Worst WWII Movie Ever?

[glenncal1]

I watched most of the 1998 "The Thin Red Line" last nite. What a piece of junk. Thank god that the actual servicemen in WWII were nothing like this bunch of simpering whiners. I could write two pages of the inaccuracies of the film, but someone explain to me why you would wear a helmet in combat and not buckle the chin strap. Save yourself the 3 hours of misery if you have not seen this dog.

 

[BearBio]

I watched most of the 1998 "The Thin Red Line" last nite. What a piece of junk. Thank god that the actual servicemen in WWII were nothing like this bunch of simpering whiners. I could write two pages of the inaccuracies of the film, but someone explain to me why you would wear a helmet in combat and not buckle the chin strap. Save yourself the 3 hours of misery if you have not seen this dog.

The concussive blast from a nearby shell could tear your head off. A glancing blow from a bullet could break your neck or it provides a handle to grip in hand-to-hand combat.

 

[DWalt]

One of the worst ever was "Hell is for Heroes" (1962). Lots of big names in it. It's famous for abruptly ending in mid-battle because the production company ran out of money and couldn't complete it. So they just stopped and went with what film they had. The best performance was Bob Newhart doing what was essentially battlefield stand-up comedy.

 

[Arik]

Most ww2 movies show guys NOT using the chin straps

 

[Tom S.]

I watched most of the 1998 "The Thin Red Line" last nite. What a piece of junk. Thank god that the actual servicemen in WWII were nothing like this bunch of simpering whiners. I could write two pages of the inaccuracies of the film, but someone explain to me why you would wear a helmet in combat and not buckle the chin strap. Save yourself the 3 hours of misery if you have not seen this dog.

I remember trying to watch it. Didn't get very far into it, and that says something, as I like WWII movies. Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan have set some really high standards for war flicks of any type. No doubt that Normandy survivors relived nightmares watching the opening battle in Saving Private Ryan.

Kelly's Heroes was another film of questionable quality. The story line was plausible, and even funny at times, but it wasn't shot from a 1940's prospective, it was shot from a 1960's prospective, which some audiences liked, while others (myself included) found fraudulent, for lack of better terms. I thought the same thing about MASH (the movie). While it contained some entertaining parts, it just didn't ring with time of conflict of the early 50's, instead having late 60's stamped all over it.

 

[rwsmith]

Looks cool.....

Most ww2 movies show guys NOT using the chin straps

Looks cool and casual kinda like James Dean not bothering to fix his collar.

 

[Glashaus]

Inglorious Basterds gets my vote, sad thing is the people that watch this junk have no knowledge or education of history and they take this stuff for factual truth.

 

[BigBill]

Bad ww2 movie......haven't seen any bad ones yet. I missed the ones above.

There's a few European movies about the winter war of '39 when the Russians invaded Finnland. I thought the movie was a tad crude but ok for the war it was. A 100,000 Russians with mosins. The sausage battle.

 

[BearBio]

"Kelly's Heroes was another film of questionable quality. The story line was plausible, and even funny at times, but it wasn't shot from a 1940's prospective, it was shot from a 1960's prospective, which some audiences liked, while others (myself included) found fraudulent, for lack of better terms. I thought the same thing about MASH (the movie). While it contained some entertaining parts, it just didn't ring with time of conflict of the early 50's, instead having late 60's stamped all over it. "

1941?

Inglorious Basterds was a spoof==but there are people who deny the Holocaust

 

[Arik]

Inglorious Basterds gets my vote, sad thing is the people that watch this junk have no knowledge or education of history and they take this stuff for factual truth.

It wasn't ment to be historical.

I liked it. Cool story, good acting

 

[DWalt]

There are factual war movies (e.g., The Longest Day, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Battleground, etc.) Then there are agenda war movies, fiction with little if any historical basis and made purely for entertainment or delivering a societal message, not accuracy. I don't consider MASH as a war movie at all - it's an anti-war comedy with a war backdrop.

 

[Grayfox]

Inglorious Basterds. Stupid, overly violent just for shock value and Tarintino rewrites history. What a crock!

