Good WW2 Movies?

More of a drama set during the beginning of the war in North Africa but... The English Patient.

I watched "The Dam Busters" again a few months back. It was surprising to me that they didn't dub over the dog's name. Good flick. Reminds me of "Cockleshell Heroes" - a must see for canoe/kayak fans.

I can definitely NOT recommend the Italian campaign focused Miracle at St. Anna. An interesting subject (buffalo soldiers) that you will watch and say, "OK, this is interesting, but it seems a little off" by the end you will say "what the hell is wrong with this movie", and at the credits (if you weren't paying attention at the beginning) you will say "Ohhh, I see" as you see the credits for director: Spike Lee.

Its craaaap, and Spike Lee makes it craaaap.

Das Boot (the German subtitle version, which is better) is a very good movie and does have some Mediterranean in it (they run the straights of Gibraltar) .

Tobruk is Africa, as I remember is was pretty good.

There is a good one from the 50's called "Battleground" which covers the battle of the Bulge from the eyes of a small group of soldiers. "The Longest Day" should also be on the list. Another one is "A Bridge to far". While I enjoy watching Kelly's Heroes and the Ditry Dozen these movies are more Hollywoods idea of entertainment then trying to show "what is was like". Other good ones are: Midway, Sands of Iwo Jima, The Fighting Seabees, The Bridge at Remagen, The Caine Mutiny, Darby's Rangers, Destination Tokyo, Destination Gobi, The Enemy Below, The Fighting Sullivans, Guadalcanal Diary, Hell is for Heroes, In Harms Way, Mr Roberts, Run Silent Run Deep, Sink the Bismark, Stalag 17, They Were Expendable, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Twelve O'Clock High, I could go on.

A few comedies not yet mentioned.

Ensign Pulver-the sequel to Mr. Roberts. No carry over cast but still funny.

Father Goose- Cary Grant

IMDB plot said:

During World War II South Sea beachcomber Walter Eckland is persuaded to spy on planes passing over his island. He gets more than he bargained for as schoolteacher Catherine Frenau arrives on the run from the Japanese with her pupils in tow!

oldsaw wrote: Murphy's pic is "To Hell and Back". For those who don't know, he was a Medal of Honor recipient.

Not only that, he was the most decorated US soldier in WWII. Every medal for valor this country awards (some of them more than once), three Purple Hearts, plus the highest decorations France and Belgium have to offer. Not bad for a guy whose enlistment height and weight were 5'5" and 110 lbs.

Since you're looking for Pacific theater stuff, check out "They Were Expendable." The movie is about the PT Boat service in the early days of the Pacific war not soon after Pearl Harbor and was released in 1943. Gives you a great flavor of how we were scrambling to keep our heads above water during the fall of Bataan and Corrigador. Its release in '43 means the jingoistic bullE36 M3 is kept to a minimum. These were resourceful men making the best of a very bleak situation. Decisions had to be made and not everyone profited from those decisions. You'll get what I mean after you see the film.

+1 for "Twelve O'Clock High." Great performances and superior storytelling.

Oh, and I have the first batch of "Rat Patrol" on DVD, and it looked OK to my eyes forty years later. Seeing that soap opera guy as the recurring Nazi is weird, but everybody's got to make a living somehow.

"PT 109" has been overlooked, so far...........

Not a great movie and it rather glamourizes the war-time service of JFK. Even the book (upon which the movie was based) is a bit of a fluff piece - but hey, the book's photos were great.

IIRC, there were some critics who believed that young Kennedy was rather derelict in putting his crew and boat in unwarranted dangerous conditions that fateful night in "the Slot".

I always thought his next command was more lethal-looking than his torpedo boat:

PT59

Katyn is a great Polish movie about the 1940 Katyn forest massacre in which the Soviets murdered 22,000 Poles and then blamed it on the Germans. Great...but not cheerful.

Sophie Scholl is an excellent German historical drama movie about Nazi atrocities, the kind of movie that leaves you feeling as if you've been punched in the stomach. The last scene is chilling.

Anyone remember Combat!? (The exclamation point is part of the title) That black and white WW2 tv series from the 60s? Actually pretty real looking, especially for its time.

