The 15 Most ‘Glorious’ World War 2 Movies
August 20, 2009 Posted in Entertainment, Movies
OK, so maybe “glorious” isn’t the right word to describe WW2, but these movies certainly are badass. We’re really psyched about this weekend’s release of Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, so we thought we’d take a look at some of the best cinematic World War II offerings of the past. In the effort to narrow down the list, we’re not counting Holocaust movies, nor are we counting TV movies — sorry, but watching Band of Brothers just would’ve taken way too long. Recent flicks like Valkyrie and Miracle at St. Anna both have their moments, but they’re too new. So, without further adieu, here are The 15 Most Glorious World War 2 Movies.
1. Sands of Iwo Jima
As classics go, you could do a lot worse than this John Wayne movie, made only four years after the war ended. Wayne — arguably better as a marine sergeant than a cowboy — plays John Stryker, who leads his men into the bloody Battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific campaign. The battle scenes are pretty sanitized by today’s standards — especially considering how bloody Iwo Jima really was — but it’s old-fashioned manly patriotism at its best.
2. The Thin Red Line
Mostly overlooked by critics at the time of its release, The Thin Red Line, by eccentric director, Terrence Malick, is a gruesome, disjointed, dreamlike war epic, which traces the characters’ transition from “youth” to “adulthood” (a theme common to all Malick’s movies) during the battle for Guadalcanal. And while some may find it a little too slow, meandering and sometimes straight-up boring, the tale’s cinematic poetics explore deeply into the inner workings of war, humanity and the human soul.
3. Downfall
Telling the story of Hitler’s last few days, Downfall was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. It features a killer performance from Bruno Ganz as Hitler, and includes such chilling scenes as true Third Reich believer Magda Goebbels poisoning her children before committing suicide, lest she let them live in a world without National Socialism.
On a lighter note, Downfall has also found a second life on YouTube thanks to a series of videos that take one scene from the movie and replace its subtitles to amusing effect. Check out “Hitler and the Grammar Police,” “Adolf Hitler’s Vista Problems,” and “Hitler Gets Banned from World of Warcraft.”
4. Come and See
Viciously brutal, unflinchingly gruesome and visually, aurally and emotionally breathtaking, Come and See follows a lone soldier through the wasteland of Eastern Europe and a soul-crushing series of horrific indignities. Using all resources in the filmmaker’s tool chest, director Elem Klimov’s 1985 masterpiece brings us as close as any film ever has to the nauseating, visceral realities of war.
5. Slaughterhouse-Five
Definitely the trippiest World War II movie you’ll ever see, Slaughterhouse-Five ends on an alien planet with the hero having sex with a movie star in a zoo — which happens after he dies of old age. The movie suggests that all the interspersed war scenes — in which he fights in Germany, gets captured, and witnesses the bombing of Dresden — are just as insane as the aliens and time travel. It can’t touch the ultra-brilliant classic novel by Kurt Vonnegut upon which it’s based, but Vonnegut fans would be remiss not to check it out. (And while you’re at it, watch the World War II-themed adaptation of his novel Mother Night, starring Nick Nolte as a former American spy who worked as a Nazi propagandist.)
6. A Bridge Too Far
I’m only including one “Bridge” movie on this list, so I figured I’d give A Bridge Too Far the attention instead of the obvious choice of The Bridge on the River Kwai. While the latter has well-deserved status as a classic, A Bridge too Far is also terrific (if long), and boasts an amazing cast of badasses including Sean Connery, James Caan, Robert Redford, Michael Caine, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, and Laurence Olivier. It was an enormous success in Great Britain when it was released in 1977, but had a disappointing run in the U.S. — probably because, as the title implies, the good guys don’t exactly win the battle, and Vietnam-scarred audiences weren’t in the mood for a downer.
7. Catch-22
Along the anti-war lines of Slaughterhouse-5, this is another adaptation that can’t touch the novel (by Joseph Heller) that it’s based on. But it’s definitely worth seeing. Heller’s sardonic humor is very much intact, and the cast — including Alan Arkin, Buck Henry, Jon Voight, Anthony Perkins, Martin Sheen, and Orson Welles — is top notch. Yossarian (Arkin) desperately wants to get out of the war and tries to feign insanity, but since insane people want to fight, by trying to admit he’s insane, it proves he’s not insane. It’s a total catch-22. Oh wait…
8. The Big Red One
Rich, detailed and all-encompassing, this masterpiece follows the 1st US Infantry Division from North Africa to Czechoslovakia. The film is essentially director Samuel Fuller’s telling of his own wartime story, giving The Big Red One a haunting sense of realism, isolation and dislocation. But despite its masterful storytelling, the film was largely overlooked until a 2004 remastering, containing an extra 47 minutes, was released at the Cannes Film Festival, seven years after Fuller’s death.
