War movies

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Colon


Yeah, I watched a documentary linked to the movie yesterday, and I was surprised a lot of a scenes did actually happen. In some cases reality would even have been less believable.
But I was talking about the acting actually, which seems a bit thick sometimes. Recent war movies are far more grittier.

The books are much better than the movies.

When the subject of "The longest day" comes up, I always remember (vaguely since I havent read it for many years) the british soldier (SF/commando I think) whose story included the comment that his known kill total soared over 100 by the end of the day (he survived).

[Hueij]

Hehe, I actually was in "A Bridge Too Far". I was in the army at that time and since I was a mortarist I had to fire a couple of phosphor light grenades when they were shooting night scenes.

Didn't like the film though, maybe because they used the wrong bridge and Laurence Olivier shouldn't have tried to speak Dutch.

[Colon™]

Anybody seen Jarhead?

[Sikander]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Am I the only one who absolutely hates the modern war movies like saving private Ryan and Band of Brothers?

They're an insult to the senses. The camera is so hectic you don't really see any action, just fragments of action, and small ones at that. It's like watching a MTV music video of a battle. I crap at that.

New movies that try to make you have an epileptic attack

Old movies where the camera sits and pople and bullets move

I have found this on occasion to be annoying, or in the case of the Bourne Supremacy almost incomprehensible. On the one hand I do like to get a look at what some of the characters can see, as it in many cases does a good job of explaining the action. One the other I don't like to pause too long on one shot like that or to have the camera jiggled excessively as it tends to give me a headache. If one were to actually be able to record what any particular rifleman on Omaha Beach saw, in many cases I expect it was mostly sand until the shooting stopped.

[Serb]

Originally posted by Patroklos
Funny, can you find me a source for that Serb? Up untill Moscow there really wasn't a reason to shoot retreating Germans, because there weren't any.

From Stavka's order 227 (Not a single step back) about creation of "barrage units":

"We can no longer tolerate commanders, commissars, and political officers, whose units leave their defences at will. We can no longer tolerate the fact that the commanders, commissars and political officers allow several cowards to run the show at the battlefield, that the panic-mongers carry away other soldiers in their retreat and open the way to the enemy. Panic-mongers and cowards are to be exterminated at the site.

From now on the iron law of discipline for every officer, soldier, political officer should be – not a single step back without order from higher command. Company, battalion, regiment and division commanders, as well as the commissars and political officers of corresponding ranks who retreat without order from above, are traitors of the Motherland. They should be treated as traitors of the Motherland. This is the call of our Motherland.

To fulfil this order means to defend our country, to save our Motherland, to destroy and overcome the hated enemy.

After their winter retreat under pressure of the Red Army, when morale and discipline fell in the German troops, the Germans took some strict measures that led to pretty good results. They have formed 100 penal companies that were comprised of soldiers who broke discipline due to cowardice or instability; they have deployed them at the most dangerous sections of the front and have ordered them to redeem their sins by blood. Further on, they have formed around ten penal battalions comprised of officers who had broken discipline due to cowardice and instability, deprived them of their decorations and put them at even more dangerous sections of the front and ordered them to redeem their sins by blood. And finally, the Germans have formed special guards units and deployed them behind unstable divisions and ordered them to execute panic-mongers at the site if they tried to leave their defensive positions without order or if they tried to surrender. As we know, these measures were effective, and now the German troops fight better than they fought in winter. What we have here is that the German troops have good discipline, although they do not have an uplifted mission of protection of the Motherland, and only have one goal – to conquer a strange land. Our troops, having defence of defiled Motherland as their mission, do not have this discipline and thus suffer defeat.

Shouldn’t we learn this lesson from our enemy, as our ancestors learned from their enemies in the past and overcame their enemies? I think that we should".

Full text here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_No._227

[VetLegion]

I agree. I guess movies have to evolve like that, try new approaches and so on. Still I prefer The Longest Day to Saving Private Ryan.

[Dr Strangelove]

No one mentioned The Big Red One , the story of Audey Murphy, or Sergreant York. Other good war flicks not mentioned include, In Harm's Way, They Were Expendable, Merill's Marauders, and The Flying Tigers.

Gettysburg That was one of the three Civil War flicks funded by Ted Turner. IIRC they mis-casted diminuitive Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. They should do an American Revolution Series. I'd love to see Danny DeVito play George Washington.

[Patroklos]

Again, Serb, you have a very odd interpretation of space and time.

How can the Soviets learn to shoot retreating comrades when they were doing from almost the onset of the war, when your own source concludes the Germans never even thought about let alone made it policy let alone practiced it untill well after the Moscow retreat (which of course is what I said so your response is no rebutal)?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by VetLegion
Am I the only one who absolutely hates the modern war movies like saving private Ryan and Band of Brothers?

Saving Private Ryan is crappy IMO. Especially the ending - absolutely terrible.

[Sandman]

Hey, Serb, the Battle of Kursk article at Wikipedia probably needs the attention of a Russian nationalist.

[Thorgal]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Saving Private Ryan is crappy IMO. Especially the ending - absolutely terrible.

Too "cloy" for my taste. And any mission in Call of Duty 2 is more realistic.

Some war movies i like: Das Boot, Enemy at the Gates, Patton...

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger

Saving Private Ryan is crappy IMO. Especially the ending - absolutely terrible.

The writing pretty much sucked, but the action was pretty good and they definitely deserved the Oscar for sound.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I second Kellys Heros.

[Colon™]

Watched episode 3&4 of Band Of Brothers. Didn't impress me as much as the first 2, but it was still pretty damn solid. It's really nice it has been trying to cover various aspects of the war and not just combat situations.

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Whoha
Kelly's Heros for some humor.

If you want humor in a war movie, try to find What Did You Do In the War, Daddy?

Harry Morgan is hilarious.

ACK!