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[Gunner-Chan]

Anyone else a fan of the genre? I really don't know how I started liking these sort of movies so much but I can't stop watching them.

So far I have watched Flags of our fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Saving private Ryan, and Cross of Iron. Letters from Iwo Jima and Cross of Iron being my favorites so far. I had also watched Enemy at the Gates even though it's not exactly a war movie, but it's not exactly a very good movie either.

Anyone else have any favorites? Or anything to say about this slowly forgotten genre?

[viskaslietuvai]

Oldies but goodies, Zulu and Bridge on the River Kwai, but it is the British Army, so I don't know if you are specifically wanting American Army movies.

The big three Vietnam war movies, Platoon, Apocalypse Now, and The Deer Hunter. The last one particularly still gives me chills.

Civil War-Glory. Cold Mountain isn't really a war movie but the first scene is pretty incredible. It's a vision of the Civil War that I had never seen presented before.

The Patriot wasn't bad. Kinda like Braveheart with guns.

Also, probably my favorite, though it's a stretch to call it a war movie is Dr. Strangelove.

Edit: In checking my collection I forgot a few. Three Kings, The Great Escape, The Thin Red Line, Black Hawk Down, and also, not a movie but still really awesome is Generation Kill.

[Tormy]

Yes I am! I have 40+ war movies on DVD, inlcuding some oldies. Some of my favourites:
-Platoon
-Thin Red Line
-Band of Brothers
-Gettysburg
-Full Metal Jacket
-Apocalypse Now
-Das Boot
-Lawrence of Arabia
-300
-The Last Samurai
-Kagemusha
-Seven Samurai
-We Were Soldiers
-Saving Private Ryan
-A Bridge Too Far
etc.
etc.

[Aqizzar]

Why isn't Stalingrad in this thread yet?  May be the best war movie ever.

Audie Murphy's autobiography To Hell And Back is quite good if you can tolerate the 1950's production quality, and it's completely true to boot.

Likewise, Sergeant York, the story of Sergeant Alvin York, is another great true movie, and a rare WW1 example.

Speaking of WW1 of course, there's the movie version of All Quiet on the Western Front.

When Trumpets Fade is an striking, grizzly movie about the Hurtgen forest made by HBO.

Band of Brothers counts right?  It's like a bunch of movies.  HBO production quality, and Ron Livingston reprises his role as Peterman but in WWII.

The Battle of Britain was half the inspiration for the fighter scenes in Star Wars, and wound up destroying almost every Heinkel 111 left in the world.

And some more good oldies, Guns of Navarone, The Eagle Has Landed, Von Ryan's Express, The Best of Enemies, Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes, and The Longest Day which is also The Longest Movie.

[Gunner-Chan]

Why isn't Stalingrad in this thread yet?  May be the best war movie ever.

I have actually been trying to track that one down... Also what version of "All quiet on the western front" would you recommend? The 1930 one? Or the 1971 version?

[Aqizzar]

1930 obviously.  You can bet your bottom dollar that any rerelease of a foreign war movie is going to have all the "bad" parts cut out.

And I shamed myself by forgetting Patton.  Dah danana _{danana danana}

[LegoLord]

I think the only war movie that I've watched all the way through is Saving Private Ryan.  It's not that they aren't interesting; they are.  I suspect I find them so for the same or similar reasons for why I play paintball.

It's just that I don't always take visual gore well, or my dad wants me to focus entirely on the movie (which I can't do if I'm not doing anything else, ironically).

But anyway, a lot of them seem to put an interesting perspective to the segment of history they refer to.

What I most want to see is a movie about a German soldier during WWII, showing what it was like for the average Joe on the losing side.

[Gunner-Chan]

Stalingrad and Cross of iron are both from the German perspective. Anyone know any others?

Oh yeah, did anyone start laughing hysterically when in Saving private Ryan that one german soldier was out of ammo when he spotted one of the GIs and just yelled "ARSCHLOCH!" and threw his helmet at him?

[Aqizzar]

What I most want to see is a movie about a German soldier during WWII, showing what it was like for the average Joe on the losing side.

It's called Stalingrad.  I already mentioned it.

Really, that's why it's such an awesome movie.  From the very beginning, it quietly lambastes the entire Nazi attitude.  They're riding on a train across the Ukraine, fantasizing about what they'll do after the war.  In American movies, soldiers talk about stuff they left at home and women they'll see again.  The Germans talk about the construction and shipping businesses they'll start in Russia after they're finished destroying it.  And one of my favorite lines in any movie-

Rally Officer: "God is with us.  It says that on every man's belt buckle."
Muller: "Huh.  No shit, I never noticed."

Oh yeah, did anyone start laughing hysterically when in Saving private Ryan that one german soldier was out of ammo when he spotted one of the GIs and just yelled "ARSCHLOCH!" and threw his helmet at him?

I don't like Saving Private Ryan for a lot of reasons, but that was a hilarious scene.

[LegoLord]

Sorry Aqizzar.  I'll look into those.

Speaking of "arschloch," has anyone here read "The Book Thief"?  It was about WWII, from the German civilian perspective.  Primarily, that of a poor family.  I had to read it for summer reading once, and was surprised by how good it was, given the normal standard for summer reading.

[Il Palazzo]

Oh my, somebody else actually seen Stalingrad? How odd. A great movie, that one.

[Awayfarer]

I haven't watched too many war movies; only Full Metal Jacket and Enemy at the Gates. I really liked the latter. It's about two snipers: one Russian, one German, during the Battle of Stalingrad.

I have seen Hot Shots parts one and Deux. Do they count?

[Aqizzar]

I really liked the latter. It's about two snipers: one Russian, one German, during the Battle of Stalingrad.

It's also loaded with gross historical inaccuracies.  Such as-

There was never any mention of Russian snipers collecting tags.  Why would they?
Commissar Danilov survived the war, living longer than Zaitsev.
There is no record from any interview of Zaitsev that he ever shot wolves.
No accounts mention any particular romance, much less fucking in the barracks.
Major König was remembered for fondly riding in the troop cars like any other soldier, partly because no military train would have ever carried a private car.
The "one rifle to two men" thing came from WWI - by Stalingrad, Russian soldiers ofter carried multiple guns each.

Oh, and the entire sniper duel lasted two days after König arrived in Stalingrad.  König and Zaitsev, along with their wingmen (because professional snipers always work in groups) did set up in a trainyard.  They stared at each other for two days, before one of Zaitsev's men stuck his hand up, lost a finger, and when the dust settled the Germans were dead and the Russians weren't.

[Nilocy]

I just watched A Bridge Too Far, man does it have alot of great actors in it.

[Tormy]

I just watched A Bridge Too Far, man does it have alot of great actors in it.

Indeed..and the same is true about lot of "oldschool" war movies. 
Some Examples:
The Eagle has Landed -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074452/
Kelly's Heroes -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065938/
The Longest Day -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056197/
The Guns of Navarone -> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054953/