I understand your point about Full Metal Jacket. It was "anti-war" to me perhaps, because it hit very close to home. Young kids being where they didn't want to be. Remember, at that time, one in six got drafted into the Marines...at least for a while. Count me 1-A at the time. "Paths of Glory"!! How could I have forgotten. Stanley Kubrick again. And of course, that brings me to my incredible omission, the VERY VERY BEST (IMHO) Dr. Strangelove Kubrick goes 3 for 3! Could add "Born on the Fourth of July" to the list. Oliver Stone's very weird take on the whole deal. Of course, still for me, Guns of Navarone will have a special place in my heart. Got laid the first time that night! Give you an idea how old I am NO further comments needed on my age from Daniel M, thank you! Rs7
Absolutely loved it. Whether or not it's a wholly anti-war movie is debatable. FWIW, I also like some of Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn's movies. Don't have a heart attack now! We Were Soldiers - excellent. Zulu - Top notch. Michael Caine's debut, I believe, or at least his first major role. As far as a movie based on Gates of Fire, I understand that Universal is in the early stages of getting it off the ground. Michael Mann is to direct, George Clooney to produce and possibly play King Leonides. Also, one of the screenwriters of "Band of Brothers" has been commissioned by 20th Century Fox to write a screenplay based on the same Battle of Thermopylae for a movie tentatively titled "The 300 Spartans."..Pressfield's book was EXCELLENT. Did you ever read Frank Miller's graphic novel, "300"? It's terrific. Awesome mini-series! Can't believe I missed that one! I also liked "The Patriot" w/Mel Gibson, NOT the straight-to-video Steven Seagal debacle of the same name. It's not on par with the others, but definitely IMHO a good flick. The scene where Gibson rescues his son from the British column is classic. Does anyone do a better I-am-a-beast-in-the-frenzy-of-war scowl than Gibson? He had some good ones in Braveheart as well.
Hope it happens, and that they do justice to the book. Odds are never in favor of either in Hollywood, as you probably know, and are much less in favor (highly unlikely to the power of 2) of both. 300 Spartans? Oops... Well, what's a couple hundred Spartans between friends? I'll look for the graphic novel, though I'm not much on the genre. I rather liked TIDES OF WAR also. It would also make an excellent movie. It might make a timely one as well, though I'm afraid of the way that some (probably including Clooney) would choose to read its "message." Can you imagine Clooney at a Spartan counsel before Thermopylae? "We don't have a chance against the Persians. We can't beat anyone."
LOL! Clooney would have to do some major soul-searching until he saw his paycheck.... 300 or 500 Spartans? Good question. Same can be asked of how many Persians were actually involved. I've read or seen on TV estimates between 200,000 to 1 million. Regardless of the actual figure, what the Spartans did was incredible. Don't know if you caught the History channel special on the Spartans. Life was quite grim from an early age. Definite survival of the fittest. They may have been the finest warriors the world has ever seen, but man, talk about no or little social life!
The idea of Michael Mann directing an adaptation of GATES OF FIRE reminds me his THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, which was a rather good war movie, too. And that makes me think of Kurosawa's KAGEMUSHA and RAN, which I believe influenced Mann's excellent depictions of combat, and which were great war movies, too. I think Kubrick was a strong influence on Mann also - not so much through his movies that have already mentioned, but through BARRY LYNDON, a beautiful and underrated movie with some memorable and unique battle scenes, even if it wasn't really a "war movie." And thinking of George Clooney as Leonidas reminds me of THREE KINGS, which took a derivative storyline but did an interesting job of setting it in the Gulf War, and handled it from a unique perspective. I suspect that THREE KINGS may have caused some collateral damage, however, by encouraging Clooney to believe that he actually knows something, and can speak authoritatively on related subjects.
Thanks for reminding me of Last of the Mohicans. Excellent, excellent film! Madeline Stowe - yummy, yummy, yummy. Mann rarely makes a bad movie so I can't see him dropping the ball on this one. Clooney should be okay. You bring up several others as well. Kurosawa's are gorgeous to behold, and Barry Lyndon was a revelation when I first watched it....Since you mentioned Kagemusha and Ran, have you ever seen Heaven and Earth? It isn't in the same league, but it has some spectacular battle sequences and lushous cinematography.