"Best War Movie That is Also Accurate?" Topic

Wargamers like to complain that Hollywood never gets the history right in its movies. So… which war movie actually got it right? And was a good movie, too?

Well when I was a kid my dad said one of his army instructors said "Pork Chop Hill" was the only movie that got it right, because everything went wrong.

Can't remember how good the movie is however.

Memphis Belle was technically accurate according to my uncle Bill. He was a Radioman on a B-17. The story is a collage of stories of course but everything that happened from a technical stand point was good.

Pork Chop Hill is excellent.

Didn't we just have this discussion a couple weeks ago?

Black Hawk Down was one.
We Were Soldiers (exception for the last – Battle – scene though, pure Hollywood there)

My grand dad said that Objective, Burma! (1945)was as close as they could get without having 100% real war footage of how bad and nasty things were there,

Unquestionably Tora! Tora! Tora!

Two of my favorites are: The Great Raid (2005) with Benjamin Bratt and James Franco.

And Glory (1989) with Denzel Washington, and Matthew Broderick

Theirs is the Glory.

Arnhem veterans refighting Arnhem, in Arnhem…

+1 Piers – my first thought as well.

Master and Commander
Black Hawk Down

How about "The Story of GI Joe," "Battleground," and "A Walk in the Sun."

Starship Troopers

12 O'clock High.

Waterloo and Zulu

Waterloo and Zulu Dawn

An old coworker of mine, Marine Vietnam vet, said Full Metal Jacket got it right

At one point, 12 O'Clock High was used for leadership classes in the US military.

Battle of Algiers is supposed to be spot-on as well, though I can't vouch for how good it is, having never seen it.

"BATTLE OF THE BULGE"

My Sarcast-O-Meter went off the scale on that one.

The Panzerlied song was sung apparently at a slower pace in real life as opposed to the movie version. Come on, Americans using PANZERSHRECKS against Patton tanks? How much more realistic can you get, right? Now hold on, the did use the Chaffee tank in the movie and it had Telly in it. You know the turret that "Blown off" (READ: cut off with the use of tools) and Telly survived that only to grab a functioning .30 caliber MG. Now that was heroic!

Downfall

Das Boat

Can't beat it guys….
Zulu would come in third…

"Das Boot",was the perfect general overview of being in the U-Boat service."The Light Horse"take out the love story,great job."The lost Battalion" w/ Ricky Schroeder. And last but not least "Breaker Morant"

Cross of Iron

Another vote for Cross of Iron.

Tora, Tora, Tora….Blackhawk Down….Brdge Too Far

The latest ALAMO. Also THE ROUGH RIDERS. Also KHARTOUM.

I liked "A Bridge too Far".

Not sure how accurate it was, but at least you got the general gist of the situation and battles from the period.

Some of the others mentioned are pretty good too, e.g. Das Boot, 12 O'clock High, Pork Chop Hill, Memphis Bell, etc.

The Cruel Sea
Waterloo
Tora, Tora, Tora

Kelly's Heroes

Talvisota

YouTube link

and Tora Tora Tora

There was a really good Australian movie about the SAS in Vietnam. I can't remember the name.

I think Objective Burma could be an infantry training film. From the standpoint of small unit operations, it is excellent.

Talvisota without a doubt. The ending scene still makes me cringe every time, just so hard to watch.

I suspect that movies can hope, at best, to catch an approximation of the horrors, boredom, and stress of war.

The Aussie SAS film was The Odd Angry Shot.

Alexander.

The Patriot.

Got you!!

Doesn't Waterloo fail to feature any non Red coated British allies? Dutch, Germans, etc?

Run Silent, Run Deep

Zulu Dawn, Zulu, Cross of Iron, Das Boot (but then I'm seriously moved by Zulu movies)

Decision Before Dawn

Hamburger Hill

Has no one mentioned 'Braveheart' yet? HAHAHahaaaaaa :-)

Battleground

I second Hamberger Hill Also Paths of Glory and afew already mentioned

Oh dear – Objective Burma really?

link

I believe it was removed from some British cinemas

Barry Lyndon

I just watched "our world war war " based on personal writings of World War I veterans including the last episode about a British tank crew, amazing scenes inside the tank. The three episodes were clearly the best war depictions I have ever seen.

I also just watched "stosstruppen, 1917" which rivals "Westfront, 1918" for world war one trench accuracy. Both better than all quiet on the Western front.

Not a movie, but Generation Kill convinced me to get into Moderns. Well, that and Black Hawk Down.

(Needless to say, I've got Force on Force and supplements, but haven't painted anything yet)

All these are my not to miss when on.
Battleground realistic and the paratroopers pour cousins to boot.
Breaker Morant and Paths to Glory same vein but the sadder side of war in that being shot by your own side for crimes real or imagined.
Black Horse Down my favorite modern combat movie.
Some of the above mentioned are very good but do stretch reality at least a little bit just for example The Great escape another not to miss but the Americans helped dig but were all moved before the breakout.
Sorry if I'm being picky but do take my war movies seriously.

An Ungentlemanly Act

Meiczyslaw,

12 O'Clock High was also used for leadership training at RAF College Cranwell… I remember the start and the end… The middle bit was a welcome opportunity for some sleep. :)

An old coworker of mine, Marine Vietnam vet, said Full Metal Jacket got it right

I do love that movie, especially the first half. As to accurately portraying Hue? *shrugs*

Back in 2000, I had the privilege of listening to retired USMC Brigadier General Steele speak about his experiences with urban combat in Hue. Someone in our group brought up Full Metal Jacket, and the General was quite clear in how inaccurate he felt it was. Yikes!