Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2007 December 8

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December 8

Need some good war/action movies

Next weekend i plan to get a bunch of war/action movies together and watch them all in a huge jamborey type thing. Any good ones? so far i have

• Full metel jacket
• Sam fullers the big red one"
• we were soldiers

Esskater11 23:53, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

In decending order of greatness: Das Boot, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Saving Private Ryan, The Longest Day, Zulu, The Dam Busters, No Man's Land, and chuck in the lightweight but fun Enemy at the Gates. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:36, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Ice Cold in Alex, In Which We Serve, The Cruel Sea. DuncanHill (talk) 00:41, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

All great. I can't believe I forgot Gallipoli -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:56, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

So if you believe Duncan and I, good war movies are probably British, probably about WW2, and probably have quite a high talk:killing ratio. If that doesn't appeal to you, just watch Starship Troopers, which has no such demerits. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:56, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Carve Her Name with Pride is well worth a watch. DuncanHill (talk) 01:06, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Kelly's Heroes, Where Eagles Dare, Von Ryan's Express, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Miracle Mile (film), The Good, the Bad and the Ugly --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 01:22, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

More deep and brooding than action-packed, but one of my all-time favorites is The Deer Hunter. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:54, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Paths of Glory and Oh! What a Lovely War are both set in World War I and both give cause to reflect on the futility of war, but are great entertainment besides. -- JackofOz (talk) 02:31, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

A decided tilt to antiwar movies here, and yet nobody has mentioned Apocalypse Now. More on the entertaining side and getting back to good old WW2, how about The Great Escape (which is mostly a true story, too), Battle of Britain (likewise), and The Guns of Navarone? And as a railway fan, I must recommend The Train, whose heroes are railwaymen working with the French Resistance to try to stop the German army from looting a trainload of art before the Allied armies arrive. (No army-vs.-army combat; the action scenes involve trains.) Sink the Bismarck! is a true story featuring the British navy, with extensive scenes of strategy set at naval headquarters as well as naval combat scenes. And then there's Patton (in which most of the combat action occurs in the first part of the film). And WW2 spy movies -- Eye of the Needle and Enigma come to mind at once. --Anonymous, 03:08 UTC, December 9, 2007.

The Battle of the River Plate is always welcome in this home, as is The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. DuncanHill (talk) 03:14, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Translation for American readers: "River Plate" = Rio de la Plata, Argentina/Uruguay; "Battle of the River Plate" = Pursuit of the Graf Spee. Going to a much earlier war, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World has some rousing action sequences. --Anon, 04:28, Dec. 9, 2007.

• My favorite war movie not mentioned already is The Americanization of Emily. An enjoyable low-key gem is Tigerland. --Sean 04:47, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

• I'll also add Tora! Tora! Tora! to the list. Matt Deres (talk) 15:06, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

The Pianist is unbelievably good. And obviously so is Schindler's List. ny156uk (talk) 16:11, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Its not a "movie" per se, but all 14 hours of The War are hard to beat in terms of raw emotional impact. Rockpocket 22:06, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

If we are letting in documentaries, then you could do a lot worse than The World at War. DuncanHill (talk) 22:26, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Flyboys was also a pretty good movie.--Dlo2012 (talk) 00:28, 14 December 2007 (UTC)