What Are Your Favourite Non-Duke War Movies?

[ethanedwards]

Duke appeared in some of the best and greatest War Movies,
but there were many more classic war films, without the great man.
What do you consider to be your favourite Non-Duke War Movies?

[markgpl]

Boy, it's tough to narrow it down as there's been so many good ones over the years.

But I'll throw a few of these out in no particular order:

1. The Dirty Dozen - one of those movies that I've seen a hundred times and if I'm flipping channels and it's on TV, I'll watch it again.

2. The Great Escape - same as above.

3. Saving Private Ryan - the opening scene with the troops landing on the beaches of Normandy is as "realistic" as it must have actually been.

4. The Blue Max - I was always fascinated by the fighter pilots and the planes of the 1st world war. They said the average age of a pilot was 19 years old and the average life span was 3 weeks. And still young guys lined up to join to get out of the trenches.

5. From Here To Eternity - maybe not a pure war / action film, but a great story.

6. Tora Tora Tora - I enjoyed the film as it presented both the American and Japanese perspective. And I especially liked Admiral Yamamoto's prophetic remarks at the end of the film when the Japanese are all patting themselves on the back for a successful mission and he comments that all they have done is to awaken a sleeping giant.

7.Black Hawk Down

8. A Bridge Too Far

9. Patton - incredible performance by George C. Scott in the title role.

10. Battle of Britain - an outnumbered RAF goes to-to-toe with superior Lufwafte (sp..?) and prevails - perhap's Britain's finest hour in WW2.

11. Zulu - an incredible movie of bravery and heroism about a small group of British soldiers fending off superior numbers of Zulu's. Something like a half a dozen Victoria Crosses (the equiv. of the Medal of Honor) were handed out to the surviving soldiers.

11. The Eagle Has Landed - based on a Jack Higgins book about a daring German plot to assassinate Churchill.

12. The Bridge On The River Kwai - one of the best British war films ever made.

13. Platoon - although I'm not a big fan of Oliver Stone, this was his finest film IMO.

14. Windtalkers - perhaps not usually included in somebody's list of best films, but I enjoyed this movie about the Navaho's code during the war in the Pacific.

15. Schindler's List - an incredible story by Steven Spielberg.

Well, I'll cap it at these 15, but a dozen others quickly come to mind - i.e. The Desert Rats / Midway / The Desert Fox / etc. I can't name my FAVORITE - impossible for me to narrow it down to just one film.

[Stumpy]

Mark covered the ground pretty well and named many of my favorites. Other favorites that he didn't name were "Hamburger Hill", "Battleground", "Battle Cry", "Cockleshell Heroes", "McKenzie Break", "The Train", "Stalag 17", "Sergeant York", "Guns of Navarone", "Enemy at the Gates", "Operation Crossbow", "Bridges of Toko-Ri" and "Bat 21".

[Stumpy]

Forgot to mention "Rambo" 2 and 3, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Also, I'm not sure this would be classified as a war film but I really liked "Predator".

[SXViper]

Some have mentioned my favorites. Great Escape, Stalag 17, Saving Private Ryan, ect.. I will also add The Big Red One, Battleground, Kelly's Heroes(not a war movie in the sense of realistic, just like the action and comedy), The Patriot(revolutionary war, Mel Gison), We Were Soldiers(Mel again), Where Eagles Dare(Clint and Burton). I will also add that it may not be a movie but the mini series Band of Brothers is I think one of the greatest if not the greatest account of a unit in a war situation that I have ever watched.

I am sure I have more, I am at work and cannot remember my DVD collection at home so I will update if I see something I forgot.

[Rooster]

Great movies mentioned, and I'll add Pork Chop Hill, The Beast, The Dambusters, and especially The Man Who Never Was.

[j.p.harrah]

dirty dozen - great escape - guns of navarone - the bridge(german classic) - path of glory

[smokey]

the lighthorsemen, breaker morant, dunkirk, battle of britian, a bridge to far, desert rats, in which we serve, the battle of the river plate(think thats how its spelt), we dive at dawn, misqutio squadron, kokoda, victory(not strickly war but a good story) reach for the sky, the heros of telemarh, malta story, twelve o'clock high, d-day, as well as some of those already mentioned

cheers smokey

[Stumpy]

Smokey. you named two of my faves that I had completely forgotten - "Twelve O'Clock High" and "Victory". I really liked the music from "Victory" also. I know it didn't receive much attention from anybody, including the critics, but I thought it was one of Sly Stallone's best movies.

[The Ringo Kid]

Many great movies listed above so far, so i'll try not to duplicate them with:

Decision Before Dawn w/ Richard Basehart, Gary Merrill, Oskar Werner, Hans-Christian Blech, O.E. Hasse, Til Kiwi, Wilfrid Seyffarth and a very young: Klaus Kinski, as the "whining soldier."

A Time To Love and a Time To Die w/ John Gavin, Lilo Pulver, "Dana" Jim Hutton, Keenan Wynn, Thayer David, Jock Mahoney and Don DeFore.

