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Memorial Day poll - top 10 WW2 movies

Bloodwhiner

Bloodwhiner

Commodore
Commodore
No period in history has had move movies related to it than the Second World War. What are your ten best?

I'll try to compile the selections and put out the forum's top ten list on Memorial Day.

My selections (in no particular order):

Bataan (1943) - one of the best endings to a defeat possible, very rousing
Patton (1970) - a terrific biography of a military genius and flawed individual.
Tora Tora Tora (1970) - perhaps the definitive film of the attack on Pearl Harbor
Das Boot (1981) - claustrophobia on the big screen
Downfall or Der Untergang (2004) - sympathy for Hitler, hardly but you can't help but feel it for the German people being led by this madman.
Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1944) - historically inaccurate but served the purpose of rousing the populace. Terrific propaganda
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - Not all heroes come home to tickertape
Schindler's List (1993) - words still escape me to describe this
Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) - soldiers are soldiers no matter the uniform
Casablanca (1942) - Play it again Sam
 
I am not exactly a war film aficionado, so I don't have as many to draw aupon fro my list. However, my favorites:

The Best Years of Our Lives
Sergeant York
Stalag 17
None but the Brave
Midway
The Enemy Below
Mister Roberts
The Great Escape
Casablanca
Patton
 
Oops..... this is supposed to be for WW2 movies, and I accidentally included one from WW1 - Sergeant York. I come by it honestly, though. That's such a favorite of mine that I tend to think of it almost auromatically when the subjkect of war films is broached.
 
In no order.

Patton
Tora, Tora, Tora
Saving Private Ryan
A bridge to Far
Sahara
The Fighting Seabees
The Dirty Dozen
Stalag 17
The Great Escape
Sands of Iwo Jima
 
No Order:

Patton
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
The Dirty Dozen
Mr. Roberts
Bridge Over River Kwai
Empire of the Sun
The Guns of Navaronne
Tora, Tora, Tora
The Longest Day

special mention : Midway, Kelly's Heroes
 
John Picard said:
Saving Private Ryan
A Bridge Too Far
The DI
Click to expand...

The DI was post war. I would add The Enemy Below, in Navy catagory, the Dambusters in Airforce category. Hell is for Heroes in squad combat. 12 O'Clock High for upper command. Patton for the mega production class over The Longest Day.
 
Does "Band of Brothers" count? Because my friends and I have a tradition of watching it every year.

(granted, we watch it every year on Easter Sunday for some reason, but it's a tradition nonetheless)
 
In no particular order:

Patton (intersting how just as Patton overshadowed Omar Bradley, Scott overshadows Karl Malden in the movie)

Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List (these are two of Spielberg's best)

Das Boot (possibly the ultimate submarine movie)

Tora, Tora, Tora (please rent this and not Pearl Harbor!)

Mr. Roberts (great comedy and evidence of the genius that was Jack Lemmon)

Band of Brothers (Wow. Just wow.)

Bridge Over the River Kwai (Alec Guiness rocks in this movie!)

Stalag 17 (a bit of comedy, a bit of suspense, good movie)

Twelve O'Clock High (Gregory Peck is fantastic in this)

Close, but not in the Top Ten:

Enemy at the Gates (Ed Harris. All you need to say: Ed Harris)
Kelly's Heroes (fun, especially for Sutherland's character)
The Dirty Dozen (another fun movie, Sutherland again)
 
Let's see... Otherwise than the first one this is in no particular order.

Amen.
Run Silent, Run Deep
Where Eagles Dare
Kelly's Heroes
The Dirty Dozen
The Longest Day
Patton
The Battle of the Bulge
The Guns of Navarone
Midway
 
The Best Years of Our Lives
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
The Great Escape
Enemy at the Gates
Stalag 17
Casablanca
Das Boot
The Longest Day
The Train

Honorable mention: Life is Beautiful
 
Wasn't there a rather good movie called The Cannonball Express or the Fireball Express? Saw it once late-night and remember being quite impressed with the overall experience but the name , alas, I did not pay attention(I was broke at the time!).
 
Mistral said:
Wasn't there a rather good movie called The Cannonball Express or the Fireball Express? Saw it once late-night and remember being quite impressed with the overall experience but the name , alas, I did not pay attention(I was broke at the time!).
Click to expand...

Von Ryan's Express about the POW escape on the train? Or was the Express you're thinking of about truck drivers in Europe?
 
Das Boot
Der Untergang
Conspiracy
Band of Brothers
The Pianist
Zwartboek
Hotaru no haka
Stalag 17
The Great Escape
Letters from Iwo Jima

Finally a classic that should never be left off a list like this one.

Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS :)
 
Star Wolf said:
Mistral said:
Wasn't there a rather good movie called The Cannonball Express or the Fireball Express? Saw it once late-night and remember being quite impressed with the overall experience but the name , alas, I did not pay attention(I was broke at the time!).
Click to expand...

Von Ryan's Express about the POW escape on the train? Or was the Express you're thinking of about truck drivers in Europe?
Click to expand...

No, it was about a train that carried some kind of elite unit forward quickly. Not sure about much else-I was mainly dazzled by the writing and the cinematography.:cardie:
 
They Were Expendable
Stalag 17
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Das Boot
Twelve O'Clock High
The Great Escape
The Dam Busters
The Longest Day
Patton
The Sands of Iwo Jima


No one's mentioned They Were Expendable. John Ford and John Wayne, can't go wrong there, plus Robert Montgomery had just been a PT boat skipper in real life before playing one in the movie. Even though a lot of movies made during the war were kind of rah-rah propaganda, TWE has a downbeat feel, like the Philippines in 1942 is still a fresh wound. It's on TCM this Saturday (May 23), 5:30 Eastern.

Someone mentioned Band of Brothers, which is terrific of course. Another outstanding tv original is the British ITV mini-series Danger UXB, which was also broadcast on PBS in the early '80s. It follows a squad of Royal Engineers on- and off-duty as they defuse unexploded Luftwaffe bombs around Britain. Produced by John Hawkesworth, who also did Upstairs, Downstairs and some of the '80s Sherlock Holmes series. My wife was skeptical of watching a 13 hour show on bomb disposal, but was absolutely riveted. Nobody in the cast is safe, for sure.

--Justin
 
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