Extra Crispy | 21 Mar 2020 8:49 p.m. PST |
I watched Laurence Olivier's Richard III today. Great movie. The climactic battle though is a proper dog's breakfast. Just silly bad. So, what movie battle would you nominate for worst? Accuracy be damned, I'm talking about entertainment value, spectacle. This was bad but I'm sure I've seen worse. Aragorn at the Black Gate is in the neighborhood. |
bandit86 | 21 Mar 2020 9:26 p.m. PST |
Most of the battle in the Sharpe tv series (they are mostly skirmishes) I always like seeing 50 french men charge. They are not Waterloo but more like live-action wargames. Still, I enjoyed them |
Dn Jackson | 21 Mar 2020 10:44 p.m. PST |
For some reason the first scene that popped into my head was one from Thin Red Line. A movie about the US Army on Guadalcanal. There was a scene of Americas over running a Japanese position and killing all these soldiers trying to surrender. I'm fairly certain more Japanese surrendered in that one scene than surrendered during the entire Pacific war. |
Jeffers | 22 Mar 2020 2:04 a.m. PST |
Too numerous to count! But something that I've only seen once – many, many years ago – but which stuck like a stubborn stain in my mind is the final battle in this: link Second is anything that requires Mel Gibson to carry a flag. Or act. |
Martin Rapier | 22 Mar 2020 2:13 a.m. PST |
The battle scene in Richard III was filmed in Spain, which doesn't look much like Warwickshire. But it is such a good adaptation of the play I can forgive it. John Lydon said his Johnny Rotten persona was inspired by Oliviers Richard III. Anyway, silly battles. Anything which involves advancing lines of infantry and cavalry breaking into a run/Gallop and losing all formation. Which applies to more battle scenes than I can think of. |
Choctaw | 22 Mar 2020 4:50 a.m. PST |
Battle of the Bulge starring Henry Fonda. The entire movie is just bad. |
15th Hussar | 22 Mar 2020 5:30 a.m. PST |
PSHAW! Battle of the Bulge is a FUN movie and should be taken as such. Except for the WMSJO Panzerlied scene, which even back the made me cringe and is now considered an anthem of some sorts. |
Prince Rupert of the Rhine | 22 Mar 2020 5:31 a.m. PST |
| 22 Mar 2020 6:49 a.m. PST |
Any scenes where ancient archers fire off flaming arrows. |
Old Peculiar | 22 Mar 2020 7:03 a.m. PST |
Naseby in the film Cromwell, fought in the shadows of snow capped mountains with wobbly rubber swords. |
Major Mike | 22 Mar 2020 8:10 a.m. PST |
The Battle of El Alamein where the brave Italians defend a depression against the attack of the modern M-113's that are suppose to be tanks. |
Extra Crispy | 22 Mar 2020 8:53 a.m. PST |
I'm with Andrew – B of the Bulge is a great movie. Loads of fun – that's the kind of movie that turns kids in to wargamers. The open field tank battle was okay. The "big mobs charge and then mingle" problem is a virtual epidemic. How the hell does anyone tell friend from foe? But even with that cinema sin accounted for, the battle scenes can range from great to awful. Thin Red Line is my favorite war movie of all time but that's another thread. That battle scene was not its best moment though, I agree. I may have to find Cromwell just for the Naseby scene! |
Slow Oats | 22 Mar 2020 10:13 a.m. PST |
Any fight scene from Troy. Terrible choreography, the action was hard to follow, and they WAY overstayed their welcome. My favorite, though not necessarily a battle scene, is when Hector and Achilles are fighting outside the gates of Troy. Achilles puts his shield behind his head, slides his spear behind his shield, and then starts poking feebly at Hector. And it works. |
14Bore | 22 Mar 2020 2:29 p.m. PST |
Battle of the Bulge is so bad its good |
15th Hussar | 22 Mar 2020 4:01 p.m. PST |
14Bore…YEP! |
Fred Mills | 22 Mar 2020 4:27 p.m. PST |
Nic Cage killing eight or nine Japanese with a single shot revolver, while falling through the air, rolling, wounded, amidst explosions. Great stuff. An airplane crashes in the English Channel in broad daylight. The pilot, clearly Aquaman, emerges in the night. Moments later, he's flying a bomber against Japan, after surviving – Pearl Harbor!! Just dazzling. So many more. Modern British warships in Dunkirk was pretty sad also. Talk about 'artistic license'. |
Stryderg | 22 Mar 2020 5:14 p.m. PST |
I think the movie was "Green Berets" with John Wayne. I like John Wayne, but having the VC charge from stage left only to be stopped by a sudden defensive line, then everyone runs back to stage left, only to stop and reverse direction again. Lots of action, very choreographed and very silly. It's like they couldn't afford to move the camera. |
von Schwartz | 22 Mar 2020 5:34 p.m. PST |
@Jeffers Too numerous to count! But something that I've only seen once – many, many years ago – but which stuck like a stubborn stain in my mind is the final battle in this: Never saw the movie, but I think the title says it all: "From Hell to Victory", I read the plot summary, sounds like a real stinker. Sort of a Forrest Gump meets the Dirty Dozen. |
Jeffers | 23 Mar 2020 2:33 a.m. PST |
Oh, you must watch it! No need for a DVD, you will never forget it. I actually saw it on 26 November 1984 (thanks to the BBC Genome Project for that info): a date that will live in infamy… Re BotB: Telly Savalas + M24 = nothing else matters. |
