Post by v9733xa on Jul 1, 2017 13:25:39 GMT -5
My oh my, there are a lot of great movies about war.
I wasn’t so sure until I started narrowing down my ten, with great difficulty! That’s why the “honorable mention” list I think is the biggest one yet. I just couldn’t leave off any completely that I knew were legitimately excellent.
With that said, there wasn’t nearly as much of an internal conflict as with the scifi list, since usually war movies are pretty clear. It’s a movie with, like, a war in it. However, there was still a little leeway. A handful of the ones on here are certainly films with a major conflict, but may not have the war as the central story.
But, yeah, it was easy to come up with dozens of potential candidates. It was harder to get that down to 10, and ranking was really really hard. A couple of those were just thrown in there since I had no idea how to compare some of these masterpieces. Nevertheless, the cream did rise to the top, I’m confident in that, and it’ll be a surprising pick to most of you.
(I felt the need to add this caveat: I am talking about historical wars here, nothing fabricated; but most of those sorts of movies are probably fantasy/scifi anyway.)
Honorable mentions: The Bridge on the River Kwai, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Thin Red Line, Flags of Our Fathers, Glory, Lawrence of Arabia, Three Kings, Lone Survivor, Black Hawk Down, Platoon, The Hurt Locker, Casualties of War, Inglorious Basterds
10. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
This is one of a couple that I’m sure some people would say just doesn’t quite fit here. But c’mon, if you’ve actually watched this movie, and paid attention to more than the jokes, you know that it’s extremely accurate and one of the best movies about Vietnam ever made. Robin Williams plays Adrian Cronauer, real-life radio personality on Armed Forces Radio in the 1960s. Now of course all of us reading this are too young to have been around at the time, but for those students of history you’re going to remember that this takes place in the early 1960s. This was long before the Tet Offensive or My Lai. It was when most people might not even have called it a war. (That’s a running commentary in the picture, the use of the word “conflict” instead of “war,” it’s done very deliberately.) So Cronauer enlivens the solders with his irreverent commentary and rock and roll, both unheard of for military communications at the time:
Legend is that most of that was improvised by Williams. RIP. But why this movie shines is not because of the comedy (which is top notch), but because of the extremely inciteful commentary and realistic depictions of the Vietnamese people and the Viet Cong themselves as well, not the mention the average American soldier, or “advisor” as they were termed at the time. This montage set to “What a Wonderful World” is probably the most incredible scene of the film. Barry Levinson is a brilliant director. Behold:
9. Paths of Glory (1957)
One of the two films on this list that very few of you are likely to have seen, this one at least has a couple parts that should entice you: legendary actor Kirk Douglas, and more-than-legendary director Stanley Kubrick. The oldest film on the list here, Paths of Glory is based on the eponymous novel by Humphrey Cobb, which is in turn based on the mostly true story of a group of French soldiers (spoiler alert) executed during World War I for their failure to follow orders (officially termed “cowardice” at the time). How Kubrick shows this in film is Colonel Dax (Douglas) courageously leading soldiers into murderous fire, but a large group refuse to set out because of the obvious suicide mission out of the trenches. A general even orders artillery to fire on his own men, to scare them out of the trench to fight in No Man’s Land; that commander refuses. In the aftermath, Dax (formerly a defense attorney) volunteers to defend the three practically randomly-chosen men the military wants to execute. What follows, as much more than half the film is about this legal process and aftermath, is as clear of an anti-war movie ever made. Douglas is incredible as the man defending innocence and honor in a kangaroo court setting that gives him no prayer. This is one of Kubrick’s best movies, better than most of the ones today people know. Watch this one if you haven’t before. The directing and cinematography are so amazing that I don’t want to spoil it with more clips.
8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
While I don’t worship this film quite as much as some people do, I can’t deny its greatness or influence, as it’s iconic by virtue of its ubiquity and blockbuster earnings when released (on film and on video). Of course, Steven Spielberg has directed countless of better-than-great films, this is one of the top echelon of them. Many of you were too young when this came out to see it, or just weren’t into films like this yet, but hopefully you all have come to watch and appreciate it for what it brings forth. What separates this movie from other World War II epics is the unforgiving realism and riveting battle scenes that took audience’s breaths away. I know 1998 doesn’t seem that long ago, but to show this level of violence, chaos, and harrowing firefight in a mainstream film was unheard of at that time (I posit that is was this movie, and this movie perhaps exclusively, that allowed Clint Eastwood to develop his epic WWII films of the early 2000s). Though you’ve all undoubtedly seen it before, the D-Day Omaha Beach opening is already the stuff of film legend.
I don’t know of a better pure war scene, ever, in any movie. Much of the rest of the film cannot possibly live up to that epic opening, and to me the story can get a little tedious at times (literally, “saving Private Ryan”). A couple scenes stand out, among them the final battle with Tom Hanks shooting at the tank, and also the following, the underrated actor Barry Pepper in the church steeple with his sniper:
If you’re looking for battle scenes, and extremely realistic depictions of soldiers and the American heroism that went into the summer of 1944, you won’t find a better representation than this film.
7. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Those paying attention to the “Last Movie You Saw” thread may note that I just watched this film last week. One word: phenomenal. I had heard of this movie for a while, and TCM was amazing enough to play it late one night so I hit that record button. You really have to just scroll through that channel lineup and their on-demand list, it’s incredible. The Battle of Algiers is about the Algerian War for Independence against the French in the late 1950s and early 1960s. If you remember from your History classes, much of Africa was carved up in the Berlin Conference in 1884, and most of those colonial possessions were still active into the middle of the 20th Century. Northern Africa, largely, was the first place to really rebel for freedom, and this movie details the intense urban war and terrorism that led the French to let go of the colony for good in the 60s. What’s brilliant about this film, as opposed to other historical works, is that is takes one of the most even-handed approaches to war storytelling I’ve ever seen, giving equal encouragement and equal blame to both sides in guerrilla warfare – there is no romanticizing of the oppressed, and we see them conduct merciless terror attacks, just as the French purposefully destroy Muslim landmarks and harass the population. In a newsreel style presentation, the black and white shots look so realistic and so much like the typical moviehouse news clips that American audiences had to be shown a disclaimer that “not one foot” of newsreel was used. The screenplay is incredible, and the acting (the movie is almost totally in Arabic from the Casbah-oriented Algerians and in French from the foreign occupiers and soldiers) is intense and focused. This is one of the best historical records of war I’ve ever watched, with a classic score by the legendary Ennio Morricone.
6. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Those who’ve seen this film know that really there are two movies here: the military training in South Carolina, and the deployment of marines into Vietnam. If, somehow, Stanley Kubrick had been able to stretch out the first half of this film into a single feature and keep the same intensity and shock, you may have one of the greatest films ever made (as it is, some people think it is anyway). I, however, found myself not nearly enjoying the second half of the film as much as the first. Anyone with half a brain could probably see two virtuoso performances by Vincent D’Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey, two of the greatest supporting actor roles in film history – of course, neither was given an Oscar nomination. Here is the opening scene at the marine barrack at Parris Island:
Followed by one of the most harrowing scenes ever put to film reel, the final outcome of “Private Pyle” and Drill Sergeant Hartman:
From that moment onward, we are seeing an entirely different movie, certainly with its brilliant parts and classic Kubrick cynicism and subversiveness. There are some very intricate boundaries pushed with regards to the Vietnamese and the American soldiers (as opposed to Good Morning, Vietnam, this movie throws us deep into the Tet Offensive and the chaotic year of 1968), and riveting battle scenes with the assorted cast of characters now trained killing machines. That, of course, is what we’re supposed to take from this film, these marines’ loss of their souls and individual freedom of choice; after all, you can see by the drill instruction what the perfect soldier was meant to do. Regardless of the imperfections of the second half of Full Metal Jacket, the first half is so perfect and features such undeniable acting talent, that it vaults the film up past many other more balanced pictures.
