Lesser known war films
Discussion
"Too Late The Hero" - Michael Caine plus Denholm Elliott & motley band of British character actors take on the Japanese on a Pacific island
"Went The Day Well" - Perhaps a little too mainstream - German infiltrators take over a sleepy English village and get all Nazi on their asses, only for the plucky Brits to fight back and take them down with extreme violence.
"Went The Day Well" - Perhaps a little too mainstream - German infiltrators take over a sleepy English village and get all Nazi on their asses, only for the plucky Brits to fight back and take them down with extreme violence.
One that I enjoy which is set against the backgroud of WWII, Korea and then Vietnam is "For The Boys".
I also like the original "Dunkirk", "Schindlers List", "Blackhawk Down", "The First of the the Few" (about RJ Mitchell developing the Spitfire) and "Reach For The Sky" (Douglas Baders story).
Others are "Twelve O'Clock High", and "The Railway Man" which is set against the background of an ex-Japanese POW who discovers that one of his former captors is still alive and decides to return to Japan to confront him.
From earlier periods, "Waterloo" and "Master and Commander" are excellent and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" covers the period from the Boer War to WWII. It's dated now but has a certain charm about it.
"The Last of the Mohicans" is also a great watch (with Daniel Day Lewis) and is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America.
The one war film I could watch over and over again is "The Battle of Britain" which of course is not in line with what the OP was looking for, but it's a damn good film and technically extremely accomplished.
I also like the original "Dunkirk", "Schindlers List", "Blackhawk Down", "The First of the the Few" (about RJ Mitchell developing the Spitfire) and "Reach For The Sky" (Douglas Baders story).
Others are "Twelve O'Clock High", and "The Railway Man" which is set against the background of an ex-Japanese POW who discovers that one of his former captors is still alive and decides to return to Japan to confront him.
From earlier periods, "Waterloo" and "Master and Commander" are excellent and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" covers the period from the Boer War to WWII. It's dated now but has a certain charm about it.
"The Last of the Mohicans" is also a great watch (with Daniel Day Lewis) and is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America.
The one war film I could watch over and over again is "The Battle of Britain" which of course is not in line with what the OP was looking for, but it's a damn good film and technically extremely accomplished.
Heroes 2: The Return ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099765/plotsummary?r...)
Was good at the time/i was younger but based on Operation Rimau (failed commando raid on Jap boats in Singapore)
Was good at the time/i was younger but based on Operation Rimau (failed commando raid on Jap boats in Singapore)
After coming back from my hols in Malta,I re-watched The Malta Story a classic B&W British WW2 movie from the 50s.
Loads to recommend:
Sink the Bismark
In Which we Serve
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Enemy Below
We Dive at Dawn
The Heroes of Telemark
Operation Petticoat
Above us the Waves
The Battle of the River Plate
The First of the Few
Yangtse Incident
A couple of foreign language films I've enjoyed:
The Eternal Zero & Yamato - Japanese
White Tiger & T-34 - Russian
Loads to recommend:
Sink the Bismark
In Which we Serve
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Enemy Below
We Dive at Dawn
The Heroes of Telemark
Operation Petticoat
Above us the Waves
The Battle of the River Plate
The First of the Few
Yangtse Incident
A couple of foreign language films I've enjoyed:
The Eternal Zero & Yamato - Japanese
White Tiger & T-34 - Russian
j4r4lly said:
One that I enjoy which is set against the backgroud of WWII, Korea and then Vietnam is "For The Boys".
I also like the original "Dunkirk", "Schindlers List", "Blackhawk Down", "The First of the the Few" (about RJ Mitchell developing the Spitfire) and "Reach For The Sky" (Douglas Baders story).
Others are "Twelve O'Clock High", and "The Railway Man" which is set against the background of an ex-Japanese POW who discovers that one of his former captors is still alive and decides to return to Japan to confront him.
From earlier periods, "Waterloo" and "Master and Commander" are excellent and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" covers the period from the Boer War to WWII. It's dated now but has a certain charm about it.
"The Last of the Mohicans" is also a great watch (with Daniel Day Lewis) and is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America.
The one war film I could watch over and over again is "The Battle of Britain" which of course is not in line with what the OP was looking for, but it's a damn good film and technically extremely accomplished.
Are ANY of those "lesser known"?I also like the original "Dunkirk", "Schindlers List", "Blackhawk Down", "The First of the the Few" (about RJ Mitchell developing the Spitfire) and "Reach For The Sky" (Douglas Baders story).
Others are "Twelve O'Clock High", and "The Railway Man" which is set against the background of an ex-Japanese POW who discovers that one of his former captors is still alive and decides to return to Japan to confront him.
From earlier periods, "Waterloo" and "Master and Commander" are excellent and "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" covers the period from the Boer War to WWII. It's dated now but has a certain charm about it.
"The Last of the Mohicans" is also a great watch (with Daniel Day Lewis) and is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America.
The one war film I could watch over and over again is "The Battle of Britain" which of course is not in line with what the OP was looking for, but it's a damn good film and technically extremely accomplished.
steviegunn said:
After coming back from my hols in Malta,I re-watched The Malta Story a classic B&W British WW2 movie from the 50s.
Loads to recommend:
Sink the Bismark
In Which we Serve
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Enemy Below
We Dive at Dawn
The Heroes of Telemark
Operation Petticoat
Above us the Waves
The Battle of the River Plate
The First of the Few
Yangtse Incident
A couple of foreign language films I've enjoyed:
The Eternal Zero & Yamato - Japanese
White Tiger & T-34 - Russian
My dad was an extra in The Yangtse Incident, he was in the Royal Navy at the time. I must watch it again, haven't seen it for years.Loads to recommend:
Sink the Bismark
In Which we Serve
The Cockleshell Heroes
The Enemy Below
We Dive at Dawn
The Heroes of Telemark
Operation Petticoat
Above us the Waves
The Battle of the River Plate
The First of the Few
Yangtse Incident
A couple of foreign language films I've enjoyed:
The Eternal Zero & Yamato - Japanese
White Tiger & T-34 - Russian
The Thin Red Line (1999 Terence Malick version)
Got overshadowed a bit by Saving Private Ryan out the same year, and might have been viewed as a bit over-starry, with various A-listers popping up for 1 or 2 lines that question mortality and it's relationship to nature etc. HOWEVER it is beautifully shot, has an astounding Hans Zimmer score, is totally engrossing (it takes about 40 mins before a bullet is fired), and is IMHO better than 99% of any war film made this side of Apocalypse Now
Got overshadowed a bit by Saving Private Ryan out the same year, and might have been viewed as a bit over-starry, with various A-listers popping up for 1 or 2 lines that question mortality and it's relationship to nature etc. HOWEVER it is beautifully shot, has an astounding Hans Zimmer score, is totally engrossing (it takes about 40 mins before a bullet is fired), and is IMHO better than 99% of any war film made this side of Apocalypse Now
Halb said:
Has this now become a list of the biggest most well known war films. 
indeedy, its an understandable and well know message-board problem, , people wanting to be sociable and contribute to the thread , but unable to, or cant be arsed to comply with the
actual gist of the thread.
light up the sky [ 1960 ]
starring tommy steele and [?] benny hill, like many films of that time an adaptation of a stage play.
k him. I enjoyed it.Gassing Station | TV, Film, Streaming & Radio | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff