Best Military/War Movie

[CG76]

I was just listening to the soundtrack of the Thin Red Line, which to me is the best war movie for me. This led me to this idea for an interesting thread.

I like best the scene where they are about to attack and then they get sniped on the hills.

What's your favorite military/war movie?
Which part of the movie is your favorite?

[Syn3sthesia]

For me, it's Saving Private Ryan.

[crock master]

missing in action 2

[Unclassified]

platoon or apacolypse now for me, an the best war show would be hogans heroes!!!

[Irid70]

Oh geez. Well, what genre? I mean, you almost have to pick a war...and there's no way I can only pick one movie. But, to wit..

All Quiet on the Western Front
The Longest Day
The Big Red One
Gettysburg

That's as short a list as I can make right now.

[paulpratt]

The Thin Red Line is amazing. It's unfortunate that Terrance Malick only makes a picture once every decade.

Tears of the Sun has a lot of really great choreographed military action. I really enjoy Bruce Willis in most every picture he does.

I like Black Hawk Down, but the theatrical version is poorly edited. The Director's Cut is much better. It's difficult to keep up with the many characters.

I'm really partial to The Great Raid. Something abut that film is just amazing. I can't put my finger on it, maybe it's because it was an underdog feature, but i love.

[slowrey]

go by war (ww 2 saving private Ryan) (Vietnam war platoon)(modern war black hawk down)

[Freekarrtt]

Megaforce is clearly the most awesome (and realistic) war movie ever made.

[SITHLOU33]

300!!!! J/K - Full Metal Jacket anyone? I also loved that Gerneration Kill series on HBO and Band Of Brothers.

[Outback 2094]

Kelly's Heroes and The Dirty Dozen

[minstrelboy]

Band Of Brothers, Patton, Black Hawk Down, Three Kings, The Deerhunter. Those are some off the top of my head.

Ooh! I forgot Danger UXB, which is an awesome series from the 70's about a British bomb disposal unit, that had to go around defusing bombs from the blitz during WWII. And Children Of Men, which is one of my all-time favorite movies, which takes place during a sort of future war. Enemy At The Gates was alright, if only for one of the few movies to highlight the seige at Stalingrad, but the book was way better.

[mswi]

For me it's Hamburger Hill, Platoon, and Full Metal Jacket,

[bravo]

"what did you do in the war daddy?" this is a funny war movie,it was made back 1966, and staring in it was james coburn, dick shawn.carroll o' connor,
In Sicily, Allied forces have begun the invasion of Italy. A war-weary company commanded by Captain Cash , a stickler for regulations, is assigned to occupy a small town being held by the Italian army. When they arrive during a soccer game, Italian commander Captain Oppo requests that the Americans not take take the town until after the soccer game and an important wine festival have concluded in order to preserve their honor. The wily Christian persuades Cash to agree. The Americans and Italians happily join forces for an all-day, all-night bacchanal of wine, women, and song. However, their partying is observed by U.S. and German reconaissance planes who mistake the revelry for streetfighting, and they quickly decide to come to the aid of their respective allies. When the Germans arrive, they find drunken G.I.s in both American and German uniforms and, despite the confusion, begin to round them up. When a fresh American unit arrives, things start to get really interesting.

[Freekarrtt]

"what did you do in the war daddy?" this is a funny war movie,it was made back 1966, and staring in it was james coburn, dick shawn.carroll o' connor,
In Sicily, Allied forces have begun the invasion of Italy. A war-weary company commanded by Captain Cash , a stickler for regulations, is assigned to occupy a small town being held by the Italian army. When they arrive during a soccer game, Italian commander Captain Oppo requests that the Americans not take take the town until after the soccer game and an important wine festival have concluded in order to preserve their honor. The wily Christian persuades Cash to agree. The Americans and Italians happily join forces for an all-day, all-night bacchanal of wine, women, and song. However, their partying is observed by U.S. and German reconaissance planes who mistake the revelry for streetfighting, and they quickly decide to come to the aid of their respective allies. When the Germans arrive, they find drunken G.I.s in both American and German uniforms and, despite the confusion, begin to round them up. When a fresh American unit arrives, things start to get really interesting.

lol I'll have to look this one up

[Mr. Furious]

'Cross of Iron' - to date one of only two movies about the Eastern Front. Starring James Coburn as Corporal Steiner, this is a great movies.

