Favorite classic military movies

[huntersluck]

With memorial day coming up always gets me in the mood to have a military movie watching weekend. What's your go to military movies?
My favorites are where eagles dare, the dirty dozen and my all time favorite bridge on the river kwai

 

[skiff20]

We Were Soldiers, Band of Brothers, Most any John Wayne military movie.

 

[TJay]

Midway (the original).

 

[Milkman]

Any of the submarine movies made in the 50’s and 60’s.

 

[normaldave]

The Longest Day
They were Expendable
Patton
In Harms Way
Kelly Heroes
The Final Countdown

 

[LONGTOM]

I still have a hard time watching the Viet Nam era movies. Too many memories.

 

[Whitefeather]

Saving Private Ryan
Horse Soldiers
We Were Soldiers
Kelly’s Heroes

 

[heggy]

Heck is for Heroes with Steve McQueen, Fess Parker, Bobby Darin, James Coburn, and Bob Newhart.
The Young Lions with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and Dean Martin

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

To "Hades" and back Audi Murphy
Sgt. York
The longest Day
Band of Brothers
Saving private Ryan
Big Red one
The Bridge over the river Kwai
A Bridge too far
The red badge of courage
Midway

 

[Dutch]

Band Of Brothers
Kellys Heros
A Bridge to Far
Midway (1976)
Fixed Bayonets!
The Big Red One (uncut)
In Harms Way
12 O'clock High
Gettysburg
Gods and Generals

 

[Redbow]

The Great Escape
The Sand Pebbles
Hades is for Heroes
The Longest Day
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Band of Brothers
To Hades and Back
The Dirty Dozen
Hogan's Heroes
The Thin Red Line

And many others.

 

[fishfryer]

The Great Escape
The Sand Pebbles
Hades is for Heroes
The Longest Day
The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Band of Brothers
To Hades and Back
The Dirty Dozen
Hogan's Heroes
The Thin Red Line

And many others.

A+

 

[basstrkr]

I might add some of the "The Twentieth Century " documentaries. Some had live footage.

 

[pjciii]

Just finished Band of Brothers for the first time last night. It was very well done, intense.
We Were Soldiers
Saving Private Ryan
Where Eagles Dare
Dirty Dozen
Platoon
Battle of Britain
Started Pacific last night. 2 episodes in. Looks like it is going to be intense.

 

[oldfella1962]

Any of the submarine movies made in the 50’s and 60’s.

Interesting take on the subject! I never really thought about that sub-genre (no pun intended) of the "war movie" category. I think the first submarine movie I ever saw was "Das Boot" around 1980 or so if memory serves.

 

[oldfella1962]

To "Hades" and back Audi Murphy
Sgt. York
The longest Day
Band of Brothers
Saving private Ryan
Big Red one
The Bridge over the river Kwai
A Bridge too far
The red badge of courage
Midway

I can't watch Sergeant York. That scene where York gobbles like a turkey (in the middle of a battle no less) and the Germans poke their heads up to check it out has to be straight-up bovine fertilizer.
That said, "Stalag 17" "Paths of Glory" (featuring Kirk Douglas) and "12 O'clock High" are three favorites of mine right off the top of my head.

 

[Hillbilly stalker]

I can't watch Sergeant York. That scene where York gobbles like a turkey (in the middle of a battle no less) and the Germans poke their heads up to check it out has to be straight-up bovine fertilizer.
That said, "Stalag 17" "Paths of Glory" (featuring Kirk Douglas) and "12 O'clock High" are three favorites of mine right off the top of my head.

I reckon its one of them "curiosity killed the cat things", but I get what your saying. Krauts probably never heard a turkey before.

 

[Batjack]

I like pretty much all of them, but my favorites are the propaganda movies made during or not long after WWII.
1942 - Casablanca : Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman
1943 - Guadalcanal Diary : Richard Conte, Preston Foster
1943 - Air Force : John Ridgely, John Garfield, Gig Young
1943 - Destination Tokyo : Cary Grant, Alan Hale, John Garfield
1944 - Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo :Spencer Tracy, Van Johnson
1945 - Story of G.I.Joe : Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum
1949 - Battleground : Van Johnson, Marshal Thompson
1949 - Twelve O'Clock High : Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe
1949 - Task Force : Gary Cooper, Jane Wyatt, Walter Brennan
And tho it's not "really" a war movie :
1955 - The Long Gray Line : Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara

 

[GeorgiaBob]

Add in a pretty bad movie, The Green Berets. It didn't stick to the 1965 novel, and bore little resemblance to the reality of South Vietnam at the time. The movie did not accurately depict the Army's special forces, and certainly was not an "influential" move when it was released in 1968.

But it did have John Wayne as lead actor and director. It did portray US forces in a positive light - just as the Hippie culture of San Francisco was spreading to become the anti-war socialist movement on school campuses. The Green Berets was possibly the only movie in those years that a high school or college kid could see patriotic American men trying to do the right thing.

 

[DannyW]

With memorial day coming up always gets me in the mood to have a military movie watching weekend. What's your go to military movies?
My favorites are where eagles dare, the dirty dozen and my all time favorite bridge on the river kwai

I started what I hope is a new tradition with my kids this last Christmas, I gave them all an old classic movie that I loved (I have seen Kwai at least 6-8 times.)

For my son, it was The Bridge Over the River Kwai.

@Batjack, for one of my daughters it was Casablanca.

For my other daughter, it was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (I know this one is not a war movie but she is a LCSW.)

These three films were nominated for 25 Acadamy Awards winning 15, and all three won "Best Picture".

I love war movies.