Best war movies

War History Online has an article about the twenty-five best war movies:

Perhaps the most intriguing factor that drives humans towards the achievement of peace and cooperation is the reality of war and its consequences. Following are the twenty-four attempts on depicting the war on screen in order to portray the reality of combat and its effects on human lives:

1. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Directed by Lewis Milestone
With the aid of stunning cinematography and great visual storytelling, All Quiet on the Western Front got two Oscars in the years it appeared on the big screen. The unique ‘less audio, more visual’ technique coupled with great photography skills made this blockbuster a masterpiece in its genre in the 1930s and for years to come. Reportedly during the screening of the movie in Germany and elsewhere, a number of theaters were attacked and vandalized by Nazis and their sympathizers.

2. The Dam Busters (1955) Directed by Michael Anderson

The story of the legendary ‘bouncy bombs’ to destroy the dams in Nazi-controlled regions, was adequately portrayed on the big screen in The Dam Busters. The stars of the movie, Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, did justice with their roles while telling this true story. The movie attracted a fair number of audiences and generated reasonable press towards the history of the bouncy bombs and Allied war strategies in the Second World War.

3. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Directed by David Lean

This portrayal of Pierre Boulle’s novel, The Bridge on the River Kwai, is the story of British prisoners of wars held by the Japanese. These prisoners were forced to work on the construction of the rail networks across Japaneseicontrolled regions. The main character of the story is one British officer (played by Alec Guinness, photo) who develops an obsession to complete the bridge to the highest standards possible.

4. Ice Cold in Alex (1958) Directed by J. Lee Thompson

A near perfect portrayal of a perfect leadership, this movie is based on the novel ‘Ice cold in Alex’ by Christopher Landon. After a small band of Allied soldiers gets separated by the Afrika Korps during World War Two, they have to endure the long and dangerous journey to their nearest camp in Alexandria. The leader of this small group of soldiers is Captain Anson, who comes with an amazing motivational technique: he convinces his soldiers to focus on the ice-cold pint of lager that they would enjoy after they successfully complete their journey to Alexandria.

5. The Longest Day (1962) Directed by Ken Annakin, Daryl F. Zanuck, Andrew Marton, and Bernard Wicki.

The Longest Day is arguably the most realistic representation of a soldier’s experience in the Second World War’s most memorable battle, the invasion of Normandy. The viewers are shown various perspectives to experience a number of different angles of the battle, with as less sentimentalism as possible.

6. The Great Escape (1963) Directed by John Sturgis

This is the movie that brought us one of the most memorable scene of any war movie, in which Steve McQueen fails to jump over a barbed wire fence using a motorcycle and is left hanging on the fence. The Great Escape is the story of a bunch of brave and ambitious allied soldiers who devise a complicated escape plan. They execute the plan and manage to escape the prison but all of them get killed after the Nazis catch up with them. 

7. Zulu (1964) Directed by Cy Enfield

Zulu tells the story of the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in 1879. This epic battle was fought between the British Empire and Zulus in what is now South Africa; the British Army almost lost the battle but eventually managed to the turn the tables and came out victorious.

8. The Battle of Britain (1969) Directed by Guy Hamilton

Perhaps one of the epic battles of the Second World War, the Battle of Britain showed the endurance and courage of the RAF against much more ambitious and over-confident Luftwaffe. Hitler had a very successful plan to carry out the invasions of European nations: first the Luftwaffe would destroy all the potential defenses and then a land invasion would take place. When the Nazis applied their well-tested strategy to Britain, however, the RAF fighter pilots and ground staff showed incredible resistance and literally obliterated the Luftwaffe. The movie, by Guy Hamilton, very accurately presents the events and accounts of the famous Battle of Britain.

9.Tora! Tora! Tora! (1979) Directed by Richard Fleischer, Toshio Masuda, and Kanji Fukasaku. A combined project by American and Japanese filmmakers, Tora! Tora! Tora! shows the fictional comedy of errors that made the Pearl Harbor attack possible and successful.

