Greatest WW1 and WW2 War Films

[Dylan Couper]

Obviously in honour of the day:

Greatest war films, not in terms of action, but in terms of the emotions and point of view they convey...

Saving Private Ryan is probably going to come up the winner, but my nomination is Hope And Glory.

[Cannon Pearson]

"Paths of Glory" gets my WWI vote.

It may be the easy choice but I think that "Saving Private Ryan" would get my WWII vote, even though I thought that the beginning and the end were a little sappy.

I think that the realism of the action in SPR is what makes it emotionly affecting. You begin to really get a sense of what the soldiers were going through, that doesn't really come through in a lot of films. My grandfather fought in WWII and I was amazed to see all of the things that he used to tell stories about up on the big screen.

[K. Forman]

I don't really get into the War genre of movies... Having said that, my vote goes to The Great Escape, or Stalag 13.

[Imran Zaidi]

Well it's not exactly a bang-bang kind of movie, but I think The Thin Red Line really captured me because it was so incredibly personal. What's always interested me about war is what's going on in the heads of those that are there, not so much the explosions and rapid fire. And as a filmmaker I love the fact that Terence Malick tossed the idea of a standard war film out of the window and went headlong into something totally different.

One of the things that really stand out for me is how there'd be the occasional cameo, and shortly thereafter, those celebrities would die right alongside everyone else. It really took a step beyond the borders of the film and impressed the point personally to us that all die. Regardless of stature - all die.

But granted, Saving Private Ryan was an amazing technical achievement, and I don't recall ever seeing old veterans sobbing in the theater after the film ends before I saw this movie. It obvously touched a nerve.

[Jeff Patnaude]

I think for a WWI movie (and because I'm a pilot maybe) I'd have to say "The Blue Max."

WWII - "Battle For Britain." Aerial photography was done by the James Bond crew-- highly underated. Probably Impossible to do today.

"Saving Prvt Ryan" is one of the best done.

Jeff P

[John Sandel]

Boy, WWI ... I'd have to go with "Paths of Glory."

For a WWII movie, there are so many that were made by the victors, I'd nominate something by the vanquished: "Fires on the Plain (1959), directed by Kon Ichikawa. It's one of the most harrowing depiction of battlefield suffering I've ever seen.

JS

[Dan Uneken]

I: Paths of Glory

II: Band of Brothers

[Yi Fong Yu]

all quiet on western front. i think it won '33 oscars?

[John Hudson]

Good question and my favorites are (In no particular order):

Saving Private Ryan
Band Of Brothers
The Big Red One

Taking emotion and point of view out of play I also love:

The Great Escape
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Dirty Dozen
Empire of the Sun
THE LONGEST DAY
A BRIDGE TOO FAR
GALLIPOLI
Bataan
Force Ten From Navarone

[Robert Mann Z.]

GALLIPOLI ... a great movie...

not a lot of folks liked;

'thin red line'

but that is one of my favorite movies period

war from another point of view... i really liked two hbo movies

"Conspiracy" and "The Gathering Storm"

[Dylan Couper]

No one has mentionned Pearl Harbour yet.... <g>

[Mathieu Ghekiere]

Although Spielberg describes it's more as a Holocaust movie, and Saving Private Ryan was his first 'real' war movie, I still think Schindler's List is one bang of a movie to.
(Especially the cinematography!!!)

[Keith Loh]

Technically:
Saving Private Ryan

But for content I prefer:
Paths of Glory

Best flying movie:
The Blue Max

There are a bunch I like from different eras and places.

Zulu, Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Last of the Mohicans, Ran, Kagemusha, Waterloo, Spartacus, Glory, Das Boot, The Beast.

Technically, I thought that "Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World" was the best Age of Sail movie ever made. But now a year later, I don't feel anything for that movie.

[Keith Loh]

<<<-- Originally posted by Dylan Couper : No one has mentionned Pearl Harbour yet.... <g> -->>>

Have you seen "Team America: World Police" yet, Dylan?

[Keith Loh]

Sometimes the best way to criticize a phenomenon is to make fun of it.

The first half of "Full Metal Jacket" was superb for this.

"Paths of Glory" has some great moments of satire, especially in the exchanges between Col. Dax and his superiors.

"M*A*S*H" the movie and "Catch-22" were good.

Recently "Three Kings" caught the element of absurdity.

But the all time war satire is Kubrick's "Doctor Strangelove".

I wonder if today's audiences are sophisticated enough to deal with these kinds of satirical jabs. In today's war climate maybe it would be seen as unpatriotic.