Amph Time Out NY's 50 Best War Films: 34. PLATOON (1986)

50. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

"Quentin Tarantino makes the WWII film his own: violent, verbose and endlessly entertaining. There?s plenty of bloodshed, but this gloriously demented pulp fiction is more about the destructive power of words. In QT?s universe, the right turn of phrase?especially when tripping from the malevolently multilingual tongue of Nazi commandant Hans Landa?can kill both body and spirit."

 

Should be much higher - I've never seen a film delve into wartime mythology like this. It is completely unique, and yet it's working within a truly fascinating and vital component of warfare.

 

The closest Tarantino has come to besting "Pulp Fiction". His love for film shines through wonderfully. Still consider this the best film of 2009, and this would likely be in my top ten war films.

 

49. RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (1999)

"You wouldn?t expect anything less complex from director Ang Lee (The Ice Storm, Brokeback Mountain), whose oblique take on the Civil War?specifically guerrilla fighting in Missouri?thrilled critics and mystified crowds. A pre-Spidey Tobey Maguire anchors the movie in sympathy, while Jeffrey Wright electrifies as a liberated slave.?JR"

I didn't like this movie at first blush, but have become a fan of it since. Gets the cadre and the zeitgeist right, and Maguire and Wright are both very good.

 

It's pretty good. It aint better than Basterds, though.

 

It was a huge flop. Very undeserved.

 

The film's biggest stars are Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, and Jewel, though. You can't do a quasi-historical epic without names above the title and expect to get away with it.

 

48. TWELVE O?CLOCK HIGH (1949)

"Gregory Peck had already arrived as a magnetic onscreen presence by the time this minutely detailed WWII Air Force drama gave him his most ambitious role to date, as a stern disciplinarian whose leadership transforms a bomber unit into a well-oiled machine. The ultimate praise: The movie was required viewing at military-service academies for decades?JR"

Peck can be very dull, so I have avoided this one, perhaps undeservedly.

 

It's very good - the reason you watch it is Dean Jagger. Wonderful, subtle performance. Well deserved Oscar, too.

 

Dean Jagger is fantastic, but it's a pretty great ensemble. Peck is very good and I love that the movie doesn't sugarcoat him; he's pretty unlikable for the bulk of the movie. I really enjoyed the movie.

 

47. HELL IN THE PACIFIC (1968)

"Two soldiers?one American, the other Japanese?are marooned on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean during the height of WWII and must work together to survive. Director John Boorman crafts a potent existential parable out of their plight (Jean-Paul Sartre would be proud) while also allowing the great Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune to rage with crowd-pleasing gusto.?KU"

 

Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune? God, that movie would be exhausting. And awesome. Talk about intense though.

 

46. IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942)

"Let?s give it up for wit-of-all-trades Noël Coward, who wrote, codirected (with David Lean), starred in and even composed the score for this veddy British WWII naval tale, about a shipwrecked crew and their valiant efforts to carry on with stiff upper lips.?JR"

This one I haven't seen.

 

A little bit on the nose, but in general a terrific debut from Lean, with a punchy script from Coward. The great thing is that things only really go up from there (with the exception of the dreaded Ann Todd period (with the exception of The Sound Barrier)).

That's what we call PEI. Paranthetical Exception Inception.




...it's been a long day at the office.

 

45. SANDS OF IWO JIMA (1949)

"John Wayne was born to the swagger of a certain kind of war film, neither especially negative nor devoid of a soldier?s vulnerability. This celebratory recreation of the title?s WWII Allied triumph accommodates plenty of heart-thumping jingoism but also the fatalism of sniper fire.?JR"

Haven't seen this one, either.

 

Great movie moments: Lee Marvin driving Tishiro Mifune insane by stalking him in the brush,
banging on his canteen and shouting, "Come and get it! Come on and get it!"

(It could have been worse. He could have been singing I Was Born Under A Wandering Star.)

Note: David Patrick Kelly mentioned that the 'Come and get it' scene was the partial
inspiration for his now cult-famous 'Warriors, come out and play-ee-aye' line from
the film WARRIORS.

 

44. BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (1959)

"A delicate Russian-made tribute to that nation?s staggering sacrifice during WWII, Grigori Chukhrai?s drama concerns a teenage infantryman?s journey back home for a six-day break, a reward for taking out two German tanks. He marvels at the rape of the land?and also connects with a beautiful girl. It?s a film about the value of the fight.?JR"

 

I have not seen this film, but I've been told the visual effects are very good.

 

43. THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE (1951)

"The verdict is still out what could have been the full edit of this Civil War picture, which was drastically cut to under 70 minutes after poor test screenings. Given the talent of the director?John Huston, whose next film was The African Queen?we?re inclined to believe he was onto something special with Stephen Crane?s classic. Enough of Huston?s noirish vision remains.?JR"

Huston also has a tendency to lose interest in the middle--especially in his 50's films.

 

42. THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)

"Made at the peak of Hollywood?s studio system and a flawless example of robust mainstream entertainment, John Sturgess?s protoblockbuster turned Steve McQueen into a marquee idol?he gobbles up the lens even before he jumps the barbed-wire fence of his WWII POW camp on a motorcycle. Amazingly, the story is a real-life one.?JR"

 

Ironically McQueen didn't actually do the famous stunt on screen (he nuffed his attempt - it ended up being done by his stunt double/best mate). And the film is sort-of-true in it's broad strokes but does take a lot of liberties (no American's were involved in the escape - they were in a separate camp - and pretty much all the characters displayed are fictitious).

But it's still a grand film. Just look at the cast - McQueen, Garner, Attenborough, Bronson, Pleasance, Coburn etc etc - it's a whos-who of stars from the 60s.

 

I like Tarantino's description best - it's the fastest three-hour film ever.

 

McQueen played one of the pursuing Germans in the motorcycle scenes.

 

Specifically, he played the German on the bike that gets knocked off by the tripwire that McQueen's POW character strings up.

Or in other words, McQueen knocked himself off his own bike to steal it.

 

Terrific score.