War - it's fantastic!

[Neomod]

As for Das Boot, I think the miniseries is a little bit too padded out. Of course the theatrical version is too cut down. So I think the director's cut, which mixes elements from both, is the best all-round version.

I've got this and it's fantastic. Whenever I watch it I want to play Microprose's Silent Service in a very warm room.

[CaledonianGonzo]

The only one I've seen recently - War Horse aside, which I liked a lot - was Lebanon, which seemed suitably grim and grimy and "war is hell"-y, but it's a small, claustrophobic, personal movie and so should be approached with that in mind.

And for posterity I'll throw All Quiet on the Western Front into the ring.  And, fuck it, Lawrence of Arabia, cos that's nothing if not a war film.

[chocky909]

Das Boot Directors Cut is available on Bluray at HMV for £4.99.

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=51;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=181408

[derek stitt]

A good war film (Korean), 71 into that Fire

Bad war film(s), anything with Sam Kidd or John Wayne and oh yes, The Battle of the Bulge.

A war film that I have a great fondness for, Stalag 17

All Quiet on the Western front (original, not that one starring John Boy from the Waltons) still stands up today.

Just thought of some more terrible ones, morally and cinematic. Those awful Italian sado masochistic wank fantasies set in concentration camps.

Blimey, I wonder how much time we have all spent watching and enjoying people get fucked over? If I translated  all the war films I have watched into takeaways eaten. I think I would be the same size as Mr Creosote before his drastic weight loss.

[Ginyard]

Das Boot Directors Cut is available on Bluray at HMV for £4.99.

http://hmv.com/hmvweb/displayProductDetails.do?ctx=51;-1;-1;-1;-1&sku=181408

Thanks for the heads up. I had it in my amazon basket for double that price.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

A good war film (Korean), 71 into that Fire

I've been very disappointed with most of the Korean war films I've seen (including 71).  Perhaps it's simply a different temperament, but I've always felt they were too low on plot and too high on melodramatic sentiment.  It's a shame because there is an awesome story waiting to be told of the Korean war, it is a really extraordinary conflict. 

Brotherhood is pretty good though.

Has anyone seen City of Life and Death?  It has to rank up there with Come and See as one of the most gruellingly unpleasant war movies ever made - yet at the same time is starkly beautiful.  No movie could ever truly capture the full horror of what happened to Nanking[nb]cutting the babies from the bellies of mothers, burying people alive, setting others on fire...  the soldiers had been taught to view the residents as sub human, and treated them as such without restraint.[/nb], but this film makes a fair stab at it.

[Desi Dubs Dallas]

Heads up for 9th Company

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2uxDTgzgQg

[Cohaagen]

Was the thread title supposed to be a Hot Shots! Part Deux quote or is that a happy accident?

I was thinking of Miguel Ferrer when I posted it, yes.

I thought the TV movie, "An Ungentlemanly Act", about the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, was rather good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134178/

There's also "Went the day well" (1942) which is pretty enjoyable, although not based on true events. The premise is a little like "The Eagle has landed", in so much as it features an English village being infiltrated by German commandos.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035429/

An Ungentlemanly Act is an excellent BBC TV movie with two great performances from Ian Richardson and Bob Peck. It used to be up on YouTube in its entirety but, naturally, it got pulled down. Very, very authentic - they got the Marine-speak, technical details, and historical matters just right. Shame they didn't have the budget to film the South Georgia invasion though, where a handful of marines took on an Argentine corvette with machine-guns and rocket launchers.

If you liked Went The Day Well?, you might enjoy It Happened Here, a zero-budget speculative look at Britain under Nazi occupation filmed over the course of eight years by a couple of teenagers. A lot of the sets were actually real bomb-sites still left over from the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Happened_Here

The only one I've seen recently - War Horse aside, which I liked a lot - was Lebanon, which seemed suitably grim and grimy and "war is hell"-y, but it's a small, claustrophobic, personal movie and so should be approached with that in mind.

That's the one that uses the conceit of being filmed entirely from inside the tank, yeah? I've been meaning to get round to watching that. It's higher up on the list than Waltz With Bashir, which I've heard mixed things about.

All Quiet On The Western Front is a magnificent film, and that end shot/scene is one of the finest in cinema history. That said, I'd love to see an adaptation of In Stahlgewittern/Storm Of Steel, but it's unlikely due to its apolitical tone and refusal to commit to an anti-war message. Basically Junger, a volunteer, had quite a good time during WWI, despite multiple wounds. He certainly did a lot of boozing: I read it again recently and there's barely a page where he's not putting away some Schnapps, beer, homebrew, or cherry brandy. Essentially it's a drinking memoir interrupted by the need to occasionally go out and fight a war.

