Favorite Military Movie

[Bamaabiff]

I saw a thread about this in the cadet lounge, and thus thought I would start one here. I am just curious to see what everyone's favorite military movies are. I put this thread in the military history, but that does not mean that the movie has to be historical or even based on a true military event. Just movies with very heavy military-centered themes.

I'll be the guinea pig and throw mine out now:

Battle Related- Saving Private Ryan/ The Patriot/ The Navy Seals/ The Dirty Dozen/ Flags of our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima

Non-Battle Related-A Few Good Men/ Men of Honor/ Top Gun/ An Officer and a Gentleman(don't laugh-I just like Lou Gossett Jr.'s character)/ Rules of Engagement/ Heartbreak Ridge

Comical Military-In the Army Now(Pauly Shore's only really funny movie)/ Stripes

And, also, a movie that goes in both of the top two categories-Full Metal Jacket

[wukong]

As a veteran of 20 years and one who has had a small taste of harms way, I would posit that your choice of movies fit with your id tags.

However from my experience I would add three: Twelve O'clock High, Run Silent, Run Deep and Best Years of Our Lives. The first two as a discussion of leadership and group dynamics and the last for life after a military career.

[Bamaabiff]

As a veteran of 20 years and one who has had a small taste of harms way, I would posit that your choice of movies fit with your id tags.


No, I have never been in harms way in a military sense.

Thank you for your 20 years service.

[Saint Marc]

Harms way, hahahahahah. Yeah I work in harms way and I enjoyed the propaganda films Bama mentioned, just about all of them there John Wayne Poonkong.

I'll add Beau Jest, God's and Generals and and Asia Carrera TM or film that was left in the barracks day room.

All this 1000 yard stare b/s and I was in the schizer talk and war films just don't do it for me talk makes me want to blush. Biff is talking entertainment, not documentaries. Hell you know how many people in the Navy back in the day loved Navy Seals and Top Gun and won't admit it today?

Top Gun for its time had some cool scenes the American public had no clue about until then. Like Tomcats launching and the rolls they could do off the catapult. That movie they said brought in more recruits than the millions used to advertise for college and bonuses.
Navy Seals same thing, the public got to see a dramatized glimpse of what our frogmen sacrafice in personal lives and see some of the everyday stuff they do like VBSS, MOUT training and draggers no one really knew about before.

Hell I even found myself watching Private Ryan though I knew it was bs from the start that a unit would go look for a brother in the middle of a war.
I even watched Rambo and ain't ashamed of it and thought the Asian chcik was hot in Rambo 2. I wanted an Asian chick like her too. I searched Asia for her when I got big. No luck, but I had fun looking. If not for Rambo I wouldn't have learned to shoot a bow so well.
I even liked The Alamo movies.

[MOM]

The Green Berets with John Wayne was on last night about midnight when I
was flipping channels trying to get to sleep. I've seen it a thousand times,
but watched it again last night till the wee hours again. I've always liked that one.

We Were Soldier's is one of my favorites too.

Anything that has Robert Mitchum in a Navy uniform is always a favorite too.
Midway and A Bridge Too Far were some of my favorites, and The Devil's Brigade.

[Redleg]

Marc...for your viewing pleasure

http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh83/RedlegFN/MV5BMTc5Mjg2MzU3MF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTc.jpg

Julia Nickson. Married to actor David Soul

Films that I liked for various reasons:

Go Tell The Spartans.
Dogs Of War.
The Wild Geese.
Das Boot.
Zulu.
A Face Of War.
The Anderson Platoon.

[Saint Marc]

Oh yes Zulu was brilliant as was Zulu Dawn. Wild Geese was great too. Look I see bodies rotting on the road on the way to the office at least monthly and I'm not going into the other things, but I want to give an idea to some who think me an amateur or odd.
I don't have the 1000 yard stare, I don't zone out and gruffly say "I've been in the shit too log". I don't have nightmares and really I rarely dream, or remember dreams and I've been in this particular "Shit" for 3 years. 07 was the most memorable year in the dookie though when I sit here right now recounting those early years.

I was even "detained" by paramilitaries once for about 6 hours, been arrested for mistaken identity, they thought I was a journalist wanting to write something bad about their country and so on. And despite all this, I loved the movie Blood Diamonds even though the main character was way to young to remember Rhodesia and you can actually get diamonds uncut out of Namibia pretty easy and legal, though yes child slavery does get some rocks illegally, but most are mined by adults and some even offshore. I still liked the movie. Lord of War nails hotels and hookers and titles and status in much of Africa to a T, but yes it is bs, but it is interesting bs anyway.