JeepinMatt wrote: Anyone remember Combat!? (The exclamation point is part of the title) That black and white WW2 tv series from the 60s? Actually pretty real looking, especially for its time.

Yup, I sure do. I think it aired on Wednesdays.

Dr. Hess wrote: Luke, I'm a bit gun-shy on Paul Verhoeven movies. His US made ones are borderline, but the ones he makes in .NL are beyond suck. I use his movies as an example as to why The Netherlands no longer exists.

Yeah, this one was mindlessly entertaining, but extremely overrated, considering the 14 awards it was up for. Don't go out of your way to see it .

I've been trying to think of the name of an older WW2 film I saw a few years ago, (made in the '60s.) Set in the desert, the plot revolved around a band of 'outcast', undisciplined soldiers staging covert attacks on German supply dumps etc. It was very well made, and had a surprising ending.

In reply to Luke:

"Play Dirty" with Michael Caine?

Where the protagonists are machine-gunned in error after completing their mission?

Yes! That's the one, Oldsaw .

Stealthtercel wrote: +1 for "Twelve O'Clock High." Great performances and superior storytelling. Oh, and I have the first batch of "Rat Patrol" on DVD, and it looked OK to my eyes forty years later. Seeing that soap opera guy as the recurring Nazi is weird, but everybody's got to make a living somehow.

Twelve O'Clock High used to be required watching for AF ROTC Cadets.

Odd one, not so much about war, but a neat story; A Midnight Clear Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise, John C. McGinley

Luke wrote: +3 for 'The Caine Mutiny', although my father assures me that the novel on which the film is based, is even better.

It is. I've got my grandfather's copy around here somplace. It's another one of those cases where they had to leave some stuff out of the film to keep it under three hours (and because it was the 50s and "..we can't put that in a movie!..").

I am currently re-reading Black Rain, which gives a Japanese family's account of post-atomic Hiroshima. I haven't seen the movie, but supposedly it's pretty good. It's in Japanese with English subtitles.

I like the battle of Britain.

"Memphis Belle."

While you may be quick to suggest the 1990 version, the original 1944 William Wyler version is superior. It's a propaganda movie, but it never sugar coated the lost and brutality of the air war.

The remake is pure fluff on the plot side, but if you love B-17s, its fantastic eye candy. I recall it was the first adult non-comedy I demanded to be taken to.

You decide.

Original http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMDSFAYDV-Y

Remake http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU5TKCxZ0s4

I remember seeing the Caine Mutiny. Great movie.\ Has anyone seen the Tuskegee Airmen?

JeepinMatt wrote: I remember seeing the Caine Mutiny. Great movie.\ Has anyone seen the Tuskegee Airmen?

Yes, and if you're talking about the HBO movie, it was disappointing. Takes real talent to screw up a movie detailing one of the last best untold stories of the war. The script wasn't very good.

The movie started out as a first-line picture with Eddie Murphy attached but no one could write a script that either told the real story or was something the studios would make. They turned it into a 1945-style propaganda flick with the hokiest dialogue ever. The cast (Lawrence Fishburne, Andre Braugher, Courtney B Vance, et al) made the movie watchable.

+1 on "The Caine Mutiny." Jose Ferrar walks into the last third of the movie and walks out with an Oscar. His speech at the post-trial party is one of the best monologues in film history.

Band of Brothers always has my vote.

knb13 wrote: Band of Brothers always has my vote.

A superb series but episodes 1 and 2 would've made a great feature film on their own.

miwifri wrote:

JeepinMatt wrote: Anyone remember Combat!? (The exclamation point is part of the title) That black and white WW2 tv series from the 60s? Actually pretty real looking, especially for its time.

Yup, I sure do. I think it aired on Wednesdays.

Tuesdays at 7:30pm EST. The series pilot was the best episode. Vic Morrow was great in his signature role (check him out in "Blackboard Jungle"). We would remember him as one of our best actors had it not been for his untimely death.

Oh man, I can watch Patton on replay all day. When he is inspecting the men in the field hospital and bends down to pin the Purple Heart on the wounded soldier, that is possibly one of the most moving moments of any war film I have ever seen.

"The Longest Day" gets another vote from me.

Might I add "Hell In The Pacific" to the list.