10. Cross of Iron (1977) Directed by Sam Peckinpah

With an innovative and unique style of filming the action sequences in slow motion, Cross of Iron is a war movie with a strange story. This movie shows the struggle between two German officers, one of them is insanely obsessed with earning a Cross of Iron. All this happens while the Red Army is pounding its way into Berlin and the Third Reich is crumbling.

11. The Deer Hunter (1978) Directed by Michael Cimino

With one of the best performances by Robert De Niro, along with the realistic approach towards the effect of war on young soldiers, The Deer Hunter managed to garner five well-deserved Oscars and made tons of box office. The movie follows the life and experience of three young friends who went to fight in Vietnam.

12. Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Apocalypse Now is a Vietnam dramatization of Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, the story of Captain Willard (played by Martin Sheen, photo), who is given a mission to kill  the rogue Colonel Kurtz.

War History Online has an article about errors in the movie:

In Kurtz’ dossier, the cover letter in one section is a commendation to Colonel Kurtz for arranging a fly-by of Cobra gunships for a celebration or parade on “30 Aug 65.” The first prototype of the Cobra gunship didn’t fly until 7 September 1965.

On the cover letter to Kurtz’ dossier, it is indicated he graduated West Point in 1946; 49-50 he was attending Harvard (completing his Masters degree); 1950 to 1951 he was assigned to Seoul, Korea, and 1952 to 1953 he was assigned to West Point (“Teaches courses in American…”). However, on the last page that we see in the dossier (the form sheet, with the Departement of Defense seal as the watermark) it is listed that he was at West Point from 1941-1945, and at Oxford University from 1950 to 1952.

While reading info about Kurtz, Willard eats a Hershey bar that clearly has a UPC code on the wrapper. These were not included on Hershey bar packaging until 1976.

Before the Playboy/USO show, where the crew is trying buy fuel from the quartermaster, the Playmate centerfolds hanging on the wall behind him are from the mid 1970s, rather than the late 1960s. The centerfold on the far right is Cynthia Wood, 1974 Playmate of the Year, who soon appears in the film during the USO show.

Audio/visual unsynchronized:

During Willard’s briefing in Nha Trang, every time someone mentions the name Kurtz on the soundtrack, on screen they are mouthing Lieghley, they original name of Colonel Kurtz’ character in the script during the early part of the shooting. 

Boom mike visible:

When the Kilgore character is first introduced getting off a chopper, you can see a reflection of a boom mike in his glasses. 

Character error:

When Captain Willard first meets Colonel Kilgore, they exchange salutes while they are still in a combat zone. It is military protocol not to salute in a combat zone, as saluting would show a possible sniper who the commanding officer is. (e.g. in Forrest Gump, Lieutenant Dan correctly instructed Gump and Bubba to not salute him in the field.)

When Willard is looking through the dossier at the times that Kurtz was denied a transfer to Special Forces (“jump school”), the reason for disapproval is written: “The Army feels, all maters of age and fitness aside…”; “matters” is misspelled.

When Kilgore asks about the six-foot peak, he asks Mike about the point. Earlier, Kilgore introduces Lance Johnson to Johnny from Malibu and Mike from San Diego and Johnny is really the one he asks, not Mike.

When Kilgore wants the tree-line bombed with napalm back to the Stone Age, he asks for Dove Four and the pilots respond with Dove One-Three, and Dove Four is never referred to again. 

Continuity:

When Willard is first shown a photo of Colonel Kurtz, the name tag on his uniform reads Leighley. When Willard looks at the photo a second time, the name tag reads Kurtz. (This is due to the fact the character’s name was changed from Kurtz to Leighley and then back to Kurtz during the film’s production.)

When the photojournalist welcomes Willard, his bandana is clearly rolled. A few shots later it appears flat on his forehead, and in the next shot it is back rolled again.

