""20 Great WW2 Movies"" Topic

In my latest Military Officers Association of America magazine, they had an article honoring the 75th anniversary of the end of WW2 by listing "20 great World War II movies you really ought to watch."

"The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957)
"Run Silent, Run Deep" (1958)
"The Diary of Anne Frank" (1959)
"The Longest Day" (1962)
"A Bridge too Far" (1977)
"Empire of the Sun" (1987)
"Memphis Belle" (1990)
"Schindler's List" (1993)
"Proudly We Hail" (1943)
"Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" (1944)
"They Were Expendable" (1945)
"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946)
"The Great Escape" (1963)
"Battle of Britain" (1969)
"Patton" (1970)
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970)
"Saving Private Ryan" (1998)
"Inglorious Bastards" (2009)
"Red Tails" (2012)
"Dunkirk" (2017)

I'm sure we all have other movies that we would add to this list.

And I have to confess that there are 6 of them that I have not seen.

Jim

Inglorious Bastards? Really?

I know they are Black and White but two of my favorites are Objective Burma and Guadalcanal Diary.

Missed Battleground

Love Battleground.

Casablanca.

Twelve O'Clock High
USAF used to use it in supervisory management classes

I'll second, Inglorious Bastards??

It's a bogus list, I know because Sands of Iwo Jima is not on it.

I'm sorry Thin Red Line and Das Boot are not on the list.

- Ix

If Inglorious Bastards is on there, Kelly's Heroes deserves to be on the list!!!!!!

The beauty of a list – if its not your list it is WRONG!!

Very Western allies centered. No Cross of Iron, Downfall or Come And See.

I never said, nor did the magazine say, that the list was perfect, just that they thought that these were WW2 movies that everyone should see.

I agree about IG. If one wants to see a WW2 movie of that vein, the you can't go too far wrong with "The Dirty Dozen" or "Kelly's Heroes" (as raylev3 stated, above).

Personally, I would have added the following:

"Casablanca"
"Greyhound"
"Cockelshell Heroes"
"Sink the Bismarck"
"Midway" (both 1976 & 2019)
"633 Squadron"
"Twelve O'Clock High"
"Merrill's Marauders"
"Sands of Iwo Jima"
"Guadalcanal Diary"
"Big Red One"
"Enemy at the Gates"

And the list could go on and on!

Jim

I tried to watch Come and See… I couldn't make it. That is not a war movie as much as misery porn.

I'm embarassed I didn't think of Cross of Iron. Good one.

- Ix

I just watched Unknown Soldier (a Finnish movie)
and was moved.
Talvisota (Winter War) is also good.

Action in the North Atlantic
The Bridge (German movie)
Decision at Dawn

Just to add to the list:
A Walk in the Sun
The Cruel Sea
Attack
In Which We Serve
Corvette K-225
Bataan

I was going to add everything on genew49's list but then I realized it's "everyone should see" not "best".

And yes, "Come and See" is one of the best war movies ever made but decidedly not something everyone can watch.

As to the original intent of the list, I would have added "The Caine Mutiny", "Action in the North Atlantic", or "Mister Roberts".

Also, if you folks haven't seen it, check out "Alone in Berlin" starring Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson. An interesting look at the German home front and an ordinary couple becoming part of the anti-Nazi resistance.

Castle Keep

Went the Day well?
The Way Ahead
both made in the UK during WW2.

The Way Ahead features the Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry, a fictional battalion. All my WW2 British figures belong to that battalion. They have a fabulous combat record going back to 1962 ( Airfix Infantry Combat Group, Almark a decade later and AB since 2005).

Oh, almost forgot Airforce, early US Pacific.

No love for 'Letters from Iwo Jima,' 'Hacksaw Ridge,' 'The Battle of Remagen,' 'Anzio,' 'The Eagle Has Landed' and 'Fury'? Any of these could've replaced 'Red Tails' and 'Inglourious Basterds.'

What about the original Dunkirk and Dambusters? They would both be in my top 5…

Jim….love your additions to the list!!!

Downfall?

What about Stalingrad from 1993 or Enemy at the Gates from 2001?

The Dirty Dozen and Kelly's Heroes are both great too

Stalingrad indeed, but only when rereleased recently, with the original German dialogue and subtitles in English and not the awful dubbing.

I know few will agree with the choice, but I have watched over and over "Is Paris Burning?" even better now as "Paris Brule 't'il?" in the original French. Snag is now the dubbing is for the Germans and English speakers. IMDB insists there was a version like The Longest Day, where all spoke in their own language. Certainly Gert Frobe must have done!

Glad to see no-one mentioned The Battle of the Bulge, marked by legendarily bad battle sequences, as indeed was Patton I thought, although much better acting.

Where Eagles Dare for its comic value.

I would pull Inglorious Basterds and put Das Boot, Cross of Iron or April 9th in its place.

The Way Ahead
Made in 1944, about the battles of 1941 … and the old soldiers' tales at the local pub, from all appearances.

Get a taste of it with the trailer:
YouTube link

Or watch the whole thing:
YouTube link

Looks like a winner to me.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

Hi Gene,

My soldiers are the 9th Duke of Glendon's Light Infantry! I'm glad there are other fans of good films out there

Peter