Adrian Roberts Posted 8 February , 2005 Share Posted 8 February , 2005 Another under-rated film: "Attack" , black and white film directed by Robert Altman [or do I mean Aldrich?] c. 1955, set in NW Europe 44-45 Ok, its low-budget, with tanks that look decidedly cardboard. But a very compelling depiction of men under pressure, and of the tension before action. Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidmac Posted 8 February , 2005 Share Posted 8 February , 2005 Lost Battalion has got to be the worst piece of crap film ever made.Only a Silver Spoons fan would like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidmac Posted 8 February , 2005 Share Posted 8 February , 2005 I wish the film was lost! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Clay Posted 8 February , 2005 Share Posted 8 February , 2005 davidmac Don't beat about the bush - do you like the film or not? Seriously, are you talking about the 1919 US WW1 movie or some other Lost Battalion? And what is a Silver Spoons fan? Cheers, Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidmac Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 There was a remake I guess with Ricky Schroder (of Silver Spoons fame) made in the past few years. SS was a bad tv show about a rich kid. Dont rent it,unless you want to hate it as much as I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sapper6 Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 What about Cross of Iron . Or the German/Polish director, Walther Siszckabowsi whoose 1953 epic " The Gun Becomes Me " , showed the futile resistence in the Warsaw uprising. The subtitles are a distraction for modern viewers but he was the first to use real footage of combat, interspersed with actors and it was only the grainy black and white footage of the day that allowed him to get away with this. A Masterpiece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Molier Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 Davidmac, Personal I've found 'the Last Battalion' a very grood movie. But is this movie (with Ricky Schroder) historical not correct, or...... ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Robertson Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 I'm surprised nobody has mentioned "Gallipoli" yet. It was one of those movies that just left me speechless. It has its critics but I can't fault Peter Weir's direction. "Saving Private Ryan" was the same - it had me open mouthed for the first 30 minutes. "We Were Soldiers" was the best of the vietnam films I've seen. Mel Gibson of "Braveheart" fame used a moving lament for a fallen Scottish hero on the soundtrack. The lament, "Sgt MacKenzie", was written and sung by Joe Kilna Mackenzie. Joe wrote the song in memory of his Grandfather a Moray man, from Bishopmill, who along with hundreds of other Seaforth Highlanders from the Elgin/Rothes area went to fight in the Great War. Sgt Charles Stuart MacKenzie was allegedly bayoneted to death at, the age of 35, while defending one of his badly injured colleagues in the hand to hand fighting of the trenches. And though not strictly a movie - how does "ANZACS" rate? Very good drama. But as for 'The Lost Battalion' - 'All the Kings Men', dear oh dear oh dear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benoit Douville Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 -Cross of Iron (Eastern Front World War II) -The Bridge at Remagen (World War II) -Pearl Harbor (World War II) -All Quiet on the Western Front (World War I) Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkristof Posted 9 February , 2005 Share Posted 9 February , 2005 -The Bridge at Remagen (World War II) -Pearl Harbor (World War II) You must be joking??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest davidmac Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Has The film is just bad.The way the soilders talk would be ok if it were a ww2 movie. That what bugged me most.I guess it is historically correct,the good old U.Sof A was in ww1.I just really hated it and hope it is not being used in the classroom as a teaching aid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benoit Douville Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Bkristof, The last Pear Harbor is an absolute classic, I have seen it about 5 or 6 times and I am not tired of it. The Bombardment by the Japanese is awsome, the love story incredible and the Doolittle Raid pretty exciting. The Bridge at Remagen is full of great War action! Don't you just love it! oh I guess it is a personal choice. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hans Molier Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Oké Davidmac, thank you for your reply. But 'the Last Battalion' is historically correct, and that's just want I wanted to know. And by the way, Tora Tora Tora I've found much better than Pearl Habor, but that's just a personal opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Pearl Harbor!!! I though that it was one of the bigger waste of times making it (except the triage scenes in the hospital - first time I've ever seen that) and an even bigger waste of time going to see it. You get the hhero going to Britain to join the Eagle Squadron and been given a blod covered Spitfire by an RAF officer (there weren't any, they were all American). I doubt that that would have happened anyway. He get shot down over France and makes his way back by ways unexplained, sends a telegram to his girlfriend (Oh, yea) and arrives in Hawai about ten minutes after the telegram (presumably having caught the afternoon 747 from Heathrow, nonstop). Then he gets converted to bombers! and is on the Doolittle raid. Talk about a set of impossible and unlikely events. Oh, and when in New York with his girlfriend he takes her around the Queen Mary that is conveniently tied up there on her way from India to Britain (as she was occupied for a long time). The combat scenes during the Japanese raid were laughable - those two flying around and getting the Japs to hit one another. Charlie Chaplin would have been ashamed to use it. Tora Tora was in a different league. When I was at Staff College I was told that they had shown the film there when new and had found a Japanese veteran of the raid who had spoken after. He said that it was a very good illustration of the raid. Many of the unlikely things in it had actually happened (the guy being given a flying lesson who finds himself in the middle of the Japanese planes, for example). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ray hoggart Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 re Best Films, I've seen most of the films mentioned, some were good some not so good, I just make a mental note not to watch them again! I don't understand all the venom and hate that seeing a film seems to generate. I should hate to meet some of the contributors on a dark night. Films are mainly about entertainment not facts. Ray 23757155 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benoit Douville Posted 10 February , 2005 Share Posted 10 February , 2005 Healdav, It is a film, when did you see historical accuracy in a film... If I want historical accuracy I will read a book. I was on the edge of my seat during Pearl Harbor, it is a superb film. