Its time ... WWII movie classics
- Thread starter Nerf Herder
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Raw Toast Man
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I love The Great Escape! Best movie out there
Is "Goodnight Mister Tom" a WWII movie?? That's one of my favourite movies of all time - I quite enjoyed the book too. Most of the other good ones have been mentioned by you other blokes, but there's one I can't remember the title of: It stars Nicholas Cage and it's set on a Greek island during WWII. The Germans and the Italians have control over the area, and it goes through the whole story of the Germans betraying the Italians, etc. Captain Corelli something-or-other I think it's called (Captain Corelli was the lead character played by Cage).
Elbo
pesky scooter kids git off ma lawn
I watched that last week. Very good movie. Just the courage of each pilot and their friendship was amazing. The french lass was pretty good looking too. Highly recommend it, if you're into planes or good stories.
AngoXC
Wheel size expert
Both those movies were set pre-WWII...think 1936 rings a bell. So tensions were high. Still, same era.I'll pay the Indiana Jones flicks ... well two of them anyway ... I still can't work out how he managed to stay alive as a stow away on a Sub though
There was a quiz in the paper years ago...'name 15 modes of travel Indiana uses across all three films...'
Oh, its poetic licence at its best. If you want accuracy, watch the original one (some guy actually followed the real Memphis Belle on its 25th and final mission in a B-25 chase plane and documented it into a film...this is what captured Hollywood)
But you have me started...
I think they did really well in the end. It didnt get any awards or anything but it was certainly nostalgic to have 5 flying B-17s in the one place along with a handful of P-51s and Me-109s in the one place. (though of course, for plane buffs, they used the Spanish Hispano Ha1112...essentially the same airframe with a Merlin engine) One of the airworthy B-17s actually crashed during the making of the movie. No one was hurt but I believe it was the French-owned 'Baby Ruth' which shed a cylinder during filming. It was different in that it didnt just focus on one character but looked into aspects of what each crew member was going through and so on.
AngoXC
Wheel size expert
Haha! They added Jimmy Dolittle's bombing of Tokyo scene at the end just so that American viewers would not think that the US lost the war.
PINT of Stella. mate!
Many, many Scotches
A few from the other side:
Das Boot: Brilliant German 1980's film about a german U-Boat in the North Atlantic. Suspenseful doesn't even begin to describe it. Based on the book of the same name (which incidently I only read a fortnight ago) this was originally a 6 hour miniseries which was cut down for theatrical release. I've yet to check out the full bifter but the film edit is a masterpiece.
Cross of Iron: Gratuitously violent Sam Peckinpah film concerning German Troops on the Russian front. To be honest this was on TV one night after the pub so my memories of the plot are sketchy but I remember it being seriously gritty and brutal. James Coburn was in it.
Letters from Iwo Jima: THe other half of Clint's Iwo Jima double bill. Story of the Japanese defence of Iwo Jima. Lots of hare kiri being committed with grenades.
Downfall: German film about Adolf's last days. Quite a powerful film and the lead actor gave a f***ing scarily good performance that unfortunately went unrecognised at the Oscars (So Hitler's bad, but Idi Amin's good*?)
Other great unmentioned films:
Dark Blue World: 2001 Czech film about 2 guys imprisoned after the soviets took over czechoslovakia after the war because they flew Spitfires for the RAF against the germans in the Battle of Britain. Whilst it's slow moving and a bit heavy at times, the flying scenes in the many flashbacks are so astounding that it's gotta be seen to be believed. If they could remake The Battle of Britain (somehow with the original cast) but use the cinematographer and aerial stunt director from this you'd have the greatest war film ever!
633 Squadron: Bad acting and hollow plot, this is still a bit of a gem. It's a fictional piece about a squadron of Mosquito fighter/bombers who are given a mission to destroy a heavy water plant at the back of a Norwegian fjord. The aerial sequences are brilliant for it's time (1960's) and the actual bombing mission up the fjord is basically what inspired George Lucas to do the canyon run on the death star in Star Wars.
Attack force Z. Actually I was a kid when I saw this so it could very well be a load of shite but it's an aussie film that's not been mentioned (and a damn sight less tedious than Kokoda). It stars a young Mel Gibson and is about commandos killing japs on a remote island. I liked it at the time.
There are dozens more out there but I need to get back to GTA4, I only came up to check my emails. Bloody farkin!
*For the record Last King of Scotland was ace and Forest Whitaker well deserved the nod but for Downfall to get largely ignored (to be fair it got a best foreign language nomination) seems a bit like cutting off ones nose to spite ones face.
Das Boot: Brilliant German 1980's film about a german U-Boat in the North Atlantic. Suspenseful doesn't even begin to describe it. Based on the book of the same name (which incidently I only read a fortnight ago) this was originally a 6 hour miniseries which was cut down for theatrical release. I've yet to check out the full bifter but the film edit is a masterpiece.