9. Saving Private Ryan
The cornerstone of all great modern war movies, Saving Private Ryan is hard to top, especially in its opening scene of the American soldiers landing at Omaha beach. Tom Hanks is obviously awesome, but it’s the cowardly soldier Timothy Upham (Jeremy Davies, recently seen on Lost) who sticks with you. And how about Adam Goldberg’s death scene? Damn.
10. The Great Escape
Another terrific cast, led by Steve McQueen, The Great Escape is usually considered the best escape movie ever made. (Good thing: you don’t call your movie The Great Escape unless you mean it.) Concerning a mass escape attempt from a supposedly “escape-proof” German POW camp, it won only one Oscar (Best Editing) when it was released in 1963, but is currently listed among the top 100 of IMDb’s “Top 250″ list.
11. Das Boot
Originally filmed as a 5-part miniseries for German TV, Das Boot follows a single mission of the German U-boat submarine, U-96 and its crew. Playing out almost entire within the under water confines of the U-boat, Das Boot submerges viewers into the cramped, uncomfortable, horrifically claustrophobic world of a WWII submarine. To maximize the effects, the film was shot sequentially (a rare filmmaking move), over the course of two years, so that the actors’ hair and beard growth and signs of strain would be more accurately portrayed. After watching this, you’ll never want to go under water again.
12. Flags of our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima
So I’m cheating a little here by including both of Clint Eastwood’s recent movies about the Pacific campaign, but they really do compliment each other perfectly. Letters from Iwo Jima got the Best Picture nomination, but Flags of our Fathers — in telling the story of the men who ended up in that famous photograph of a group of soldiers raising the American flag — is severely underrated. You know how I mentioned that Sands of Iwo Jima “sanitized” the Iwo Jima battle scenes? Yeah, Eastwood definitely doesn’t do that in either of these movies.
13. Patton
This George C. Scott-led biopic of General George S. Patton’s experiences in World War II is most famous for its opening scene — featuring Scott giving a speech in front of a massive American flag — but is a terrific movie all the way through, working as both a character study and a killer war movie.
Patton’s famous bluster seemed to rub off on Scott. Scott won the Oscar for Best Actor, but refused to accept it because he considered the Oscars “a meat parade.”
14. From Here to Eternity
Essentially a romance, From Here to Eternity oozes with tragedy, love and pain. This classic story of a group of US soldiers in Hawaii shortly before the Pearl Harbor attcks landed eight Academy Awards (out of 13 nominations). And with an all-star cast, including Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra, it’s not hard to see why.
15. The Dirty Dozen
This archetypal “men on a mission” movie was what inspired Tarantino to write and direct Inglourious Basterds in the first place. The plot: an unpopular but capable army major (Lee Marvin) is forced to train a team of twelve convicted criminals to parachute behind enemy lines and assassinate a series of Nazi officers. There isn’t much pathos and there isn’t much drama: it’s just a hell of a lot of action and a hell of a lot of fun.
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What? no "Talvisota" or "tuntematon sotilas"
WTF! what about Apocalypse Now,Battle of the Bulge,The Deer Hunter,Platoon,The Bridge on the River Kwai,All Quiet on the Western Front plus the movies of Audie Murphy
To Hell and Back should definitely be on this list. The story of Audie Murphy, the man who not only did the things the movie was based on, but also was so badass he starred in the movie about his own life in WWII.
Check your historical records because "A Bridge Too Far" was
very accurate.
This list is suspect because it includes the worst movie ever made – A Thin Red Line but does not include Stalag 17 or Tora Tora Tora.
why…this is just a self-styled list. it has no classics like THE GUNS OF NAVORANE…..HEROES OF TELEMARK….WHERE EAGLES DARE….25TH HOUR….THE TRAIN….VON RYAN'S EXPRESS….THE CASSANDRA CROSSING…etc.
missing!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151852/
biggest WWII Movie…6 DVDs…487 min…great overview over the whole conflict
Well If youre going to put Patton in there (a great movie) you should put in McCarther.
Give me a break. To only have one John Wayne move is just not right, try the Flying Tigers. Patton is still #1 over all. Number 2 is hands down Kelly's Hero's, perhaps the best cast ever to appear in one movie and everyone shined.
Movies 2,3,&4 shouldnt even be on this list, they havent served the test of time. That and they just lacked the same level of quality.
There are a lot of other movies of WWII that should be on this list. Enemy at the Gates is a great one to mention.
So So list…You Forgot:
Stalag 17
The Longest Day
The Guns Of Navarrone
Tora Tora Tora
The Eagle Has Landed
Spitfire
The Desert Fox
Operation Crossbow
Hell Is For Heroes
30 Seconds Over Tokyo
Command Decision
Memphis Belle (Both Versions 1944 & 1990)
Above And Beyond
Run Silent, Run Deep
Destination Tokyo
I Can Go On….
