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Best War Movie from 1960s
- Thread starter mbliss57
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I just watched A Bridge Too Far tonight, good movie... My picks for best of the 60s would be:
1) Lawrence of Arabia. LoA is perhaps my number one pick of any genre, of all time, beautiful movie with interesting themes and human condition elements. Not a traditional "war movie" perhaps, but an outstanding epic movie/story. I saw it once on the big screen back in the 90s. If you ever get a chance to see it on the big screen, it's a must go, such a great experience as you really get brought into it.
2) The Longest Day. Great movie, WWII, D-Day, awesome cast, including John Wayne, what's not to love...?!
3) Tie between The Great Escape and The Sand Pebbles. I really enjoy Steve McQueen movies and these are both really well crafted movies. Sand Pebbles is a very artistic movie, and portrays an interesting time in history. Great Escape has very good acting and brilliant direction.
OP
Are we finally done with the BF? 
War movies from the 1960's.. in the spirit I started the thread I had figured that others outside of that decade would come up and there are so many good ones out there. I was thinking we a started it about WW2 films as I was actually watching The Gun of Navarrone but all war movies and WW2 movies outside of the 1960s are classics that we need to remember. I still think my favorite wartime movie is Casablanca which was actually made as the war was really just ramping up.
I love the "Bridge Too Far' It came out when I was stationed in West Germany. Everyone went to see it.
I like Kelly's Heroes not as a war movie but it is just good entertainment. Donald Sutherland makes the whole thing work.
"Patton' is of course a great classic.
Then there are the Classics from the Pacific like Midway and Tora Tora Tora. Thanks for the answers given and the great debate of the BF/ ME. I am sure at least 2 people were engaged in that one
.
I think the more modern war movies ...for example "Saving Private Ryan" are actually more authentic than the earlier movies because we as viewers are more picky about details. Details about exact equipment used and clothing worn. The power of the internet has educated me and most everyone in this regard. I know what I am supposed to be looking at and for because if I am interested I look it all up. Anyway as always JMHO...
War movies from the 1960's.. in the spirit I started the thread I had figured that others outside of that decade would come up and there are so many good ones out there. I was thinking we a started it about WW2 films as I was actually watching The Gun of Navarrone but all war movies and WW2 movies outside of the 1960s are classics that we need to remember. I still think my favorite wartime movie is Casablanca which was actually made as the war was really just ramping up.
I love the "Bridge Too Far' It came out when I was stationed in West Germany. Everyone went to see it.
I like Kelly's Heroes not as a war movie but it is just good entertainment. Donald Sutherland makes the whole thing work.
"Patton' is of course a great classic.
Then there are the Classics from the Pacific like Midway and Tora Tora Tora. Thanks for the answers given and the great debate of the BF/ ME. I am sure at least 2 people were engaged in that one
. I think the more modern war movies ...for example "Saving Private Ryan" are actually more authentic than the earlier movies because we as viewers are more picky about details. Details about exact equipment used and clothing worn. The power of the internet has educated me and most everyone in this regard. I know what I am supposed to be looking at and for because if I am interested I look it all up. Anyway as always JMHO...
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
It just occurs to me that nobody seems to have mentioned "The Alamo". It barely made it into the period (1960), but certainly qualifies as a war movie.
Completely differently, another very good but generally obscure one is the film "The Battle of Algiers" (1966) about the French counterinsurgency in Algeria in the 1950s.
Completely differently, another very good but generally obscure one is the film "The Battle of Algiers" (1966) about the French counterinsurgency in Algeria in the 1950s.
It was made in 1977.
THE PILGRIM
Member
Besides many already mentioned, I like
The Guns of Navarone.
I don't recall any Messerschmitts in it!
The Guns of Navarone.
I don't recall any Messerschmitts in it!
You're mean.
But, a word of warning. I could go on and on on coast artillery. It used to be my "business".
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Since the Messerschmidt discussion was so popular with everybody, here is the German air attack scene on D-Day from "The Longest Day".
The director wanted to portray Me 109s, the planes used were French copies of the Me 108, and Priller and his wingman actually flew FW 190s that day
[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F6IHANM9_k0[/ame]
The director wanted to portray Me 109s, the planes used were French copies of the Me 108, and Priller and his wingman actually flew FW 190s that day
[ame]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F6IHANM9_k0[/ame]
UncleEd
Member
Regarding 1960s war films, among them
from 1962 to 1968 were:
The Counterfeit Traitor
The Longest Day
The Cardinal
The Train
Von Ryan's Express
The Rat Patrol (TV)
Is Paris Burning?