After the canopy of the boat is destroyed and is replaced by giant leaves, the canopy reappears while they are at the bridge. In subsequent shots after, the canopy is gone again and replaced by the leaves.

When attacking the village, Kilgore’s helicopter has rocket pods on each side, and no surfboards. When it lands it has surfboards on each side, and no rocket pods.

When Willard grabs the sergeant to get fuel for his boat (just before the scene where the playmates dance for the soldiers) his cigarette disappears and reappears between shots.

Kilgore’s Stetson hat has a rank insignia on it when he is first seen, but the rank is missing in the Ride of the Valkyries attack.
When the helicopter drops the PBR into the water, the superstructure with the radar mast collapses, but in the next shot the boat is fine.
In the opening scene when Willard is in his apartment, before he punches the mirror, there is already a blood stain on his sheets.
When Johnson is painting the Playmate of the Year’s face, you see a shot of her forehead already painted black. About a minute later, her forehead is clean and he is applying the black makeup, seemingly for the first time.
When the PBR leaves the Do Lung bridge, it has a radar dome. When they cut to the next river day scene, it doesn’t. Then, when chef hands out the mail, it does. For the rest of the trip, it’s not there. Captain Willard even sits on where it should be when they reach Kurtz’ lair.
In addition to Willard’s bandaid on his cheek appearing out of nowhere, if you watch the laceration on his cheek, it is more healed early in the movie, and more raw later in the movie. Indeed, Martin Sheen has a scar at that location at the beginning of the movie in the hotel or apartment when the movie opens.
On the boat after the tiger, there is one quick shot, in which Clean is dressed completely differently, in a button-down fatigue shirt, not the bulky sleeveless flak jacket and t-shirt he is wearing in the rest of the scene.
Willard’s band-aid on his face appears out of nowhere during the battle scene with Kilgore, a few moments after their helicopter lands. The broken radar dome on the boat reappears later in the film.
When Kilgore calls for an air strike, the number of planes attacking varies between four and five in different shots. In the shots where the Northrup F-5s drop the napalm, the number of jets varies between three and five. Also, their formation changes as well.
During the helicopter attack scene, an American soldier gets wounded in the courtyard. Shortly afterward you see the courtyard designated by the yellow smoke of a smoke grenade. However, in the next shot is of the courtyard there is no yellow smoke yet and you can see a soldier toss the smoke grenade onto the ground. It just barely ignites before the scene cuts to the next shot. In the opening montage, two different ceiling fans are seen. One is light colored with a louvered housing on the motor. The other is black with no visible motor housing, and is spinning counterclockwise. 

Kilgore’s helicopter was not carrying surfboards. He sent his helicopter with the injured child and his mother. His helicopter carried rocket pods, which weren’t present when it left (though they could have been released after the pods were emptied). The surfboards were on a helicopter to the left of Kilgore’s. 

The Chief’s eyes are open/closed between collapsing after getting hit with the spear, and attacking Willard. 

The cuts on Willard’s nose when he’s in the bamboo cage appear, then disappear. 

The blades of the Huey helicopter when the Playmate of the Year arrives. 

The length of Willard’s cigarette while he is trapped in the bamboo cage, talking to the photographer. 

When attacking the village, the helicopters alternate from flying at high altitude to sea level several times. 

When Roxanne Sarrault smokes a cigar during dinner, only she, her father, and Willard are present at the table. At the same time we see the arm of the man who earlier sat next to her, but in the next shot he is gone again. 

After the massacre on the sampan, Clean is seen opening and closing the breech on the M-60 machine gun twice. 

Crew or equipment visible:

When pulling out from the Do Long bridge (actually the Long Biên bridge) you can see the wake caused by the camera boat when the camera shows the boat pulling away. 

Shadow of dolly and crew just before the scene with the news crew. 
When the Playboy chopper takes off with the two men holding on, you can see a safety wire holding the man who partially drops when the pants of the other man partially give way. 

