There is an old movie I remember as a kid where some POWs in Germany build a glider to escape with - anybody remember?
I saw a documentary on PBS. It was about POWs held in a compound that built a gluider to launch from a tower window. I don't think they ever actually got to carry out the plan. The science guys on the show tried to recreate the details and sent a glider loaded with weight out the tower window to see if it could work. I wish I could remember more........
The castle was Colditz Castle...the Germans used the place for " problem POWs" who kept escaping...mostly British IIRC...
Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
A lot of good ones have been mentioned here. Of the recent ones, I REALLY enjoyed "Dunkirk," "Midway," and "1917."
I couldn't keep up with who's who in Dunkirk. The main characters looked very similar. Plus, I saw it in a theater where the sound was uncomfortably loud. WAY loud. I had to look it up on the web to get the final on it. Several stories, which was the way it happened in real life. Didn't see Midway. I saw 1917 at home. Good production values, and good acting, good "chase" movie. Long, it seemed to me.
A good movie not mentioned before is "No Man's Land" made somewhere else, English subs. About a Serb (?)and a Croat (?) opposite sides of the wars over there, pinned down in a trench between lines. One of them was placed on a booby trap while unconscious which if he moves, will go off.
I've never understood that 90s conflict or who are the good/bad guys and get the combatants names confused.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
Me too Gene. 1917 was a good movie. Great....not so much. The cinematic values are over the top but there are far better war movies. War Horse was far better. Even Flyboys, though I could have done without the love story parts.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill
There is an old movie I remember as a kid where some POWs in Germany build a glider to escape with - anybody remember?
I saw a documentary on PBS. It was about POWs held in a compound that built a gluider to launch from a tower window. I don't think they ever actually got to carry out the plan. The science guys on the show tried to recreate the details and sent a glider loaded with weight out the tower window to see if it could work. I wish I could remember more........
The castle was Colditz Castle...the Germans used the place for " problem POWs" who kept escaping...mostly British IIRC...
Me too Gene. 1917 was a good movie. Great....not so much. The cinematic values are over the top but there are far better war movies. War Horse was far better. Even Flyboys, though I could have done without the love story parts.
For a horse lover War Horse was just epic. Funny thought, the plot is basically identical to Black Beauty (another great horse film) but with guns...
Old West Saying: God created men, but Col. Sam Colt made them equal.
General George Patton: “Watch what people are cynical about, and one can often discover what they lack.”
I've seen a lot of good war movies and I there's a lot of good movies mentioned above but the one that sticks out in my head is The Siege of Firebase Gloria.
It's not a feel good movie and doesn't even pretend to be. Parts of it are hard to watch because truth can be difficult sometimes. It explores heroism among an ocean of idiocy and politics.
For those of you who are adventurous R. Lee Ermey fans or just really bored and want something else to watch, I'd recommend The Siege of Firebase Gloria.
An excellent but unfortunately obscure film. Another is 'The Odd Angry Shot'. ANZACS in VietNam.
Not the Greatest War Movie Ever Made, but I found Windtalkers to be interesting to watch.
Not a war movie, but military themed 'Taps' I enjoyed. Kind of neat to see very young Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton in their early years with substantial roles.
"If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace." - Thomas Paine
"I know my place in the world and it ain’t standing next to Jerry Miculek" - Zee
Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience -- Mark Twain How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again! -- Mark Twain
Just finished Siege of Jadotville. Excellent movie.
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill
One movie we used to watch for laughs in the military was "The Green Berets" with John Wayne. Wayne had good intentions with the movie and was made to show support for the troops during turbulent times but that movie is just pure comedy. Especially liked the scene where Wayne is just about to make a parachute jump - with his static line still hooked into his reserve handle!
One movie we used to watch for laughs in the military was "The Green Berets" with John Wayne. Wayne had good intentions with the movie and was made to show support for the troops during turbulent times but that movie is just pure comedy. Especially liked the scene where Wayne is just about to make a parachute jump - with his static line still hooked into his reserve handle!
