Best war film scene for you?

[IanH755]

From a little known '80s movie with gene Hackman called Uncommon Valor about retrieving MIA's from Vietnam (a much better story than the "Rambo-esqe" films of the times) there's a montage scene of all the training the ex-SF veterans are going through to get back to speed thats extremely fun.

LordHaveMurci said:

tumble dryer said:

I know this should be in 'the films I've watched this week' thread - because I did.

Hacksaw Ridge.

Prepare yourselves for NOTHING like you've seen before and a storyline that beggar’s belief.

Incredible true story about a conscientious objector who became a battlefield medic.

Anyone else seen it??

Yes, watched it recently.

Wouldn't say any particular scene stood out for me, the main character must have really been something in real life though.

I'm sorry to say but, for me the main character is the only good thing about the film.

Compared to "realistic" films/TV like SPR, Band of Brothers, Blackhawk Down etc Hawksaw ridge was a throw-back to the bad old days of 80's-90's war movies like WindTalkers etc -

• million round magazines which never need changing
• 1 guy kiling dozens of enemy with a 1 second burst of gunfire from a Thompson
• no military tactics being used at all, just everyone run at the enemy with no-one providing suppressive fire
• grenades having huge petrol fire explosions instead of realistic puff of dirt/smoke
• massively exaggerated blood-bag explosions from people being hit by very small caliber rounds etc with everyone but the "hero" being killed by devasting wounds as if hit by a tank round (as opposed to a 7mm bit of metal) yet when the "hero" is hit it's just a flesh wound despite his friend having a huge lump taken out of him by the the same type of bullet etc.

I though the very OTT aspect of the combat did a dis-service to the story by making it look like a call of duty level. I think the story would have been even more impactful had the combat been shot more realistically but thats just my opinion.

[princealbert23]

Sa Calobra said:

Come and see isn't available on DVD

https://uk.m.webuy.com/site/productDetail?productId=5035017010341#.WcFVRIbTXqA

Edited by princealbert23 on Wednesday 20th September 09:50

[princealbert23]

Stickyfinger said:

Lead tank on E8 suspension, inaccurate for the period of the battle.

You are probably correct but it is close as production started August 1944

[Stickyfinger]

princealbert23 said:

You are probably correct but it is close as production started August 1944

Shipping to the UK forces later....and very limited numbers

[Erdy]

+1 for spring and dad boot.

Also "Repeat please" from battle of britain plus loads from battle of river plate (more a comedy imo)

What price snowballs
Request permission revise list of spares
Can make it to Plymouth if ordered
You should worn your hat
He,d have one a coconut at the fair
You aid to the bath me admiral of the bar and not a bath between us
B turret still firing, Jones is giving directions standing on top. Capt -Good

[princealbert23]

We should never forget this scene from The Longest Day for cinematic exuberance https://youtu.be/3eZMkleDjWI
We should also have a thread for unappreciated war films that don't have the SPR level of exposure such as The Odd Angry Shot.

[Vocal Minority]

Stickyfinger said:

More people had done it when they filmed that move, either in the war or during national service.......I wonder how our collection of little 21 year old snowflakes would cope with being a bomber pilot over Germany or a wife at home alone working in a factory 10 hours a day with a rivet gun ?

Every time a subject like this comes up, this same old lazy, ill-thought through (ie not thought through at all) horsest gets trotted out over and over again.

Every older generation thinks the younger generation are feckless softies - it has happened for millenia and will continue for millenia.

So they'd be fine. Moving on.

Back on topic - I have to say battle scenes are a means to an end and I don't have an active favourite - for me the crux is watching the characters interact and develop over the story. Band of Brothers is totally without equal for this - but that is the benefit of having 10 hours to work with rather than 2. For example Dick Winters doesn't have many really standout moments (aside from maybe the charge in the 5th, I think, episode). But Lewis' performance and the story of Dick Winters at the end is so much greater than the sum of its parts in terms of imapct.

From an action point of view, Bastogne is a very chilling episode (fnar fnar). But they all have their plus points. The German officer addressing his troops as Liebgot translates at the end of the last episode is another standout scene.

I don't think I have seen the holocaust dealt with as effectively as it was done in 'how we fight' - but thats just my opinion

[princealbert23]

Erdy said:

+1 for spring and dad boot.

Also "Repeat please" from battle of britain plus loads from battle of river plate (more a comedy imo)

What price snowballs
Request permission revise list of spares
Can make it to Plymouth if ordered
You should worn your hat
He,d have one a coconut at the fair
You aid to the bath me admiral of the bar and not a bath between us
B turret still firing, Jones is giving directions standing on top. Capt -Good

Anticipation

[Halmyre]

Vocal Minority said:

Stickyfinger said:

More people had done it when they filmed that move, either in the war or during national service.......I wonder how our collection of little 21 year old snowflakes would cope with being a bomber pilot over Germany or a wife at home alone working in a factory 10 hours a day with a rivet gun ?

Every time a subject like this comes up, this same old lazy, ill-thought through (ie not thought through at all) horsest gets trotted out over and over again.

Every older generation thinks the younger generation are feckless softies - it has happened for millenia and will continue for millenia.