newarch | 23 Mar 2020 3:30 a.m. PST |
Modern British warships in Dunkirk was pretty sad also. Talk about 'artistic license'. I believe the destroyer used in Dunkirk was French and admittedly didn't look much like a British ship of the same period (the enclosed bridge being the main difference). But I applaud the use of practical effects, cgi can work well be inevitably gets abused for silly action set pieces. Dunkirk looked pretty authentic to me and I was willing to overlook minor discrepancies in the availability of ships and planes to achieve that look. |
Mollinary | 23 Mar 2020 6:40 a.m. PST |
Newarch, There were French destroyers at Dunkirk as well as British! Indeed, I think there is a famous photo of one which was heavily damaged and then run aground? L'Adroit, I think. |
Sundance | 23 Mar 2020 8:06 a.m. PST |
Most of the war movies made in the last 20 years, especially anything starring Nicolas Cage. Eastwood's Iwo movies were pretty decent, but the artillery explosions were anemic. they looked more like twinkling model railroad lights. |
Parzival | 23 Mar 2020 11:04 a.m. PST |
Any mass battle on open ground in any movie. They all fall into the typical Hollywood "we'll march up in this good, tight, formation on good ground… and then completely abandon the formation and run full tilt towards the enemy, yelling our lungs out." Doesn't matter if it's historical or an over the top Avengers flick, it's still STUPID. Oh well. At least the stars get their beauty shots in. C:-P |
USAFpilot | 23 Mar 2020 9:08 p.m. PST |
Any battle scene when a main character is killed and suddenly the other main character right beside him stops fighting. Everyone in the scene was just fighting for their lives, and now they are holding hands and having a conversation in the middle of a fire fight. It's in about every war movie and it seems like the dumbest most unrealistic thing to happen in the middle of a fight. |
McKinstry | 24 Mar 2020 8:57 a.m. PST |
Except for the WMSJO Panzerlied scene, which even back the made me cringe and is now considered an anthem of some sorts. How can you not love Nazi Riverdance? So wonderfully terrible. Worst scene? I still have flashbacks over that battle scene of Alexander the Great in India with a pink filter.Shudder! |
Mollinary | 24 Mar 2020 10:39 a.m. PST |
Sorry for the ignorance, but what is WMSJO when it is at home? |
15th Hussar | 24 Mar 2020 10:45 a.m. PST |
"How can you not love Nazi Riverdance? So wonderfully terrible." Good one, McKinstry! |
von Schwartz | 25 Mar 2020 6:18 p.m. PST |
@Jeffers Oh, you must watch it! No need for a DVD, you will never forget it. Where can I find it, BTW I draw the line at scuba diving in the outhouse. |
Dynaman8789 | 26 Mar 2020 5:54 p.m. PST |
Did I miss the point? I thought accuracy was not the point but how exciting. Luckily I can't think of any that were just plain boring or dumb, oops – I just did. The battle scenes from 300, in addition to being historically inaccurate they either put me to sleep for their idiocy or had my laughing for the same reason. An over the top Kung Fu(*) movie is a good thing but an over the top sword and sandal movie is silly. (*) – Kung Fu Hustle being one of the greatest movies ever made. |
Gunfreak | 27 Mar 2020 11:31 a.m. PST |
Hearbrake ridge or what ever that mel Gibson fetish film was called. Guns used digital muzzle flashes and the actors clearly can't half fake the recoil, 1 handed use of recoiles BAR holding a tiny destroyed torso that is somehow bulletproof. What started out as decent movie about pacifism, is ruined by braindead style over the top fake gore and comical violence. South park loves to parody mel Gibson, but this movie is a parody of itself. As others have said. Any movie were formed armies sprint 1km before fighting in random meles. Shields are used as a counter weight and can never be held in front of the body. And armor is made of very thin cardboard giving zero protection. |
Jeffers | 28 Mar 2020 3:10 a.m. PST |
Von Schwarz: a quick search turned this up but it is on DVD too: link Enjoy! And I use that word in the loosest possible sense… |
Historydude18 | 07 Apr 2020 6:48 p.m. PST |
Final battle in 1960 Alamo film (So horrendously inaccurate) Battle of Naseby in Cromwell movie Fetterman Fight from Into the West, again terribly inaccurate |
StuartG61 | 27 Apr 2020 4:20 p.m. PST |
Battle scene at the crossroads in Fury truly one of worst war films I have seen..people being offensive for sake of it almost and a seemingly (not Eastern or low grade) Waffen SS unit basically burning itself out trying to attack a broken down tank …i mean ..get behind it with a Panzerfaust (of which they seemingly only had 4 which seems unlikely) and end the film 30 minutes earlier. The earlier tank battles seemed to have been designed by people whose knowledge of tank warfare was seeing a car park battle in a FOW game Complete pants the whole thing |
Der Krieg Geist | 29 Jul 2020 6:58 p.m. PST |
Patton…US M-48s (Pattons Har Har..) painted up as German tanks with Iron Crosses, running over their own advancing/supporting infantry. |
Nick Pasha | 31 Jul 2020 6:37 a.m. PST |
The last battle scene of Taras Bulba where the entire Polish Army is pushed off a cliff into a gorge by Cossacks. Really? |