Let's watch a war movie, Grandpa
I was a wide-eyed seven year old when World War II broke out, and like most other American children, became a perfect candidate for Hollywood’s beginning flood of propaganda films. We couldn’t actually fight the enemies of our land, but we could help Mom hoe the Victory garden, collect scrap metal, buy War Stamps with our allowances, and vicariously join the war effort at the movies.
Before I turned eight, I had helped John Wayne rescue the friendly, valiant (and always polite) citizens of China from the evil clutches of Japan in “Flying Tigers,” had invaded the Pacific from “Bataan” and “Wake Island” to “Guadalcanal Diary,” tanked across North Africa beside Bogart himself in “Sahara,” and held my breath while Cary Grant cruised, unseen and underwater, into the very mouth of the enemy in “Destination Tokyo.”
The flood of propaganda slowed to a trickle after the war ended, and while a steadily growing doubt crept into my political consciousness, calming my boyish patriotic fervor over the years, my zest for films about warfare never abated.
No one could possibly have seen them all, but I tried, and have continued to reach that unreachable goal. Just last week, for instance, I saw a perfectly dreadful 1943 slapstick comedy starring Alan Mowbray entitled “The Devil with Hitler.” Only my dedication to the cause kept me tuned to Turner Classic Movies for all 53 minutes.
Luckily, the broad genre of warfare films has widened, and some true classics have been made over the years – some of them only peripherally about warfare, of course, and of course not all made by the American film industry.
Two of my grandsons, Jake (age 15) and Matty (10), have become enamored of cinematic warfare of late, and actually asked me for a list of good ones to see. And while I relished the request, the list I sent them was lengthy indeed. Moreover, it didn’t include the films I thought of as the “Best” war films – just those movies I felt would be most appropriate for sub-adult viewers: light on the harsh language and heavy on the action.
And so now, as more of an exercise in self-indulgence than an aid to youthful fans, I have put together my own list of the Best War Movies – ones that I feel convey a more thoughtful message, ones that will last, ones that I will watch again. In order of personal preference, they are:
1. A Walk in the Sun. This great little mostly-forgotten film starring Dana Andrews and a gaggle of character actors circa 1945 puts warfare into a nutshell. It’s carefully based on Harry Brown’s slim and powerful novel by the same name, and enhanced by Woodie Guthrie singing Millard Lampell’s rousing theme song.
2. Casablanca
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Band of Brothers
5. Gettysburg
6. Battleground
7. Glory
8. Saving Private Ryan
9. Das Boot
10. The Bridge on the River Kwai
11. Sahara (1943)
12. Apocalypse Now
13. From Here to Eternity
14. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 version)
15. Paths of Glory
16. Zulu
17. Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande (Ford’s Indian Wars trilogy)
18. Patton
19. The Longest Day
20. Spartacus
21. The Deer Hunter
22. Memphis Belle
23. Gunga Din
24. Destination Tokyo
25. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Before I turned eight, I had helped John Wayne rescue the friendly, valiant (and always polite) citizens of China from the evil clutches of Japan in “Flying Tigers,” had invaded the Pacific from “Bataan” and “Wake Island” to “Guadalcanal Diary,” tanked across North Africa beside Bogart himself in “Sahara,” and held my breath while Cary Grant cruised, unseen and underwater, into the very mouth of the enemy in “Destination Tokyo.”
The flood of propaganda slowed to a trickle after the war ended, and while a steadily growing doubt crept into my political consciousness, calming my boyish patriotic fervor over the years, my zest for films about warfare never abated.
No one could possibly have seen them all, but I tried, and have continued to reach that unreachable goal. Just last week, for instance, I saw a perfectly dreadful 1943 slapstick comedy starring Alan Mowbray entitled “The Devil with Hitler.” Only my dedication to the cause kept me tuned to Turner Classic Movies for all 53 minutes.
Luckily, the broad genre of warfare films has widened, and some true classics have been made over the years – some of them only peripherally about warfare, of course, and of course not all made by the American film industry.
Two of my grandsons, Jake (age 15) and Matty (10), have become enamored of cinematic warfare of late, and actually asked me for a list of good ones to see. And while I relished the request, the list I sent them was lengthy indeed. Moreover, it didn’t include the films I thought of as the “Best” war films – just those movies I felt would be most appropriate for sub-adult viewers: light on the harsh language and heavy on the action.
And so now, as more of an exercise in self-indulgence than an aid to youthful fans, I have put together my own list of the Best War Movies – ones that I feel convey a more thoughtful message, ones that will last, ones that I will watch again. In order of personal preference, they are:
1. A Walk in the Sun. This great little mostly-forgotten film starring Dana Andrews and a gaggle of character actors circa 1945 puts warfare into a nutshell. It’s carefully based on Harry Brown’s slim and powerful novel by the same name, and enhanced by Woodie Guthrie singing Millard Lampell’s rousing theme song.
2. Casablanca
3. Lawrence of Arabia
4. Band of Brothers
5. Gettysburg
6. Battleground
7. Glory
8. Saving Private Ryan
9. Das Boot
10. The Bridge on the River Kwai
11. Sahara (1943)
12. Apocalypse Now
13. From Here to Eternity
14. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 version)
15. Paths of Glory
16. Zulu
17. Fort Apache, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande (Ford’s Indian Wars trilogy)
18. Patton
19. The Longest Day
20. Spartacus
21. The Deer Hunter
22. Memphis Belle
23. Gunga Din
24. Destination Tokyo
25. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
posted by Carl Larsen at 12:20 PM
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