5. Patton (1970)
I had not seen Patton until only a year or two ago. I’m really not sure why. It’s probably because only recently have I come to appreciate movies made earlier in the 20th Century. Not that it’s that old, but it does have the feel of a film from a by-gone era. Anyway, Patton stars George C. Scott as the eponymous general of World War II, winner of the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, in director Franklin Schaffner’s Best Picture of the year (don’t forget, also a Best Screenplay winner for none other than my favorite director Francis Ford Coppola). This is a pure biopic history film, but of course because of who it’s portraying it necessitates a lot of storytelling about war. To set the stage, you should see the iconic opening speech:
“Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Brilliant. General Patton was a crass, no-nonsense authoritarian general. “When men were men,” as my grandfather would say. This epic film (it’s close to 3 hours) does, however, show that Patton was not always successful; his reprimand after slapping a shell-shocked soldier by the President almost took him out of the Army command altogether. So, this movie is great not because it’s a great story of an American hero (who tragically died in a car crash literally less than a year after the war) but because it shows a flawed man who nonetheless did the best he could with the temperament he possessed. This is a good film to watch with Dad this holiday weekend.
4. Schindler’s List (1993)
I debated on whether this film should be included. It’s clearly primarily described as an epic historical period drama. And that it is. But, look, the millions executed by the Nazis are also obviously war casualties; the mass deaths at concentration camps would never have happened without Germany feeling the need during its ludicrous war for living space. So, I’m counting it as a war movie. Unless you’ve lived under a rock, you know the story here: Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson) saves the lives of hundreds of Polish Jewish refugees by giving them employment at his factory. You may not know the story was crafted from one of the best Australian writers in history, Thomas Keneally, originally titled Schindler’s Ark. While other movies here show the horrors and violence of war battles, it’s arguable that the horrors and violence seen here are far more moving and disturbing. I challenge you to watch the “shower scene” unblinking, and focused exactly on the events that unfold. There are scenes that are etched in my mind forever from this film, just as much as documentary footage that I’ve seen about the liberation of the camps later. There is no such footage of active killing, extermination of women and children, and to see it so graphically and realistically portrayed is meant to be shocking. I also remember hearing (I was 10 when this was released) that it garnered considerable discussion in Germany because of Spielberg’s (who won a Best Director Oscar) implicit notion that Germans did not do enough to stop or limit the Holocaust – see also the excellent film Labyrinth of Lies from 2015, about uncovering those who were complicit. So, after 3 hours of watching, you should be moved to tears by the final heart-wrenching scene, which I won’t spoil here for those who haven’t seen the film. But needless to say, after the emotional turmoil that you are put through watching, seeing so many die, and just a few hundred saved (Neeson’s breakdown about not saving more is the best dialogue in the film), you’ll need to release that when the conclusion hits.
3. The Deer Hunter (1978)
Ah, Michael Cimino, the greatest directing talent who never lived up to his immense potential, beyond this one movie. The Deer Hunter is an in-depth and fascinating portrait of the Vietnam War and how it impacts individuals, particularly a group of friends from western Pennsylvania. You have an immense talent of actors in this film, many young and early in their careers: Robert de Niro (Best Actor nomination), Christopher Walken (Best Supporting Actor win), John Savage, John Cazale (his finale role, he was in 5 films and every one of them was nominated for Best Picture, astounding), Meryl Streep (her first Best Supporting Actress nomination, she’s only been chosen NINETEEN more times for Oscars). Set in three acts, the first highlights the Russian/American culture blending in the young men’s lives in the coal-mining community, and their love of hunting (“one shot”), exemplified below:
The second is after their enlisting in the War, in harrowing firefight, and then in a sadistic Vietnamese POW camp leading to the film’s central scene: three prisoners forced to play Russian roulette:
As they recover, PTSD sets in for one serviceman in particular and it sets up the third act, where Mike returns to Pennsylvania, reconciling with a pointless war where most in America see no glory in the fight. He learns that Nick is still in Saigon, and as the city falls to the North Vietnamese Communists, we have the film’s climactic scene that is hardly ever rivaled in terms of tense drama. “Come on Nicky, come home…”
That of course is not the final scene; the brief finale is just as emotional but I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t seen it. I posted all these clips from this film, most than others, because this film is so brilliant and features so many well-acted scenes. Naturally, you’ve just got to watch the whole thing. Meryl Streep is incredible, and deserved even more lines. It’s the best “parable” about Vietnam ever made.