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 For historical accuracy (even if it wasn't filmed on site), see BASTOGNE and make sure you wear a lot of clothes, you can feel the cold and the fog (both of which we had on last December 16, by the way). OK, films are entertainment, but I wouldn't mind betting that there are now a lot of people out there who think that Pearl Harbor is an accurate portrayal of what happened. I couldn't care less if the Mark of Spitfire or whatever , is wrong or the gun sight or something, but to portray everything wrongly and as if it was Disneyland is utterly appalling. It's almost as if the film industry can't face up to truth and indeed even almost instinctively back away from it. What would have been wrong with making the film an accurate portrayal of what happened whilst using some personal stories (there must have been thousands)? Why make such a risibly inaccurate film and then market it as history? I don't get it. They should have advertised it as a satire. Now that would make sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soren Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 'Regeneration' does it for me, gentle at times, horrible at other points, & most importantly honest. 'Blockheads' just for Stan living in a trench for 20 years after the Armistace, whilst living on tins of baked beans, oh and Ollie thinking that he's had his legs blown off, priceless slapstick! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Benoit Douville Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Healdav, Believe me, I would love to see historical accuracy of what happened but it is really rare in War films. I have never seen "Bastogne" but I sure want to see it, The Battle of the Bulge is so fascinating. Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Dunno about historical accuracy but as war films go.... North West Passage (Spencer Tracey as Rodgers of Rodgers' Rangers) - action sequences were incredible for a film of that time. Plus one of the great endings to any movie .... remember them arriving at the fort to find no-one there ... then they hear the drums and fifes in the distance? Red Badge of Courage - Audie Murphy. Remains an all-time classic. And 'King Rat' ... cos it took a very good book and did a fair job of it in movie format. Des Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMG65 Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 There has been too many good war films to talk about them all. 'Stalingrad' has been mentioned and is a great film. What about 'Waterloo', with Rod Steiger and Christopher Plummer. That must be one of the best. and it sticks quite closely to the real facts. My favourite film about the Great War is a 'Month In The Country', this film stars Kenneth Branagh and Colin Firth and is about two former soldiers who repair their lives in a summer month in a Yorkshire village. A good film to relax too. The most disappointing film has to be a 'Bridge Too Far', or a 'Film Too Long' as it became known. Some great scenes and a good story ruined by placing great emphasis on minor happenings in order to give stars a bigger part. The scenes involving James Caan were unnecessary and the scenes involving Robert Redford before he attacked the bridge were corny to say the least. The part the Poles played was virtually missed out. Incidentially a friend of mine was an extra in the film (he was serving with the British Army in Germany when the film was made). His party piece and claim to fame is that he 'died 5 times in 3 days'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scarletto Posted 11 February , 2005 Share Posted 11 February , 2005 Dunkirk with john mills, in which we serve, battle of britain which the dvd with extras is excellent, great escape okay not true but a class film, wheres the missing hour??? and steve mcqueen wasnt going to be the star, it was the guy called haines who escaped as a german soldier who was, read a webpage he had done, sour grapes methinks!! But heres me a film star and unlikely anyones going to see the films!! Was in a couple of films for the british army about defending bridges in germany, with a guy who ran the pub in the itv show emmerdale, lots of days firing blanks and dying,even had a speaking part, oh where was the adulation, the partys. Did another film on chieftan recovery but well got jailed for mucking about, no sense of fun some film makers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrick Posted 12 February , 2005 Share Posted 12 February , 2005 okay here it goes...and yes i am aussie minded the lighthorsemen galipolli anzacs ant other oz movie i forgot about ww1 Seems theres also 50.000 horsemen but never could track it down. and for a laugh young indiana jones in ww1 coo-ee patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
healdav Posted 14 February , 2005 Share Posted 14 February , 2005 The film BASTOGNE was made in 1949 in Black and White and its first showing was in ... Bastogne. Sign of the times; the poster advertising it (the cinema in Bastogne is tiny) says that the room will be heated! The film is shown on TV (French/ Belgian/ British/ US, don't know about German) from time to time. Otherwise it is on Video/DVD. The black and white works better than colour as they have real newsreel interspersed in the film. On the same subject there is an excellent exhibition on in Bastogn all year - J'avais 20 ans en 1944 (I was 20 in 1944). Just ask at the Tourist office in the main square for directions to it. If you've been to the memorial at Mardasson then its on the way into the town by the roundabout. It needs a couple of hours at least to do it justice. Lots of film interviews with people who were there, done by schoolchildren. Well worth a detour. I was there on Saturday in a bliizzard interspersed with thunderstorm and there were still 20 or 30 locals with children in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeppoSapone Posted 14 February , 2005 Share Posted 14 February , 2005 here's a "heads up" so you won't waste your money seeing Flags: it too will be all Americans--Brady's father and 5 other young men atop Mount Suribachi, along with 70,000+ of their closest USMC friends and 12,000 hospitality-impaired Japanese, all on a rock named Iwo Jima. Chris Which reminds me. My main "beef" with war films is that they so often show men doing brave acts, and often being wounded etc. Then, they conveniently forgot to mention the rest of the soldiers life. Many of the wounded from wars are in pain until the day they die. No "Glory" there, and very little help from cynical governments that have used them like you or I would use a Kleenex. Here is an example of what I mean. Chris has mentioned the well known shot of the American flag being raised on Iwo Jima. One of the members of the USMC that did that was the Native American Ira Hayes, and it wrecked his life. He ended up dead in a ditch at the age of 32. See here: http://phoenix.about.com/cs/famous/a/irahayes01.htm Not anti-American, just pro-humanity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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