Top five war movies - Page 6 - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

SeattleUte · 10-05-2007, 11:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Downfall is very good. Watching that mother kill all of her children is just as disturbing/chilling as any battle scene.

The war scenes in the streets of Berlin make it a legitimate war movie. The portrayal of Hitler makes it a film for the ages. The final days of the Reich captured the essence of the whole crazy, tragic, horrific drama of WWII. I didn't find an inauthentic moment in this maximally ambitious film.

Detroitdad · 10-06-2007, 12:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Best war book:

"The THings They Carried" by Tim OBrien

One of my least favorite books I have ever read.

il Padrino Ute · 10-06-2007, 01:12 AM

Mine would be:

1. Patton
2. The Longest Day
3. A Bridge Too Far
4. The Enemy Below
5. Bridge over the River Kwai

SeattleUte · 10-06-2007, 03:55 AM

The Best war novel is War and Peace. Here is a fragment of one of my favorite battle scenes (it's from a translation that is not one of the most celebrated, but it's on the Internet and easy to copy and paste; the imagery is still wonderful):

It was nine o'clock in the morning. The fog lay unbroken like a sea down below, but higher up at the village of Schlappanitz where Napoleon stood with his marshals around him, it was quite light. Above him was a clear blue sky, and the sun's vast orb quivered like a huge hollow, crimson float on the surface of that milky sea of mist. The whole French army, and even Napoleon himself with his staff, were not on the far side of the streams and hollows of Sokolnitz and Schlappanitz beyond which we intended to take up our position and begin the action, but were on this side, so close to our own forces that Napoleon with the naked eye could distinguish a mounted man from one on foot. Napoleon, in the blue cloak which he had worn on his Italian campaign, sat on his small gray Arab horse a little in front of his marshals. He gazed silently at the hills which seemed to rise out of the sea of mist and on which the Russian troops were moving in the distance, and he listened to the sounds of firing in the valley. Not a single muscle of his face- which in those days was still thin- moved. His gleaming eyes were fixed intently on one spot. His predictions were being justified. Part of the Russian force had already descended into the valley toward the ponds and lakes and part were leaving these Pratzen Heights which he intended to attack and regarded as the key to the position. He saw over the mist that in a hollow between two hills near the village of Pratzen, the Russian columns, their bayonets glittering, were moving continuously in one direction toward the valley and disappearing one after another into the mist. From information he had received the evening before, from the sound of wheels and footsteps heard by the outposts during the night, by the disorderly movement of the Russian columns, and from all indications, he saw clearly that the allies believed him to be far away in front of them, and that the columns moving near Pratzen constituted the center of the Russian army, and that that center was already sufficiently weakened to be successfully attacked. But still he did not begin the engagement.

Today was a great day for him- the anniversary of his coronation. Before dawn he had slept for a few hours, and refreshed, vigorous, and in good spirits, he mounted his horse and rode out into the field in that happy mood in which everything seems possible and everything succeeds. He sat motionless, looking at the heights visible above the mist, and his cold face wore that special look of confident, self-complacent happiness that one sees on the face of a boy happily in love. The marshals stood behind him not venturing to distract his attention. He looked now at the Pratzen Heights, now at the sun floating up out of the mist.

When the sun had entirely emerged from the fog, and fields and mist were aglow with dazzling light- as if he had only awaited this to begin the action- he drew the glove from his shapely white hand, made a sign with it to the marshals, and ordered the action to begin. The marshals, accompanied by adjutants, galloped off in different directions, and a few minutes later the chief forces of the French army moved rapidly toward those Pratzen Heights which were being more and more denuded by Russian troops moving down the valley to their left.

OrangeUte · 10-06-2007, 08:50 PM

top 5

1. the great escape (motorcycle scene puts this one on the top)
2. the longest day
3. from here to eternity
4. red badge of courage with audie murphy
5. glory/gettysburg (you really have to watch both of them).

6. saving private ryan's opening 30 minutes. the rest of the movie makes a top 10 list only.

OrangeUte · 10-06-2007, 08:55 PM

dr. strangelove!

"there will be no fighting in the war room!"

"I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration , Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids... "

SeattleUte · 10-06-2007, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OrangeUte

6. saving private ryan's opening 30 minutes. the rest of the movie makes a top 10 list only.

What I would say about Gladiator.

SteelBlue · 10-06-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

What I would say about Gladiator.

Those opening scenes are definitely among the best ever.

SeattleUte · 10-06-2007, 09:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteelBlue

Those opening scenes are definitely among the best ever.