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Whereas the sublime Apocalypse Now is the best “surreal” adventure about Vietnam ever made. I have such a hard time explaining this movie to people that haven’t seen it. And I think I now know why: if you don’t love film, real and pure film, you will never appreciate this work of art like many do. Directed by the best himself, Francis Ford Coppola, it loosely depicts the events in Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness transcribed from 1800s Congo to 1970s Vietnam, including the hunting (or at least confronting) of an enigmatic renegade colonel deep in the heart of the jungle. Featuring a career-best performance by Martin Sheen (who almost died of a heart attack while filming), the always amazing Robert Duvall, and the greatest actor to ever live Marlon Brando, Colonel Kurtz has gone AWOL and presumably insane, commanding his own Montagnard troops inside Cambodia and needs to be “terminated with extreme prejudice.” I don’t want to say too much more, because the cinematography is so utterly brilliant that you simply have to watch it to see what I mean, and the story is complicated and epic in its 150-minute running time. But this is a film masterpiece, and one of Coppola’s best movies. Brando, while overweight, laughably unrehearsed, and in no condition to act, nevertheless pulls of a stupefying performance as Kurtz:
Roger Ebert assessed the film thusly: “Apocalypse Now is the best Vietnam film, one of the greatest of all films, because it pushes beyond the others, into the dark places of the soul. It is not about war so much as about how war reveals truths we would be happy never to discover.” That’s about as good as I can describe it too. Is it anti-war? Pro-war? It’s hard to tell. In some ways, it doesn’t matter; in others, it’s both of them. Either way, it’s supposed to shake you to the core.
1. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
My choice for best film is not a conventional one, and probably won’t be best on others’ lists either. But for some reason, Letters from Iwo Jima speaks to me so strongly, so vividly, that the memories of watching this movie will never leave. Clint Eastwood (say what you want about his politics, the man has made some of the best movies of the last 25 years) directs what is his companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, the earlier film of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and the aftermath of the soldiers known for hoisting the flag in the iconic photo. This movie, of course, is from the perspective of the Japanese, and their courageous yet ultimately futile effort in holding the strategically important island in 1944. Ken Watanabe plays General Kuribayashi, commanding the defense of Iwo Jima, and his “letters” become the basis of the storytelling in the film. There are so many perfect scenes in this movie, from the super realistic battle scenes, to the beratement of Japanese soldiers for their failures (and failure to throw themselves into certain death), and the capturing of an American and his subsequent treatment:
There have been countless films showing the brutality of the Japanese. One only needs to see Unbroken, the true story of a POW who survives a camp in Japan, or simply learn about the tortuous Bataan Death March in the Philippines. However, what Eastwood does so brilliantly (and surprisingly, as an older man harboring a few prejudices of his own) is portray the Japanese as just as human as any other soldiers, with families, lives, and empathy to the enemy more often than not:
Shot in almost entirely Japanese, this was a gamble for Eastwood, especially since Flags of Our Fathers, while a very good and moving picture, under-performed at the box office. To release this second, as a true companion piece, was bold, and paid off as it earned 4 Academy Award nominations, and perhaps more importantly universal critical praise in Japan as well. Featuring no stereotypes and many nuanced performances from a superb cast of Japanese actors, in my opinion it’s the greatest war movie because of the importance of its theme to American audiences: patriotism is relative, bravery can be found of all sides, and dying in the cause of honor is also done by the enemy. Watch the very good Flags of Our Fathers first, then watch the masterpiece Letters from Iwo Jima so you have the entire story.
~~
Wow I wrote too much. That was difficult. And look at all the movies I left out!!
What are your favorites? What are you surprised that I didn’t include? Are there others that I haven’t mentioned you think I should see?
Stay tuned til next week. Still unsure of the next list.
