been watching war movies lately since im in a dry spell with computer games :-/
thought i would get a feel for what you all liked.
these are my favorite WW2 themed movies. (no particular order)
1. "Where Eagles Dare" 1968
Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton at their best IMHO.
PLOT: An American General is being transported in an RAF transport aircraft, the aircraft is shot down and the general is the only survivor. The General is taken to the nearest SS Headquarters for interrogation, but what the Nazi's dont know is that this particular General has inside information on the upcoming Allied invasion of France. A crack British commando unit plus one American Army Ranger (eastwood) is sent in for the rescue, but as the mission progresses double and triple agents are uncovered, and the American Ranger senses that the rescue team has deeper and more mysterious orders to carry out. ;) I really enjoy the "against all odds" and the double-double cross mentality of this film.
2. "The Longest Day" 1962
With names like John Wayne, Richard Burton (again) and Sean Connery, it has to be good!
PLOT: June 6th, 1944, Operation Overlord. The allied invasion of Europe reconstructed with a great deal of attention paid to historical accuracy for a film of the era. Told from several points of view from the Germans to the French Resistance to the Brits and the Yanks. One of the very first war movies i ever saw. Black and white, interpersonal stories with the men of the units and the gritty / manly combat sequences you would expect from a war film of the 1960's. Great film.
3. "Das Boot" 1981
Jurgen Prochnow (wonderful performance in particular) i think this film really opened up the USA for him as an actor.
PLOT: The battle of the Atlantic rages on and the tide of the war is quickly turning against the German U-boats who, up to late 1942 early 1943 enjoyed great success against allied merchant shipping. The sub sets out on a course that will lead it to near destruction at sea. One of few ww2 films viewed in the west that portrays Germans with sympathy, Das Boot does a wonderful job of setting political ideology aside and focusing on the fact that all of these sailors were just young men caught up in circumstances beyond their control.
4. "The Dirty Dozen" 1967
A cast of some of the greatest male action heroes of the era - Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, Telly Savalas too many to list.
PLOT: Top brass hands a dangerous mission meant as a prelude to D-Day to a US Army Major. He is to infiltrate a Chateaus that serves as a meeting place for top German officers, and eliminate these officers at all cost in order to disrupt the chain of command in the area of the invasion. Oh and another thing... the Major's team is to be made up of rapists, murderers, and psychopaths all of which are facing a death sentence in military prisons. The catch is that each man who completes training and survives the mission will be granted a full pardon BUT failure to cooperate with the major only results in a return of the men to the brig to face the hangman's noose... HQ expects plenty of casualties either way. I LOVE this flick! 12 misfits who would rather fight each other than fight the NAZIs train hard and by the time they are ready to air drop into france the group is acting like a respectable fighting unit. I like the film partly because it is one of those stories where nobody thought the Major and his "Dirty Dozen" could succeed... but they do it anyway! ;D
5. "Kelly's Heroes" 1970
Another Eastwood film. This time he stars along side Donald Sutherland, Telly Savalas, Don Rickles and Carrol O'Conner. (Some call this a comedy... i call it a war movie with A LOT of comic relief)
PLOT: During the allied advance through the fields of France Eastwood's character "Kelly" captures a German officer carrying important documents and a solid lead brick. Kelly begins to interrogate the highly inebriated German Officer and almost by accident discovers that the lead brick is actually a GOLD brick painted to look like lead... not only that but there are $16,000,000 dollars worth of them hidden in a German occupied bank in a small town behind enemy lines. almost immediately Kelly and some of his unit hatch a far out scheme to enlist "partners" in their new found business venture to sneak behind enemy lines and steal the NAZI gold as their own... secretly splitting it equally between those who survive their own secret little mission. This is not one of those movies where it is all comedy and nobody gets killed... the bullets fly both ways, but there is A LOT of comic relief in this flick. You will be on the edge of your seat and laughing at the same time as Kelly's plan unfolds before you.
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