So here’s the Top Ten returning on Memorial Day. Not that I really know what Memorial Day is about where you guys are from, I live in Jamaica, but I checked it out on Wikipedia and figured out it had something to do with war. So here are my Top Ten War Films:
This list however comes with a few rules. As I was doing my research I found a lot of people confused movies set during war times with war films, hence why a lot of people ended up with movies such as Casablanca as their top film. As much as I’d love to disagree with them openly here I will state that this is a list of movies that actually highlight the war and take us into the trenches of combat rather than give us a take on society and all that wonderful dramatic blibber blabber. So here we go:
10. The Guns of Navarone (1961) (dir. J. Lee Thompson)
With Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn being part of this team of men going behind enemies line to go and dismantle the German defensive so to let the good Brits in to give the Nazis some hell you can’t help but love it. I’m a huge fan of Gregory Peck and this movie is totally why.
9. Rescue Dawn (2006) (dir. Werner Herzog)
This is probably the least qualified on the list because it actually takes you quickly away from the battlefield and into a POW camp in Laos where a handful of American troops are being held prisoner. After finding out that the war isn’t going so well and that they are going to be executed they decide it’s time to get out. So they not only fight for their escape but also survival in the jungle of Laos.
8. Jarhead (2005) (dir. Sam Mendes)
It’s Operation Desert Storm people, and you are a trained sniper. Here we deal with the soldiers who are sitting and waiting for the order to go in. They’ve been trained and are sitting on the doorstep of the battlefield that they know they will have to enter any day. But until that order from the high-chief himself says so they can do nothing but wait. This movie answers the question of what do they do with that time and what that time does to them.
7. Full Metal Jacket (1987) (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Here is one of the most intense Marine training films I’ve ever seen. I imagine that they show this movie as orientation to recruits before they sign their lives away to the Military. It was even referenced in Jarhead and done well. Some argue about it’s unevenness. Because once you leave the training half of the film and head into the trenches of battle the film takes on a whole new flavour. I agree, but I like it. At first it was jarring, but after soaking it in and revisiting it I admit to loving the film wholeheartedly.
6. Platoon (1986) (dir. Oliver Stone)
Here we have a new recruit entering the Vietnam war and dealing with all the things that happens when Uncle Sam isn’t watching. When eventually battle must ensue what do you expect to happen but shock and awe in the eyes of every soldier in the field. With brilliant performances from Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen it’s an unforgettable film.
5. Saving Private Ryan (1998) (dir. Steven Spielberg)
After D-day a team of men are sent far behind enemy lines on a PR mission to get the one brother of four that may just still be alive. Spielberg managed to meld war time action with a sense of reverence in a way that not only jarred you from scene to scene but at the same time never made you forget the importance of the events occurring. With an action packed line-up the film stands out as the skeleton that every WWII film (including the Call of Duty video-game franchise) has based itself on ever since its release.
4. Paths of Glory (1957) (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Here is a film that unlike many other war films sets itself in WWI (i.e. The Great War). With the war really being the set up for this tale of courage and betrayal we see what happens when commanding officers forget that they are commanding men and not cards that they can discard without consideration. After a company of men retreat from a suicide attack on a German position three men are made to stand trial for cowardice; punishable by firing squad. It’s a fantastic movie that helps to break up the monotony of other war films by actually dropping a lot of drama into it’s framework.
3. The Hurt Locker (2009) (dir. Kathryn Bigelow)
Please direct all your hate mail here please. I know, I’m saying that Kathryn Bigelow‘s recent Academy Award Winning film is better than Kubrick; how can it be??? Well live it with. It’s true. I think that The Hurt Locker is to the Iraq war what Paths of Glory is the The Great War and Saving Private Ryan is to WWII. The movie has a sense of tension and intensity that is unrivaled in the history of cinema. It leaves itself open to so many levels of interpretation and with so many themes able to pulled out of it. I personally love most to see what a soldier must become to be a great effective tool that can get his job done.
2. Patton (1970) (dir. Franklin J. Schaffner)
“Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.” With a brilliant opening where George C. Scott gets up on stage and gives the rousing speech to his troops (and the audience) preparing us for the battles to come you are immediately drawn into the film in a way that you can’t imagine. This General is one of the most brilliant Generals to ever grace a battlefield and it shows from victory to victory. Walking into a battlefield with his brilliance he also has his flaws and what that does is make him human. It’s a great film with a more than amazing character that will never be forgotten by history or cinema anytime soon.
1. Apocalypse Now (1979) (dir. Francis Ford Coppola)
This is THE war movie. It’s portrayal of the soldier in battle is one the most real expressions you will ever find. So many war films focus on the ‘Rambo’ style character where he feels he’s indestructible and will complete his mission at all costs. However, the truth of the matter is that the other 100,000 men dropped into battle have to handle it as well. And like any normal human being they are scared shitless. Even though the film contains its fair share of ‘Rambo’s it still does well enough to portray a war that it remains my #1 film of all time and therefore by the transitive property my #1 war movie.
And with the recent news of the passing of acting great Dennis Hopper let me throw some more Apocalypse Now love with this clip from the film where Mr. Hopper delivers on the of the most memorable lines in cinema: