Favourite/least Favourite Movie

(spidge @ Nov 11 2005, 11:21 AM) [post=41457]
The relics of war are still evident in what was hell on earth. The Japanese here were as brutal a foe as anyone would ever see.
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I completely agree and it sticks in my craw that the Japanese have NEVER EVER apologised to the vanquished countries or the veterans for their treatment of prisoners or civilians. A statement of regret is just not enough.

 

(jimbotosome @ Nov 10 2005, 12:15 PM) [post=41430]Kiwi,

That's an interesting view you have there. It is shared by anyone?
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Yes. Read the books of Geoffrey Perret, Robin Neillands, Gordon Corrigan, and Denis Whitaker.

 

Best film: Cross of Iron. I know it's fiction but no Yanks or Brits! Ice Cold in Alex-except the Land Rover at the end.
British TV in the 1960's had a lot of Polish/Czech films I remember but can't name them, mainly about the ghetto - they were quite good, but then again most things seem better in hindsight, even British TV.

Least-liked: Most of the Hollywood gendre super mega buck movies. Though the first 15 minites of Gladiator is OK. Can't stand Patton.

TTFN
Roger and out

 

Band of Brothers is amazing and Saving Private Ryan is alright. Can't say I have seen many good ones other than that, a lot of no-name ones with bad acting. images/smilies/default/tongue.gif

 

band of brothers, saving private ryan, downfall,all good.

battle of the bulge, the great raid no

 

I loved "633 Squadron" and "Reach for the Sky". "The Dambusters" is pretty good, also. "Cockleshell Heroes" was marred by over doing the jingoism; "The Blue Max" was not only a great movie, but not a bad adapdation of Jack D. Hunter's novel of the same name.

A recent Korean movie - "Brotherhood" (or "taegukgi", to give it its Korean title) I can also recommend very highly indeed. Set in the early part of the Korean war, it tells the story of two South Korean army conscripts and rivals anything that Hollywood has ever done. Made for just $7million, the on screen production and musical score leave you thinking it cost four times that amount. Go rent it or buy it - trust me, you won't regret it!

 

One of the worse war films: "Thousand Plane Raid". Pathetic!

 

IMO, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp is a great movie in its own right that also highlights the differences and relationships between the British Army "old guard' (exemplified in some ways by the Home Guard) and the regular British Army of WW2.

Review: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036112/

 

I know I know theres alot of things about BoB and saving private ryan that are historicaly incorrect but there still hugely entertaining for me my least favorites would have to be Dirty Dozen, ( I dont think I ever saw a gun reloaded in the whole movie) and also I couldnt take The Fighting Sullivans. Thanks,
Jack

 

(FirstHussars @ Nov 10 2005, 04:24 PM) [post=41441]Hey Gnomey whats up bro, I just joined this site today.


Favorite- The Devils Brigade and Wake Island

Least Favorite- Longest Day and Battle Of Britain.
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First Hussars, welcome to the board, and do tell us about yourself!

 

Many movies are full of action and strike accord with what we expect to see - some do not.

Some are well acted with/without the action and are as true to history as is possible. In the days of production companies needing to make a profit, unsubstantiated plots or acts of heroism may be added to "sell" the movie and make it flow. Not ideal, however it gets to the screen and supplies enjoyment.

Blatant and serious transgressions are few however to those of us that have read and know "The Truth", we see these "errors" as passing on false information to those people whose history is gleaned from these movies and then believe this to be true.

This is not going to change!

Expect too much all the time and you will be disappointed most of the time.

I have see many war movies about Land, Sea, Air and those of covert operations and courageous stories of behind the lines Heroes & Heroines and enjoyed most of them.

Some are true, some are close to fact, some are fanciful with great acting (Where Eagles Dare) and some are rubbish.

What we should be hoping is that these films create interest and make people proud of the price the older generation paid to allow us the freedom we enjoy today.

Sadly the true education has to come from forums like this one as the media are hot and cold in their support.

Notice the amount of men, women and young boys and girls on this forum that are hungry for knowledge about their loved ones who participated.

They are openly proud.

First comes the interest, the education takes a little longer.

Anzac day in Australia (25th April), is stronger now than it has ever been.

 

Although it's good to watch films that are historically correct, we usually find that most have flaws of some description.
Surely this should be taken as read, they are, afterall just entertainment.

For what it's worth, for me, Band of Brothers has to clinch it. Although not strictly a film as such. "Largely" based on fact but, as we know, it has certain flaws.
But what it does, for me at least, is give a reasonable portrayal of what it must have been like for the boys of Easy Company.
Esp' the Bastogne episode.

U-571. Yeah we know it's not acurate, but again, in it's own right it's a good couple of hours of entertainment.

And...

1941...
Superb film. I wasn't aware that it contained ANY factual parts at all. very funny in places.
Esp' the bit with the Big Wheel rolling down the pier.

 

(halfyank @ Jun 4 2005, 03:42 AM) [post=34991]Originally posted by Kiwiwriter+Jun 3 2005, 08:40 AM-->(Kiwiwriter @ Jun 3 2005, 08:40 AM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-halfyank@May 24 2005, 10:23 PM


Operation Petticoat. More based on fact than many people give it credit for. For instance the bit about sinking the truck kind of happened.

