All good. One that is kind of forgotten is The Blue Max.
OT: Your favorite, or most appreciated WWII flick ??
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Paths of Glory is Kubrick's most underrated film. Kirk Douglas is amazing, and it does have some parallels to the current situation at Penn State. Though I believe it is a WWI film.
the original uncut version is 293 minutes long. I caught it on Netflix not too long ago (looks like it is gone from streaming)
I was a submariner in the Navy, and became obsessed with the U Boat campaigns of WWII. This film was so meticulously accurate, not only with the technical details, but also with the attitude among many of the officer corps on the UBoats who had an unbridled disdain for Hitler and the Nazi party.
Cross of Iron is an unappreciated delight, vintage Peckinpah!
I also think Force 10 from Navarone gets a little too much undeserved criticism, great WWII film with a remarkable cast (Harrison Ford, Robert Shaw, Edward Fox, Carl Weathers, Richard Kiel, Franco Nero, Barbara Bach)
one of my favorite war movie scenes (ignore the German subtitles!)
have you ever watched The Pacific? Superior series, in my mind.
the storming of Peleliu is every bit as intense as the opening sequence to Saving Private Ryan
Paths of Glory is Kubrick's most underrated film. Kirk Douglas is amazing, and it does have some parallels to the current situation at Penn State. Though I believe it is a WWI film.
It's actually an anti war film. George McCready is excellent as a rat, much akin to Surma, Frazier, and RecTom Corbutt.
Totally agree, great depiction of a true clash of civilizations with the fight to the death, take no prisoners
the conditions under which our Marines fought were just brutal. Surrounded by thousands of enemy troops, low on drinking water, 100+ degree heat . . . they fought for weeks with every ounce of strength they had and never gave up
and the idea that "lower" men had to be sacrificed to protect the reputations of the commanders, who royally f**ked up
Yet, I thought the most powerful scene was Sledge with the dying woman on Okinawa where he found his humanity. One of the most powerful war movie scenes ever.
Great list. Probably wouldn't make my top 10 but I like Von Ryan's Express too... ol' blue eyes Sinatra in the leading role. Regarding Patton, I once landed in Philly after a flight from Paris at about 8PM.... had to go retrieve my infant son at PSU who was staying with grandparents, and return to Philly. I was dragging about 1AM and remembered I had the Patton DVD in my gear from the flight. Put it in the backseat DVR and even though I couldn't see it while driving, the audio kept me going...
Patton, Devils Brigade (I have the $5 coin Canada issued to honor those guys a couple of years ago), Battle of the Bulge. Yes, I realize the latter has historical inaccuracies. But it's a fun flick and the scenes with the German tank commander (Shaw) and his batman were very good. It was one reason we went to Bastogne on one of our European trips.
My best friend (PSU grad too) growing up was German-American. His father served in U-boats during WW II (and then in Korea in the US Army). He did not talk much about his war experiences, except to note, after getting the book from which the movie was made, "that's the way it really was". The movie brought Juergen Prochnow to the attention of US movie folks too (he later played Duke Atriedes in Dune.)
It's really condensed from a German TV miniseries...
For an interesting perspective, watch some of the war movies filmed during the war. Films like "The Commandos Strike at Dawn" and "Reunion in France." Both of these, for example, were released in 1942, well before anyone had any idea of how the war would end.
When I saw the title of the thread, Where Eagles Dare and Dam Busters came to mind as I watched almost all the older war flicks shared in this thread with my late father, a WWII artillery veteran. Another great movie that comes to mind is The Long Gray Line, starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara. This movie focuses on a Irish immigrant, Marty Maher, starting out as a civilian worker and his climb up the ladder as a newly enlisted soldier at West Point
