/
The author chooses a Russian film called “Come and See” as the best WWII film.
Has any one here seen or heard of this film?
Yes, I’ve read about it and seen the trailer on Youtube before. I think it was banned in a couple of places. It looked good and quite a bit of effort put into the reproduction. If I recall, the story is pretty bleak.
Well, how about we just start with the best out of the films listed and we can go from there. The list isn’t here to hand out life time achievement oscars and of course it’s subjective, but surly we all have an opinion and it’s only a fun poll amongst members.
I just ordered a copy of THE THIN RED LINE which I have never seen. Hope its not a waste of money. Its supposed to be about an army platoon on Guadalcanal. I had always thought the army was brought in to relieve the Marines and conduct mopup operations.
I just ordered a copy of THE THIN RED LINE which I have never seen. Hope its not a waste of money. Its supposed to be about an army platoon on Guadalcanal. I had always thought the army was brought in to relieve the Marines and conduct mopup operations.
Discovered that 2850 men of the 164th Inf. regiment landed on Guadalcanal on Oct.13th 1942 when the issue was still very much in doubt. Elements of this regiment were right in line with the Marines during the last major Japanese attempt to take Henderson field. In early Dec. when the first Marine div. was evacuated there was an army div. that landed and participated in the final weeks of mopping up operations. So I will be interested in how all this is portrayed in “The Thin Red Line” when I get it.
Well one of the things I encounter quite often is a confusion about liking a movie or enjoying a movie and the movie actually being any good. I’m not suggesting that my opinion for example carry more weight than yours or any one elses. But it seemed an interesting exercise to create a list and a list should have some finer level criteria for inclusion.
I won’t try to deny that “Inglorious Basterds” is a fine film but does it really belong on the same list as “The Longest Day” or “Das Boot” or even a far more inferior film like “Valkyrie” when we talk of Best WWII Film? Which begs the question of what would constitute Best WWII Film in the first place?
True that. The question “what’s the best WWII film ever” means different things to different people. It can mean
What WWII film is the most realistic portrayal?
What WWII film is the most fun to watch?
Which WWII film is the best artistic achievement?
Which WWII film best honors the participants?
And so on. People would give different answers to different questions.
But thanks for the thread I’ve rented a few of the older ones and I’ll see what I think.
Started with “Cross of Iron” last night. Not bad, worth watching, some nice moments, but nothing too special imo. Nice action footage with authentic equipment, shot in (then) Yugoslavia, and the protaganist is interesting.