 

[JayC_783]

I'm not much into war movies. With that said, I can't decide between Pearl Harbor (2001) or Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. In Valkyrie Tom Cruise didn't even talk with a German accent. Pearl Harbor was a train wreck from start to finish. I didn't realize we had Nimitz class aircraft carriers back then.

 

[Glashaus]

It wasn't ment to be historical.

I liked it. Cool story, good acting

I know it was a spoof, still thought that it was a terrible move!

It doesn't matter if it is a spoof or not, there are morons out there that think anything that Hollywood puts out is the honest truth.

 

[Absalom]

.....I can't decide between Pearl Harbor (2001) or Valkyrie with Tom Cruise. In Valkyrie Tom Cruise didn't even talk with a German accent. Pearl Harbor was a train wreck from start to finish.......

Since the real people in the "Valkyrie" story spoke German and not English with a bad German accent, I can't see how that would have improved an already pretty good movie.

I do agree with you on "Pearl Harbor", though. Not so much because of some technical nitpicks, but because they never figured out whether this was about a war or a cheesy love triangle.

 

[Arik]

It doesn't matter if it is a spoof or not, there are morons out there that think anything that Hollywood puts out is the honest truth.

Seriously what? Movies can't be fiction? How about books?

So they shouldn't make movies because of that? Plenty of idiots believe everything on the Internet is real so when shouldn't have Internet?

They should only make movies about actual events only. Should use the actual people as well! So that the "morons" don't accidentally believe that Daniel Day Luis was actually Lincoln!

 

[Absalom]

......
It doesn't matter if it is a spoof or not, there are morons out there that think anything that Hollywood puts out is the honest truth.

Well, yes, but as some more or less famous person once said, the stupidity of other people should not keep me from having fun.

Considering how much "alternative history" c-r-a-p is produced these days by earnest amateurs with little talent and no sense of humor, I much prefer outrageous satire like "Inglorious Basterds" and "1941".

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Im going with - no way to go wrong with these-
Nazis and Zombies!

Top 5 Nazi Zombies Movies

 

[Ron M.]

Any WWII film where the prop masters have the soldiers carrying the wrong rifles....either period, issuance, or even which SIDE was using them!

 

[shouldazagged]

Since the real people in the "Valkyrie" story spoke German and not English with a bad German accent, I can't see how that would have improved an already pretty good movie.

It has always irritated me when English-speaking actors are directed to speak with fake German or Japanese accents so people will know they are German or Japanese, especially when the story is exclusively about Germans or Japanese. In multilingual movies I'd much prefer to see German actors speaking German with subtitles.

By the way, my vote for the worst fake German accent ever--and easily his worst performance--goes to Robert Shaw.

My father was a war correspondent who hit Omaha Beach with the first wave--one of the first outfits ashore, an engineering unit--on D-Day. I'm very, very grateful he didn't live to see the first few minutes of "Saving Private Ryan".

While I know it has some inaccuracies, as far as I'm concerned the gold standard for WWII film is "Band Of Brothers".

 

[Glashaus]

Seriously what? Movies can't be fiction? How about books?

So they shouldn't make movies because of that? Plenty of idiots believe everything on the Internet is real so when shouldn't have Internet?

They should only make movies about actual events only. Should use the actual people as well! So that the "morons" don't accidentally believe that Daniel Day Luis was actually Lincoln!

No, the morons think that Lincoln was a vampire hunter.

 

[Arik]

No, the morons think that Lincoln was a vampire hunter.

You seem to be concerned about what others believe to be real. It's a movie, it's entertainment.

So there should only be factual movies? Saving Private Ryan was fake. Never happened! The war happened but the story didnt. Just like Inglorious *******s. Fake story in the settings of a real war. Like the Titanic. A FAKE love story revolving around a real event. Just about every movie will be like that.

What you want are documentaries

 

[the ringo kid]

I watched most of the 1998 "The Thin Red Line" last nite. What a piece of junk. Thank god that the actual servicemen in WWII were nothing like this bunch of simpering whiners. I could write two pages of the inaccuracies of the film, but someone explain to me why you would wear a helmet in combat and not buckle the chin strap. Save yourself the 3 hours of misery if you have not seen this dog.

Unfortunately, I paid to see this garbage at the theater. I was suffering a severe case of, the stupids. If I'd only paid .25 cents to see it? Not only would I demand that back, but loads of interest too.

Battle For the Last Panzer, and Pearl Harbor get my votes. BFtLp, had Klaus Kinski in it, and no panzers. Also, anything with Klaus in it? is guaranteed to be lousy. Another is the Russian flick, Come and See. It had its moments but, not enough to save it.

 

[the ringo kid]

One of the worst ever was "Hell is for Heroes" (1962). Lots of big names in it. It's famous for abruptly ending in mid-battle because the production company ran out of money and couldn't complete it. So they just stopped and went with what film they had. The best performance was Bob Newhart doing what was essentially battlefield stand-up comedy.

GAAAAA. I've never heard anyone talk smack like that before when mentioning this offering?

About seven months ago, I picked up around 12 great stills from this movies. All have Steve McQueen in them. These be, two great promotional stills with: Fess Parker, Steve McQueen, Bobby Darrin and Nick Adams. The rest except one, were all combat scenes and one with McQueen shot inthe chest in a shell hole.

 

[the ringo kid]

Most ww2 movies show guys NOT using the chin straps

I've had several WWII American and German vets tell me that its because a shell concussion can take your head off, if your wearing it with chinstrap strapped?

 

[DWalt]

Any WWII film where the prop masters have the soldiers carrying the wrong rifles....either period, issuance, or even which SIDE was using them!

I don't remember the title, I think some British-made war film, where the lead chearacter was holding a different type rifle in about every scene. I imagine most of the audience didn't even notice or if they did, they didn't care.

It's been a long time since I saw "Thin Red Line," but I do remember it was a disappointing stinker.

 

[the ringo kid]

I don't remember the title, I think some British-made war film, where the lead chearacter was holding a different type rifle in about every scene. I imagine most of the audience didn't even notice or if they did, they didn't care.

It's been a long time since I saw "Thin Red Line," but I do remember it was a disappointing stinker.

Sounds like: Anzio, w/ Robert Mitchum. Beach invasion scenes all the GIs had were Lee-Enfields.

 

[DWalt]

I've had several WWII American and German vets tell me that its because a shell concussion can take your head off, if your wearing it with chinstrap strapped?

I've heard that story a lot, but I have to wonder if there is any truth to it. Does the Army order their soldiers to NOT use the chin strap in battle? Seems to me that if you are close enough to a shell blast that the concussion will cause a fastened chin strap to pull your head off, then you are probably not going to survive even if your chin strap is unfastened.

 

[cmort666]

I watched most of the 1998 "The Thin Red Line" last nite. What a piece of junk.

Not coincidentally, that's the movie that came to mind when I saw the title of your post.

My reaction to the film can best summarized with: "Not impressed."

My best friend from college was actually livid with rage when he saw the movie when it first hit the theaters. He's married to a Korean, so he's not really too open to viewing the Japanese as the "victims" of WWII.

My reaction to the movie wasn't nearly as violent as his. I simply dismissed it. I explained to him thusly:

"Your problem is that you're viewing it as a war movie. I suspect that the director had other intentions. View it as a colorful travelogue, an allegory, or whatever, but it's certainly not a war movie."

If you want to see a good recent war movie, watch "The Great Raid". It was criticized for "being too one sided". I suppose the director should be faulted for failing to see the "good side" of the Bataan Death March...

 

[Absalom]

I've heard that story a lot, but I have to wonder if there is any truth to it. Does the Army order their soldiers to NOT use the chin strap in battle? Seems to me that if you are close enough to a shell blast that the concussion will cause a fastened chin strap to pull your head off, then you are probably not going to survive even if your chin strap is unfastened.

Makes sense, but logic won't change the historical evidence. Look at the plentiful historical photos from WW II. Very few chin straps in use; frequently draped over the back or front of the helmet. See example below of GI's in Holland 1944.

I don't know what kind of liners the WW II helmets had, but we used the US-style steel pots in the German army in the 70s, and if you adjusted the reasonably comfortable leather liner correctly, it sat on your head pretty solidly and you didn't really need the chin strap to keep it from falling off. We usually didn't close them either and no one made us.