In Honor of Veterans Day..What are the BEST WAR Movies ever made?

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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on November 14, 2009 at 6:10pm

Hey, Brian, I agree "Flags of Our Fathers" is not as Strong as "Letters from Iwo Jima", but I think they should be viewed as companion pieces ( 2 sides of same coin). I agree the later part with the guys back in the States doing the War Bond tour wasn't as compelling as the scenes on Iwo, but I think Eastwood was trying to convey how each guy dealt with that eternal Q "Why did I Live and not my buddy, and how surreal it was to be back home trying to smile and act like Heroes when they felt like others were more deserving. How does one convey to people back home the Horrors of war? *where is the common ground? how could civilians even comprehend what the soldiers had been through?*

It has been awhile since I saw "Rescue Dawn", but if I recall I thought those Steve Zahn scenes were to convey how hungry, tired, dehydrated Dieter (Christian Bale) was tramping through the jungle trying to escape and get rescued... I thought he was hallucinating, hearing the voice of and seeing Duane (Steve Zahn), lost in the jungle near madness from starvation and fatigue. That's what I got out of it. I'll have to watch that film again.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Wilder on November 14, 2009 at 6:50pm

I did think that maybe that Dieter is hallucinating. My problem is that it happened and ended so spontaneous that it took me out of the movie. It's like the director wanted to add in a another subplot of Dieter hallucinating, but then decided to scrap the idea, but kept those scenes in just for laughs.

Those scenes, I think, could have been longer, to really show you Dieter's condiction. The way it was handled, I felt it mess up the flow of the film.

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Permalink Reply by superkavi on November 13, 2009 at 3:27pm

its not a film its a documentry but it still counts (at least for me)

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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on November 14, 2009 at 6:13pm

Hey, superkavi, thanks for sharing this! WOW! Was this a BBC documentary or something? Looks powerful, sad to think the contributions of THOUSANDS can go Forgetten!

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Permalink Reply by Butters on November 14, 2009 at 2:11am

war movies suck
that said I've only Glory, Letters From Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, 300, and some of Apocalypse Now (until I got bored as hell).
The only decent war movies are foreign.

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Permalink Reply by Berko on November 14, 2009 at 2:17am

Even Platoon?

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Permalink Reply by Butters on November 14, 2009 at 2:19am

did not see it, I just revised my sentence. But I am not going to see Platoon because I have not been impressed with what I've seen

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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on November 14, 2009 at 6:20pm

Hey, Butters, thanks for your 2 cents. War movies do SUCK (esp. when they are done RIGHT!). They can tell of the insanity & Horrors of war. Which version of "Apocalypse Now" did you see original or redux,
you know what skip that! I think BOTH would have bored you, but seriously "which" Foreign war movies
are you refering to as the "decent" ones? *Really want to know, to check them out*

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Permalink Reply by thepropayne on November 14, 2009 at 9:13pm

I always though that Legends of the Fall portrayed WW1 in a top notch way.

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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on November 16, 2009 at 11:18am

Hey, thepropayne, thanks for commenting. You know, I was commenting to a friend, how much of a "pilferer, rip-off artist...oops! Excuse me! "Miner of Pop Culture" Quentin Tarantino is, and the second
I saw the trailer for "Inglorious Basterds" I thought.. "Huh!.. that Aldo Ray seems an AWFUL LOT like Brad Pitt's character "Tristan" in "Legends of the Fall", where in WWI Tristan learns of little brother Samuel's (Henry Thomas) death at the hands of the Germans, Tristan goes berserk, sworn on vengeance he sneaks out every night goes behind enemy lines and scalps the Germans to the disapproval of the officers in charge of Tristan. I thought at the time. what a BAD ASS, it'd be cool to see this character explored further, someone the Germans were afraid of. thanks, again.

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Permalink Reply by Ozma of Oz on November 15, 2009 at 12:12am

Flag of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima are two of my all time favorite movies. I know the second World War was evil and horrible but I enjoy watching movies about that. I don't know why. Also, I really adore Jakob the liar. Its about a man (played by Robin Williams) who lives in a concentration camp and makes up lies to help keep people's hope up.

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Permalink Reply by Gojira Boy on November 16, 2009 at 11:32am

Hey, Ozma of Oz, thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. I agree the 2 Eastwood films *I feel* need to be viewed back to back *not unlike "Jean de Florette" & "Manon of the Spring"* to see the 2 flip sides of the same coin. Poweful films! *although I feel "Letters" being the stronger of the 2*
Although, "Jakob the Liar" is a moving performance by Robin Williams, I feel "Life is Beautiful" is a stronger film about hope in the face of adversity & the horrors of war, and what lenghts a parent would go to for the sake of their child. Thanks again for commenting.

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