Yo Petey

Hmmm... I see you straining upon the start, the game's afoot, follow your spirit and upon this charge cry GOD FOR HARRY! ENGLAND! AND SAINT GEORGE!

...O God of Battles, Steel the hearts of my soldiers...

...this story shall the good man teach his son and Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go from this day to the ending of the world but, we, in it shall be remembered--We few, we happy few, WE BAND OF BROTHERS...

versus

...well, I shoveled [expletive] in Louisiana.

No contest, Bro, the Bard wins hand down. (although, yes, I have trouble remembering my bank card PIN code, I can recite the entire "Patton Speech" verbatim, especially when drunk) "Stalingrad" is a pretty good flick until they all start getting whiney and all poor pitiful me about the predicament they got themselves into, screw 'em, they were nazis. Ivan did the world a world of good by converting so many of them into good nazis...lest we forget.
Hey, nobody mentioned "Hamburger Hill" or "Hanoi Hilton." Sup with that?
How about "The Red Badge of Courage?" I know, cheesey uniforms and bad acting, but at least it starred two guys who actually saw combat (Lee Marvin notwithstanding) Audie Murphey and Bill Mauldin. Obviously I could go on and on, so I'll spare y'all
Adios Muchachos
John

p.s. Pork Chop Hill, Waterloo, Battleground, The Victors, Little Big Man, Last of the Mohicans, Dr. Strangelove, Northwest Passage, Three Kings, 84 Charlie Mopic, Oh What a Lovely War, When Trumpets Fade, Spartacus, Young Winston, Longest Day, Platoon and on and on

I agree that SPR and Band of Brothers are some of the best, but thy are the newest so they should be more realistic. I also like We Were Soldiers, excellent film!

I would also like to mention a Finish (?) movie called Winter War, this movie is about the Finish-Russian war 39-40 and it is super, very realistic and ton and tons of awesome winter trench scenes!

John,
Still, by far the best one out there is a cult classic - KELLY'S HEROES.

"Always with those negative waves, baby. Always with those negative waves."

G'day all,
My pick would have to be "The Odd Angry Shot ". Then any other Australian war film.

This really exceptional Aussie flick is often over looked by us Yanks, "The Light Horsemen."

("That isn't Cavalry, its' Light Horse Infantry.”)

Faust

I always liked Cross of Iron by Peckinpah. There have been a couple of good TV movies like When Trumpets Fade and Lost Battalion. However my ten real favorites are:

1. Lost Patrol (with Boris Karloff) - WW1 flick set in the desert
2. The 1939 version of Four Feathers by Zoltan Korda
3. Beau Geste (I love Brian Donlevy's repetitive threat - "...I promise you!"
4. The Fighting 69th with James Cagney
5. Laurence of Arabia
6. The Blue Max
7. Gettysburg
8. Pork Chop Hill
9. March or Die (with Gene Hackman about the Foreign Legion)
10. Tora, Tora, Tora


And since I can't count, Midway, A Bridge Too Far, Das Boot, Bridge on the River Kwai, Paths of Glory, Sahara, all Kurosawa flicks, The Longest Day, Full Metal Jacket, and on and on.

Bob -

I was going to commend you on your good taste in movies until I saw you list March or Die. :lol:

Keith

C'mon Keith, the battle scene at the end was cool. Plus I am a sucker for FFL movies.

Here's some of my favorites:

"Charge of the Light Brigade", 1968 version. Trevor Howard's (Lord Cardigan), and John Gielgud's (Lord Raglan) character's were excellent.

"The Four Feathers", 1977 version with Beau Bridges and Simon Ward. I know, I know, they used some of the battle scenes from the '39 flick, still cool though.

"Gallipoli"

"All Quiet on the Western Front" with Richard Thomas

"March or Die" have to agree with Bob...cool battle scene.

"Zulu" and "Zulu Dawn"

The list goes on...

And on and on...

Not Exactly War Movies: Mister Roberts, A Soldier's Story, Renaissance Man, The Caine Mutiny, Empire of the Sun, Tigerland, Hope and Glory, Lifeboat

Some Great Battle Sequences: Barry Lyndon, (hey, the Seven Years War)Apocalypse Now (Dunt-dunt da-da-Da) The Deer Hunter (MOW!) Rob Roy (Tim Roth being cleaved in half)

T.V. Movies: The Crossing, The Rough Riders, The Red Badge of Courage, (with John-Boy) Andersonville, The Sharpe Series, The Hornblower Series

Biopics: The Story of G.I. Joe (Ernie Pyle) The Gallant Hours (Wm. Halsey) Cromwell (Cromwell) Michael Collins (Up the Republic!)

Quirky and/or Foreign: Come and See (Russian partisans/ nazi reprisals) Ride with the Devil (Tobey Maguire as Reb guerilla) The Savior (Dennis Quaid as Amer. merc in Bosnia) Champs d'Honnuer (Franco-Prussian War deserter, go figure)

Blood and Guts: Blackhawk Down, We Were Soldiers, Master and Commander, The Sand Pebbles, Bray Fart

etc., etc.

OKAY, since my "Sound of music" post didn't draw any comment (hate it when that happens...)
Movies I have/want

Battle of Britain
Longest Day
Cross of Iron
In Harm's Way(a gut-bustin, mother lovin NAVY war!!)
Horatio Hornblower
Sharpe's Rifles
Courtmartial of Billy Mitchell
Gettysburg(Colonel, darling!!! Wake up, Colonel darling!!)
The Last Detail
Deer Hunter(filmed in part in my home town of Cleveland, Ohio).


List subject to change without notice. Your mileage may vary....

Battle of Britain was just on TV last night and I forgot how good it was. Authentic looking German planes.

OOPS! Forgot to log in

Quang

The Heinkels looked real to me. Not sure about the Messerschmidts. I believe the Spanish had the rights to build Heinkel 111s and one was owned by the Confederate Airforce before it crashed in 2003:

The German aircraft looked okay to me, besides I know just about squat about aircraft. With the visiual effects available now imagine the Battle of Britain movie that could be made today. A WW1 movie centered around aircraft/aces would be neat. I always thought a younger Rutger Hauer (spelling?) would have made an excellent "Red Baron".~Gary

I have not seen BofB in years but loved it!

I thought the HE111's were great. I beleive the ME109's were actually ME108's from the Spanish AF.

I love the bit with Cristopher Plummer and the "Tacka, Tacka, Tacka, Tacka..." when he is up training the newbie guy. :lol:

May be I'll go rent it this week end. :lol:

Keith

Bob,

Compare the radiator intake (underside of the cowling) of the original to the oversized version of the CASA and you'll see what I mean. It did spoil my pleasure every time I see the film. Must have spent too much time with that Lindberg kit. :lol:

Gary,

One of the best WWI air war movies was the Blue Max with George Peppard (of the A-Team fame). But I agree with you, Ruger Hauer would have made a terrific Red Baron (although John Philip Law in Roger Corman's version was not THAT bad). But a killer idea would be to cast him as DC Comics THE ENEMY ACE

Q.

Joe Kubert's ENEMY ACE in action :lol: :lol:

Quang : I believe that He111 in your picture is currently on display somewhere in Norway, together with a Gloster Gladiator .

BofB is a good movie indeed. I like the "Skipper" character (Robert Shaw), based on Sailor Malan.

As for the Spitfires in the movie, I believe one of them was actually used during the battle, a Spit Mk II - I think this was P7350, the same Spit that the RAF still fly as part of the BofB flight. Amazing isn't it, that has to be the oldest airworthy warplane actually serving in an air force anywhere in the world ...

Johan,

Yes indeed. That was the 'Norwegian' Heinkel.

Concerning the Spit, it appears that in the early years of Euro-Militaire, it was frequent to see the planes of the Battle of Britain Flight making low passes above the Channel while Euro visitors were catching sun outside the exhibition hall. Aahh! Those were the days.

It might interest visitors to Euro-Militaire that there's the Battle of Britain Museum nearby. On my last visit, they only had a Spit and a Hurricane on display. Looks like their collection has grown since.

Check out the Museum website

Q.