Ten Classic War Movies You Must See Before You Die
The ones I can’t turn off when I stumble upon them channel surfing
Last week I published an article titled “Ten Classic Westerns You Absolutely Must See Before You Die.” In it I listed my ten favorite Western films; these were not necessarily the ones I consider the greatest ever made, though some fit that category as well. It clearly resonated with readers, as it currently has more comments than any article I’ve written in six months on this site. That makes me happy, because the whole point was to bring attention to a neglected genre.
As I’ve been pondering the articles I want to write for the upcoming week, another film genre keeps coming to mind, one that while similar to the Western in many ways has almost never seen a decline in popularity: the war movie. In running down this rabbit hole I discovered one thing: if narrowing my favorite Westerns to ten was hard (I actually cheated and listed 12), picking ten war movies was going to be near-impossible. I’m going to try anyway, knowing full well that many excellent films won’t make the list. Remember, these are my ten favorites, not a critics list of the best ever.
Black Hawk Down (2001). Based on the 1999 book by journalist Mark Bowden, the film depicts the disastrous Special Forces raid in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 to capture warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid. Part of the reason this film succeeds where so many contemporary war films fail is that it avoids any commentary on the politics of the conflict, which will always bias a story to one degree or another. Black Hawk Down simply shows us the battle from the viewpoint of the Army Rangers and Special Forces troops that took part; this makes it a human story as much as a war story. The filmmakers also used accurate aircraft, weapons, and other gear, thereby avoiding easily noticed errors like repainting American tanks to look like German ones as they did in the 1965 film The Battle of the Bulge. Having been active duty Army at the time the film portrays, I can personally attest that the dialogue and interaction of the soldiers is 100% accurate.
The Great Escape (1963). One of the great World War II movies, with the type of all-star cast World War II movies tend to feature: James Garner, James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson, and Steve McQueen to mention just a few. Not a war film in the classic sense, with no major battle scenes at any point, but compelling throughout nonetheless. As a kid, I watched it not just for the action, but in the hopes of someday learning how to be as cool as Steve McQueen. I’m still hoping.
Inglorious Basterds (2009). It’s what you’d expect from Quentin Tarantino, except when it isn’t. In other words, it’s hard to classify other than to say if you don’t mind a little over-the-top violence, it’s a damn good story. Yes, it’s alternative history, but playing the “what if?” game is always fun, and Tarantino takes it to levels few would have even dreamed of doing, which is cool. And even with Brad Pitt in the lead role, it’s Christoph Waltz and Daniel Bruhl who steal the show.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003). It’s not easy to make a historically accurate film about life on a 19th century British warship, but this movie does it. The characters are fictional, but everything from the uniforms to the dialogue to the ship itself is spot on. Director Peter Weir had entire period-accurate ships constructed using original historical blueprints, and consulted diaries and transcripts from the era to get every detail right. None of this would matter if it wasn’t also a rollicking good movie to watch, which it definitely is. Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany shine, especially when they’re onscreen together.
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). In contrast to the 2001 Michael Bay travesty Pearl Harbor, Tora! Tora! Tora! remains the best film ever made about the attack on Pearl Harbor five decades after it was released. It was the first film made following the war to show both sides of the battle; the American scenes were filmed by an American director and the Japanese scenes by a Japanese director. It took nearly 30 years for that to happen, and has rarely happened since. We see both the lead-up to the attack and the attack itself from both the Japanese and American point of view. Best of all, there’s no jingoistic flag waving, just a compelling and accurate account of a key moment in history.
The Alamo (2004). This film gets everything right that the classic 1960 John Wayne film of the same name didn’t, including the generally unknown fact that there were only two frontal assaults during the 13-day siege (at the start and at the end with constant bombardment in between). It’s the first film about the battle to show the prominent role Tejanos played on the Texan side, and the first to portray the Mexican Army soldiers as real people who showed as much bravery as the Anglo and Tejano defenders. It also got the deaths of William B. Travis, Davy Crockett, and Jim Bowie right, which is a rare thing indeed. If you want to see a true depiction of both sides of the conflict that created Texas, check this movie out.
We Were Soldiers (2002). In the nearly two decades since this one came out, it has steadily moved up the list of not only my favorite Vietnam War movies, but my favorite Mel Gibson movies as well. It didn’t hurt that I loved the book the film is based on, by General Hal Moore and journalist Joe Galloway. The film chronicles the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in November 1965, the first major battle between the US Army and the People’s Army of Vietnam. The buildup to the action is a bit slow, but once it starts it doesn’t stop until the final credits. The cast is excellent, especially Sam Elliott as Sergeant Major Basil L. Plumley.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). Wait, you say; are you actually listing a Marvel movie? Yes, yes I am. It’s set during World War II and is no more over the top, revisionist history-wise, than Inglorious Basterds. It has great battle scenes, a hero we can admire and pull for, and it reintroduced one of the greatest pop-culture characters ever. Can I find a way to work a Marvel reference into every article? I can do this all day.
The Last Samurai (2003). I am normally not a big Tom Cruise fan, but I absolutely love this film. From a historical accuracy perspective it gets a lot wrong, especially with regard to Ken Watanabe’s character Katsumoto, but the movie is so good it doesn’t matter. The battle scenes are thrilling, the cinematography is stunning, and Watanabe is stellar.
Patton (1970). This film and the next on the list (which will bring me to 11) would be here even if I had to narrow the list to two, for a simple reason. They are the first war movies I watched with my grandfather when I was a kid. Many John Wayne Westerns preceded them, but as for war pictures I will always treasure these because of their connection to my granddad. That this one is George C. Scott’s most iconic role obviously doesn’t hurt, and Karl Malden often steals the show as Gen. Omar Bradley.
The Longest Day (1962). My grandfather aside, this remains one of the great films about World War II ever made. The first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan are more accurate (and more graphically jarring) historically, but this first post-war film about the D-Day landings more than makes up for it with an all-star cast that includes Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, John Wayne, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, Rod Steiger, Curt Jurgens, and Werner Hinz. It’s one of the few three-hour films that simply does not feel that long.
Honorable mention (because I refuse to go over 11 this time but cannot leave these off): Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Zulu (1964), and Zero Dark Thirty (2012).
I fully expect comments to fly about that fact that I have not included films like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Saving Private Ryan, The Hurt Locker, 1917, and The Thin Red Line, all of which I like a lot and have seen more than once. They simply aren’t ones I’ll go out of my way to watch again, as good as they are, just like I will always listen to Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town more often than his Tunnel of Love album, though I love it too. Either way, go check them out, and let me know your favorites in the comments.
