Veteran’s Day: 16 Of The Best World War II Movies
Nov 11, 2010 by Vic HoltremanIn honor of all those who have served, here’s a little something to commemorate the day from a movie lover’s point of view.
It’s Veteran’s Day today – the day we remember and honor soldiers and sailors that serve and have served in the military in defense of the United States of America and other countries.
I thought it would be appropriate to put together a list of classic war movies to commemorate the holiday…
This is by no means a complete list, just some of my favorites and those that came to mind – feel free to add your favorites and nudge my memory over any obvious ones I may have forgotten in the comments below.
Casablanca (1942) – Humphrey Bogart & Ingrid Bergman, a classic if there ever was one: Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II, an American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications – and woe unto anyone who thinks of doing a remake of this film!
Flying Tigers (1942) – John Wayne leads a band of American Mercenaries called upon by China to help fight the Japanese two years before Pearl Harbour.
Midway (1976) – All star “real men” cast: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn and Robert Mitchum in dramatization of the battle that turned out to be the turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) – John Wayne stars in this version of the battle of Iwo Jima.
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) – William Holden and Alec Guiness (yes, Obi-Wan) in a story about a British colonel who co-operates with the Japanese to oversee his men’s construction of a railway bridge for their captors – while oblivious to a plan by the Allies to destroy it.
The Caine Mutiny (1954) – Humphrey Bogart in an unusual role as a US Naval captain who shows signs of mental instability that jeopardizes his ship, causing his first officer to relieve him of command and face court martial for mutiny.
The Dirty Dozen (1967) – This AWESOME fictional story of a US Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers in World War II stars Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, George Kennedy, Telly Savalas and other fantastic actors.
Flying Leathernecks (1951) – John Wayne leads “The Wildcats” squadron into the historic WWII battle of Guadalcanal.
From Here to Eternity (1953) – Another star-studded classic with Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed and Frank Sinatra. A private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit’s team, while his captain’s wife and second in command are falling in love.
The Great Escape (1963) – Another “must see” WWII film. It stars Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence and James Coburn as members of several hundred Allied POWs who plan a mass escape from a German POW camp.
Mister Roberts (1955) – Henry Fonda was brilliant in this film starring alongside James Cagney and a very funny Jack Lemmon won an Oscar for his role in this WWII semi-comedy.
Patton (1970) – Probably the crown jewel of George C. Scott’s acting career where he portrays the most famous U.S. General, ever. The film earned 7 Oscars including Best Actor, Best Director and Best Picture (back in the day when the Oscars actually meant something).
Stalag 17 (1953) -Directed by Billy Wilder and starring William Holden, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss and Peter Graves. When two escaping American World War II prisoners are killed, the German POW camp barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
Where Eagles Dare (1968) – Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood as allied agents who stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding an American General prisoner… but that’s not all that’s really going on.
Run Silent, Run Deep (1958) – Directed by Robert Wise, starring Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden and Don Rickles (yes, THAT Don Rickles) about a U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.
The Guns of Navarone (1961) – Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn: A British team is sent to cross occupied Greek territory and destroy the massive German gun emplacement that commands a key sea channel.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) – A dramatization of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the series of American blunders that allowed it to happen.
What are your favorites? What do you think should be on this list?
Thanks to IMDB.com for help in researching and synopses.
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“The Enemy Below” (Rock Hudson) should be on the list. The anti-war war movie “Kelly’s Heroes” (Clint Eastwood, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, and Telly Savalas) deserves an honourable mention just for depicting the scene in the minefield.
That was Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens. Very good.
Gotta have “Kelly’s Heros” in there somewhere.
TV miniseries’ based on Herman Wouk novels, ‘Winds of War’ and lesser ‘War and Rememberence’
Foreign film about gruseome Nazi/Soviet cooperation at “Katyn”
The epic Bogart version of “Sahara” (please find and destory all possible copies of the ridiculous (almost word for word) remake starring Jim Belushi (Jim Belushi????????))
“Das Boot” – gritty
“Von Ryan’s Express” – dippy, but pretty cool
So many more…
My favorites: The Longest Day, A Bridge too Far, We Were Soldiers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Flag of Our Fathers, Black Hawk Down, A Walk In The Sun, Halls of Montezuma, Crash Dive, Frogmen, Pork Chop Hill, and I could go on all day.
We Were Soldiers, Blackhawk Down and Porkchop Hill were NOT WW II films, filmgoer.
In Harm’s Way. Awesome! I’ve seen it about 30 times. One of those movies that, no matter when it comes on I sit down and watch it.
“Heroes of Telemark”
“The Bridge at Remagen”
Lifeboat is a classic Hitchcock that stars Tallulah Bankhead, Walter Slezak and William Bendix among others.