I was thinking of Francois Truffaut's famous line about it being impossible to make an anti-war film, because movies always make it end up look exciting, and how true that observation is. Even when watching Idi i Smotri/Come And See - yes, I did ponder on the awfulness of the situation the civilians of Soviet states found themselves in, but I also thought how fucking rad it would have been to be in an Einsatzkommando, spending the war killing and raping with impunity. The use of live ammunition, real high explosives (instead of Hollywood gasoline blasts), and genuine war leftovers only heightens that feeling for the committed, affectless war nerd.

[Cohaagen]

I've got this and it's fantastic. Whenever I watch it I want to play Microprose's Silent Service in a very warm room.

Years ago I used to spend a whole day playing Silent Hunter 3 (with the awesome GWX mod[nb]http://www.thegreywolves.com[/nb]) on ultra-high realism settings, with occasional breaks to watch an episode of Das Boot and munch hot dogs with mustard and onions.

[Dead kate moss]

I was thinking of Francois Truffaut's famous line about it being impossible to make an anti-war film, because movies always make it end up look exciting, and how true that observation is.

Struggling to think of an exception, it's not a movie but Blackadder Goes forth is set during a war and doesn't make it seem any place you'd want to be. What about the one based on Spike Milligans memoirs, I've not seen it. Not many WW1 movies are there? What other wars have few/no movies set during them? The Crimea?

[Cohaagen]

The Crimean War has at least two versions of The Charge of the Light Brigade. The first one, starring Errol Flynn, famously inserted a fabricated plot involving an evil Indian prince and has one of the most thrilling battle scenes of any B&W movie ever filmed - notoriously, more horses were killed during its production than in the actual battle. The Sixties update features David Hemmings and is basically a Vietnam/anti-war/anti-aristocracy allegory. Much more accurate and not much fun, but it still makes the uniforms look very sexy

[Santa's Boyfriend]

If you liked Went The Day Well?, you might enjoy It Happened Here, a zero-budget speculative look at Britain under Nazi occupation filmed over the course of eight years by a couple of teenagers. A lot of the sets were actually real bomb-sites still left over from the war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Happened_Here

Oh yes!  I'd forgotten about It Happened Here.  A really brilliant film, I've often wondered how they got away with goose stepping army scenes with London landmarks behind them.  Perhaps they just went and did them without asking anyone.  Strongly recommended, and stands up well on its own regardless of its budget constraints.

One of my favourite French movies is Army of Shadows, which is available on DVD and there's a Criterion version available on Blue Ray in the US.  A brilliant film, it portrays the nature of the French Resistance during 1942, the darkest days of the resistance - where they were essentially being wiped out.  It's a road movie as much as anything, no driving plot or maguffins, just the ongoing battle and the knowledge that few if any will survive to see peace.  Made by Jean-Pierre Melville, who was himself active in the resistance.  Apparently the film was forgotten for several decades due to not getting a wide release or something, but was rediscovered a few years ago at a film festival and is now hailed as a masterpiece.

[Cohaagen]

A couple of interesting if not particularly in-depth documentaries on a subject I've mentioned a number of times on here: the confluence of the entertainment business and the military-industrial world. Beginning with Top Gun in the Eighties, it's a phenomenon which is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly in big-budget movies (eg. Battleship), but also TV shows (Future Weapons, anything on Discovery) and video games (Full Spectrum Warrior, America's Army, etc).

Hollywood and the War Machine
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/hollywood-war-machine/

Militainment, Inc. – Militarism and Pop Culture
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/militainment-inc/

[CaledonianGonzo]

That's the one that uses the conceit of being filmed entirely from inside the tank, yeah? I've been meaning to get round to watching that. It's higher up on the list than Waltz With Bashir, which I've heard mixed things about.

That's the one - worth a goosey, I'd say, as is Waltz With Bashir, which is probably less a war movie than a treatise on memory and on the personal ramifications of conflict.  The ending of the latter knocked my socks off.  One of the most powerful denouements I've ever seen and a incredible use of cinema.

[thepuffpastryhangman]

Isn't The Hill supposed to be ok? Not seen it in decades myself, just sayin' like. Though I recall it being pretty powerful when I was a nipper. That's it, I've convinced myself to check it out. Not noticed it being on TV remotely recently, maybe it's due.

