Veteran's Day

[pfloyd]

Okay folks. This is inspired by the Boston Herald's movie critic, who rates his Top War Movies.
Here's his list...

The greatest war movies ever made:
1. “The Lost Patrol” (1934): Victor McLaglen and Boris Karloff in a deja vu-ish John Ford drama about a military group lost in the desert during World War I and being raided by Arab fighters.
2. “Pork Chop Hill” (1959): Gregory Peck in Lewis Milestone’s great, grim drama about the “forgotten war,” Korea.
3. “Die Brucke” (1959): a relentless account from director Bernhard Wicki (“The Longest Day”) of German boys recruited to defend the homeland.
4. “The Guns of Navarone” (1961): Before “Mission: Impossible,” this Alistair MacLean-written tale of an attempt to destroy a German supergun is the best World War II action movie.
5. “The Longest Day” (1962): An iconic John Wayne and a stellar cast invade Normandy in this best of the “epic” World War II big-screen treatments.
6. “Patton” (1970): George C. Scott’s finest screen hour, a complex portrait of an unconventional American warrior, featuring the most rousing call to arms since Shakespeare’s “Henry V.”
7. “Apocalypse Now” (1979): Francis Ford Coppola’s reimagining of the war in Vietnam as “The Heart of Darkness,” famous for its helicopter attack to the tune of Wagner’s “Die Walkure.”
8. “Das Boot” (1981): Wolfgang Petersen’s gripping, harrowing masterpiece about German sailors aboard a World War II submarine, also available as a five-hour miniseries.
9. “Full Metal Jacket” (1987): Stanley Kubrick’s profane and incantatory tribute to Vietnam and the the cult of death, reportedly a Marine grunt favorite.
10. “Band of Brothers” (2001): Based on Stephen Ambrose’s bestseller, this first-rate miniseries is a justly acclaimed tribute to the Greatest Generation.

Okay... comments...
The Lost Patrol - Has anyone ever heard of this movie? You can't get it on VHS or DVD...
The first one on the list I know about it The Guns of Navarone. I know all the ones below it too. I haven't seen all of them, but I know them.

So now this brings me to my question:
What five war movies would you want in your DVD player to watch on Veteran's Day?


In no particular order...

Blackhawk Down. Modern urban warfare. A snatch-and-grab operation where the manure hits the ventilator. The enemy just won't let up. You don't know when or if you'll get pulled out... and if you'll be alive when it happens.
Platoon. Maybe a slightly glamorized look at a grunt's life in the 'Nam, but it was still an eye-opener for those of us in our late teens who saw it.
Full Metal Jacket. Again, a grunt's life from boot camp on the Island to the ravages of VietNam. Plus, it's got the Gunny (R Lee Ermey) himself!
Bridge on the River Kwai (or is it Over?). Classic movie, even if it's not really involving the American troops.
Saving Private Ryan. Intense combat. You really get a feel for what it was like for those troops on Omaha Beach. In fact, author and movie critic Stephen Hunter said that those sequences were so intense, he looked around for a German soldier so he could surrender.

So what are your picks?

Comments

Mine

[panzer73.livejournal.com]

We Were Soldiers--the scene where the guy got willie P imbedded in his cheek was imbedded in my brain for days afterwards.

Band of Brothers

Twelve O'Clock High, starring Gregory Peck. Yes I know this movie is nearly as old as my mother (it was made in 1947 and she was born before that) but it's a good movie!!!

Courage Under Fire

Platoon--the climatic firefight still gives me chills.

five discs, huh?

[stillking.livejournal.com]

1 -- glory (edward zwick)
2 -- band of brothers (disc 1 or 2, earlier eps are better)
3 -- master and commander (peter weir)
4 -- schindler's list (stephen spielberg)
5 -- apocalypse now redux (f.f. coppolla) (but only if redux ed. available)

6 [emergency swap] -- mash (movie-pilot and/or finale)