I second the notion for Enemy at the Gates to be on this list. Very unique perspective on the war I think.
What about "The Devils Brigade"??????
I can't believe you haven't got Where Eagles Dare on this list. Basically the best movie ever.
Not just WWII movie but BEST MOVIE EVER!
Richard Burton (sober!), Clint Eastwood (when his skin fit his face!), a plot!, and lots and lots of 'splosions!!!
what about BAND OF BROTHERS epic movie
Tora Tora Tora that's all I need to say
How about Stalag 17, The boy in the stripped pyjamas, Sophies choice, The diary of Anne Frank, Julia, Fateless
i must concur w others who question the exclusion of _kelly's heroes_, talk about an all star cast. (one of my all-time favorite movie moments is when the panzer captain hears the proposition and the amount of gold and his stern face drops in surprise)
also
von ryan's express – sinatra
stalag 13 – hogan's heroes but less funny nazis
merry christmas mr. lawrence – david bowie
and more…
How about Merrill's Marauders from 1962, and the TV series "combat !" with Vic Marrow?
I find it pretty audacious that Michael Dance, whoever he might be , would even approach the subject of WW2 without any sense of shame or perspective, as if it were part of the general world of ‘entertainment’. I have no problem with anyone who sees fit to co-opt the culture and attitude of another , possibly more relevant era. But not this one. WW2 is sacred ground.
Since no one who has posted here has any sense of what this means let me provide some pertinent facts, general and personal.
My uncle and namesake was a B25 pilot shot down in flames over Arnhem in 1942 with the loss of all 8 crew members. My grandfather emlisted in the British army at the age of 15 and was shot while running a trench in WW1. My earliest memories were of the scar that ran from his shoulder and left arm where the bullet exited twice, the first time bouncing off his Enfield and severing the tendons in his arm and wrist. He also served in the second war as a grunt and prison guard. Under his bed were death’s head insignia, Nazi pennants, a Walther P38 that Germans traded for food. Our neighbors had 50 cal. ammunition hanging in their garage. My father served in the navy , torpedoed twice into the North Atlantic, one of 14 survivors out of 300 or so who went into the water, the rest dying of exposure in the freezing water. Another uncle was wounded by MG42 fire at Normandy, the round striking his heel as he scaled a seawall.
Although none of my surviving relatives would ever talk about the war, I learned from one of my father’s shipmates how he and others had to clean the vaporized remains of their friends from the inside of a 5 inch gun turret after it had been struck by German fire. He described how, upon leaving a bar while on shore leave, a funeral procession had gone by, and they laughed until they cried when they saw this . All this fuss over one body. I was stunned when I heard this in regard to my father, the quietest and gentlest of men. This story is fairly typical of the time.
On a more general scale: The Russian news agency after the Normandy landings described the situation as being in flux, with the Allies sustaining light casualties. From their perspective, this was perfectly accurate, the Red Army being torn to pieces on a daily basis for 4 years or so. 2500 casualties were sometimes sustained in an hour.
All U.S casualties in the war amounted to about 450,000. The Red Army lost this many just taking Berlin. By 1943, the Russian axis of advance extended about the distance from Chicago to Atlanta, with thousands of artillery pieces lining up wheel to wheel and pounding each other day after day in-40 degree weather. Over 20 million Russians were killed in WW2, prompting later historians to speculate that Glasnost may not have been possible until the time when the collective nightmare of the Russian people had dimmed somewhat. An aide to general Eisenhower who traveled to Moscow from Berlin after the armistice described the landscape as completely dead, nothing living, not a person, dog, or cow, and every building razed to the ground for a distance of over a thousand miles.
We hear talk these days of the coming apocalypse. Well here’s the news my young friends; the apocalypse has come and gone. It was called World War 2, the only war ever worth fighting. Never were the lines between good and evil more clearly drawn, and if you think I’m overstating, try imagining the following : you live in a large American city, Cleveland say. One morning at 7 a.m. a thousand Einsatz commandos arrive on your block and systematically go through the neighborhood and kill everybody, house to house, then block to block, machine gunning anyone who is black, Hispanic or Jewish, and probably anyone else who isn’t . They do this in concert with other divisions in Toledo, Cincinnati, Dayton. This goes on for four years or so until pockets of resistance form up and defeat the enemy with the loss of 50 million people, most of them civilians.
these things happened, and not so long ago.
world War 2 was the single greatest event in history, nothing else even coming close. All movies made since are stylized bull***t, with the possible exception of Private Ryan. Quentin Tarantino’s movie is particularly offensive. I have two purple hearts from one tour in Vietnam, but I still consider myself a 60 year old child compared with the real men who fought WW2.
The scale of this war extends as a tomb from Hiroshima to Manila, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, London, Warsaw, Prague, Moscow, and any attempt to treat it as entertainment is an affront to the people who died.