And no mom I don't drink to forget about the bad things I seen or to calm my nerves, I just like the taste of rum and I like getting drunk! I never did drugs or smoked so I figure getting drunk 2 times every other month is just fine at my age.
I learned to drinking the Navy and USMC btw, same place I learned to use the F word liberally, and why the Chiefs all had Asian wives. I got me one of them too. Yep I'm that guy! But I don't have tattoos. I was the GI Joe guy who they lost the stickers to I guess.

Back to movies, Dr. Strangelove helped me love the bomb too. Oh Missing in Action. I never got into the Delta Force flicks Chuck was in, but I liked the dirt bikes. Remember Van Dame? Universal Soldier was a riot in the super market scene. Tora Tora Tora, hey who watched Walkurie? I thought that was cool and done well.

I have some documentaries of the SA Bush Wars that rock too. I should have been born in 65 in SA. Oh well.

[Bamaabiff]

What do you think about the two Eastwood movies I've got listed Marc? The two he directed.

[Saint Marc]

Seen them many times and think he did a great job on them. Even non-Americans and ultra liberals I am with abroad loved those films. Iwo Jima I thought was great just for historical reference. Without these movies Joe Public wouldn't have a clue today about the battles or the men in them. I think they were educational for me anyway.

[PaulR]

My favorite movie is "Downfall". It is a grecent German movie about the final days of the war. Very well written and an accurate portrayal of the personalities involved.

"Black Hawk Down" and the "A Bridge Too Far" are other favorites of mine. I have just about every WW2 movie(foreign and domestic) I know of... I cannot get enough of them. Especially the oldies.

[daves military display]

Kelly's Heroes
The Enemy Below
The Hurt Locker
These are a few of my favorite things

[Redleg]

A couple more in my film library.

The Cross of Iron
The Blue Max
Castle Keep
84 Mopic

[Lee Ragan]

Some of my favorites include:
Gettysburg
Gods & Genarals (I know... lots of people hated this one, but I liked it!)
The Blue Max
The Hunters
Saving Private Ryan
The Alamo (Billy Bob's version)
Tora Tora Tora
Glory
Patton
Sgt. York
Das Boot
The War Lover
A Bridge Too Far
The Battle of Britian
I know I'm forgetting some, but this list will do for now.

[Bamaabiff]

Seen them many times and think he did a great job on them. Even non-Americans and ultra liberals I am with abroad loved those films. Iwo Jima I thought was great just for historical reference. Without these movies Joe Public wouldn't have a clue today about the battles or the men in them. I think they were educational for me anyway.

I agree. I really enjoyed them. I watched them with my grandfather and great uncle, and both of them really enjoyed them. They hated Pearl Harbor, because of the love story. I agree with them.

[Bamaabiff]

Some of my favorites include:
Gettysburg
Gods & Genarals (I know... lots of people hated this one, but I liked it!)
The Alamo (Billy Bob's version)



I forgot about those three Lee. I like them all, especially the Alamo, because I think Billy Bob is pretty accurate in his portayal of Crockett.

[Saint Marc]

I thought Iwo was the best because it showed both sides. The Japanese really were up against a wall. Casualties or not it was obvious the US would prevail from he get go. Every American there had a chance and hope for the future. The Japs, when the Americans landed they knew they had just been sentenced to death. They couldn't surrender, that just wasn't their culture and the battle became a battle of extermination.

Pearl Harbor was a love flick and I liked Wind Talkers too, but the love crap almost made it a Pearl Harbor film. Seriously though Pearl Harbor to me was just not interesting, Midway though was, that was the mother of US Naval battles, that and Leyte Gulf.

But Clint does a great job capturing the human side of soldiers on both sides, something I caught in real life dealing with the Arabs. At the end of the day they just wanted to drink tooth rot tea, eat goat and chicken and worship God in their own obscure way.

[Lee Ragan]

Midway could have been a great war movie, but too much Hollywood hokum like that stupid love story sub plot put in just so chicks would go see the movie. There was also some historical inaccuracy in the movie as well concerning what happened on what day.
Pearl Harbor could also have been MUCH better but they screwed that up so bad, that Tora Tora Tora is still the movie to see about the Pearl Harbor attack. You can't depend on special effects and some silly love story to do a movie on such an epic event.
I haven't seen Clint movies on the Pacific, so I can't comment on those.

[Saint Marc]

The Great Escape! How could I forget. Steve McQueen on the bike tangled in the wire at the end, classic.

[CAPSmith]

I've always enjoyed:

12 O'Clock High
Command Decision
Patton
Midway
The Great Escape
Tora Tora Tora

[txb&b]

In addition to many that have already been mentioned, favorites include The Longest Day and Bridge On The River Kwai.

