War Flixs

One of my New Years Resolutions this year was to watch some old War Movies. I've scene most of the big war movies made since 1980 and some of the classics from the 60's and 70's. In the last couple of weeks I've been fighting a cold so I've watched a lot of movies: Kelly's Heros, Paths of Glory, Red Badge of Courage, Luther, A Farewell to Arms and All Quiet on the Western Front.

My two favorite war movies of all time would be Apocalypse Now and Platton. However, the battle scenes in the Vietnam movies seem more like playing paintball compared to the intense epic battle scenes of trench warfare in WW1 movies.

Here's a list of some the War Movies rated 4 or higher on Netflixs. I've scene about 75% of the movies listed here. Casablanca, The Great Escape, Stalag 17, The Dirty Dozen, Mr. Roberts, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bridge on the River Kwai, To Have and Have not, Ugetsu, The Blue Max, The Fighting Sulivans, The Guns of Naverone, Operation Pacific, To Hell and Back, Were Eagles Dare, Battle of Brittian, Battleground, A Bridge to Far, The Flying Leather Necks, Sahara, So Proudly we Hail, 30 seconds over Tokyo, 3 Came Home, Dear Hunter, Saving Private Ryan, The Great Escape, We Were Soldiers, Mrs Miniver, Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War, The Best Years of our lives, Downfall, Flags of Our Fathers, Hunt for Red October, In Harms way, Forbidden Game, Patton, Zulu, Action in the North Atlantic, Enemy at the Gate, They were expendable, Gallipoli, Heartbreak Ridge, Braveheart, Platoon, Kingdom of Heaven, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket

Are there any war flixs you would recommend?

If you haven't seen Letters From Iwo Jima I suggest you do so. Also watch Das Boot if you haven't seen it. It's my favorite war film of all time.

And it would be infinitely more helpful if from that list of films on Netflix you point out which ones you HAVE seen, so that we just don't keep recommending stuff you've seen.

Theres always stuff like Glory, The Patriot, We Were Soliders, etc if you're in to American history at all.

I recommend Jarhead (Sam Mendes, Germany/USA, 2005).

If you want something a little different with a nice sense of humour, then there's Ice Cold In Alex (J. Lee Thompson, UK, 1958).

KingPut wrote:

My two favorite war movies of all time would be Apocalypse Now and Platton.

Is this 'Patton' or 'Platoon'? Or are you trying to sneak in 3 movies here?

Not a movie, but Band of Brothers is required watching, if you haven't seen it already.

One that I can add to the already extensive list is The Bridge (Die Brücke). Not your usual war heroics, this is the story of a bunch of teenagers defending an unimportant bridge in smalltown Germany in the last days of WW2. It's gripping stuff.

Another classic I can't see on the lists is Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron , the best WW2 movie I'd seen before the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan blew me away.

Bullwinkle wrote:

KingPut wrote:

My two favorite war movies of all time would be Apocalypse Now and Platton.

Is this 'Patton' or 'Platoon'? Or are you trying to sneak in 3 movies here?
Not a movie, but Band of Brothers is required watching, if you haven't seen it already.

Platoon or I guess I was trying to sneak in 3 movies. I did like Patton. Band of Brothers is an excellent suggestion. I haven't scene the whole series so I plan on renting it this year.

Some of the war movies I've scene: Casablanca, The Great Escape, Stalag 17, The Dirty Dozen, The Bridge on the River Kwai, To Have and Have not, The Guns of Naverone, A Bridge to Far, Sahara, The Longest Day, Dear Hunter, Saving Private Ryan, The Great Escape, We Were Soldiers, Flags of Our Fathers, Hunt for Red October, Patton, Enemy at the Gate, Gallipoli, Heartbreak Ridge, Braveheart, Platoon, Kingdom of Heaven, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket.

I haven't scene: Ice Cold in Alex, Cross of Iron or The Bridge. Thanks for the suggestions.

Das Boot: I saw that when it came out about 20+ years ago with sub-titles. I'd like to check that out again sometime.

The Thin Red Line, which I hated but which has received a lot of popular and critical acclaim.

Casualties of War, which conversely I regard as seriously underrated.

Hamburger Hill, which I've seen but can't remember anything about - so it can't have been bad but can't have been outstandingly good, either.

In terms of TV Series, have you caught the buzz about the recently released Generation Kill? Likely still time to catch a repeat of the first episode and follow it from there.

For medieval warfare, you could probably do a lot worse than the Kenneth Branagh film adaptation of Henry V.

Ken Loach has done some highly politicised films about civil wars. The most suitable for what you're after is Land and Freedom, but The Wind That Shakes the Barley is also worth your time in spite of being much less directly "war oriented".

I've never seen it, but I can't believe your list from Netflix does not contain The Big Red One.

MattDP wrote:

The Thin Red Line, which I hated but which has received a lot of popular and critical acclaim.

Casualties of War, which conversely I regard as seriously underrated.

In terms of TV Series, have you caught the buzz about the recently released Generation Kill? Likely still time to catch a repeat of the first episode and follow it from there.

As a big fan of David Simon's The Wire , I'm really keen to see this. However, it's almost impossible for me to catch a series every week, and I can't record right now, so I can see me waiting for the DVD on this one.

Three Kings is a good movie that a lot of people overlook.

I'll second Das Boot and add one of my favorites, Lawrence Of Arabia.

Mad Dog wrote:

Three Kings is a good movie that a lot of people overlook.

I'll second Das Boot and add one of my favorites, Lawrence Of Arabia.

Yes. Three Kings confounded my worst expectations of Yankee triumphalism, giving me something I'd essentially thought was impossible: a mainstream Hollywood warflick with adventure, good action scenes and a thoughtful story. Highly recommended!

Definately Das Boot. If you can get it, go for the 3 hour (or so) director's cut. Another one from the same studio is a movie called "Stalingrad", it's about some Germans around Stalingrad.

I would also recommend Letters from Iwo Jima but I'd throw Flags of Our Fathers in with that.

Stay away from Pearl Harbor get Tora! Tora! Tora! instead.

Hell yes on Cross of Iron, Three Kings, and Generation Kill. All very thoughtful stuff.

JMcL63 wrote:

As a big fan of David Simon's The Wire , I'm really keen to see this. However, it's almost impossible for me to catch a series every week, and I can't record right now, so I can see me waiting for the DVD on this one.

Generation Kill is real good. The guy who played Ziggy Sobotka has a major part and is hilarious.