The main flaw in Gladiator is that as good as the whole movie is the opening scenes overshadow the rest of it. The opening scenes are totally spellbinding. I love them. I picked up the extended version (hadn't seen it) and saw the first half of it last night. After all these years I'm still as in love as ever with those opening scenes. Brilliant work.

SteelBlue · 10-06-2007, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

The main flaw in Gladiator is that as good as the whole movie is the opening scenes overshadow the rest of it. The opening scenes are totally spellbinding. I love them. I picked up the extended version (hadn't seen it) and saw the first half of it last night. After all these years I'm still as in love as ever with those opening scenes. Brilliant work.

The director's commentary on that one is actually worth a listen.

10-06-2007, 01:12 AM	#53
il Padrino Ute Board Pinhead Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: In the basement of my house, Murray, Utah. Posts: 15,941	Mine would be: 1. Patton 2. The Longest Day 3. A Bridge Too Far 4. The Enemy Below 5. Bridge over the River Kwai __________________ "The beauty of baseball is not having to explain it." - Chuck Shriver "This is now the joke that stupid people laugh at." - Christopher Hitchens on IQ jokes about GWB.

10-06-2007, 03:55 AM	#54
SeattleUte fairlds.org Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 10,665	The Best war novel is War and Peace. Here is a fragment of one of my favorite battle scenes (it's from a translation that is not one of the most celebrated, but it's on the Internet and easy to copy and paste; the imagery is still wonderful): It was nine o'clock in the morning. The fog lay unbroken like a sea down below, but higher up at the village of Schlappanitz where Napoleon stood with his marshals around him, it was quite light. Above him was a clear blue sky, and the sun's vast orb quivered like a huge hollow, crimson float on the surface of that milky sea of mist. The whole French army, and even Napoleon himself with his staff, were not on the far side of the streams and hollows of Sokolnitz and Schlappanitz beyond which we intended to take up our position and begin the action, but were on this side, so close to our own forces that Napoleon with the naked eye could distinguish a mounted man from one on foot. Napoleon, in the blue cloak which he had worn on his Italian campaign, sat on his small gray Arab horse a little in front of his marshals. He gazed silently at the hills which seemed to rise out of the sea of mist and on which the Russian troops were moving in the distance, and he listened to the sounds of firing in the valley. Not a single muscle of his face- which in those days was still thin- moved. His gleaming eyes were fixed intently on one spot. His predictions were being justified. Part of the Russian force had already descended into the valley toward the ponds and lakes and part were leaving these Pratzen Heights which he intended to attack and regarded as the key to the position. He saw over the mist that in a hollow between two hills near the village of Pratzen, the Russian columns, their bayonets glittering, were moving continuously in one direction toward the valley and disappearing one after another into the mist. From information he had received the evening before, from the sound of wheels and footsteps heard by the outposts during the night, by the disorderly movement of the Russian columns, and from all indications, he saw clearly that the allies believed him to be far away in front of them, and that the columns moving near Pratzen constituted the center of the Russian army, and that that center was already sufficiently weakened to be successfully attacked. But still he did not begin the engagement. Today was a great day for him- the anniversary of his coronation. Before dawn he had slept for a few hours, and refreshed, vigorous, and in good spirits, he mounted his horse and rode out into the field in that happy mood in which everything seems possible and everything succeeds. He sat motionless, looking at the heights visible above the mist, and his cold face wore that special look of confident, self-complacent happiness that one sees on the face of a boy happily in love. The marshals stood behind him not venturing to distract his attention. He looked now at the Pratzen Heights, now at the sun floating up out of the mist. When the sun had entirely emerged from the fog, and fields and mist were aglow with dazzling light- as if he had only awaited this to begin the action- he drew the glove from his shapely white hand, made a sign with it to the marshals, and ordered the action to begin. The marshals, accompanied by adjutants, galloped off in different directions, and a few minutes later the chief forces of the French army moved rapidly toward those Pratzen Heights which were being more and more denuded by Russian troops moving down the valley to their left. __________________ Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster

10-06-2007, 08:50 PM	#55
OrangeUte Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 748	top 5 1. the great escape (motorcycle scene puts this one on the top) 2. the longest day 3. from here to eternity 4. red badge of courage with audie murphy 5. glory/gettysburg (you really have to watch both of them). 6. saving private ryan's opening 30 minutes. the rest of the movie makes a top 10 list only.

10-06-2007, 08:55 PM	#56
OrangeUte Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 748	dr. strangelove! "there will be no fighting in the war room!" "I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration , Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion, and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids... "