[Gulftastic]

I didn't even know of The Hill's existance until I chanced upon ito n TCM about three years back, but was very impressed. A cracking film with some great performances, not least from Connery.


It seems to be very rarely on TV.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Yep, The Hill is very good. Tigerland covers similar themes and is also good.

[Stone Cold Jane Austen]

Yep. The Hill is fantastic, an all-time favourite of mine. Highly underrated, as is FailSafe, which Cohaagen mentioned in his original post. Both of them classic Sidney Lumet pot-boilers.

I'm not sure if it's really a war film, more a war-ish film, but Southern Comfort is a cracking movie. One I keep going back to. It's a sort of cross between Deliverance and Predator. It's ace.

[Santa's Boyfriend]

I'd love to see a predator playing a banjo.

[Famous Mortimer]

As no-one else has picked up on the excellent thread title, I'll nominate "Hot Shots - Part Deux" as one of the great war films.

[Neomod]

I'll drop Who Dares Wins in for a laugh, not really a war film (counter terrorism), but stupid fun anyway. Very stupid.

Such a quotable film and very much of it's time. "You're a confident bastard aren't you"

What is Lewis Collins doing now?

I thought Letters from Iwo Jima was pretty good

Didn't this bomb at the box office? I loved it, one of Clint's best for me.

[Harpo Speaks]

but I also thought how fucking rad it would have been to be in an Einsatzkommando, spending the war killing and raping with impunity. The use of live ammunition, real high explosives (instead of Hollywood gasoline blasts), and genuine war leftovers only heightens that feeling for the committed, affectless war nerd.

You have a serious problem.

Anyway, I support the recommendation of Waltz with Bashir, and would additionally like to add in a nomination for Top Secret!, which I feel is an unfairly underrated part of the ZAZ filmography.

[derek stitt]

For those who have not seen, Went the day well, watch it because among other things it stars a highly fragrant, Thora Hird.

Could anyone please help me with the title of a war film? The film is in Italian and it is basically about  a group of Italian soldiers on a Greek island. It was on channel four years ago and all I can remember is them cheering on the  sights and sounds of a far away, nighttime, naval battle, us versus them, and the sorrow on the Italians faces when they realise them have been very badly mauled. I also remember bits of it were funny.

In stark contrast, Stalingrad.

[Dead kate moss]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102426/

Mediterraneo?

[Famous Mortimer]

http://www.screenjunkies.com/movies/movie-lists/10-best-italian-war-movies/

It doesn't appear to be any of these, although that list did remind me I ought to watch "Rome - Open City" again.

EDIT: DKM sorts it anyway.

[Blumf]

A couple of interesting if not particularly in-depth documentaries on a subject I've mentioned a number of times on here: the confluence of the entertainment business and the military-industrial world. Beginning with Top Gun in the Eighties, it's a phenomenon which is becoming increasingly prevalent, particularly in big-budget movies (eg. Battleship), but also TV shows (Future Weapons, anything on Discovery) and video games (Full Spectrum Warrior, America's Army, etc).

The Iron Eagle films must be part of that too (and just about pips Top Gun by a few months)
There's also the Delta Force films (again 1986 for the first) if you fancy a more Zionist flavour to your Mil./Ind. propaganda.

Those TV shows are just unashamed sales brochures aren't they. Unbelievable how brazen they are.

[Dead kate moss]

I really want to see Who Dares Wins for how ludicrous and right-wing it is... like I saw a bit of The Professionals the other week and Cowlie is describing the foreign bad guy they might be up against - 'He could be a terrorist who's prepared to die in order kill - like Ghandi!'

[derek stitt]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102426/

Mediterraneo?

That's the baby. Thank you very much.

[Gulftastic]

As no-one else has picked up on the excellent thread title, I'll nominate "Hot Shots - Part Deux" as one of the great war films.

Well, someone did pick up on the title, but I agree about Hot Shots Part Deux.

When people talk of sequels that are batter than their predecessors, it's always the first film I think of.  It has some fantastic gags. 'I want to meet your parents.and pet your dog..' 'My parents are dead Topper, my dog ate them.'

[chris87]

I was thinking of Francois Truffaut's famous line about it being impossible to make an anti-war film, because movies always make it end up look exciting, and how true that observation is.

Another thing is that anti-war films (or other media) that portray the suffering of soldiers can get co-opted by hawks, who take the soldier portrayed as a victim in the film and surreptitiously exchange this status with martyrdom. I think Come and See avoids this to an extent, because it explicitly highlights the extraordinary suffering of the civilian population first and foremost.