The drama and horror of war have always been a potent subject matter for cinema. There are many ways to examine the effects of war and, unfortunately, there have been too many wars to allow filmmakers to tell all those stories.
Ken Annikin's The Longest Day and Terence Malick's The Thin Red Line examined WWII. Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now and Oliver Stone's Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July took on Vietnam. While those four films are respected and widely remembered, there are many WWII and Vietnam films that fell under the radar.
Vietnam: Off Limits - 1988
In the 1988 Vietnam-set thriller Off Limits stars Willem Dafoe and Gregory Hines as two MPs stationed in Saigon during wartime. They are assigned to investigate the murder of a young Vietnamese prostitute. The film is well-acted and wire tight, with Dafoe and Hines (along with co-star Fred Ward) turning in great performances.
Writer/director Crowe uses America's presence in Vietnam to examine the country's clumsy handling of the Vietnam conflict. The original title was Saigon, but the studio opted for something more thriller-based. The film received mixed reviews and died at the box office.
WWII: Miracle At St. Anna - 2008
Spike Lee furthered his daring filmmaker rep by taking on this WWII story. Four black American soldiers become trapped in an Italian village, circa 1944. The main cast was compiled of Derek Luke, Michael Ely, Laz Alonso, and Omar Benson Miller, while the supporting actors included Walton Goggins, John Leguizamo, and John Turturro.
The story is true, giving the film an emotional potency. The studio failed to get behind the marketing and the film was poorly released, thus assuring not many would see it. Lee would return to the theater of war with his 2020 Vietnam film, Da 5 Bloods.
Vietnam: The Siege Of Firebase Gloria - 1989
Low budget 80s genre filmmaker Brian Trenchard-Smith took on the Vietnam war with The Siege of Firebase Gloria and fans were expecting a low-rent treatment. Audiences and most critics were surprised when the director delivered an exciting war picture that actually had something to say.
R. Lee Ermey and Wings Hauser starred as two Sergeants who defend their base against an onslaught of Vietcong. The performances were solid, the screenplay had bite, and the battle scenes were extremely well done. The film received a small release, but never caught on until home video, where it found a small cult following.
WWII: The Grey Zone - 2001
One of the most downbeat films to ever deal with the Holocaust, The Grey Zone was directed by actor/filmmaker Tim Blake Nelson. It told the story of Jews who were forced to work in the concentration camps against their fellow people. "The Grey Zone" is the area where their conscience tortures them as they help send their fellow men and women to the gas chambers.
Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Steve Buscemi, and David Arquette all do powerful work but the film, while well-reviewed, was simply too depressing for American audiences. The studio only released it in a few theaters before silently sliding it onto the home video market.
Vietnam: Tigerland - 2000
A powerful film about recruits in training before they go off to fight in Vietnam, Joel Schumacher shocked his critics by crafting a smart and intense drama with a star-making performance from a young then-unknown named Colin Farrell.
Tigerland is an effective film that didn't see a wide release. It is one of the finest Vietnam films, showing these scared and confused young men on the "dawn" before they are shipped off to war. This is a good companion piece to 2019's The Last Full Measure, as that film shows the effects of men who fought in Vietnam and how they ended up later in life.
WWII: A Midnight Clear - 1992
Keith Gordon adapted William Wharton's novel A Midnight Clear and created one of the most unique of all WWII films. On Christmas, a platoon of American soldiers hold steady at a cabin while fighting off a group of German soldiers.
The film takes great care in its portrayal of both sides and gives actors such as Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise, and Kevin Dillon character roles that they can sink their teeth into. An important film and one that is inherently kind, the studio showed the film in a limited release, but audiences stayed away.
Vietnam: Heaven & Earth - 1994
Everyone knows Oliver Stone's Platoon and Born on the Fourth of July, and both were groundbreaking Vietnam films. Not many saw the third film in his Vietnam trilogy, 1994's Heaven & Earth.
This is the beautiful true story of Le Ly Hayslip, a Vietnamese woman who hustles soldiers to feed her family until the war comes too close. She falls in love with an American G.I. played by Tommy Lee Jones, who takes her to America to start a new life. But her family and the effects of the Vietnam war take a toll that causes Le to return to her homeland. It's a powerful film that showed true heart from Oliver Stone, yet the public turned away and the film was a financial flop.
WWII: The Big Red One - 1980
Sam Fuller wrote and directed this film that was based on his experiences in WWI during the invasion of Normandy and beyond. Fuller was a journalist and infantryman.
Robert Carradine is the cinematic representation of Fuller and his squad is made up of Mark Hamill, Bobby DiCicco, and Kelly Ward. Lee Marvin does fantastic work as their squad leader. While a critical darling, Fuller's striking film was, sadly, a box office failure.
Vietnam: The Boys In Company C - 1978
1978's The Boys in Company C is THE undervalued Vietnam film. It follows a group of draftees who arrive at boot camp and train to go to Vietnam.
R. Lee Ermey played the main drill sergeant. At the time, he had not been out of the Marines that long. His performance was so realistic, his moments could've been from a documentary. Brutal and uncompromising, this film is an important treasure of 70s cinema.
WWII: Cross Of Iron - 1977
The most undervalued film of Sam Peckinpah's career is the most underrated anti-war film in existence. Cross of Iron finds James Coburn as a German officer who runs afoul of his commander who, in response, puts Coburn and his men on a dangerous mission where they may not survive.
The themes of death and the audacity of those who send men to confront it are explored beautifully. A masterful work from Peckinpah, audiences were not interested and the film failed to make money in the U.S.