I wasn’t so sure until I started narrowing down my ten, with great difficulty! That’s why the “honorable mention” list I think is the biggest one yet. I just couldn’t leave off any completely that I knew were legitimately excellent.
With that said, there wasn’t nearly as much of an internal conflict as with the scifi list, since usually war movies are pretty clear. It’s a movie with, like, a war in it. However, there was still a little leeway. A handful of the ones on here are certainly films with a major conflict, but may not have the war as the central story.
But, yeah, it was easy to come up with dozens of potential candidates. It was harder to get that down to 10, and ranking was really really hard. A couple of those were just thrown in there since I had no idea how to compare some of these masterpieces. Nevertheless, the cream did rise to the top, I’m confident in that, and it’ll be a surprising pick to most of you.
(I felt the need to add this caveat: I am talking about historical wars here, nothing fabricated; but most of those sorts of movies are probably fantasy/scifi anyway.)
Honorable mentions: The Bridge on the River Kwai, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Thin Red Line, Flags of Our Fathers, Glory, Lawrence of Arabia, Three Kings, Lone Survivor, Black Hawk Down, Platoon, The Hurt Locker, Casualties of War, Inglorious Basterds
10. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
This is one of a couple that I’m sure some people would say just doesn’t quite fit here. But c’mon, if you’ve actually watched this movie, and paid attention to more than the jokes, you know that it’s extremely accurate and one of the best movies about Vietnam ever made. Robin Williams plays Adrian Cronauer, real-life radio personality on Armed Forces Radio in the 1960s. Now of course all of us reading this are too young to have been around at the time, but for those students of history you’re going to remember that this takes place in the early 1960s. This was long before the Tet Offensive or My Lai. It was when most people might not even have called it a war. (That’s a running commentary in the picture, the use of the word “conflict” instead of “war,” it’s done very deliberately.) So Cronauer enlivens the solders with his irreverent commentary and rock and roll, both unheard of for military communications at the time:
Legend is that most of that was improvised by Williams. RIP. But why this movie shines is not because of the comedy (which is top notch), but because of the extremely inciteful commentary and realistic depictions of the Vietnamese people and the Viet Cong themselves as well, not the mention the average American soldier, or “advisor” as they were termed at the time. This montage set to “What a Wonderful World” is probably the most incredible scene of the film. Barry Levinson is a brilliant director. Behold:
9. Paths of Glory (1957)
One of the two films on this list that very few of you are likely to have seen, this one at least has a couple parts that should entice you: legendary actor Kirk Douglas, and more-than-legendary director Stanley Kubrick. The oldest film on the list here, Paths of Glory is based on the eponymous novel by Humphrey Cobb, which is in turn based on the mostly true story of a group of French soldiers (spoiler alert) executed during World War I for their failure to follow orders (officially termed “cowardice” at the time). How Kubrick shows this in film is Colonel Dax (Douglas) courageously leading soldiers into murderous fire, but a large group refuse to set out because of the obvious suicide mission out of the trenches. A general even orders artillery to fire on his own men, to scare them out of the trench to fight in No Man’s Land; that commander refuses. In the aftermath, Dax (formerly a defense attorney) volunteers to defend the three practically randomly-chosen men the military wants to execute. What follows, as much more than half the film is about this legal process and aftermath, is as clear of an anti-war movie ever made. Douglas is incredible as the man defending innocence and honor in a kangaroo court setting that gives him no prayer. This is one of Kubrick’s best movies, better than most of the ones today people know. Watch this one if you haven’t before. The directing and cinematography are so amazing that I don’t want to spoil it with more clips.
8. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
While I don’t worship this film quite as much as some people do, I can’t deny its greatness or influence, as it’s iconic by virtue of its ubiquity and blockbuster earnings when released (on film and on video). Of course, Steven Spielberg has directed countless of better-than-great films, this is one of the top echelon of them. Many of you were too young when this came out to see it, or just weren’t into films like this yet, but hopefully you all have come to watch and appreciate it for what it brings forth. What separates this movie from other World War II epics is the unforgiving realism and riveting battle scenes that took audience’s breaths away. I know 1998 doesn’t seem that long ago, but to show this level of violence, chaos, and harrowing firefight in a mainstream film was unheard of at that time (I posit that is was this movie, and this movie perhaps exclusively, that allowed Clint Eastwood to develop his epic WWII films of the early 2000s). Though you’ve all undoubtedly seen it before, the D-Day Omaha Beach opening is already the stuff of film legend.