[jeff117]

man, you beat me to it. it's just that scene when Pile kills himself, gotta love that creepy music.

Favorite war movie: full metal jacket
favorite war series: generation kill ( i know, off topic )

[Justanoldfan]

Depends on where in American history you are talking about.
Revolutionary War - The Patriot
Civil War - Glory or Gettysburgh
WWI - Flyboys
WWII European Front - Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, or The Guns of Navarone
WWII Pacific Front - Tora! Tora! Tora!, Letters from our Fathers
Korean War - MASH and the Manchurian Candidate
Vietnam - Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, and Apocolypse Now
Current Battles/Espionage - Black Hawk Down, The Art of War, Quantum of Solace (just guessing), the Bourne series.

[GothJoe]

Though not technically a movie, Band Of Brothers takes the cake for me.

[vadersquest]

I agree, band of brothers is the best series. As far as movies go I am torn. I despised the thin red line, thought saving private ryan was to hollywoody besides the opening scene. War movies can be a hit and miss for sure. I know I prefer history to be portrayed accurately and not like pearl harbor. I did enjoy tora tora tora and Flags from our fathers and letters from Iwo Jima

[Justanoldfan]

I thought Saving Pvt. Ryan was pretty historically acurate...I mean they brought in WWII survivors and vets to help out. Cross of Iron and "What Did you do in the war daddy?" I've never heard of - I'll have to check them out.

[MTN]

go by war (ww 2 saving private Ryan) (Vietnam war platoon)(modern war black hawk down)

Completely agree!

[joss789]

Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan and Full Metal Jacket are movies i can watch many many time.

[dgnr82]

I agree with BHD, Saving Private Ryan and Platoon, but I also love Red Dawn.

[sgtapon]

Platoon, Full Metal Jacket

[SportingViper]

I loved "Saving private Ryan","band of Brothers" "Longest Day" and all those Clint Eastwood, Tele Savalas and Charles Bronson type WWII movie.Another movie I love and hasn't been mention is "Enemy At the Gates" about the Soviet snipers against the Nazis.Look it up.

[crock master]

platoon leader

[Pit Viper]

Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan come to mind. Oh and The Dirty Dozen. I'll also add the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Hey it was a war!

[CornDog_The_Ninja]

Blackhawk Down. Hands down the best war movie for me.

[Mr. Furious]

in no particular order, war movies that I've enjoyed (and have some perspective on, being ex-military, as I'm sure our other ex-& current military guys/gals would agree): Saving Private Ryan, Cross of Iron, Enemy at the Gates, Stalingrad, Band of Brothers, Kelly's Heroes, Dirty Dozen, Full Metal Jacket, Tears of the Sun, Red Dawn, Black Hawk Down, Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone, Attack Force 'Z', Gallipoli,We Were Soldiers, Platoon. That's off the top of my head.

Not so Good: Hamburger Hill, Thin Red Line (extremely disappointed when I saw this one).

Any others I haven't mentioned that are good? I'm always on the lookout for more that I haven't seen or forgot.

[spacemonkeymafia]

Full Metal Jacket....Platoon.....


and Stripes.........LOL

[Cobra88]

"Battle Of Britian" ! I loved that movie, I've lost count how many times I've watched it......lol

[RockinHard]

Black Hawk Down, Glory, Red Dawn, Patton, Full Metal Jacket

[thomas76]

Kelly's Heroes and The Dirty Dozen

Exactly what I was going to say, also Full Metal Jacket was great along with Blackhawk Down, and I can never forget about The Big Red One.

[ironknife]

Kelly's Heroes all the way!!!!

