Best Combat Movies

[Five-Star]

Enemy at the Gates, good sniping action

[That Foreign Guy]

I think Flags of our Fathers is pretty damn solid and am definitely hanging out for the simul-quel.

Of those already mentioned, I also really like a bridge too far (although it's a bit old fashioned) and Glory (they manage to not be totally cheesy with a story that would easily lend itself to cheese)

[MrMon]

One could argue that United 93 is a combat movie, although very different from the conventional combat movies listed above.

One old movie Spielberg and a lot of critics like is Battleground. Of the post-war WWII movies, that one is supposed to be the most accurate, though it's a far cry from modern films where a lot more gore is allowed.

If you go really, really old, the the German film Westfront 1918 is pretty realistic for WWI. You'll have to really try to dig up a copy, but TCM did run it a few months ago and I recorded it.

And finally, I have never seen it, but I suspect the all time winner for realism may be the 1916 documentary The Battle of The Somme. It's hard to beat guys actually dying by the hundred for realism. No place I know of has a copy, but it was recently digitally restored, so it's bound to show up somewhere. Although almost unknown today, an incredible percentage of the British population saw this when it was released. It may still hold the record for most tickets sold for any UK film, but I'd have to check on that.

[Insp. Clue!So?]

[ QUOTE ]
One could argue that United 93 is a combat movie, although very different from the conventional combat movies listed above.

One old movie Spielberg and a lot of critics like is Battleground. Of the post-war WWII movies, that one is supposed to be the most accurate, though it's a far cry from modern films where a lot more gore is allowed.

If you go really, really old, the the German film Westfront 1918 is pretty realistic for WWI. You'll have to really try to dig up a copy, but TCM did run it a few months ago and I recorded it.

And finally, I have never seen it, but I suspect the all time winner for realism may be the 1916 documentary The Battle of The Somme. It's hard to beat guys actually dying by the hundred for realism. No place I know of has a copy, but it was recently digitally restored, so it's bound to show up somewhere. Although almost unknown today, an incredible percentage of the British population saw this when it was released. It may still hold the record for most tickets sold for any UK film, but I'd have to check on that.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's available on amazon.uk for 9 pounds.

Some of those WWI stories are amazing. They still find artillery shells piled 20 feet deep, one atop another, in parts of France. That's incoming, unexploded dud shells. Imagine charging 300 yards through that in an overcoat.

[MrMon]

It's not listed as available in the U.S. currently.

Wiki says the British public bought 20 million tickets in 2 months to see the film. Considering the much smaller population at the time, that's quite an achievement.

[Five-Star]

This is my collection that I have in training with me:

A Bridge Too Far
Apocalypse Now
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction
Black Hawk Down
Enemy At the Gates
Flags Of Our Fathers
Full Metal Jacket
Glory
The Green Berets
The Hunt For the Red October
Jarhead
The Last Day of Patton [the unknown actual sequel to Patton]
Patton
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
The Thin Red Line
We Were Soldiers

I just realized that I left "Battle of The Bulge" at my house. I'm looking to add "Sands of Iwo Jima", off to ebay. Any other movie suggestions not already listed in the thread?

[Rick Nebiolo]

Lot's of good choices but I'm not sure why there aren't any ocean or undersea warfare movies. If they can be included I'd go with Das Boot as my number one.

~ Rick

[juanez]

You guys rock. Thx for the suggestions.

[juanez]

[ QUOTE ]
Lot's of good choices but I'm not sure why there aren't any ocean or undersea warfare movies. If they can be included I'd go with Das Boot as my number one.

[/ QUOTE ]

Holy crap - I haven't even thought about Das Boot in years...def a good flick.

I had a good buddy in college who had a VW Bus who named it "Das Bus". He bought those reflector letters that you use on your mailbox and spelled "DAS BUS" on the glove box....lol. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[cwsiggy]

[ QUOTE ]
I havent gotten a chance to see it yet but how does Letters From Iwo Jima stack up here? I'd assume it might have more combat than Flags of Our Fathers (also recommended).

[/ QUOTE ]

Letters is waaaay better than Flags. Letters really is a masterpiece. Not really more action that Flags, but just better in character development, execution etc. The score is also great.