I don’t know of a better pure war scene, ever, in any movie. Much of the rest of the film cannot possibly live up to that epic opening, and to me the story can get a little tedious at times (literally, “saving Private Ryan”). A couple scenes stand out, among them the final battle with Tom Hanks shooting at the tank, and also the following, the underrated actor Barry Pepper in the church steeple with his sniper:
If you’re looking for battle scenes, and extremely realistic depictions of soldiers and the American heroism that went into the summer of 1944, you won’t find a better representation than this film.
7. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Those paying attention to the “Last Movie You Saw” thread may note that I just watched this film last week. One word: phenomenal. I had heard of this movie for a while, and TCM was amazing enough to play it late one night so I hit that record button. You really have to just scroll through that channel lineup and their on-demand list, it’s incredible. The Battle of Algiers is about the Algerian War for Independence against the French in the late 1950s and early 1960s. If you remember from your History classes, much of Africa was carved up in the Berlin Conference in 1884, and most of those colonial possessions were still active into the middle of the 20th Century. Northern Africa, largely, was the first place to really rebel for freedom, and this movie details the intense urban war and terrorism that led the French to let go of the colony for good in the 60s. What’s brilliant about this film, as opposed to other historical works, is that is takes one of the most even-handed approaches to war storytelling I’ve ever seen, giving equal encouragement and equal blame to both sides in guerrilla warfare – there is no romanticizing of the oppressed, and we see them conduct merciless terror attacks, just as the French purposefully destroy Muslim landmarks and harass the population. In a newsreel style presentation, the black and white shots look so realistic and so much like the typical moviehouse news clips that American audiences had to be shown a disclaimer that “not one foot” of newsreel was used. The screenplay is incredible, and the acting (the movie is almost totally in Arabic from the Casbah-oriented Algerians and in French from the foreign occupiers and soldiers) is intense and focused. This is one of the best historical records of war I’ve ever watched, with a classic score by the legendary Ennio Morricone.
6. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Those who’ve seen this film know that really there are two movies here: the military training in South Carolina, and the deployment of marines into Vietnam. If, somehow, Stanley Kubrick had been able to stretch out the first half of this film into a single feature and keep the same intensity and shock, you may have one of the greatest films ever made (as it is, some people think it is anyway). I, however, found myself not nearly enjoying the second half of the film as much as the first. Anyone with half a brain could probably see two virtuoso performances by Vincent D’Onofrio and R. Lee Ermey, two of the greatest supporting actor roles in film history – of course, neither was given an Oscar nomination. Here is the opening scene at the marine barrack at Parris Island:
Followed by one of the most harrowing scenes ever put to film reel, the final outcome of “Private Pyle” and Drill Sergeant Hartman:
From that moment onward, we are seeing an entirely different movie, certainly with its brilliant parts and classic Kubrick cynicism and subversiveness. There are some very intricate boundaries pushed with regards to the Vietnamese and the American soldiers (as opposed to Good Morning, Vietnam, this movie throws us deep into the Tet Offensive and the chaotic year of 1968), and riveting battle scenes with the assorted cast of characters now trained killing machines. That, of course, is what we’re supposed to take from this film, these marines’ loss of their souls and individual freedom of choice; after all, you can see by the drill instruction what the perfect soldier was meant to do. Regardless of the imperfections of the second half of Full Metal Jacket, the first half is so perfect and features such undeniable acting talent, that it vaults the film up past many other more balanced pictures.