When Willard and his crew meet Kilgore and the cavalry for the first time and walk onto the beach, long shadows (caused by the setting sun) of the camera and its crew are visible where the soldiers walk. 

In Cambodia, when the crew is reading mail, then coming under fire and escaping, spray from the camera boat can be seen twice. 

When a helicopter is traveling over the hills in the distance after Willard’s mission briefing, in the bottom right of the shot you can make out the shadow of another helicopter traveling away from Willard’s one. This is possibly a camera helicopter. 

There are no waterways linking the Central Coast (where the only surfable beaches in South Vietnam are situated) with Cambodia.  

Factual errors:

The maximum gross weight of a Huey helicopter is ten thousand pounds. It would be impossible for such an aircraft to lift a Patrol Boat, Riverine (PBR) which weighs anywhere between fifteen thousand and nineteen thousand pounds. 

When Willard is showing a map to Kilgore on the night of the Huey attack, it is impossible for both to see the map because of the light angle caused by the fire. The map must have been completely dark from the actors’ point of view. 

The Viet Cong’s tracer bullets, seen quite often throughout the film, notably when the PT boat is “sprayed” with enemy fire, appear to be red in color. In reality, the Viet Cong used green tracer ammunition, while the Americans used red tracer ammunition. 

In the scene the morning after the Do Long bridge incident, following Lance’s popping smoke (“Purple Haze”, he calls it), Clean is shown about to listen to his tape and an M-60 is shown on the left with linked ammo dangling and draped over the boat’s side panel. However, the ammo rounds are clearly blanks, with the characteristic blunt bottle-nose tips, not real rounds. 

Many M16 rifles are shown with thirty-round magazines installed. These were rarely used in Vietnam. The standard magazine of the Vietnam era was shorter, holding twenty rounds. 

During the air-strike on the village, Kilgore calls for “20 mike-mike Vulcan” to be shot from the Huey gunship. The UH-1 Huey does not carry an M-61A1 20mm Vulcan cannon. The Gatling gun shown being shot is a Minigun, which shoots a 7.62mm NATO cartridge. 

While Colonel Kilgore’s hat and decoration changes, earlier having oak leaves and crossed sabers (as would be seen with having different hats for when one became sweat-soaked in Vietnam) and later just larger crossed sabers; it is most noticeable after he lands following the napalm use. It is seen earlier with the hat cords for a warrant officer which are silver/black instead of gold/black for officers of lieutenant colonel rank. (This is only readily-visible in the Redux restored version.) In one scene, he is shown with the hat acorns near-joined together on the brim as worn in the World War One M1903 campaign hat similar to that worn by highway patrolmen. Military hat cords of a cavalryman would never have been permitted to do this. 

Captain Willard’s audio narration says this about Kilgore’s unit: “The First of the Ninth was an old Cavalry division.” But in military shorthand, ‘First’ would indicate the 1st Squadron (Battalion), and ‘Ninth’ would indicate the 9th Regiment. Neither of these is a division, which is a higher echelon organization. 

On Kurtz’ dossier, under 1949 to 1950, the Philippines is misspelled as “the Phillipines.” 

In the Redux version, the PBR is in Cambodia, and passes a downed B-52 Stratofortress with its rear fuselage and tail sticking out of the river. During the Vietnam War, thirty B-52s were lost, none of which crashed in Cambodia. 

One of the documents in Kurtz’ dossier being read by Willard is an official commendation dated January 24, 1964, which is a civilian date format. The date should have been typed in military format, which would be either 24 January 1964 or 24 Jan 64. 

When the Huey lands on the beach, the motto written on the front is Death From Above which actually was the motto of the 505th regiment of the 82nd Airborne “All American” Division, not the motto of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, which is actually We Can, We Will. 

On the back cover of almost all VHS and DVD releases of this film, Willard’s rank is incorrectly listed as lieutenant instead of captain. 

