Yours is a good list. I also like Saving Private Ryan Glory Full Metal Jacket Braveheart Sergeant York The Dirty Dozen p.s. It's "Das Boot"
Hapaboy, you liked Full Metal Jacket? An anti-war movie? (as was Apocalypse Now, and really all of them to certain degrees). I would add "Bridge on the River Kwai" as one of the great ones. Rs7
Drill Instructor: How tall are you private? Cowboy: Sir! Five foot nine, sir! Drill Instructor: Five foot nine? I didn't know they stacked shit that high! You tryin' to squeeze an inch in on me somewhere, huh? Cowboy: Sir! No Sir! Drill Instructor: Bullshit. It looks to me like the best part of you ran down the crack of your momma's ass and ended up as a brown stain on the mattress! I think you been cheated! Where in the hell are you from anyway, private? Cowboy: Sir! Texas, Sir! Drill Instructor: Holy dog shit! Texas? Only steers and queers come from Texas, Private Cowboy. And you don't look much like a steer to me so that kinda narrows it down. Do you suck dicks? Cowboy: Sir! No Sir! Drill Instructor: Are you a peter puffer? Cowboy: Sir! No Sir! Drill Instructor: I'll bet you're the kinda guy that would fuck a person in the ass and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach-around. I'll be watching you.
Colonel: Marine, what is that button on your body armour? Joker: A peace symbol sir. Colonel: Where'd you get it? Joker: I don't remember sir. Colonel: What is that you've got written on your helmet? Joker: "Born to Kill" sir. Colonel: You write "Born to Kill" on you helmet, and you wear a peace button. What's that supposed to be, some kind of sick joke? Joker: No, sir. Colonel: Well what is it supposed to mean? Joker: I don't know, sir. Colonel: You don't know very much do you? Joker: No sir. Colonel: You better get your head and your ass wired together or I will take a giant shit on you. Joker: Yes sir. Colonel: Now answer my question, or you'll be standing tall before The Man. Joker: I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man sir. Colonel: The what? Joker: The duality of man, the Jungian thing, sir. Colonel: Who's side are you on, son? Joker: Our side, sir. Colonel: Don't you love your country? Joker: Yes, sir. Colonel: Well how about getting with the program? Why don't you jump on the team and c'mon in for the big win? Joker: Yes, sir. Colonel: Son, all I've ever asked of my Marines is for them to obey my orders as they would the word of God. We are here to help the Vietnamese because inside every gook, there is an American trying to get out. It's a hardball world, son. We've got to try to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over. Joker: Aye aye, sir.
Yup, another great one. (Saw it on a very memorable day of my life, so it has extra special appeal to me Also reminded me of Where Eagles Dare...a somewhat similar plot. And another great war movie. It seems the WWII topic films are certainly not as anti-war as the films about our more recent escapades. Some, like these two, not at all. Wonder why Rs7 (Peace and Smiley guy on temporary leave)
The Hollywood left is one reason. The only pro war Vietnam movie I can recall is The Green Berets with John Wayne. (Isn't that Sulu from Star Trek behind the Duke?)
I don't agree that FULL METAL JACKET was an "anti-war movie." It evoked the experience of a particular war from the perspective of a deeply conflicted individual Marine, and certainly included many subversive observations on human nature in general and America in Vietnam in particular, but I don't think it expressed a pacifist position. Like all movies that depict warfare honestly, it happened to include violence, suffering, horror, brutality, and fear, but it also depicted an individualist becoming a soldier, and learning to kill, despite himself (PLATOON told a similar story, but much less powerfully, in my opinion). At the same time, it inevitably also depicted the spectacle of war in a powerfully involving, terribly beautiful way: Almost all supposedly anti-war works of art, if they're of any quality at all, end up doing the same thing, whatever their intentions. Some other favorite war movies: ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, PATHS OF GLORY, KELLY'S HEROES, THE LONGEST DAY, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, SERGEANT YORK, THE SANDS OF IWO JIMA, THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE, SINK THE BISMARCK!, THE GREAT ESCAPE. Among recent war films, WE WERE SOLDIERS wasn't bad at all, at least the war part - one of the more intelligent depictions of modern warfare on the tactical level, with unusual attention to the sophistication and bravery of the Vietnamese and to the dynamics of battle. BAND OF BROTHERS was also for the most part pretty terrific I thought As a kid, I always loved THE 500 SPARTANS, though in some respects it now looks kind of silly. I'd love to see a contemporary version of the story, perhaps based on Steven Pressfield's excellent GATES OF FIRE. Oh, oh!: One of my all-time favorites: ZULU! If you like war movies at all, and haven't seen it, go out and rent it right now. ZULU DAWN isn't quite as good, but worth watching. Good chit-chat topic. I'm suddenly remembering what a war movie buff I am. There are others I'd happily put on the list.