So you are having a quiet day, and want to watch a war/history movie. I am thinking there are movies out there that are quite good, but which I am unaware. Assume that for some reason, you don’t want to work on that kit on the bench.
I would watch “Saving Private Ryan”, or start the “Generation Kill” series.
A Bridge Too Far - star studded cast!
The Battle of Britain - great film!
If you’re looking for something a little more fanciful I’d suggest the following:
The Eagle Has Landed - again a star studded cast. Bit of a yarn but fun for sure.
Where Eagles Dare - how could you go wrong with Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood.
So many good flicks come to mind.some familiar,some obscure,not in any particular order
Band of Brothers,Zulu and Zulu Dawn,Kingdom of Heaven.Gettysburg,The Alamo-2004,Blackhawk Down,Andersonville,Patton,The Winter War,Platoon,Das Boot,PT-109,Sharpe Series,Hornblower Series,The Crossing,Hacksaw Ridge,Letters from Iwo,Sahara-both versions.
I’m sure i’m leaving out many of my favorites
Band of brothers or The Pacific are both very well done Tom Hanks and his production team do very thorough research
The Cruel Sea
So many good ones: Cruel Sea, Battle of the River Plate, Battle of Britain, Longest Day, The Man Who Would be King, Kelly’s Heroes, Operation Pacific, Report From the Aleutians, Great Escape, the list is endless.
In Harm’s Way
John Wayne and Kirk Douglas
It’s my all-time favorite.
Band of Brothers hands down.
The Pacific is ok, but I never could bond to any of the characters in that series.
Generation War - this is a foreigh film (spoken in German but does have English subtitles)but tells the story on the German side of WW2. Think Band of Brothers in Germany. A good film to watch.
In Harm’s Way, Midway, Operation Pacific, Run Silent Run Deep, Longest Day, Sands of Iwo Jima, Windtalkers
Can’t remember the title, but modern carrier is transported back to WWII, and just as about to alter the outcome, is returned to the present.
Tough call. So many I enjoy seeing over and over again.
Twelve O’Clock High, God is my Copilot, Air Force, Captains of the Clouds, They Were Expendable, and on and on. Waiting in the DVR right now are Jimmy Stewart in “No Highway in the Sky” and a Japanese movie “The Burmese Harp.” I’m not too tough to please. Especially if the movie is in black and white. Oh yeah, Back to Bataan and Flying Leathernecks.
Tora, Tora, Tora!
Battle of the Bulge - For sure
The Dirty Dozen
The Big Red One
The Great Raid
Hamburger Hill
Band of Brothers / The Pacific
Enemy at the Gates
Behind Enemy Lines
Kelly’s Heros
Just some of my favorites
BoB, for sure!
I watched it as it came out, got the dvd box set and have watched it all on 3 more ocassions…start to finish! That’s a long day!
Gen. War, mentioned by blacksheep, is a good flick. There was another…I believe it was called “The Wild Blue”…“Wild Sky”…something like that. I wanna say it was Chek, or maybe Romanian. It was about a few pilots that escaped and went to join the Eagle Squadron. It’s all subtitles. I watched it twice in a row, 1st time was spent reading, by the second time, I could watch and already knew basically what was being said. Despite the language barrier, I was thoroughly entertained.
Final Countdown,Tomcats dueling Zeroes
Thanks Tojo72, was back in there somewhere, just wouldn’t come out.
When I was in high school (about '69) did a short story for my English class that was close, CV-65 went back in time and was at the surender signing in the Pacific, in place of her namesake, who was under repair.
Many of those mentioned above are favorites of mine along with Dresden, Das Boot, Sink the Bismark, the Dam Busters and 633 Squadron.
Das Boot. The original 3 1/2 hour Epic !
OR…
Monty Python, And The Holy Grail. That’s history … Right??
For a full list of what movies I will sit through, please check my Profile page.
Platoon, Too Late the Hero, Cross of Iron.
The header implies one movie,a tall order considering the topic so I’ll say if one, I’d put on Catch 22. But,following precedent , here’s a few more: for this time of year Merry Christmas,Mr. Lawrence and Midnight Clear. How bout The Light Horsemen,Gallopili, or The Thin Red Line.
“Hamburger Hill” was one of my favorites too!
Everything’s off the Internet via cable for me; don’t “watch” movies more than listen to them in the background, that said here be my current favorites:
→ “Bridge On The River Kwai” (1957) Good for just listening to dialog.
→ “Where Eagles Dare” (1968) Great action scenes, theme music repetition annoying though. Luftwaffe winter aircraft camouflage memorial though wished they’d used actual Luftwaffe unit codes, i.e. “4V” on Ju 52 was Kampfgruppe z.b.V. 9, 106, 172 & Neapel then Transportgeschwader 3, not a night flying training unit.
→ “They Were Expendable” (1945) Truest to actual events than other war films of period. Terrific naval & air attack battle scenes, exciting air & water bomb & shell explosions though timed to go off way to closely to boats, actuals would had blown them apart forthwith. Good use of models, more convincing than those employed “In Harm’s Way” 20 years later. Acting serious & above par for period; pithy film ending scenes, Robert Montgomery’s best film IMHO.
→ “The Lost Batallion” (2001) Also truest to actual events than most WWI Western Front war films since WWII; fast paced Peckenpaugh-ish slo-mo combat action though pick your choice with other films ala “Band of Brothers”, “Saving Private Ryan” when it comes to them. Dialog good though somewhat off from how U.S. soldiers spoke during that period. Very good use of replica period props, including fighting equipment though Flammenwerfer Stosstruppen stuff looked like Blue Rino surplus.
->“Hunde, Wollt Ihr Ewig Leben” (“Stalingrad: Dogs, Do You Want to Live Forever?” 1959 In German) Exceptionally good German produced WWII film; period-believeable acting from German actors good number of which served during WWII, all other films since about Stalingrad hopelessly over-acted IMHO. Excellent use of available military equipment props, including T-34 tanks scenes of which expertly edited in with actual Soviet wartime film footage. Because its in German (with English subtitles) have to watch the film; tank battle scene against the Romanians is especially worth watching.
There are others but don’t have time to list them right now.