Good WW2 movies

[privatehudson]

*coughs* Rubbish *coughs*

 

[Longasc]

I must agree with Curt, All Quiet on the Western Front is actually one of the few movies that compare to the book, I read it several times and can really recommend it. Stalingrad was not so much my thing, but Blue Max was cool, too.

Was also one of the first games I played on my C64 (Blue Max). My father always told me not to bomb the buildings with the Red Cross on the roof.

 

[CurtSibling]

I recall the excellent Red Baron 3D game from Sierra - The best WW1 flight sim ever.

*nostalgic tears*

 

[Elgalad]

naaaah, Their Finest Hour! Well, it was WW2, but..

But hey we're off topic!

Thought of a couple more WW2 movies I liked..

Fatman and Little Boy (1989)
Flying Leathernecks (1951)

-Elgalad

 

[PantheraTigris2]

I recall the excellent Red Baron 3D game from Sierra - The best WW1 flight sim ever.

*nostalgic tears*

I still have that thing installed at the moment...

Heck, I remember the 'original' Sierra/Dynamix Red Baron game. I spent untold #'s of hours on it. I always flew alone... to get all the kills for myself. My record (IIRC), was 291 kills at the end of the war (because that's how many total enemy aircraft were in ALL the scenarios it gave me).

 

[Esckey]

I always like that Aces series, I still have the box and manual for Aces over the Pacific and reight beside me is the manual for Their Finest Hour.


Memphis Bell and The Tuskegee Airmen are two good ones also

 

[Norlamand]

Patton
The Last Days of Patton
Bridge over the River Kwai
The Longest Day
A Bridge Too Far
Castle Keep
Tora, Tora, Tora
The Dirty Dozen
The Great Escape
The Hill

 

[Reno]

and Band of Brothers for reality

(and yes I know BOB is not a film)

Yeah right reality (Americans lose one man and the germans die in the milions..) otherwise the series was quiete good... well my favourits...

1. Stalingrad
2. The thin Red Line
3. Das Boot
4. The great escape

 

[nonconformist]

Yeah right reality (Americans lose one man and the germans die in the milions..) otherwise the series was quiete good... well my favourits...

Band of Brothers was actually realistic. Easy Company of the 506th PIRm 101st Airborne Division had taken 150% casualties by the end of the war. Almost all the characters in there were real.

 

[pman67]

Nobody has mentioned Stalag 17 yet. That's a classic for sure.
My faves:

Midway, Patton, The longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, Kelly's Heroes, Saving Pvt Ryan,
and a couple of other different from the norm movies:

Operation Petticoat, Mr. Roberts, Father Goose

 

[Joeb WK]

Why does everyone here think Saving Private Ryan is so good its ok but its so unrealistic in one point of the film twelve men take out a whole armoured division can we really belive something like that could actually happen.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Why does everyone here think Saving Private Ryan is so good its ok but its so unrealistic in one point of the film twelve men take out a whole armoured division can we really belive something like that could actually happen.

Those were not just regular U.S. GI's - those were Army Rangers, in case you didn't notice.

 

[privatehudson]

Why does everyone here think Saving Private Ryan is so good its ok but its so unrealistic in one point of the film twelve men take out a whole armoured division can we really belive something like that could actually happen.

2 Tigers, 2 SPGs, about 80 SS troops, a 20mm AA gun and a half track isn't what I'd call a June 1944 German panzer division (though it would be like one after Falaise! ) Though I do admit that that part has a certain rambo style to it

On the other hand though, the opening scenes on the beach more than make up for this

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Having a (~)platoon of Rangers, in a small, rubbled town like that, with the river, knowing they are going to be attacked, etc... it's not 'impossible' to realistically accept they would have given that German Pz element that kind of hard time - especially since they were in a rush (not cautious - didn't do proper scouting) - and were ambushed by a well thought out & exectued plan.

 

[privatehudson]

Rangers were good, so were SS soldiers, especially if they were from 2nd SS panzer (who in reality where not there, but SPR suggests it's them given the Bazooka vs Half Track scene before they reach the village). Any formation with any brains would probably fire on that damned bell tower before going into the town, or at least when they came under fire. Veteran tank crews just wouldn't drive down a street like that without infantry support, speed or not, especially if you think the road is mined. Any commander worth his salt would have regrouped and planned the attack properly. They may have been made to be in a rush for film purposes, but there's no reason to suppose that they had to be in a rush other than artistic licence to make them less competent. Add that to the fact that the SS troops seemed to have all the fighting ability in those scenes of extras from an Arnold Swarzenager film, and some gross errors from the Rangers and Paras which are only explained in order to kill them off spectacularly (why on earth would anyone choose sticky bombs when they had bazookas? Bazookas weren't great weapons, but they're a damned sight better than sticky bombs) and you end up with a combat scene that owes more to fantasy than reality.

And that's just half of it I like SPR, but even I admit that the last battle is pants as far as tactics goes

 

[Tycho Brahe]

...why on earth would anyone choose sticky bombs when they had bazookas? Bazookas weren't great weapons, but they're a damned sight better than sticky bombs...

Because they were out of amo for the bazookas.

Is it true that originally "bazooka" was the name of a music instrument?

 

[privatehudson]

Uhmmm no, they certainly had ammunition for them, they used one of them by the bridge after all

 

[Tycho Brahe]

Uhmmm no, they certainly had ammunition for them, they used one of them by the bridge after all

Ach. I stand corrected.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

You gotta admit, though - those P-51s saved the day...

 

[privatehudson]

Bah the Shermans probably would have got it sooner or later