[VIPER 48]

Full Metal Jacket....Platoon.....


and Stripes.........LOL

Stripes was the bomb, but don't forget about SGT. Bilko...lol...

[ironknife]

"Battle Of Britian" ! I loved that movie, I've lost count how many times I've watched it......lol

Battle Of Britian is a good 1 !

[esg2145]

Full Metal Jacket







.

[vadersquest]

What about the Mel Gibson Vietnam pic? Sorry the name slips my memory but it was a damn good war movie!

WE WERE SOLDIERS! Just popped in my head!

[USAgent]

A Bridge Too Far. One of the best "All-Star" cast war movies-ever. Based on Operation: Market Garden, it's a huge allied forces foul-up that shows what bad intelligence can do. Best scene: The english commander telling the german soldier that they can't discuss surrender because "they haven't got any place to put them all"
Video game players will find out more about this one soon;the next Brothers in Arms:Hell's Highway is built around Operation:Market Garden

[CG76]

I just remembered another movie. The Eagle Has Landed with Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland was awesome.

[OreoBuilder]

Saving Private Ryan.

Not sure if it's considered a ''war'' movie but Crimson Tide with Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman was excellent.

OB

[Rocky]

"Coming Home in a Body Bag", that's a movie. It was the
first movie with balls to win a lot of Oscars since the "The Deer Hunter".

[minstrelboy]

Where Eagles Dare. Anzio. The Great Escape. Das Boot. U-571. Battle Of The Midway. Halls Of Montezuma. And on and on...

[sharke]

Blackhawk Down

[dark knight]

Braveheart, Hart's War, Thin Red Line, and the best war movie ive seen recently has got to be Rescue Dawn with Christian Bale.

[QBERT]

I didn't like RESCUE DAWN, but like someone said ENEMY AT THE GATES, which is about the RUSSIAN sniper Vasily Zaytsev during World War II.
oh, and of course....BLACK HAWK DOWN, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, FULL METAL JACKET, PLATOON, and a ton of other people have already mentioned.

[sgt.bludhound]

Am I the only one that likes Jarhead? I think that its a great movie, I could watch it over and over.
Black Hawk Down is another good one, Saving Private Ryan, Three Kings, Tropic Thunder..LOL

[FadetoBlack2880]

saving private ryan's gotta be up there. we were soldiers and downfall are excellent too.

[QBERT]

JARHEAD was possibly the worst military movie I have ever seen, and in my top 100 worst movies of all time, period.

[FadetoBlack2880]

oh, and black hawk downs great, and the great raid is ok. love full metal jacket.

[Driftbot]

wow i wish all my DVD's werent packed up still. i would just list what war movies i have.

should i try by memory?
lots of greats already mentioned...

U-571
Saving Private Ryan
Band of Brothers
FULL. METAL. JACKET.
Platoon
We were soldiers
Blackhawk Down
Jarhead
TOP GUN!
crimson tide
wind talkers (not great, but i'm a cage fan and also part native american)

that's all i can remember at the moment. some others i need to buy that are greats:

hamburger hill
the deerhunter
flags of our fathers
countdown... something? with the USS Nimitz, i just got orders to that ship!
behind enemy lines (love gene hackman in this. he makes a great CO)
enemy at the gates (just saw a short documentary on this guy. amazing...)
Sniper (the trilogy?!)
the pianist (good POV from civilian side)

thats about all i can think of.
and i dont know why but i saw thin red line not long ago and hated it?! i'd have to see it again to tell you exactly why. maybe i was in the wrong mood or something, but the pacing was terrible, acting sucked, and the action was just way too fake looking. especially when compared to private ryan or band of brothers.

[The L.O.C.]

Two words...Iron Eagle

J/K Full Metal Jacket is the one I can watch over and over. R. Lee Ermey is the man. They should make a 25th figure out of him.

And not really a war movie but A Few Good Men was damn good.

