War Movies - World War I, World War II, Cold War, and Beyond

[Syaoran Li]

Alright, so I figured I'd start a general discussion thread for this topic since @MrJokerRager brought up the need for a World War II movie discussion thread in the Westerns thread, and I figured I'd also expand the scope to include World War I, Cold War, and more "modern warfare" movies as well. I'm using Cold War as a catch-all term for the various proxy wars of that era like the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Soviet-Afghan War

What would you consider to be your favorites and essential works of the genre? I've got my own list, once again divided into several categories (and sub-categories in the case of World War II) which I'll post later on in the thread.

 

[HeyYou]

Generation Kill, although it's not a movie.

 

[BlackArmada]

I've recently watched the finnish movie Tuntematon Sotilas (2017) aka Unknown Soldier, and i have to say it's pretty good, definitely among the better ones i've watched. It's a relatively faithful adaptation of the novel with the same name, and follows a machinegunner regiment from the beginning of WW2 until 1944 and the Moscow Armistice.

Aside from that I've a soft spot for the old local WW2 movies and series, which wouldn't mean much to anyone not from the Balkans. Definitely recommend watching the early WW2 ones (made in the period of about 1945-1970 or so), they are generally fairly good/realistic, after that there's far fewer good ones, and far far more pure propaganda ones, though there's some propaganda ones even then (like Tobruk (1967))

 

[MrJokerRager]

Some great Russian movies I have seen are White Tiger and Battle for Sevastopol. Amazon Prime also had the Stalingrad movie but haven't seen it yet.

A recent American movie I saw was Overlord, great adaption of what a Nazi Zombies movie ought to be. Also didn't know one of the guys was Kurt Russell's son since he looked kinda familiar. I watched it right after watching the escape from LA and NY movies.

And saw some 1970s movie about how the Brits fucked up hard in Operation Market Garden.

 

[The Shadow]

My favorites tend to be older. For the lower level view the Universal adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front is impressive, aided in authenticity by the fact that a good number of the crew were German and Austrian veterans.

The Longest Day is great in its broad view of the operation and I appreciate that it actually has Germans speaking German to each other and French speaking French. Again, many of its cast and crew members were veterans of the war they were depicting.

It's too bad that there are very few movies about WWII's North African, Italian and Pacific campaigns, especially in the modern day where WWII only happened in France and Germany to Americans.

Patton is more of a character study but I really like it.

And which is the Vietnam movie that plays "Fortunate Son" on the soundtrack? I like that one.

 

[Ahriman]

"Das Boot", the director's cut, is 3 and a half hours long. Definitely a must. If you haven't watched it, set aside some time and use a good sound system, it's fantastic.

"Master and Commander" is absolute peak naval kino. Same as with "Das Boot", use a good sound system or headphones, the audio engineering in that movie is exquisite.

"Apocalypse Now" along with "Platoon" are peak Vietnam kino.

"Come and See" is another great movie.

 

[Just A Butt]

I always say this but it remains true:

Full Metal Jacket is a perfect film.

 

[Boris Blank's glass eye]

A Bridge Too Far, Band of Brothers, Battle of the Bulge, Das Boot, Dirty Dozen for WW2. Kelly's Heroes as a wildcard, since that's more of a heist movie in a WW2 setting. Fury's fun, but a bit too dramatized. I haven't seen Dunkirk yet.

For Vietnam, the usual, I guess. FMJ, the Oliver Stone trilogy, and We Were Soldiers for an alternative take, however sappy or didactic some parts of it can be. I consider Apocalypse Now a re-telling of Heart of Darkness in a Vietnam setting, instead of a proper Vietnam movie.

There are less WW1 movies, but All Quiet on the Western Front is an essential watch.

Also Zulu, Beast of War, and 9 Rota, though the last is definitely overdramatized.

And saw some 1970s movie about how the Brits fucked up hard in Operation Market Garden.

That was A Bridge Too Far. Probably.

 

[MrJokerRager]

I bought the Blu-ray for the directors cut of tropic thunder and it's the greatest parody of the 2000s.

There also is the Hotshots series based on the Gulf War, Rambo and Top Gun.

 

[Ahriman]

Speaking of 'Nam movies, there's also "Danger Close", that's based on the battle of Long Tan, where a small group of Aussie Special Forces were pinned down by a ton of VC in some piece-of-shit rubber tree plantation, during a downpour, it was absolutely miserable.

A documentary with the real Aussie SF soldiers is narrated by Sam Worthington, definitely worth a watch.

And here's the movie trailer.