5. Patton (1970)
I had not seen Patton until only a year or two ago. I’m really not sure why. It’s probably because only recently have I come to appreciate movies made earlier in the 20th Century. Not that it’s that old, but it does have the feel of a film from a by-gone era. Anyway, Patton stars George C. Scott as the eponymous general of World War II, winner of the Best Actor Oscar for his performance, in director Franklin Schaffner’s Best Picture of the year (don’t forget, also a Best Screenplay winner for none other than my favorite director Francis Ford Coppola). This is a pure biopic history film, but of course because of who it’s portraying it necessitates a lot of storytelling about war. To set the stage, you should see the iconic opening speech:
“Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” Brilliant. General Patton was a crass, no-nonsense authoritarian general. “When men were men,” as my grandfather would say. This epic film (it’s close to 3 hours) does, however, show that Patton was not always successful; his reprimand after slapping a shell-shocked soldier by the President almost took him out of the Army command altogether. So, this movie is great not because it’s a great story of an American hero (who tragically died in a car crash literally less than a year after the war) but because it shows a flawed man who nonetheless did the best he could with the temperament he possessed. This is a good film to watch with Dad this holiday weekend.
4. Schindler’s List (1993)
I debated on whether this film should be included. It’s clearly primarily described as an epic historical period drama. And that it is. But, look, the millions executed by the Nazis are also obviously war casualties; the mass deaths at concentration camps would never have happened without Germany feeling the need during its ludicrous war for living space. So, I’m counting it as a war movie. Unless you’ve lived under a rock, you know the story here: Oskar Schindler (played by Liam Neeson) saves the lives of hundreds of Polish Jewish refugees by giving them employment at his factory. You may not know the story was crafted from one of the best Australian writers in history, Thomas Keneally, originally titled Schindler’s Ark. While other movies here show the horrors and violence of war battles, it’s arguable that the horrors and violence seen here are far more moving and disturbing. I challenge you to watch the “shower scene” unblinking, and focused exactly on the events that unfold. There are scenes that are etched in my mind forever from this film, just as much as documentary footage that I’ve seen about the liberation of the camps later. There is no such footage of active killing, extermination of women and children, and to see it so graphically and realistically portrayed is meant to be shocking. I also remember hearing (I was 10 when this was released) that it garnered considerable discussion in Germany because of Spielberg’s (who won a Best Director Oscar) implicit notion that Germans did not do enough to stop or limit the Holocaust – see also the excellent film Labyrinth of Lies from 2015, about uncovering those who were complicit. So, after 3 hours of watching, you should be moved to tears by the final heart-wrenching scene, which I won’t spoil here for those who haven’t seen the film. But needless to say, after the emotional turmoil that you are put through watching, seeing so many die, and just a few hundred saved (Neeson’s breakdown about not saving more is the best dialogue in the film), you’ll need to release that when the conclusion hits.
3. The Deer Hunter (1978)
Ah, Michael Cimino, the greatest directing talent who never lived up to his immense potential, beyond this one movie. The Deer Hunter is an in-depth and fascinating portrait of the Vietnam War and how it impacts individuals, particularly a group of friends from western Pennsylvania. You have an immense talent of actors in this film, many young and early in their careers: Robert de Niro (Best Actor nomination), Christopher Walken (Best Supporting Actor win), John Savage, John Cazale (his finale role, he was in 5 films and every one of them was nominated for Best Picture, astounding), Meryl Streep (her first Best Supporting Actress nomination, she’s only been chosen NINETEEN more times for Oscars). Set in three acts, the first highlights the Russian/American culture blending in the young men’s lives in the coal-mining community, and their love of hunting (“one shot”), exemplified below:
The second is after their enlisting in the War, in harrowing firefight, and then in a sadistic Vietnamese POW camp leading to the film’s central scene: three prisoners forced to play Russian roulette:
As they recover, PTSD sets in for one serviceman in particular and it sets up the third act, where Mike returns to Pennsylvania, reconciling with a pointless war where most in America see no glory in the fight. He learns that Nick is still in Saigon, and as the city falls to the North Vietnamese Communists, we have the film’s climactic scene that is hardly ever rivaled in terms of tense drama. “Come on Nicky, come home…”
That of course is not the final scene; the brief finale is just as emotional but I won’t ruin it for those who haven’t seen it. I posted all these clips from this film, most than others, because this film is so brilliant and features so many well-acted scenes. Naturally, you’ve just got to watch the whole thing. Meryl Streep is incredible, and deserved even more lines. It’s the best “parable” about Vietnam ever made.