“Darby’s Rangers”-Jim Garner…One from my youth with a fabulous score. I can still hear it.
“Hell is for Heroes”-Steve McQueen, Fess Parker, buncha good actors. McQueen was right on! You’ll never think of “apple cobbler” the same way again! Oh Yeah, very young Bob Newhart for comedy relief. He too was great!
How about… They Were Expendable about our troops in Phillipines during first weeks of war
and how can we forget the best post WW2 movie…Best Years of Our Life
I have half of the list in my DVD library. But I would add “THEY WERE EXPENDABLE”, “SERGEANT YORK”,”TO HELL AND BACK”,”THE LONGEST DAY (another with and all-star manly cast)”, and “THE DEVIL’S BRIGADE”.
Sergeant York was about WW I, Tommy. Not WW II.
“To Be Or Not To Be”
It’s a Mel Brooks film.
‘Nuff said.
The Fighting Sullivans!
I can’t believe you left “The Longest Day” off your list.
And what about “Das Boot.”
Great list! There are so many good war movies out there.
This reminds me of an article I wrote a while back when I got to thinking about how many movies wouldn’t exist without the second world war: http://theformer786.blogspot.com/2009/08/cinematic-world-without-world-war-ii.html
It’s amazing to think how the face of cinema would have been completely different without WWII. It gave us so many stories and material to use.
Thank you to all who have fought for our freedoms.
I would put Sands of Iwo Jima above Flying Tigers any day. How could you leave The Longest Day off of the list??? Also The Enemy Below, excellent, excellent. Thanx
You include “Mister Roberts” but not “Heaven Knows Mr. Allison”?
Come again?!
Mister Roberts blows away Heaven knows…
100% agree re ‘Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison”
25 yrs ago, when VCRs were new, my son (9yrs at that time) called me at work and asked ‘What’s Mr. Roberts about.’ I said it’s about the guys on a Navy ship in WWII. He call a couple of hrs later and said, “You didn’tell me he was gonna die!!!” Still one of his fav films.
A lot of great films have been mentioned WWII and beyond, but The Thin Red Line anyone?? That film was an absolute masterpiece of a film and even superior than Saving Private Ryan which was no mean feat
I forgot about that one. Good call.
Thin Red one was one of the WORST ww 2 movies ever made..boring. trying to be artsy! it sucked big time,
Couldn’t agree more. Horrible movie.
Where is Sam Fuller’s “The Big Red One”? No WWII list should be without it.
“Mr. Roberts” was stagie to begin with, has aged terribly. Fonda and Lemmon look like a couple of ears of corn today, so just sit back and watch Cagney and Powell steal every scene they’re in. Two masters of comedic acting near the end of their careers, they should have shared Lemmon’s oscar for best supporting actor.
Mr. Roberts was my late dad’s favorite picture. His war was a lot like Doug Roberts’, hauling Allied cargo from Australia to the Philipines in an LCT. He did see a Jap, though, walking down a forest path on Mindanao while he was hunting pigs.
Battleground (1949). William Wellman directed this story of a squad of infantrymen in the Battle of the Bulge. These guys never have a clear idea of what is going on, sometimes getting news of their own situation from hometown news papers. John Hodiak, Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, James Whitmore.
Maybe the best war picture ever made, Twelve O’Clock High, also 1949. Gregory Peck as an Eighth Air Force general dealing with the burden of command. Dean Jagger, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill.
Excellent choices! Battleground is one of the very best.
I can’t believe Band of Brothers was not on this list.
Because that was a tv Mini-Series on HBO and not a movie.
Twelve O’clock High!!!
You left out “Command Decision”, which starred Clark Gable as the US Army Air Force general. It’s the best WW2 movie ever produced and the cast is exemplar as US military types supporting Clark Gable’s character.
He forgot to use the phrase… off the top of my head. There is no attempt at anything other than naming the first how many ever movies come to mind. Saving Private Ryan left off, but Flying Tigers? No Sand of Iwo Jima? And Flying Leathernecks is routine at best. At least this year he didn’t call The Hunters, a movie about jet fighters over Korea, a WWII movie.
Objective: Burma with Errol Flynn, and throw in the classic TV show Combat! for good measure.
Where’s THE LONGEST DAY? How could you leave out this absolute classic WWII film. Packed with more stars than the night sky inc. Robert Mitchum Richard Burton, Henry Fonda, Kenneth Moore etc. and the unforgettable German soldier with his boots on the wrong feet (classic).
DUCK SOUP?
Patton was/is awesome but the most famous general? I don’t think the nation’s capitol is in Patton D.C., lol. Great list….
They Were Expendable (starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery)about the PT Boats contribution is one of the all-time great WWII films.