It's a lesser known part of the Vietnam war that the Aussies and Kiwis were a part of it very early in the conflict, and when shit really hit the fan, US Marines got their asses saved by Aussie SF, and are held in quite high regard.

 

[L50LasPak]

Kelly's Heroes and Cross of Iron are two of my absolute favorites. Concidentally they were both made with the friendly participation of Jadran Film and shot on location in Croatia. Most of the equipment used in both movies is actually left over from WW2, albeit post-war upgraded. Which in my opinion is still close enough. This means in Cross of Iron you get to see a real T34 tearing shit up, and a lot of the small arms are fairly accurate to the era. They had to build the Tigers in Kelly's Heroes over the T34s though since getting a functional Tiger at the time would have probably cost more than the movie. The attention to detail on the fake Tigers is extremely convincing though, I challenge anyone who isn't a history nerd to spot the difference.

The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen are both great in their own way, but they're more pulpy than gritty. Typical 60s war flicks.

Bataan is a WW2 movie made during WW2 (1943). In addition to the novelty its also a pretty good war flick. We're also putting it up this Sunday if you guys want to check it out.

To Hell and Back is worth a watch for war nerds. Its about Medal of Honor winning badass Audie Murphy and is based on his autobiography. Starring big name Hollywood actor... Audie Murphy. Yeah. Its a little slow in parts but that final scene where he's on the machinegun was actually the basis for Rambo. The book, not the movies. That's how far back this movie goes.

As a last note, I'm going to say that while I haven't gotten around to seeing the original, I actually don't mind the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front. Its low budget and has some occasional cringe dialogue, but overall I thought it maintained a pretty good atmosphere and there are some scenes I really like. That said, the original has been a hole in my library for a long time.

 

[Empty]

Some great Russian movies I have seen are White Tiger and Battle for Sevastopol. Amazon Prime also had the Stalingrad movie but haven't seen it yet

Battle for Sevastopol is worth watching, but Stalingrad (I assume you're meaning the one directed by Bondarchuk) is horrible in terms of acting, direction and historical accuracy. Generally, it was another attempt by Russian liberals to make the Nazis look like "not so bad guys", which is a huge disrespect towards Soviet veterans. Watch "Fortress of War" (2010, also known as "The Brest Fortress") instead, it's a superb movie in every aspect.

 

[Ahriman]

The Polish movie "Katyn" is another great one, highly recommended.

It's about the Katyn forest massacre of 1940.

The scenes where they are mass executing the Polish army officials are absolutely brutal.

 

[The Shadow]

Kelly's Heroes and Cross of Iron are two of my absolute favorites. Concidentally they were both made with the friendly participation of Jadran Film and shot on location in Croatia. Most of the equipment used in both movies is actually left over from WW2, albeit post-war upgraded. Which in my opinion is still close enough. This means in Cross of Iron you get to see a real T34 tearing shit up, and a lot of the small arms are fairly accurate to the era. They had to build the Tigers in Kelly's Heroes over the T34s though since getting a functional Tiger at the time would have probably cost more than the movie. The attention to detail on the fake Tigers is extremely convincing though, I challenge anyone who isn't a history nerd to spot the difference.

The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen are both great in their own way, but they're more pulpy than gritty. Typical 60s war flicks.

Bataan is a WW2 movie made during WW2 (1943). In addition to the novelty its also a pretty good war flick. We're also putting it up this Sunday if you guys want to check it out.

To Hell and Back is worth a watch for war nerds. Its about Medal of Honor winning badass Audie Murphy and is based on his autobiography. Starring big name Hollywood actor... Audie Murphy. Yeah. Its a little slow in parts but that final scene where he's on the machinegun was actually the basis for Rambo. The book, not the movies. That's how far back this movie goes.

As a last note, I'm going to say that while I haven't gotten around to seeing the original, I actually don't mind the remake of All Quiet on the Western Front. Its low budget and has some occasional cringe dialogue, but overall I thought it maintained a pretty good atmosphere and there are some scenes I really like. That said, the original has been a hole in my library for a long time.

Funny thing about To Hell and Back, reportedly several documented events were cut because no one at the studio thought the audience would believe it.

Murphy was just that badass.

 

[Syaoran Li]

A list of both my personal picks and some genre essentials, including TV shows and miniseries in addition to movies. Keep in mind that some of them are merely titles that I personally like but aren't beloved essentials of the genre.

