War flicks

[SaigonSaddler]

Just seen Dunkirk here in Mostar, great film and hopefully heralding a new generation of good stuff as Saving Private Ryan did.

Hopefully the days of A-team-esque hapless enemy blundering into the heroes bullets are well behind the genre.

Having said that, Where Eagles Dare is still a great film! :D

[scott_powell]

We Were Soldiers. I know many who hated it but I adored that film.

[SaigonSaddler]

We Were Soldiers. I know many who hated it but I adored that film.

I thought it was ace, especially living in Vietnam for so long.

[NEWPORT SADDLERS DAD]

Still favour the Deer Hunter.It had everything.The life of the boys before,during and after Vietnam.I read that De niro went to Pennsylvania for a month in disguise and frequented the haunts of the steel workers to get a feel for there way of life.And didn't he get it bang on.


https://youtu.be/5haOY5SF7qQ

[philthesaddler]

I didn't like Deer Hunter, bored the tits off me to be frank, but I didn't know that about De Niro.

I do know that for Raging Bull he had to put weight on for the ageing Jake Le Motta, so he went to Paris and eat steaks in creamy sauces every day til his doctor told him to stop.

[derbysaddler]

Just seen Dunkirk here in Mostar, great film and hopefully heralding a new generation of good stuff as Saving Private Ryan did.

Hopefully the days of A-team-esque hapless enemy blundering into the heroes bullets are well behind the genre.

Having said that, Where Eagles Dare is still a great film! :D

Ah yes, Clint Eastwood and his schmisser machine pistol with the never ending magazine....pew pew pew! :lol:

Lot of people are speaking highly of Dunkirk, its on the viewing list.

Last new war film I saw was Fury. Started well but the last 30 minutes its as if Michael Bay got hold of the script and the directing role, ends up becoming stupid. I seem to recall Letters from Iwo Jima was decent as well.

About time a modern big budget Monte Cassino or Kursk film was made.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Not exactly a war film, but very closely connected ... "The Imitation Game" starring Benedict Cumberbatch - the story of Bletchley Park's efforts to break the Germans' "Enigma" coding system.

In general terms I prefer films that have at least an approximation to real events, and while "Where Eagles Dare" is very watchable I would rather go for "The Great Escape" (choosing to ignore Steve McQueen's motorcycle antics!!).

"The Imitation Game" though .... what a cracking film. :!:

[Super Gabor]

Just seen Dunkirk here in Mostar, great film and hopefully heralding a new generation of good stuff as Saving Private Ryan did.

Hopefully the days of A-team-esque hapless enemy blundering into the heroes bullets are well behind the genre.

Having said that, Where Eagles Dare is still a great film! :D

Great choice - a film I can watch again and again. Terrific film music too.

Also, worth adding to your list - A bridge too far, The eagle has landed, Battle of the bulge. I must get around to watching Das Boot which I have had as a dvd for years but never watched.

Looking forward to seeing Dunkirk.

[boringteacher]

Just seen Dunkirk here in Mostar, great film and hopefully heralding a new generation of good stuff as Saving Private Ryan did.

Hopefully the days of A-team-esque hapless enemy blundering into the heroes bullets are well behind the genre.

Having said that, Where Eagles Dare is still a great film! :D

Great choice - a film I can watch again and again. Terrific film music too.

Also, worth adding to your list - A bridge too far, The eagle has landed, Battle of the bulge. I must get around to watching Das Boot which I have had as a dvd for years but never watched.

Looking forward to seeing Dunkirk.

Also very much looking forward to seeing Dunkirk - even my missus (who hates war films) is also going.

Find the time for Das Boot, make sure you've turned off the moronic english dub, throw every other bugger out of the room and engross yourself in it. Its definitely in the top 5 war films of all time. Watch it in one go if you can - very much on the cards for this lazy bugger of a teacher in the next few weeks.

Still on sub-titles, I'd also recommend Eastward's Letters from Iwo Jima (japanese side) and Flags of my fathers (US) - the first is visceral, the second a superb commentary on war. Have to admit though that Where Eagles Dare bored me as a kid and still does though :(

[shrewsbury saddler]

Ludovic Kennedy called Das Boot the best war film of all time. Which doesn't seem so remarkable until you realise his father was a merchant seaman killed by a U-boat.

[chunkster]

Ludovic Kennedy called Das Boot the best war film of all time. Which doesn't seem so remarkable until you realise his father was a merchant seaman killed by a U-boat.

Does it have subtitles though? i can't be arsed to watch them if i have got to keep looking at the bottom of the screen and miss what is going on :|

[Exile]

Ice Cold in Alex.

Cracker of a film!

[derbysaddler]

best battle scene in cinema ...ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWOhH4eI7vs


Wonderfully over the top madness with added disco

[Welsh_Saddler]

Ice Cold in Alex.

Cracker of a film!

