Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best WW2 Movies

Holy smokes, I was off by 15 years?!!!
I was thinking Ira Hayes died in 1965. He was a technical consultant for the film, that much I remembered. But he died in 1955, not ‘65.
Anyway, as I said, folks who do these list really oughta try to differentiate between a war movie and an action movie set in a war.
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A few of my favorites are:
Saving Private Rayan, Das Boot, Fury, and HBO - Band of Brothers and Pacific.
A good while back, I had the pleasure of talking to a WWII medic who went ashore on D-Day at Normandy Beach. He didn’t get a scratch. I asked how the real event compared to Saving Private Ryan. He told me that the movie was historically accurate but the real event was much louder. He was an old school southern gentleman dressed in a suit and tie. Our wives were pre admitting to Baptist Hospital in Jackson Mississippi. I will always remember him and our conversation. I should have written it in a journal for prosperity.

The Pianist was artful and painfully slow. I couldn’t watch it past the 1/2 way point.

The cross of iron

Dave

Kelly’s Heroes

Always with the negative waves, Moriarty, always with the negative waves.





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"Hell Is For Heroes" and "Paths Of Glory"

In 1976, CBS did a special on the anniversary of D-Day. They aired The Longest Day, and as each scene of the movie was shown, they had live interviews with veterans who had actually been part of that scene 30 years before!
I was just a pup at the time, but I knew I was watching something pretty special.
Like the interviews of the vets from Easy Company with Band Of Brothers.
To hear an actual veteran, an eyewitness participant, talk about what they saw, what they did, and how they felt about it brings the story alive.
No movie, no matter how well done and how accurate, can come near seeing a veteran with tears in his eyes, tell you what they did.
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"A Bridge to Far"

Memphis Belle, for personal reasons.
Beyond that, I loved Kelly’s heroes.

Sands of Iwo Jima was produced in 1949. Clint Eastwood was born in 1930. So he would have been only 19 when the movie was produced. A little young to be a Hollywood director.

My ol pops fought in the Battle of The Bulge as an infantryman. He also did house cleaning in other spots as well. He gave his two cents worth to me about five years before he passed. Saving Private Ryan nailed it for him. He noted that, among other things, they got the sounds just right. One of the few (only?) movies that you could hear the ping of an empty Garand clip…once he heard that, he was sold on the movie. His personal “sounds” that stuck with him were the ping, plus the sound of a V-2 rocket way overhead and the sexy sound of the P-51 hauling ass over their positions. Said he’d never forget those…


So proud of that man, a member of The Greatest Generation. Rest in peace ol man.

This was a horrible movie. On my list of worst ever.

Patton

Saving Private Ryan

Band of Brothers

Those three I'll never pass up if scrolling through the guide.

Also liked "Black Book".

Patton I've seen two thousand times if I've seen it once. All time favorite. Great movie to throw on and fall asleep to.

I recall getting off shift at 8 a.m. in the morning in Germany, and my German, Canadian, Belgian, British, etc., friends on shift and I (I was in a NATO unit) would hit the beer machine (yes, we had beer machines in the barracks), and we'd settle in for some Patton, or other crap and get toasted by noon. A lot of fun, and a lot of cool insight into what our generation of Americans, Brits, and Germans, and other Europeans felt about the war. Never got heated. We were all very much into the history of it. Damn, sure miss those 9 a.m. runs to the beer machine to watch those movies with a bunch of good people, some of whom I'm still in contact with today.

Private Ryan, The Big Red One, The Memphis Belle, and Kelly’s Heroes.

Will probably catch grief but I really liked the PBS run of “The War”.

Good to see somebody mention Das Boot. Great war movie if you don't mind subtitles.

Pretty much agree. Might have been decent if they'd of ditched fuggin' Penn and Nolte. Horrible acting from both of them commie mf'ers. Ruined the movie. Have seen it once, and not sure I even finished it.

For those interested, a good documentary.... "WW2 from Space". Worth the watch.

Nothing.

Patton was a good movie. The longest day was very good for simply showing all the challenges faced for the allies to invade fortress Europe. I’m sure I’m forgetting other really good movies.

Best WW2 tearjerker...........The Fighting Sullivans. If you can watch that movie and not get a lump in your throat, then there's something wrong with you.