Cross of Iron: Gratuitously violent Sam Peckinpah film concerning German Troops on the Russian front. To be honest this was on TV one night after the pub so my memories of the plot are sketchy but I remember it being seriously gritty and brutal. James Coburn was in it.
Letters from Iwo Jima: THe other half of Clint's Iwo Jima double bill. Story of the Japanese defence of Iwo Jima. Lots of hare kiri being committed with grenades.
Downfall: German film about Adolf's last days. Quite a powerful film and the lead actor gave a f***ing scarily good performance that unfortunately went unrecognised at the Oscars (So Hitler's bad, but Idi Amin's good*?
)Other great unmentioned films:
Dark Blue World: 2001 Czech film about 2 guys imprisoned after the soviets took over czechoslovakia after the war because they flew Spitfires for the RAF against the germans in the Battle of Britain. Whilst it's slow moving and a bit heavy at times, the flying scenes in the many flashbacks are so astounding that it's gotta be seen to be believed. If they could remake The Battle of Britain (somehow with the original cast) but use the cinematographer and aerial stunt director from this you'd have the greatest war film ever!
633 Squadron: Bad acting and hollow plot, this is still a bit of a gem. It's a fictional piece about a squadron of Mosquito fighter/bombers who are given a mission to destroy a heavy water plant at the back of a Norwegian fjord. The aerial sequences are brilliant for it's time (1960's) and the actual bombing mission up the fjord is basically what inspired George Lucas to do the canyon run on the death star in Star Wars.
Attack force Z. Actually I was a kid when I saw this so it could very well be a load of shite but it's an aussie film that's not been mentioned (and a damn sight less tedious than Kokoda). It stars a young Mel Gibson and is about commandos killing japs on a remote island. I liked it at the time.
There are dozens more out there but I need to get back to GTA4, I only came up to check my emails. Bloody farkin!
*For the record Last King of Scotland was ace and Forest Whitaker well deserved the nod but for Downfall to get largely ignored (to be fair it got a best foreign language nomination) seems a bit like cutting off ones nose to spite ones face.
AngoXC
Wheel size expert
Thats a great movie! I have seen it and I will agree, plot is pretty hollow.
Anyone mentioned U-571? Epic that one. Submarine movies always make me so tense...must be the enclosed spaces and the pressure of the water on the hull, just waiting to flood/crush the thing like a tin can. You get the same feeling from the movie K-19 as well as any books about subs (SSN, The Hunt For Red October and Hostile Waters to name a few...)
PINT of Stella. mate!
Many, many Scotches
Aw, what a shame You were going so well until you mentioned U-571.
Actually if you can look past the fact that it's a complete crock of horseshitty historical revisionism with the yanks claiming credit for the capture of the Enigma code machine (whereas every keen historian and/or right-minded patriotic Brit knows that it was captured from the Bosch by the Royal Navy - G'or bless'um!), The fact that the machine was captured by a destroyer and not a sub, the presence of an impeccably groomed crew(see Das Boot for a better idea of scummy and cramped life on a sub could be) and the fact that Jon Bon Jovi is in it, you've still got a the makings of an OK war movie that would have been a bit better as a piece of escapism if they hadn't put "Based on True Events" on the poster.
Can't believe I missed those two masterpieces.Das Boot: Brilliant German 1980's film about a gman U-Boat in the North Atlantic. Suspenseful doesn't even begin to describe it. Based on the book of the same name (which incidently I only read a fortnight ago) this was originally a 6 hour miniseries which was cut down for theatrical release. I've yet to check out the full bifter but the film edit is a masterpiece.
Downfall: German film about Adolf's last days. Quite a powerful film and the lead actor gave a f***ing scarily good performance that unfortunately went unrecognised at the Oscars (So Hitler's bad, but Idi Amin's good*?
Ska-quatch
Likes Dirt
Aw, what a shame You were going so well until you mentioned U-571.
Actually if you can look past the fact that it's a complete crock of horseshitty historical revisionism with the yanks claiming credit for the capture of the Enigma code machine (whereas every keen historian and/or right-minded patriotic Brit knows that it was captured from the Bosch by the Royal Navy - G'or bless'um!), The fact that the machine was captured by a destroyer and not a sub, the presence of an impeccably groomed crew(see Das Boot for a better idea of scummy and cramped life on a sub could be) and the fact that Jon Bon Jovi is in it, you've still got a the makings of an OK war movie that would have been a bit better as a piece of escapism if they hadn't put "Based on True Events" on the poster.
Indeed, I used to live just down the road from bletchley park, the place that did the code breaking. They have a couple of engima machines there now, they also had (during the war) the first ever computer, Collosus, which is, as its name would suggest, rather large, taking up a whole room. During the war it was one of the most secret facilitys in britian, the fact it's stll standing s testiment to this. It's a museum now, and from memory the cake was fantastic.