Stalingrad w/ Thomas Kretschmann.

Cross of Iron w/ James Coburn, James Mason, Klaus Lowitsch, Maximilian Schell and David Werner.

The Battle of Britain w/ Trevor Howard, Michael Caine and Curt Jurgens.

The Enemy Below w/ Robert Mitchum, Doug McClure and Curt Jurgens.

Fixed Bayonets w/ Richard Basehart, Gene Evans and Skip Homeier.

Hell To Eternity w/ Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and George Takai.

Purple Heart w/ Dana Andrews.

Sahara w/ Humphrey Bogart, Dan Duryea, Kurt Krueger and Bruce Bennett.

Von Ryans Express w/ 'Ol Blue Eyes" Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Brad Dexter and Sergio Fantoni.

Go For Broke w/ Van Johnson and John Banner.

Never So Few w/ Frank Sinatra, Charles Bronson and Steve McQueen.

Hell Is For Heroes w/ Steve McQueen, Fess Parker, Bob Newhart and James Coburn.

Beau Geste w/ Gary Cooper.

Objective Burma w/ Errol Flynn.

Charge of the Light Brigade w/ Errol Flynn, David Niven, Olivia DeHavilland and Donald Crisp.

Dawn Patrol w/ Errol Flynn, David Niven, Basil Rathbons and Donald Crisp.

Sink the Bismarck w/ Kenneth More.

Stalingrad: Dogs Do You Want To Live Forever w/ Curt Jurgens.

None But the Brave w/ Frank Sinatra, Clint Walker and Brad Dexter.

Too Late the Hero w/ Cliff Robertson, Michael Caine, Henry Fonda (briefly) and Stanley Andrews.

Battle of the Bulge w/ Henry Fonda, Ty Hardin, Telly Savalas, George Montgomery, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan and Charles Bronson.

Hotel Berlin w/ Alan Hale Sr.

Hannible Brooks w/ Oliver Reed, James Donald, Wolfgang Priess, Hans Lohner, Til Kiwi and Michael J. Pollard.

Midway w/ Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda and Robert Wagner.

Desperate Journey w/ Errol Flynn, Alan Hale Sr. Ronald Reagan, Arthur Kennedy and Sig Ruman.

Target Zero w/ Richard Conte, Charles Bronson and Chuck Connors.

The Devils Brigade w/ William Holden, Claude Akins, Richard Jaeckel, Carrol O'Connor and Michael Rennie.

Merrill's Marauders w/ Jeff Chandler, Claude Akins, Ty Hardin and Andrew Duggan.

The Colditz Story w/ Sir John Mills, Eric Portman and Theodor Bikel.

Bataan w/ Robert Taylor, Desi Arnez, and George Murphy.

Guadalcanal Diary w/ Anthony Quinn.

Halls of Montezuma w/ Richard Widmark, Robert Wagner, Karl Malden, Neville Brand, Reginald Gardner and Skip Homeier.

55 Days At Peking w/ Charlton Heston, Stanley Andrews and John Ireland.

The Red Ball Express w/ Jeff Chandler, Charles Drake and Sidney Poitier.

Major Dundee w/ Charlton Heston, James Coburn, R.G.Armstrong, Dub Taylor, Richard Harris, Ben Johnson and L.Q. Jones.

To Hell and Back w/ Audie Murphy, Charles Drake, Marshall Thompson and David Janssen.

I'll stop for now ;-D

[DukePilgrim]

As Ringo has mentioned most of my favourites I will cover the ones he missed Operation Daybreak,Bridge at Remagen, Desert Fox The Train, The Eagle has Landed and totally off topic Uncommon Valour 300 Spartans (the original) Cromwell and The Last Valley.

Mike

[Hondo Duke Lane]

My favorites are The Great Escape, Von Ryan's Express, Gettysburg, Gods and Generals, Braveheart, Glory, Stalag 17, We Were Soldiers, and Saving Private Ryan.

Some others I like is The Fighting Sullivan's, Tora, Tora, Tora, Flags of our Fathers, To the Shores of Tripoli, The Guns of Navorone, The Bridge on the River Kwai, and The Patriot (with Mel Gibson).

Cheers Hondo

[kilo 6]

Depending on your definition of War Seven Samurai, The Spartans, Gunga Din, Tuskegee Airmen, Four Feathers

[BILL OF PA]

what a great list of films!
I will add one more I did not see mention.
GO TELL THE SPARTANS (1978) BURT LANCASTER
set in 1964 Viet-nam.one most see film.

[Stumpy]

what a great list of films!
I will add one more I did not see mention.
GO TELL THE SPARTANS (1978) BURT LANCASTER
set in 1964 Viet-nam.one most see film.

I kinda liked it the first time I saw it but the second time (I bought the DVD), it was rather depressing.

IMO, the very best movie about Vietnam is "Hamburger Hill". The combat scenes are every bit as realistic as those in "Saving Private Ryan" and it has great character development besides.