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The best World War II movies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Our movie critics listed 21 of their favorite, sometimes little-seen, World War II movies (plus a list of titles everyone should know).
Click here to read the full story..
What do you think of the list? Agree? Disagree?
What are some of your favorite WWII movies, and why?
Permalink | Comments (30) | Categories: Talk about movies
Comments
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By Dean
October 16, 2006 12:25 PM | Link to this
No “Bridge over the River Kwai” or “A Bridge Too Far”?
Ummmm…gross oversights by the AJC on both counts.
By Dave
October 16, 2006 12:29 PM | Link to this
Speaking of ‘bridges’ - how about: ‘The Bridge’, more from a German perspective about boys pressed into service to defend a meaningless bridge
By John Wiley
October 16, 2006 1:25 PM | Link to this
Yes it’s just a matter of opinion ,but that list leaves a lot out. Dunkirk , In Harms Way , and why not good old Kelly’s Heroes.
By cosmo
October 16, 2006 1:42 PM | Link to this
The Big Red One is a favorite of mine but Dave is right, Bridge over the River Kwai should definitely be on the list…..
By David
October 16, 2006 1:47 PM | Link to this
Stalag 17. humorous but based in truth about escape from a POW camp
By W Jones
October 16, 2006 2:19 PM | Link to this
How could you forget one the best war movies made? Tora Tora Tora????????
By Chris B
October 16, 2006 2:59 PM | Link to this
There are some movies listed that should be buried, primarily the remake of ‘The Thin Red Line’ was absolutely awful. While some of the camera work was very good, it seemed like they were trying too hard and forgot that movies are supposed to tell a story.
As for movies that are not on the list that should be, I echo that ‘A bridge too Far’, ‘Bridge over the River Kwai’, and ‘Tora Tora Tora’ should be on the list. If you have ‘The Longest Day’ you should bookend it with ‘Midway.’
My list would also include had some other great movies like ‘Run Silent, Run Deep’, ‘The Sands of Iwo Jima’, and ‘To Hell and Back.
By Chad
October 16, 2006 3:02 PM | Link to this
Band of Brothers
By Chad
October 16, 2006 3:04 PM | Link to this
Band of Brothers
By Matt
October 16, 2006 3:17 PM | Link to this
For an actual good, emotional movie, Saving Private Ryan.
For guilty pleasure shoot ‘em up entertainment, no movie has ever been better than The Dirty Dozen.
By Rick Ellison
October 16, 2006 3:20 PM | Link to this
Enemy at the Gates is a great account of the turning point at Stalingrad…..awesome movie, even though there’s probably a bit of creative license taken about the sniper duel.
By aaron
October 16, 2006 3:21 PM | Link to this
The Dirty Dozen, Patton, and The Longest Day. Those are must see’s. The Winning side of a war always gets to tell its story. This is how we told it.
By Greg
October 16, 2006 6:06 PM | Link to this
Das Boot from the other side. Band of Brothers beats ewverything else. Not close, and it’s true. A Midnight Clear is a great smaller film that many peopel miss. See the reconstructed version of The Big Red One. Also, Battleground is a clear oversight here.
By aaaa
October 16, 2006 6:08 PM | Link to this
By Chris
October 17, 2006 8:45 AM | Link to this
“Band of Brothers” was a series on HBO, not a movie.
We can not forget Battle Cry, The Flying Leathernecks, Guadalcanal Diary, Windtalkers and the classic, The Final Countdown.
By chris
October 17, 2006 8:47 AM | Link to this
Band of Brothers was a series on HBO, not a movie
How can we forget “The Final Countdown?” It was true, you know.
By Dale
October 17, 2006 9:33 AM | Link to this
When I saw Saving Private Ryan for the first time, I just bawled through the first thirty minutes of the movie imagining what it was like for my father who was actually there on that day. Although he lived through it, he was never able to really talk about it. I finally was able to envision what it must have been like for him on that day. And it broke my heart. Though he died before the movie came out, I don’t think he would have watched it. Living through that hell one time was enough. It was the most realistic movie about World War 11 ever made.
By koz
October 17, 2006 10:34 AM | Link to this
Enemy at the Gates - awesome movie.
By Mike Waldon
October 17, 2006 10:44 AM | Link to this
House Party 2 was the best one but Waterboy isn’t bad too.
By koz
October 17, 2006 10:47 AM | Link to this
Oops sorry Rick didn’t mean to almost copy your comment (which I just read) verbatim. Just shows how good the movie is.
By jbmlaw
October 17, 2006 11:06 AM | Link to this
Is Paris Burning? - Excellent movie, stylistically similar to The Longest Day.
Judgement at Nuremberg was post-war, so I suppose that does not count.
Patton and In Harm’s Way are my guilty pleasures.
Nothing tops Casablanca, on your original list.