Back on topic, Ice Cold in Alex, is an oldy, but a goodie.
Attachments
Fatman
Likes Bikes and Dirt
I have a massive WW2 video collection but no VCR anymore.
Standouts for me have mostly already been mentioned,
Cross of Iron
Das Boot
The Longest Day
The Young Lions
Saving Private Ryan
Not really a movie but, Band of Brothers is great.
A bridge too far
The Dam Busters
Stalingrad
Enigma
Enemy at the Gates
Battle of Britain
Battle of the Bulge (I seem to remember a few scenes from this one being cut from the Video and DVD releases, especially the part where a boy takes a shot at the German colonel and has his father executed. And where the German impersonating MP's bale up the Colonel in his bunker. Anyone else notice?)
Also does anyone remember the series The Winds of War and War and Rememberance? I'm trying to track them down as I haven't seen them in twenty years and can only remember parts of them.
For entertainment value alone
Kelly's Heroes
Where Eagles Dare
The Guns of Navarone
The Sea Wolves
Force 10 from Navarone
The Dirty Dozen
The bridge at Remagen
The Devils Brigade
Looks like I just listed a great deal of my old collection.
Standouts for me have mostly already been mentioned,
Cross of Iron
Das Boot
The Longest Day
The Young Lions
Saving Private Ryan
Not really a movie but, Band of Brothers is great.
A bridge too far
The Dam Busters
Stalingrad
Enigma
Enemy at the Gates
Battle of Britain
Battle of the Bulge (I seem to remember a few scenes from this one being cut from the Video and DVD releases, especially the part where a boy takes a shot at the German colonel and has his father executed. And where the German impersonating MP's bale up the Colonel in his bunker. Anyone else notice?)
Also does anyone remember the series The Winds of War and War and Rememberance? I'm trying to track them down as I haven't seen them in twenty years and can only remember parts of them.
For entertainment value alone
Kelly's Heroes
Where Eagles Dare
The Guns of Navarone
The Sea Wolves
Force 10 from Navarone
The Dirty Dozen
The bridge at Remagen
The Devils Brigade
Looks like I just listed a great deal of my old collection.
nizai
Likes Dirt
Whenever Battle Of Britain is on telly its an excuse to spend a Sunday afternoon on the couch I reckon.
It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt...
N
It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt, It's an Heinkel, It's a Messerschmidt...
N
Fatman
Likes Bikes and Dirt
You should watch the extras part of the BoB DVD, the dramas they went through to make that film were just incredible. Even the fact that flying formations of German marked and manufactured Spanish aircraft (all with british engines) would upset the locals of many countries 20 years after the war ended. Plane buffs can pick the different models of Spitfires used and the inaccuracies in using the Hispano Messerschmitt and Merlin engined Heinkels. The faults in timing between aircraft strafing and the puffs from bullet strikes on the ground. Much of the movie appears quite dated now but I still love it and watch it often.
Fatman
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It's all good, I love watching the extras and finding out about some of my favourites. Another interesting thing was that Das Boot was shot aboard a real U-Boat in a massive water tank, they couldn't have gotten it right any other way, watching it makes me claustrophobic.
From memory they commissioned the shipyard that made them during the war to build one from scratch, I'll have to check again though as my memory may be a little off, sort of like father Dougall and the spiderbaby.
NCR600
Likes Dirt
BoB (the real one, not the American historical revisionist TV series Band of Brothers) is quite possibly the greatest war movie ever made. There's plenty of innaccuracies, but I'll forgive that, mostly because a real Buchon is better than any number of CGI BF109's.
I'll give props to Dark Blue World as well, despite suffering from the same problems. Still I'd rather see real Spitfires of the wrong mark than historically accurate CGI Spitfires.
It'll be interesting to see how the much talked about and long awaited Peter Jackson remake of "The Dam Busters" turns out. I'm betting it won't be a patch on the original, despite JAckson being a noted Aviation buff. I can't imagine that Hollywood will let the dog's name* stay either.
*Nigger. Very un-PC, but the dog's name WAS Nigger and should stay. This is not a made up story, it's real, and killed lots of people. You can't fuck with stuff like that.
I'll give props to Dark Blue World as well, despite suffering from the same problems. Still I'd rather see real Spitfires of the wrong mark than historically accurate CGI Spitfires.
It'll be interesting to see how the much talked about and long awaited Peter Jackson remake of "The Dam Busters" turns out. I'm betting it won't be a patch on the original, despite JAckson being a noted Aviation buff. I can't imagine that Hollywood will let the dog's name* stay either.
*Nigger. Very un-PC, but the dog's name WAS Nigger and should stay. This is not a made up story, it's real, and killed lots of people. You can't fuck with stuff like that.
Oddjob
Merry fucking Xmas to you assholes
Captain Corellis Mandolin. I put that in the same basket as the English patient. Not really a war movie per se, more a romantic movie set during war.