<div align="right">[post=34772]Quoted post[/post]</div>

The USS Bowfin was one of a number of submarins that "sank" a land vehicle. It torpedoed a pier with a crane and a bus sitting on it and smashed all three. Her victory total includes the crane, pier, and bus. I believe USS Wahoo also fired a torpedo in the Philippines that shot up on land and blasted open a truck, which was the cause of this incident. The actual "Petticoat" evacuation took place in the Solomon Islands, and involved USS Nautilus.
<div align="right">[post=34989]Quoted post[/post]</div>
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Yes, I can't think of the name of the boat that was sunk at Cavite, raised, quickly repaired, and sailed to Australia. The letter Cary Grant wrote about the toilet paper was nearly word for word from an actual letter a sub skipper wrote. The "pink" paint was the same. Basically most everything happened to real subs, Hollywood just put it all together in one fictional boat.
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SEADRAGON SS194

During an air attack on the tenth of December a direct hit on the SEALION, which was moored alongside, completely demolished that vessel and seriously damaged the SEADRAGON.


FIRST WAR PATROL: 30 December 1941 to 13 February 1942-46 days

Commanding Officer-LT. Comdr. W.E Farrell USN

Successful

Area-South China Sea

The patrol area was the South China Sea and these were exciting days. As effective as percoting training may be, there are always many heads up and surprises in learning to fight by actual experience. The ocean was full of Japs and a total of 36 contacts were made. Attacks were made on eleven of these, firing a total of nineteen torpedoes for only three hits. These three, however, bagged a 7000 and an 8000 ton freighter. One battle surface was made against a medium freighter with much personal satisfaction but very little damage to the Japs. It was during this patrol that Tokyo Rose described the rusty and red-leaded-coated SEADRAGON as a pack of marauding red submarines The "Red Pirates of the China Coast", as she called this group was in reality only the SEADRAGON her Skipper, "Foto" Farrell , roaming the China Sea with torpedoes blasting out of the bow and stern tubes at the scurrying Jap merchantmen.

At the end of the patrol, a stop was made at beleaguered Corregidor to evacuate twenty to thirty passengers to the relative safety of Soerabaja and then the SEADRAGON proceeded to Freemantle W.A.

 

(Pte1643 @ Jan 9 2006, 05:15 AM) [post=44186]

1941...
Superb film. I wasn't aware that it contained ANY factual parts at all. very funny in places.
Esp' the bit with the Big Wheel rolling down the pier.
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There is one factual aspect to that movie...Gen. Stilwell was indeed commanding the US 3rd Corps, and he was calm and alert in the face of the statewide panic that December. His diaries reveal his anger at the hysteria of the time. He was quite happy when he got the call to go to Washington, and then to China. Later, in China, he was probably less than thrilled.

 

I enjoyed the Band Of Brother series. Josef Vilsmaier's film Stalingrad was good much better than the hollywood Enemy at the Gates. HBO also had a good film on the Hurtgen Forest called When Trumpet's Fade.

The Battle of Britain, BBC's Piece of Cake series, Is Paris Burning?, Das Boot, the Great Escape and Cross of Iron by Sam Peckinpah all are movies that will not disappoint. War movies are largely subjective as far as tastes are concerned. The Beach scene and the Bridge defence in Saving Private Ryan were good but the screen play was bad and not credible. Von Ryan's express was an enjoyable movie and I recently purchased the Battle Of The Bulge DVD. This is a bad movie but I really enjoyed it when I was a kid. The best part is in the special features when the producer Milton Sperling lies just like Clinton about using original equipment and great pains were taken to find the correct weapons...M-26 Pershings for Tigers and M-24 Chaffes for the Shermans. Robert Shaw did a great job as Joachim Peiper but the rest of the acting was lacherlich.

Without a doubt Thames Television's World At War is a must see and is the best doc film made.

There are 2 others I remember seeing along time ago and would be interested in viewing again. One was Weekend at Dunkirk(color) made in the sixties. And the other starred Richard Attenborough, called Dunkirk.

Cheers

 

Herr Oberst, "When Trumpet's Fade" really sized up the soldiers view, the first 15 minutes or so is quite powerful in my opinion, the first scene hit quite close to home for me. The special effects were lacking, but the chain of command storyline was on the mark, Pvt. to 2nd Lt. in two weeks, "Why me?"......"Because your still alive! Lt!".


Cheers
Bob

 

(Reverend Bob @ Jan 27 2006, 02:58 AM) [post=44908]Herr Oberst, "When Trumpet's Fade" really sized up the soldiers view, the first 15 minutes or so is quite powerful in my opinion, the first scene hit quite close to home for me. The special effects were lacking, but the chain of command storyline was on the mark, Pvt. to 2nd Lt. in two weeks, "Why me?"......"Because your still alive! Lt!".


Cheers
Bob
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Agreed Bob the first 15 minutes of When Trumpets Fade was very moving, I enjoyed that film as it portrayed well the soldiers view.

Welcome to the forum Herr Oberst.

 

Greetings to my British cousins...Thanks Gnomey

Spidge, Battle of the Bulge was a bad screenplay. Sperling should have ended the Germans Advance the same way that Pirosh did in Battleground, American air power! The fuel depot scene...well... They can teach monkees to make better films than that. Battleground being the best dated war movie of all time.

As others have mentioned I like Sink the Bismarck, Under Ten Flags, The Young Lions, The Night Of The Generals, Triple Cross and Operation Crossbow. But it's late here across the pond and I grow subjective.