By R
October 17, 2006 11:29 AM | Link to this
I teach a US History in Film class in Athens, and a lot of these films are on my section about WWII. Sadly, I cannot show Saving Private Ryan in class b/c of its R rating, but there are still plenty of films that can be shown. As for the comment on Judgment at Nuremberg (in fact, we’re watching this film right now and on the 60th anniversary of the execution of the original Nuremberg defendants, no less)- I consider it part of the WWII genre b/c it deals with the war and its aftermath. The same goes for the TNT version of Nuremberg that came out a few years- great acting, script and a “here’s the history” type feeling that some so called “history” films leave out. If I could come up with a WWII in Film class, this list would pretty much be the curriculum. The Final Countdown is great ALTERNATE HISTORY- while watching Pearl Harbor, I thought about that film. Same goes for Fatherland, a film made in which Germany wins the war. Sometimes, even alternate WWII history seems good.
By dave
October 17, 2006 5:06 PM | Link to this
enemy at the gates: inital battle scene every bit as intense as saving private ryan. the rest is a little ‘hollywood’ - but pretty good
By Tim Trevillion
October 18, 2006 1:05 PM | Link to this
Here we go again! Current mood: p** off Category: News and Politics
Is it just me? Does anyone else see a problem with Celebs. running out of fads like pink dogs, bling bling, and now have created a fad that was committed several hundered years ago, made illegal, and destroyed an entire race! I am tired of seeing where they have gone to Africa, and every other poor country and baught themself a what was called a N*.
If they really wanted to do something good for those children. Instead of stripping them away from their parents. Hell give the family a thousand dollars per month until the child reaches adulthood. That would be more than enough money for the family, and the child will grow up with their family. That is much less than The Material Girl paying three million for her new fad!
Just a little something to think about!!!! Because I sware on my life NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Because in this Century a few of us can afford to go to England and buy us a little cute fad also!
By Ken Koser
October 20, 2006 9:49 AM | Link to this
Two films that certainly would be on my list - “The Train”, John Frankenheimer’s great film about a German officer attempting to steal the great French art treasures and the efforts of the French resistance, led by Burt Lancaster, to stop him, and “They Were Expendable”, the realistic portrayal of America’s post Pearl Harbor defeats in the Phillipines as told through the eyes of PT boat crews trying to help stem the advancing Japanese forces.
By Ed Goldberg
October 22, 2006 8:20 AM | Link to this
You forgot to put “Von Ryan’s Express” with Frank Sinatra.
By Gumbo
October 23, 2006 10:02 AM | Link to this
I’ll 2nd The Train. What a great movie. Great acting by Lancaster and Scofield, and an unforgettable “Papa Boule” (forget French actor’s name). Great plot, suspense, classic ending…this movie has it all, though not much in the way of actual fighting.
By P. Luyendyk
October 23, 2006 2:47 PM | Link to this
Having read all the contributions to date I find myself in agreement with most selections, even the Hollywood ‘blockbusters.’ I believe ‘Private Ryan,’ ‘Kwai,’ ‘Train’ and others are worthy candidates. As an amateur WWII history buff (just back from France where a trip to the Normandy beaches was a ‘must.’ Do you know there is a point on the Normandy coast where you can see all 5 landing beaches, Sword, Juno, Gold, Omaha, Utah, from one spot?) and a degree in Film I have one major disagreement. No one, not even then AJC critics, brought up A Walk in the Sun (1945, dir Lewis Milestone ‘All Quiet on the Western Front, Pork Chop Hill’) A movie that has two action scenes that last less than two minutes but chronicles the common man facing uncommon situations. Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, John Ireland and Lloyd Bridges are part of an infantry platoon in Italy making their way cross country. While I certainly appreciated ‘Ryan’ I was reminded too much of an over produced episode of COMBAT!! the TV show that lasted longer than the war. Terrence Malick’s ‘Thin Red Line’ depicted the cruelty and absurdity of war better but it had the advantage of a critically acclaimed novel. Nobody liked Polanski’s ‘The Pianist’?
By G Richards
October 24, 2006 9:44 AM | Link to this
No one mentioned “Das Boot”, the ultimate submarine film. “Stalingrad” and my favorite “Winter War”
By D. Mead
October 25, 2006 9:31 PM | Link to this
The most intense WWII film I’ve ever seen is Elem Klimov’s 1985 film “Come and See,” which tells the story of the Nazi invasion of the Byelorussia from the Russian point of view. It’s not for the squeamish, as the SS Einsatzgruppen death squads are shown in all their brutality.
Despite the film’s nearly indescribable violence, however, there’s something almost poetic about it. As the blurb on the back of the cover reads, “Images of a beautiful girl’s impromptu dance in the rain and an SS unit’s spontaneous, self-congratulatory applause at their own butchery haunt with equal power.”