[MOM]

Oh yes, how could I forget the Longest Day and The Great Escape.
Both are classics.

I had forgotten all about The Wild Geese. I've only seen that one time,
and a long time ago, but I remember it being a really good mercenary
movie. I may have to rent that soon. Richard Burton, Roger Moore,
Stewart Granger, Richard Harris all in the same movie.....back in their prime. :inlove:

[Saint Marc]

Kelley's Heroes
Odd Ball was the bomb and the Burning Bridges by the Mike Curb Congregation was pretty good.

[MOM]

Yeah, I have Burning Bridges playing all the time still.
That's one of my favorite old songs.

[Redleg]

Fix Bayonets
Steel Helmet
A Walk In The Sun
Anzio
The Thin Red Line
Home Of The Brave
Back To Bataan
Red Beach
In Harms Way
The Big Red One
All Quiet On The Western Front

[MOM]

Another good one was The Great Raid.

[Bamaabiff]

I forgot about Crimson Tide and Uncommon Valor.

[C.A.P. Flight Officer]

A few of my favorites include (and I am sure im leaving out a few) :

Kelly's Heroes
The Enemy Below
Saving Private Ryan
Bridge On The River Kwai
Patton
Sgt. York
Tora Tora Tora
The Battle of Britian
The Great Escape
Patriot
The Dirty Dozen

Most everyone mentioned these already.

[Collo]

Like many those posted before; several of them are great classics.

I must add though:
The Dambusters
To Hell and Back
Breaker Morant
Gallipoli


Collo

[Lee Ragan]

A couple I'd forgotten are:
The War Lover
The Sand Pebbles
Both Steve McQueen at his best. Even tho Sand Pebbles wasn't actually a war movie, it was a good one about the between -the -wars Navy in China. McQueens portrail of your old typical lifer that just tries to do his job and avoid the military B.S. is great. He plays the war-psyco in the War Lover which along with 12 O'Clock High are the best two movies about the strategic bombing of Germany.

[SGM]

I was privlaged this past week to watch "TAKING CHANCE". It was a very good movie, done very well, and no political motives.

I highly recommend everyone take the time to watch this movie.

[Drill for life]

I was privlaged this past week to watch "TAKING CHANCE". It was a very good movie, done very well, and no political motives.

I highly recommend everyone take the time to watch this movie.

Great movie Sergeant Major, you don't see that side of people anymore. I'm not necessarily a tough guy but I have to admit I shed a couple tears when I watched that movie (but no one in my JROTC class saw it hopefully).

[kil-art]

I guess its more of a miniseries than a movie, but I didn't see anyone mention Band of Brothers. I suppose it deserved a mention in this thread.

[Sandbagger]

I recently bought "The Hurt Locker" and was impressed. A lot of the FOB details brought back memories for me.

[-BuLL-]

I guess its more of a miniseries than a movie, but I didn't see anyone mention Band of Brothers. I suppose it deserved a mention in this thread.

Not completely on topic, but my cousin met Doc Rowe not too long ago, because his wife is from Arkansas. He is completely different than in the movie. He's actually british with a thick accent. Kinda funny

[O.O.O.]

I've been kind of following this thread. Some movies were mentioned that I had forgotten all about. But I noticed very few comedies were mentioned - all serious stuff. Any of you guys see any comedies about the military that you liked? I'll start it off with No Time for Sargeants. That one kinds of dates me, I guess.

[Bamaabiff]

I've been kind of following this thread. Some movies were mentioned that I had forgotten all about. But I noticed very few comedies were mentioned - all serious stuff. Any of you guys see any comedies about the military that you liked? I'll start it off with No Time for Sargeants. That one kinds of dates me, I guess.

-{spit:spit} "Hello? {spit:spit} Hello?"

I love that movie.

[AFCadetSteel]

I'm not sure if anyones messed it yet, but Sgt Bilko is one of my favorite military based comedies.

Hilarious movie.

[Bamaabiff]

I'm not sure if anyones messed it yet, but Sgt Bilko is one of my favorite military based comedies.

Hilarious movie.

Sgt. Bilko is a great movie with a great cast. It had Steve Martin, Dan Akroyd, Phil Hartman, and Chris Rock in one of his first ever movie roles.

Another good military comedy is the Top Gun spoof, Hot Shots. I always sit down and watch that movie when it comes on tv.

[MikeNZ]

Not completely on topic, but my cousin met Doc Rowe not too long ago, because his wife is from Arkansas. He is completely different than in the movie. He's actually british with a thick accent. Kinda funny

You sure? Have a look here:

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