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
Whereas the sublime Apocalypse Now is the best “surreal” adventure about Vietnam ever made. I have such a hard time explaining this movie to people that haven’t seen it. And I think I now know why: if you don’t love film, real and pure film, you will never appreciate this work of art like many do. Directed by the best himself, Francis Ford Coppola, it loosely depicts the events in Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness transcribed from 1800s Congo to 1970s Vietnam, including the hunting (or at least confronting) of an enigmatic renegade colonel deep in the heart of the jungle. Featuring a career-best performance by Martin Sheen (who almost died of a heart attack while filming), the always amazing Robert Duvall, and the greatest actor to ever live Marlon Brando, Colonel Kurtz has gone AWOL and presumably insane, commanding his own Montagnard troops inside Cambodia and needs to be “terminated with extreme prejudice.” I don’t want to say too much more, because the cinematography is so utterly brilliant that you simply have to watch it to see what I mean, and the story is complicated and epic in its 150-minute running time. But this is a film masterpiece, and one of Coppola’s best movies. Brando, while overweight, laughably unrehearsed, and in no condition to act, nevertheless pulls of a stupefying performance as Kurtz:
Roger Ebert assessed the film thusly: “Apocalypse Now is the best Vietnam film, one of the greatest of all films, because it pushes beyond the others, into the dark places of the soul. It is not about war so much as about how war reveals truths we would be happy never to discover.” That’s about as good as I can describe it too. Is it anti-war? Pro-war? It’s hard to tell. In some ways, it doesn’t matter; in others, it’s both of them. Either way, it’s supposed to shake you to the core.
1. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
My choice for best film is not a conventional one, and probably won’t be best on others’ lists either. But for some reason, Letters from Iwo Jima speaks to me so strongly, so vividly, that the memories of watching this movie will never leave. Clint Eastwood (say what you want about his politics, the man has made some of the best movies of the last 25 years) directs what is his companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, the earlier film of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II and the aftermath of the soldiers known for hoisting the flag in the iconic photo. This movie, of course, is from the perspective of the Japanese, and their courageous yet ultimately futile effort in holding the strategically important island in 1944. Ken Watanabe plays General Kuribayashi, commanding the defense of Iwo Jima, and his “letters” become the basis of the storytelling in the film. There are so many perfect scenes in this movie, from the super realistic battle scenes, to the beratement of Japanese soldiers for their failures (and failure to throw themselves into certain death), and the capturing of an American and his subsequent treatment:
There have been countless films showing the brutality of the Japanese. One only needs to see Unbroken, the true story of a POW who survives a camp in Japan, or simply learn about the tortuous Bataan Death March in the Philippines. However, what Eastwood does so brilliantly (and surprisingly, as an older man harboring a few prejudices of his own) is portray the Japanese as just as human as any other soldiers, with families, lives, and empathy to the enemy more often than not:
Shot in almost entirely Japanese, this was a gamble for Eastwood, especially since Flags of Our Fathers, while a very good and moving picture, under-performed at the box office. To release this second, as a true companion piece, was bold, and paid off as it earned 4 Academy Award nominations, and perhaps more importantly universal critical praise in Japan as well. Featuring no stereotypes and many nuanced performances from a superb cast of Japanese actors, in my opinion it’s the greatest war movie because of the importance of its theme to American audiences: patriotism is relative, bravery can be found of all sides, and dying in the cause of honor is also done by the enemy. Watch the very good Flags of Our Fathers first, then watch the masterpiece Letters from Iwo Jima so you have the entire story.
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Wow I wrote too much. That was difficult. And look at all the movies I left out!!
What are your favorites? What are you surprised that I didn’t include? Are there others that I haven’t mentioned you think I should see?
Stay tuned til next week. Still unsure of the next list.