And the Mattel "M-16" he smashed on a tree...
Sharps Model 1874 - "The rifle that made the west safe for Winchester"
I was in OCS at Ft. Benning when that movie was being made. My roomie's wife a pretty woman from Hawaii had a walk-by. JW gave a speech to the OC Battalion. Not a great movie.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
Knowledge is essential to living freely and fully; understanding gives knowledge purpose and strength; wisdom is combining the two and applying them appropriately in words and actions.
A Cold War film is Stanley Kubrick's 'Dr. Strangelove'. Possibly my all time favorite movie. Kubrick's WW1 film 'The Paths of Glory' is also worth watching. Not Kubrick but with a similar theme is the Boer War film 'Breaker Morrant'.
My problem with "war movies" is the fact that many times the back story distorts or even sometimes overcomes the main plot, something Hollyweird loves to do in the search of another pop-corn chomping blockbuster.
I consider that actual war movies are few considering how much they stick to real historical facts. Maybe "Band of brothers" is one of the few as long as I can recall that actually falls into this category, along MAYBE with "Black Hawk down" and "The Pacific"
Others are really "war inspired", actually fiction with sound historic bases and great production. "All quiet in the Western front", "Das boot" and "FMJ" might be considered among the best ones.
Then come those with war topics as background to a personal story. Good ones are "Unbreakable" "Lawrence of Arabia", "Hitler" and "Che guerrilla".
The original "Midway", "Pearl Harbor" and "Battle of Britain" are also great despite some "artistic license" but I consider than those were sadly "tainted" by their romantic backstory.
Finally there are "fun" movies with excellent production but unfortunately mere fiction, like the latest "Pearl Harbor", "Fury", "Saving private Ryan" and others.
There are other great war movies I can't recall, specially foreign made ones or rather obscure; will have to look
Modern 'Pearl Harbor' is a good example of 'Artistic License'. Very little accurate history with a love story. It would have been typical in the 1950s.
One movie we used to watch for laughs in the military was "The Green Berets" with John Wayne. Wayne had good intentions with the movie and was made to show support for the troops during turbulent times but that movie is just pure comedy. Especially liked the scene where Wayne is just about to make a parachute jump - with his static line still hooked into his reserve handle!
And the Mattel "M-16" he smashed on a tree...
The best was the final scene when the sun sets in the east over the south China Sea.
JAY
THE DEFINITION OF GUN CONTROL IS HITTING THE TARGET WITH YOUR FIRST SHOT
Replies
A good movie not mentioned before is "No Man's Land" made somewhere else, English subs. About a Serb (?)and a Croat (?) opposite sides of the wars over there, pinned down in a trench between lines. One of them was placed on a booby trap while unconscious which if he moves, will go off.
I've never understood that 90s conflict or who are the good/bad guys and get the combatants names confused.
Winston Churchill
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colditz_Cock
It would indeed take a very stubborn sort of Britishness to hatch such a scheme.....
An excellent but unfortunately obscure film. Another is 'The Odd Angry Shot'. ANZACS in VietNam.
Sands of Iwo Jima
Band of Brothers
Saving Private Ryan
Gun control laws make about as much sense as taking ex-lax to cure a cough.
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
Not a war movie, but military themed 'Taps' I enjoyed. Kind of neat to see very young Tom Cruise, Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton in their early years with substantial roles.
How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and [how] hard it is to undo that work again! -- Mark Twain
Winston Churchill
korea...Bridges of Toko Ri
WWII....too many
Spanish Civil war...For whom the bell tols
China....Sand Pebbles
Civil War....Gettysburg
Revolution....Patriot
JAY
Honorable mentions: Glory and Gettysburg.
Actually saw Gettysburg in Gettysburg for the first time while I was attending the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg..
"If you get it and didn't work for it, someone else worked for it and didn't get it..."
JAY