So they'd be fine. Moving on.

I remember Douglas Bader being asked a similar question on Parkinson or Wogan and giving it short shrift, pointing out that in his day, his generation were the loafers and wasters in the eyes of the older generation.

[Stickyfinger]

Halmyre said:

I remember Douglas Bader being asked a similar question on Parkinson or Wogan and giving it short shrift, pointing out that in his day, his generation were the loafers and wasters in the eyes of the older generation.

I did not say they were loafers and wasters......but I do wonder if the average 21 year old would/could do what they did back then, the world has changed a LOT

[Zetec-S]

Opening scene in Saving Private Ryan has to be up there. I remember seeing it at the cinema when it came out, I must have been 17 at the time. A lot of older people in there which I wasn't used to, at the end of the film everyone stood up and clapped. First and only time I've ever seen that.

Das Boot, purely for the tension. Brilliant film.

Full Metal Jacket, the sniper scene was just brutal.

Finally, Band of Brothers, the episode where they discover the concentration camp. I'm not ashamed to say some of the scenes brought a tear to my eye.

[Vocal Minority]

Stickyfinger said:

Halmyre said:

I remember Douglas Bader being asked a similar question on Parkinson or Wogan and giving it short shrift, pointing out that in his day, his generation were the loafers and wasters in the eyes of the older generation.

I did not say they were loafers and wasters......but I do wonder if the average 21 year old would/could do what they did back then, the world has changed a LOT

No, you said snowflakes, which is the current random semi-insulting generic buzzword used to describe the younger generation - its a synonym for what loafer/waster was then.

And I still maintain that when the chips are down humans tend to reach inside and pull it out of the bag - so yes they would/could.

[popeyewhite]

Vocal Minority said:

Every time a subject like this comes up, this same old lazy, ill-thought through (ie not thought through at all) horsest gets trotted out over and over again.

Every older generation thinks the younger generation are feckless softies - it has happened for millenia and will continue for millenia.

So they'd be fine. Moving on.

Speaking of ill-thought-out
Are you saying society hasn't changed more since the 70s than in any other relatively recent time? Western society is much more materialistic than ever before, the class system has changed (are there even working class any more?), work ethic will never be the same (many many more went into apprenticeships 50 years ago), religion has almost vanished, the cult of celebrity has emerged, vanity and money are worshipped, people are far more self-absorbed than ever before etc etc
I'd suggest we'd be in a very different (leaky) boat now if national service and defending the country was required.

Miles off-topic, apologies!

[Halmyre]

1939 is as far away from us as 1861 was from 1939, and 1861 was the start of the American Civil War. A civil war soldier would be more at home in a 1939 infantry battalion, than a 1939 soldier would be today.

[Vocal Minority]

popeyewhite said:

Speaking of ill-thought-out
Are you saying society hasn't changed more since the 70s than in any other relatively recent time? Western society is much more materialistic than ever before, the class system has changed (are there even working class any more?), work ethic will never be the same (many many more went into apprenticeships 50 years ago), religion has almost vanished, the cult of celebrity has emerged, vanity and money are worshipped, people are far more self-absorbed than ever before etc etc
I'd suggest we'd be in a very different (leaky) boat now if national service and defending the country was required.

Miles off-topic, apologies!

yeah, life changes and always have. The current generation will say that these changes have been the most profound simply because these are the ones we have lived through, rather than read about.

I still stand by my assertion that society would dig deep and step up when needed - as it tends to do, and that this is simply the time worn adage of the older generation going 'grrrr - bloody youngsters' - you only think its different because now its you saying it

[popeyewhite]

Halmyre said:

1939 is as far away from us as 1861 was from 1939, and 1861 was the start of the American Civil War. A civil war soldier would be more at home in a 1939 infantry battalion, than a 1939 soldier would be today.

My point was that western society has changed far MORE since the 70s than at any other time in recent history.

[Stickyfinger]

popeyewhite said:

My point was that western society has changed far MORE since the 70s than at any other time in recent history.

This, my point as well.....as I said I have suspicions there would be much much more wailing.

[Vocal Minority]

Yeah.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_and_Country...

It existed then as much as now. Please see the example in exhibit A for 'wailing' and 'snowflakes' - didn't change how the war went ahead.

Honestly, you are no different from generations before you, bleating about the wailing youth.

[popeyewhite]

Vocal Minority said:

Yeah.....

It existed then as much as now.

I'm afraid an academic debate that occurred nearly 100 years ago has no relevance to the argument. No-one's saying a section of society doesn't want to fight, what's different now is they couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag even if they wanted to.

Quite apart from the fact the very privileged few young people who attended Oxford 100 years ago probably didn't really have their fingers bang on the pulse of everyday folk who had to deal with with poverty, smog, mass unemployment etc. Yes it was called the 'roaring twenties'... if you were one of the lucky ones.

[BryanC]

Can I have another go?

The execution scene in The Victors when the deserter is marched through the snow to be tied to the post.
...and in the background, Frank Sinatra singing ' Have yourself a merry little Christmas '.
It left me shaken when I saw it for the first time.
There's a Youtube somewhere if you've not seen it.