100 Greatest War Movies of All Time (1 Viewer)

Harrytheheid said:
:D:D I know where your coming from with that one RH. This could start off yet another series of in-jokes by Commonwealth members that are totally incomprehensible to most of our friends across the Pond. No offense meant, of course.

N'anyway, wasn't it the monkees at the zoo that did PG Tips..??

You know, I can't quite remember who did the "My Name is Bond - Brooke Bond" series of sketches. Wasn't Tommy Cooper.....Russ Abbot, maybe..??
Bet you I waken up kicking and screaming around 02:00AM - with the guy's name buzzing around my heid. :eek::eek:

Cheers
H
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:D:D:D
Check out youtube for Bond-Brooke Bond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VSTjo0i_EE
 
Chris,
Totally in agreement with you on Platoon and Apocalypse... Platoon had the technical aspects down but it was an anti-war movie. Hollywood has not portrayed Vietnam or Vietnam Vets in a positive light. There is usually civilians murdered for no reason, or a crazy commander or they try to perpetuate myths such as a disproportionate number of minorities served in combat units or that all vets came home and were crazy. Quite the opposite! Most vets came home and continued on with their lives. Did they have nightmares? Sure but dealt with it. Remember the 70s and 80s when all these movies and tv shows had a crazed Vietnam vet. Two that stick out are First Blood and The Park is Mine.

The race issue irritates me because Hollywood just continues to perpetuate these myths such as this when making a war movie on Vietnam. Minorities were not present in disproportionate numbers in combat units. It was 12-15% which is what they were of the US population. Hollywood thinks if they keep beating the same thing into the American public it becomes fact.

Born on the 4th of July was another disappointing movie. Read the book and then watch the movie. OS takes a lot of liberties with this one to make it anti-war and show Vietnam vets as crazy.

FMJ was ok. Basic training portion much better than the last half. We Were Soldiers was well done. Again I read the book first and the movie stayed true to the book. It shows what US forces can do when not micro-managed from Washington and allowed to fight.

Sorry, I will get off my soapbox now! I am like Chris and served from 83-87 as a grunt with a majority of Vietnam vets as my NCOs and COs. Those that stayed in after Vietnam went through hell in the 70s rebuilding the US military and their efforts were there for all the world to see from the 80s to today.
 
;)Good stuff, thanks for the BB link guys; otherwise this chap from an ex-colony would have indeed been clueless.
 
L Flowers said:
Chris,
Totally in agreement with you on Platoon and Apocalypse... Platoon had the technical aspects down but it was an anti-war movie. Hollywood has not portrayed Vietnam or Vietnam Vets in a positive light. There is usually civilians murdered for no reason, or a crazy commander or they try to perpetuate myths such as a disproportionate number of minorities served in combat units or that all vets came home and were crazy. Quite the opposite! Most vets came home and continued on with their lives. Did they have nightmares? Sure but dealt with it. Remember the 70s and 80s when all these movies and tv shows had a crazed Vietnam vet. Two that stick out are First Blood and The Park is Mine.

The race issue irritates me because Hollywood just continues to perpetuate these myths such as this when making a war movie on Vietnam. Minorities were not present in disproportionate numbers in combat units. It was 12-15% which is what they were of the US population. Hollywood thinks if they keep beating the same thing into the American public it becomes fact.

Born on the 4th of July was another disappointing movie. Read the book and then watch the movie. OS takes a lot of liberties with this one to make it anti-war and show Vietnam vets as crazy.

FMJ was ok. Basic training portion much better than the last half. We Were Soldiers was well done. Again I read the book first and the movie stayed true to the book. It shows what US forces can do when not micro-managed from Washington and allowed to fight.

Sorry, I will get off my soapbox now! I am like Chris and served from 83-87 as a grunt with a majority of Vietnam vets as my NCOs and COs. Those that stayed in after Vietnam went through hell in the 70s rebuilding the US military and their efforts were there for all the world to see from the 80s to today.
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To me, The Deer Hunter was an excellent Vietnam film, a real piece of Art. And this one certainly had a different more positive point of view about the American military in Nam, I think. I remember some people calling it a reactionary/rightist film because of that, which is totally rubbish:mad:. That said I also loved Apocalypse Now, one of my all time favorite films ( war films or other ), like other Coppolla films. I also have just second ( or third or further down the line really:D ) hand knowledge of the Vietnam War and its consequences on the American military, and have no problem believing what you say, because of your personal experience and because the media are not that correct or proportionate on this or other matters.
 
The above by L. Flower is not exactly correct for black population. In the 1960 census, black population was approximately 10.5% whereas black casualties was slightly over 15%. I think that's a pretty significant difference.

Also, it's not hard to figure out why we had the movies that we did if you lived through the time when we had great expressions such as "the light at the end of the tunnel," "we had to burn the village to save it" and Lieutenant Calley. I'm not saying that you're not essentially correct but things did happen and movies generally reflect the society.
 
jazzeum said:
The above by L. Flower is not exactly correct for black population. In the 1960 census, black population was approximately 10.5% whereas black casualties was slightly over 15%. I think that's a pretty significant difference.

Also, it's not hard to figure out why we had the movies that we did if you lived through the time when we had great expressions such as "the light at the end of the tunnel," "we had to burn the village to save it" and Lieutenant Calley. I'm not saying that you're not essentially correct but things did happen and movies generally reflect the society.
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I'm not sure about that Brad. I think there are far to many movies made by people that want to influence society rather than reflect it, be they Mel Gibson, Steven Spielberg, or whoever.
 
OzDigger said:
I'm not sure about that Brad. I think there are far to many movies made by people that want to influence society rather than reflect it, be they Mel Gibson, Steven Spielberg, or whoever.
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Upon reflection, you're probably right although I would think it's probably a mixture.
 
Here's another two dozen movies from my personal DVD library that didn't make the list:

1. The 300 Spartans (1961)
2. The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
3. Joan of Arc (1999)
4. The Crossing (1999)
5. Waterloo (1970)
6. The Alamo (1960)
7. The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
8. Dances With Wolves (1990)
9. Gettysburg (1993)
10. Andersonville (1996)
11. Gods and Generals (2003)
12. Geronimo (1993)
13. Buffalo Soldiers (1997)
14. Rough Riders (1997)
15. The Four Feathers (1939)
16. The Four Feathers (2002)
17. The Wind & the Lion (1975)
18. The Lighthorsemen (1987)
19. March or Die (1976)
20. Legionaire (1998)
21. Michael Collins (1996)
22. Downfall (2004)
23. Jarhead (2005)
24. Hotel Rwanda (2004)
 
Add a couple of others from my DVD collection that also didn't make the list:

30 Seconds over Tokyo,
Destination Tokyo,
The Purple Heart,
Pork Chop Hill,
Drums Along the Mohawk,
God is My Co-Pilot,
Wing and a Prayer
 
It seems odd to me that The Lighthorsemen, The Four Feathers, Gettysburg, Pork Chop Hill, The 300 Spartans did not make the top 100 list, as it did for 633 Squadron, 1936 Charge of the Light Brigade, Big Red One, Thin Red Line and RAMBO:eek: to make the list.
 
I am not a fan of war movies, although I do watch the news :D

I would say that Schindler's List is a favourite of mine however.
 
Jazzeum,
I stand by my figures. This is from the defense dept stats on Vietnam for KIA:


Caucasian 50,120
Black 7,264
Unknown 809
Total 58,193

I will use your 1960 census figure of 10% of population(which was actually the first year of self reporting). 12% of KIA is not a disproportionate number. People see these movies such as Platoon, Apocalypse Now, Hamburger Hill, etc and believe Hollywood's myths without looking at the stats and drawing their own conclusions.
 
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Unless I missed something, The Sand Pebbles with Steve McQueen was not in the list, and it is a terrific movie all around. The first time I saw it was as part of a college course on SE Asian politics. Also, I would place Glory much higher. Certainly, it had some historical inaccuracies as regards the 54th Massachusetts, but I thought it did a great job of portraying the experience of the black soldier in the Civil War (whose contribution is so overlooked), and it was a downright moving motion picture with very realistic fighting scenes (not to mention a good score). Gettysburg should also be in the list - not a perfect movie by any means - but one of the best Civil War movies.

I have no problem with Saving Private Ryan as Number 1. Its first half hour alone is practically good enough to get it to that rank. Some of the street fighting scenes are also fantastic.
 
I would agree, Sand Pebbles should be in the top 10 on the list. Overall, I think the list is rather poor in inclusions, omissions and rankings.
 
I haven't seen the entire film of 'The Sand Pebbles' for the same reason I have never remained awake during 'Titanic' ;)

My Heart will go on, and on, and on, and on, and on....quick someone shoot Celine and save us :eek:
 
OzDigger said:
I haven't seen the entire film of 'The Sand Pebbles' for the same reason I have never remained awake during 'Titanic' ;)

My Heart will go on, and on, and on, and on, and on....quick someone shoot Celine and save us :eek:
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Oz, are we short of a good film about Aussies in WW2, apart from The Desert Fox? - I think that had some fair dinkum Aussies??? did I get the right one????

Any you would recommend for the Pacific for example...?
 
Spitfrnd said:
I would agree, Sand Pebbles should be in the top 10 on the list. Overall, I think the list is rather poor in inclusions, omissions and rankings.
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"The Sand Pebbles" is my all time favourite inter-war movie. The DVD also has some good extra features.

"High Road to China" is a pretty enjoyable romp as well. Set just after WWI, Beth Armstrong is the "feisty dame" who hires ex-ace Tom Selleck and his two Tiger Moth planes to fly from Turkey through Afghanistan and over the Himalayas to China in search of her missing father. It's kinda got the same feel as the first Indiana movie, without attaining the same "style" - and Tom's moustache is hilarious...!!!

Cheers
H
 
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