[paulpratt]

R. Lee Ermey is the man. They should make a 25th figure out of him.

That is the smartest thing I've heard all day. Screw Sgt. Slaughter. They should make Ermey the first Sgt. of the original GI Joe, Coltan or whatever his name was. Like Duke is to Hawk, Ermey is to Coltan. That would be brilliant.

[Justanoldfan]

An Ermey fig would be cool! Enemy at the Gates...someone mentioned it before...great movie...

[NateR]

My current favorite would be We Were Soldiers. Easily one of the most moving war movies I've ever seen.

Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down would be at the top of the list for me also.

However, my sentimental favorite and one that I watched all the time when I was a kid is Memphis Belle. It's a little hokey nowadays, but still really entertaining.

[verzeihen]

BRAVEHEART, PLATOON, PATTON, GLORY, THE LONGEST DAY, Midway, Memphis Belle, Letters from IWO JIMA, FULL METAL JACKET, schindler's list, saving private ryan, kelly's heros, The great escape, Gladiator, spartacus,

[sharke]

Memphis Belle

that really is a good movie and good telling of the air war

[CrimsonGuard101]

Anyone who lived through the cold war should know this one is hands down the best especially us Joe fans...

RED DAWN!

WOLVERINES! /fires RPG at a soviet tank column

[FadetoBlack2880]

no one seen downfall?

[Freekarrtt]

no one seen downfall?

Yes, Downfall was a hell of a movie.

[heatviper]

saving private ryan
deerhunter
full metal jacket
platoon

all decent choices

[Bulletrider]

my pers. faves:

"The Guns of Navarone" - a brilliant book made into a brilliant film about a special unit of Allies guerilla-like infiltrating an island in the hands of the germans in WWII to destroy the "Guns of Navarone" (really big guns ;-) making an invasion via sea or air impossible)

due to the characters it transfers some "Joe" feeling as every character has so special abilities (one is in for sabotage/demolition, one is a famous mountain climber etc.)

"All quiet on the Western Front" - classic!

"Deathwatch" - a really cool war/horror movie about the madness, evil and horror in the trenches of WWI. Absolutely great!

[Zefram]

Apacolypse Now!
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
City of Heaven (I wish this were the first of a trilogy about the Crusades)
El Cid (a fifty-year old movie based on a 400-year old story, and it's still relevant).
Braveheart
Starship Troopers (okay, people will laugh at this one more than anything, but the idea of a society that has obviously given up a lot of its freedoms getting wrapped up in a jingoistic patriotic fervor after suffering a major attack is one that deserves a little thought despite the fact it has giant bugs).

[kndy]

The Bridge over the River Kwai
Platoon
Das Boot
Ran
The Warlords
Red Dawn
Lawrence of Arabia
Three Kings
Braveheart
Janne Da Arc (the Sobieski version)
Lord of the Rings (if you count that) but if you allow that, then Star Wars as well....
The Patriot

Animation wise...
Now and Then, Here and There
Zipangu
Mobile Suit Gundam, 08th Team, War in the Pocket, etc.
Grave of the Fireflies
Barefoot Gen
Crest of the Stars and Banner of the Stars series
Gunbuster
Macross Plus

[Bravestarr]

my pers. faves:

"The Guns of Navarone" - a brilliant book made into a brilliant film about a special unit of Allies guerilla-like infiltrating an island in the hands of the germans in WWII to destroy the "Guns of Navarone" (really big guns ;-) making an invasion via sea or air impossible)

due to the characters it transfers some "Joe" feeling as every character has so special abilities (one is in for sabotage/demolition, one is a famous mountain climber etc.)

"All quiet on the Western Front" - classic!

"Deathwatch" - a really cool war/horror movie about the madness, evil and horror in the trenches of WWI. Absolutely great!


Hey,

What part of Germany are you in?

[1SGHauser]

Schindlers List. Deep, deep movie.

[jjsvipers]

a few of my favorites are
winter war, a finnish made film about the russian finnish war
stalingrad , german made film
the cross of iron, about a unit of german soldiers on the eastern front in ww2