There is a jump cut just as Willard lifts the pages of Kurtz' journal, before he sees the handwriting on one page. 

Incorrectly regarded as goofs:

After the helicopter carrying the wounded child leaves, Lance’s clothing has changed from his fatigues to a pair of shorts (this is because of a cut scene in which Kilgore gives him a pair of shorts to surf in. The scene was restored in the Redux edition.) 

As Willard flips through Kurtz’ dossier, the voiceover says: “Third generation West Point, top of his class” while the dossier clearly reads, “Graduates West Point; second in class.” Second is still reasonably considered “top of the class.” 

One of the officers who briefs Captain Willard on his mission to find Kurtz is a full colonel named Lucas (played by Harrison Ford). At about 35 years of age, Lucas/Ford would have been too young to have held such a high rank during Vietnam (although this did happen in World War Two).” Since we do not know Lucas’ age, and given that his career would have spanned two wars (Korea and Vietnam) in which promotions are accelerated, it’s entirely possible that a man in his late thirties could achieve the rank of colonel. 

The tape player that Clean picks up to play his mother’s taped letter has no batteries in the bottom. 

In the Redux version, there is a scene where Willard is walking through a heavy downpour at the Playmate/Medevac helicopter site. His M16 is slung over his shoulder with the muzzle pointing upward. This allows rain to enter the rifle’s mechanism, resulting in rust and and eventual jamming. Real combat troops carry their rifles with the muzzles down while in the rain to prevent this from happening. 

When Willard is approaching Colby, (the American soldier sent to kill Kurtz, but who joined him instead) several of the women and children surrounding Colby look directly at the camera. 

Much of the rockets and arms fire are represented by firecrackers. This can be most clearly seen by the highly curved paths they make. 

When Kilgore calls for the soldier to start The Ride of the Valkyries, the soldier starts the reel-to-reel tape. Unfortunately, none of the tape actually touches a playback head. Instead the tape is wound underneath a tension bar and on to the take-up reel. 

As Willard reads the newspaper articles about Kurtz, the text of one article is about West German, Iranian, & US discussions about nuclear energy. It has nothing to do with Kurtz. 

When Willard meets the photojournalist, the dead girl in the background breathes. 

Kilgore’s helicopter attack scene, according to the dialogue between him and Willard the previous night, states that the attack will take place at dawn. Yet most of the scene itself was clearly filmed at high noon. 

According to the identity cards Willard thumbed through, one of the Vietnamese spies Kurtz assassinated in November of 1968 was Vo Van Sau, born on 30 September 1947. However Vo’s photograph is of a balding man who certainly looks no younger than thirty. 

Continuity:

Near the end, when Willard gets of the boat to kill Kurtz, he doesn’t wear camouflage make-up on his face. 

After Clean is shot, blood spatters on the boat panel disappear and reappear. 

Thickness of pages when Willard flips through Kurtz’ manuscripts after he is killed. 
During Clean’s funeral, the Chief folds the tattered American flag from the stars end to the stripes end. Even a Cub Scout knows you fold the flag from stripes to stars, leaving the blue field on the outside; a Chief Petty Officer would certainly know this. This was almost certainly intentional on the director’s part; it may symbolize the chief’s disaffection with the war, or at least with his mission (similar to flying a flag upside-down as a sign of distress). 

Revealing mistakes 

When Willard kicks the Chef’s severed head off his legs, his neck can be seen breathing in and out.

13. Gallipoli (1981) Directed by Peter Weir

This epic movie starring Mel Gibson (as Frank) and Mark Lee (as Archy) is the story of two handsome runners and their journey from enlisting in the British Army for World War One to the Battle of Gallipoli. The movie also contains a detailed account of the epic attack during the Battle of the Nek.

14. Platoon (1986) Directed by Oliver Stone. Winning a total of eighteen awards, including four Oscars, Platoon made the phrase The First Causality of War is Innocence famous across the United States and the rest of the English-speaking world. Platoon is a heroic depiction of the Vietnam War  and its toll on the soldiers fighting against an undefined enemy.

15. Full Metal Jacket (1987) Directed by Stanley Kubrick
A strangely filmed war movie with a twisted screenplay, Full Metal Jacket is distinctively split into two halves. In the first half the recruits are seen training to be Marines by the inestimal Lee Ermey, and ends with a private murdering a staff sergeant and then committing suicide. In the second part the strange sense of humor of the soldiers is shown while they are fighting the chaos and tragedy of the war.

16. Good Morning Vietnam (1987) Directed by Barry Levinson
This was the first comedy approach on a sensitive subject: the Vietnam War. The story of the movie revolves around a popular DJ, Adrian Cronauer, played by the great Robin Williams (photo), who runs a radio show during the tough times of the war.

17. Schindlers List (1993) Directed by Steven Spielberg

Spielberg’s successful attempt on the true story of Oskar Schindler turned out to be a multiple Oscar winner war movie (seven total) with maximum impact on audience. The tagline of the film, Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world’was made famous all over the world, thanks to powerful storytelling and amazing cinematography, a signature of Spielberg’s works.

18. Saving Private Ryan (1998) Directed by Steven Spielberg
After the success of Schindlers List, Spielberg went a notch up to produce another timeless epic war movie, Saving Private Ryan. The plot of the movie is about Private Ryan (played by Matt Damon) who is the last remaining son of a grieving mother. Sergeant Miller played by Tom Hanks is given the task to retrieve Private Ryan from the northern France where Allied forces are battling occupying Nazis. Spectacular cinematography and realistic war depiction makes this epic movie a timeless blockbuster. Saving Private Ryan managed to win 5 Oscars in various categories and got nominations in many others.

19. Black Hawk Down (2001) Directed by Ridley Scott
Black Hawk Down depicts the cruelty of war, especially when your enemy is scattered all over and fighting is all about close quarters combats. The movie is about a rescue mission during the Somalian civil war in 1993 ,in which an American helicopter crashes amidst enemy territory and soldiers are caught inside a vicious circle of morality, survival, and combat from which its impossible to escape.

20. Pearl Harbor (2001) Directed by Michael Bay
This modern approach on the subject of the famous Pearl Harbor attack by Japanese Kamikazes is the perspective of two childhood friends. With amazing visual effects and great cinematography this war movie won an Oscars and many other awards.

21. Jarhead (2005) Directed by Sam Mendes
A unique approach towards war movie, Jarhead is all about the US marines battling the boredom during the excruciatingly long Gulf war in an unforgiving land. Just like Full Metal Jacket, a large chunk of the movie is about how the marines get trained for the combat. Jarhead is based on the memoirs of Anthony Swofford who participates in the war without firing a single shot.

22. The Admiral (2008) Directed by Andrei Kravchuk. One of the most expensive and certainly the most controversial Russian movie, The Admiral received appreciation and outrage from the audience when it was released in 2008. It shows the real life story of famous Russian soldier Admiral Kolchak, who played a vital role against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution. 

23. Fury (2014) Directed by David Ayer. Fury takes the viewers in the deepest pits of the war to the maximum depth possible by any cinema standards. The movie is about a tank named Fury and its six-man crew, who are fighting their way in o Nazi controlled regions in 1945. With amazing close combat scenes and stunning cinematography Fury is truly a delight to watch for war movie fans.

24. American Sniper (2015) Directed by Clint Eastwood
Perhaps a controversial movie in the future, this Eastwood biopic of famous American sniper Chris Kyle, played by Bradley Cooper, caught the attention of many audiences and critics all over the world. The reality of war, especially the Middle East conflict, is shown with all its cruelty and moral dilemmas.

Rico says that, being a war movie junkie, he's seen them all except The Admiral.