Anzio
And in all of them German actor
Wolfgang Preiss was featured as
a Nazi officer.
The above list does not include
his other war films in which he
appeared as a WWII German
officer.
His military ranks ranged from
captain to several field marshals.
from 1962 to 1968 were:
The Counterfeit Traitor
The Longest Day
The Cardinal
The Train
Von Ryan's Express
The Rat Patrol (TV)
Is Paris Burning?
Anzio
And in all of them German actor
Wolfgang Preiss was featured as
a Nazi officer.
The above list does not include
his other war films in which he
appeared as a WWII German
officer.
His military ranks ranged from
captain to several field marshals.
UncleEd
Member
In my immediate previous posting,
I listed "Is Paris Burning?"
If you want to see a really terrible
Gen. Patton, note Kirk Douglas as
Patton in a rumpled fatigue jacket
wide open at the collar and his
longish blond hair nicely combed.
Oh well, Glenn Ford played Gen.
Omar Bradley.
I listed "Is Paris Burning?"
If you want to see a really terrible
Gen. Patton, note Kirk Douglas as
Patton in a rumpled fatigue jacket
wide open at the collar and his
longish blond hair nicely combed.
Oh well, Glenn Ford played Gen.
Omar Bradley.
It has to be "The Longest Day."
There were some great ones from the 1950s. "Dam Busters" and "The Man Who Never Was" come to mind, but there are a lot of others.
Going back even further "In Which We Serve" is a terrific early WW2 movie.
Sorry to drift.
There were some great ones from the 1950s. "Dam Busters" and "The Man Who Never Was" come to mind, but there are a lot of others.
Going back even further "In Which We Serve" is a terrific early WW2 movie.
Sorry to drift.
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Wolfgang Preiss was the poster boy for a "type cast" actor in Germany.
He seems to have played every "somewhat upright" Wehrmacht officer known to history in German and international movie and TV productions: Stauffenberg, Canaris, Rommel, etc.
He played a few more ambiguous officers like Brauchitsch and Rundstedt, but never a "bad" Nazi that I can remember. I think his last appearance along those lines was in the "Winds of War" series.
Although it featured John Wayne "In Harms Way" was about the hokiest action film I remember as a kid. We lived in Utah when it came out and Antelope Island still had remnants of the filming set. I remember that the boats looked like models and friends of mine were jaundiced by its inauthenticity, much in the way we were jaded when we saw the zipper in the costume of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon." For sharp eyed kids it was always hokey when we would see Sherman tanks with Iron Crosses on them because there just weren't enough Panzers or Tigers to go around, that is what is much better about modern movies...even if they are driving a Sherman they can make it look like anything they want. They could be driving around in a Honda Civic and make it look like a Tiger Tank.
We saw errors in just about every major military film and considered ourselves experts, having assembled every plastic model on the market. Even the legendary film and personal favorite "The Great Escape" has many errors, the most blatent was McQueen's use of an English Triumph TR6 which didn't come on the scene until the mid-late 50's...he did love Triumphs and was part of my attraction to my first motorcycle ('67 T-120R), he was certain he could do the stunt work but it was assigned to a stuntman.
As I often tell my wife, the only reason to go to movies is for entertainment...if you want facts or historical information read a book.
We saw errors in just about every major military film and considered ourselves experts, having assembled every plastic model on the market. Even the legendary film and personal favorite "The Great Escape" has many errors, the most blatent was McQueen's use of an English Triumph TR6 which didn't come on the scene until the mid-late 50's...he did love Triumphs and was part of my attraction to my first motorcycle ('67 T-120R), he was certain he could do the stunt work but it was assigned to a stuntman.
As I often tell my wife, the only reason to go to movies is for entertainment...if you want facts or historical information read a book.
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It seems that it would be impossible to enjoy a movie as entertainment (the purpose of a movie) if the viewer was always vigilant for the errors and misrepresentations depicted in the film, but it appears there are some who do just that. As long as the mistakes don't take away from the story, they're pretty insignificant, not something to obsess over.
I don't think the use of a '67 Triumph detracted from the The Great Escape in any way.
Texas Star
US Veteran
Spotting plane, prob. meant as a Stork. I think the RAF tried Lancasters, maybe Mosquitos. Richard Harris played a seriously bummed Aussie pilot in the briefing, his squadron being badly shot up. So, maybe German fighters were there, not shown.
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