John Mills is on record as saying that when it came to do "that" scene (drinking the ice cold beer at the bar) the technicians tried all sorts of concoctions to make a realistic beer drink, but couldn't get it right, and it was decided to use proper beer instead. Of course, by about the seventh "take", in Mills' words "I was quite smashed" :D

A wonderfully versatile actor - aside from war films, watch him in "The Family Way" (with Hayley playing his daughter-in-law) and "Hobson's Choice" where he virtually acted Charles Laughton off the screen!

[SaigonSaddler]

[yoda]

Check out 'War Machines' starring Brad Pitt (It's a Netflix exclusive).

Based on a true story, its not only funny and entertaining, it does a great job at explaining why the Afghanistan war was such an unwinnable mess.

[buttssadler]

I did like fury with brad pitt but it was spoit me being interested in ww2 near end were the german troops were going towards the crossroads u saw about ten german soldiers carrying panzerfaust a 1 shot anti-tank weapon now I hit on a Sherman tank would kill it indeed .the german troops called british Sherman tanks tommy cookers the yanks had a another name for them ronsons because thay lit every time. plus a tiger could kill a Sherman at 2 miles away were has Sherman would have get close , in the words of mr Sutherland in kellys heroes the only way to kill a tiger is to shoot it up the arse lol, on another note my mom met john mills once at the old pic house were the co-op in town is now said he was thought he was better than the common man very pompus

[buttssadler]

saw das boot many years ago I did think at the time this is very ground breaking at that time to show the other side by the way the U-boat arm of the german forces lost more men at sea only the RAF lost more over that 6 year time frame not a nice way to die on any side

[SaigonSaddler]

I did like fury with brad pitt but it was spoit me being interested in ww2 near end were the german troops were going towards the crossroads u saw about ten german soldiers carrying panzerfaust a 1 shot anti-tank weapon now I hit on a Sherman tank would kill it indeed .the german troops called british Sherman tanks tommy cookers the yanks had a another name for them ronsons because thay lit every time. plus a tiger could kill a Sherman at 2 miles away were has Sherman would have get close

The entire last contrived battle is an absurd farce and largely spoils what is a good film up to that point.

The audience is expected to believe that a battle-hardened German company, almost certainly with experience on the Eastern front, turns into a bunch of idiotic, headless chickens running around in front of a single machine gun with a limited traverse and a slow moving turret mounted gun. Then later gunfire from a person continually bobbing up from the same position or actually outside the tank. :roll:

The first thing they'd do is by-pass it, send 5 men to investigate, one armed with a panzerfaust - just in case - or just a couple of grenades. The hatch would be opened, very cautiously and then they would tell the crew to surrender from a safe distance, whether they thought they were there or not. Any suspicion and a grenade would be tossed in, from the side or rear, completely safely while the other 4 covered anyone bobbing out from hatches.

Unsupported tanks are incredibly vulnerable to infantry, proven by the heavy losses the Soviet army suffered at the hands of untrained civilians on the streets of Budapest in 1953.

The film turns into a pile of bollocks.

[aaaae]

That was bloody brilliant, I kept saying where are the 88s? where are the 88s? And then finally......

[aaaae]

I went to see Dunkirk, very good although the mucking about with the timeline was unnecessary and confusing to begin with.

The use of a Merlin engined "Me109" (HA-1112-M1L) from the 50s ruined the dogfight scene though. Might as well had a jet engined Meteor flying around the beaches. OK I exaggerate.

My kids both said it is the first war film they've watched that they enjoyed, but I don't think it was a patch on the original John Mills film. Not sure if they were influenced by the Harry Stiles effect. I hope not.

[canadiansaddler]

Still love "Kelly's Hero's"

[DonningtonSaddler]

I went see Dunkirk yesterday. It is a very good film but it doesn't seem right to say it is enjoyable. One thing that jarred with me was lack of troops on the beach itself. It looked like a 100 blokes standing in a line. ITV 4 showed the original John Mills film yesterday which I watched as well. Cinematically, the original one is much better.

My Grandad was a Sapper and was evacuated from Dunkirk. I understand he got wounded and died of those wounds a year or so later. He was a professional soldier and was 37 when he died. Quite old really, for a soldier.

For the best war movie it has to be The Longest Day. The aerial shot of the harbour scene has never been bettered in my opinion. I have attached a link below.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fzd1gCc5CO8

[Cully]

Went to see Dunkirk on Sunday - verdict 6/10. Bit thin on the ground, not enough Germans , Americans or spaceships in it for my liking though.

[WarsawPact]

They're probably saving those for Dunkirk 2 - or in the case of the Americans, Dunkirk 10.

[Super Gabor]

Went to see Dunkirk. Superb. Keeps you enthralled from the first scene. There would be many ways to tell the story of Dunkirk on film, but I liked the fact he focused the story telling through a small number of characters on land, sea and air.

I thought Hans Zimmer's soundtrack added so much to the atmosphere of the film and was excellent but it was incessant apart from a 2 minute segment and could have done with leaving more scenes to the natural and pure sounds of action and dialogue.

Didn't even know Tom Hardy was the Spitfire pilot until the end !