World War I
1917
All Quiet On The Western Front
Flyboys
War Horse
Nicolas and Alexandra
Battleship Potemkin

World War II - Western Front
Saving Private Ryan
Patton
The Dirty Dozen
Dunkirk
A Bridge Too Far
Band of Brothers
Fury
Combat!
Kelly's Heroes

World War II - North African Front and the Italian Campaign
To Hell and Back
The Devil's Brigade
The Big Red One
Patton
Desert Commandos
Commandos
Casablanca

World War II - The Pacific Theater
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Midway (both versions)
The Pacific
Bridge Over The River Kwai
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Grave of the Fireflies

World War II - Eastern Front
Enemy at the Gates
Stalingrad
Battle for Sevastopol
Downfall
White Tiger

World War II - The Atlantic Front
Das Boot
U-571

World War II - The Holocaust, War Crimes, POW's, Extreme Films, The Gulag and Exploitation
Schindler's List
Holocaust (1977 Miniseries)
Jakob The Liar
Hogan's Heroes
The Great Escape
Ilsa, She-Wolf Of The SS
Gestapo's Last Orgy
Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom
Men Behind The Sun
Gulag

Cold War - Vietnam War
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
The Green Berets
Born On The Fourth of July
Apocalypse Now
Tour of Duty
The Deer Hunter
The Last Hunter
Rambo First Blood Part II
Delta Force Commando
Strike Commando
Strike Commando 2
Heaven & Earth

Cold War - Soviet-Afghan War
Rambo III
Charlie Wilson's War
The 9th Company

Cold War - Other Conflicts
M*A*S*H (Korean War)
Entebbe (Arab-Israeli Conflict)
Operation Thunderbolt (Arab-Israeli Conflict)
Game for Vultures (Rhodesian Bush War)
The Delta Force (Counter-Terrorism/Middle East)

Gulf War, Yugoslav Wars, and Post-Cold War
Three Kings
Black Hawk Down
Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Captain Philips

The War On Terror
Generation Kill
The Hurt Locker
American Sniper
Lone Survivor

Alternate History, Weird Wars, Military Horror, Sci-Fi, and World War III
Inglorious Basterds
Red Dawn
Threads
Mad Max
Forced Entry
Overlord
Hellsing Ultimate
Dog Soldiers
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Dead Snow
Princess of Mars
Commando
The A-Team (TV Series)

Humor In Uniform
Down Periscope
In The Army Now
Inchon
Hot Shots!
Hot Shots! Part Deux
Major Payne
Sgt. Bilko
Kelly's Heroes
Inglorious Basterds
M*A*S*H
Hogan's Heroes


A few titles do repeat if the categories overlap enough and I'll admit a lot of my picks are sort of focused on an American perspective. M*A*S*H is listed and includes both the TV show and the movie

I was going to include a lot of the Nazisploitation titles in the Weird War category, but there's enough of them to form a subgenre of its own so I included it as part of a category with Holocaust movies and POW movies, as well as the the two infamous titles that are closest things we got to Nazisploitation for Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan (Salo and Men Behind The Sun)

I included Nicolas and Alexandra although most of the movie is set before WWI because it's one of my favorite epics, and World War I plays a major role in the later part of the film, since it's the thing that really kicks off the Russian Revolution and the first Mad Max is also included since it's implied to be set during the "Home Front" of Australia during World War III. Inchon is included in the comedy section because it's so bad it becomes hilarious.

 

[Battlecruiser3000ad]

All I'd've mentioned were already listed by others, but recently I saw and liked the 2019 Russian 'Rzhev'. It's about a small battle (mostly in 1 village) during the Rzhev meat grinder of 42-43.
It's much better rated in my neck of woods than on IMDB so I guess it won't be everyone's cup of tea.

 

[Karl der Grosse]

Gettysburg, for the Civil War. It's a masterpiece. Don't bother with Gods and Generals, it's terrible.

 

[Feline Supremacist]

I like all these recs but I'm going to add Silencio en la nieve. a Spanish film about the Blaue Division on the Eastern Front. The protagonist is looking for a murder suspect and since he's a detective in civilian life he's assigned the task,. He tracks the suspect to Krasny Bor (I think, it's been a few years since I saw it). It's a good film with a murder mystery twist about Spanish volunteers in the Wehrmacht. Here's the trailer:

 

[Ahriman]

Honorable mention to "The Hunt for Red October". Pretty much all of Tom Clancy's work, really.

Also, "Crimson Tide".

Top Gun.

To this day nothing tops that intro, it's pure military kino.

Tony Scott will always be the fucking man. F you sweet prince.

 

[NeroRisotto]

I like to say fuck China for the lack of Korean War movies. The Battle of Chosin Reservoir is a story that needs to be told.