Twelve O'Clock High and Other Old War Movies

BanzaiCat · January 30, 2017, 07:27:00 AM

I watched Twelve O'Clock High (with Gregory Peck) for the first time ever yesterday. I figured it would be full of patriotic rah-rah nonsense, but was surprised it came out in 1949, and read up on it to find it was actually praised for being one of the first gritty movies that tried to deal with the reality of war. I was VERY impressed with the movie as a whole and how it dealt with the human side of the conflict and not the 'gee whiz cool' combat scenes. The latter they impressively waited on until about 30 minutes left in a 2 hour, 15 minute movie.

I'm probably the last guy around here to not have watched this movie (aside from MD, but that goes without saying of course), but if you have NOT seen it, and have an interest in B-17s/good war movies, it's on Netflix so go check it out.

Also saw The Desert Fox (1951) a month or so ago, which was pretty impressive too. It made me go look up how Rommel's last day went and how he faced suicide in the face of the Nazis and his family. James Mason made a very stoic and impressive Rommel, IMO. This is also on Netflix, too.

Any other old war movies anyone would recommend? Besides the regulars - I mean, Battle of the Bulge, A Bridge Too Far, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Midway, et al, all of which I've seen countless times each (except A Bridge Too Far - I saw that as a kid at the theater with my grandfather and haven't seen it since). I'm wondering if there's any good lesser-known features out there that are worth looking up.

Dammit Carl! · January 30, 2017, 07:47:47 AM

You know, it occurs to me that in the age of cable, streaming and so on, we just don't have war movies on like we used to. Kind of miss that.

And color me interested in your topic, too.

Silent Disapproval Robot · January 30, 2017, 07:57:37 AM

If you're talking about old-timey ones, I like

The Dambusters

Run Silent, Run Deep

Casablanca

30 Seconds Over Tokyo

Hell is for Heroes

bayonetbrant · January 30, 2017, 08:11:22 AM

Battle of the V-1 (if you can find it - ask Bawb for it)
The Great Escape / Colditz Story (separate movies, but same basic theme; Great Escape is better movie, Colditz I think came out first though)
Attack Force Z
Jackboot Mutiny (if you can find it - I saw it in German in the 80s)
To Hell & Back
Bridge Over The River Kwai (I can admit it's a classic, but still not like it much)
The Steel Bayonet
Suicide Battalion, tho the remake as The Hell Raiders is better
Paratroop Command
Timbuktu (again, if you can find it)

Barthheart · January 30, 2017, 08:24:39 AM

The Bridge at Remagen

Bridge on the River Kwai

bayonetbrant · January 30, 2017, 09:08:54 AM

Quote from: Barthheart on January 30, 2017, 08:24:39 AMBridge on the River Kwai

Thanks. I read the book before I ever saw the movie and always mix up the titles.

Pete Dero · January 30, 2017, 09:27:18 AM

Battle of Britain
The Thin Red Line
Stalingrad
Letters from Iwo Jima
Flags of Our Fathers
Das Boot

Not movies but must see TV series :

Band of Brothers
The Pacific

bayonetbrant · January 30, 2017, 09:29:53 AM

^^^
I agree with your list, but those are all newer than I thought B_C was looking for....

Pete Dero · January 30, 2017, 09:55:50 AM

Quote from: bayonetbrant on January 30, 2017, 09:29:53 AM
^^^
I agree with your list, but those are all newer than I thought B_C was looking for....

Should have read the title and text a bit more ..

Battle of Britain was made in 1969. I am from 1969 so at least that one can be considered old :).

bayonetbrant · January 30, 2017, 10:14:01 AM

hahaha

Sir Slash · January 30, 2017, 11:19:46 AM

"The Longest Day" one of my all-time favorites even though I've seen it about a thousand times. More recently, "The Great Raid" I think is the name. About the POW camp raid in the Phillipines at the close of WWII-- is a great movie, very well done, brutal at times and with great combat scenes at the end and, based on real events. :clap:

mirth · January 30, 2017, 11:21:51 AM

Gotta love Battle of the Bulge for this scene alone:

Sir Slash · January 30, 2017, 11:26:38 AM

Better watch that guy around sharks. He gets a little.....

bbmike · January 30, 2017, 11:28:36 AM

An older one I saw recently that I didn't know about was Hell in the Pacific (1968) with Lee Marvin and Toshirō Mifune.

JasonPratt · January 30, 2017, 02:27:23 PM

I myself haven't watched 12 O'clock High yet; but I did watch The Desert Fox for the first time recently. Liked it a lot. Wanted to catch the pre-sequel The Desert Rats (with Mason reprising his role), but that's for pay and I'm selectively cheap. : ::)

Was The Caine Mutiny mentioned earlier? That was an Oscar winner, right? I watched it back in college; it focused (naturally) a lot on the day-to-day operations on an obsolete WW2 destroyer that wasn't given much responsibility but still had to be in harm's way.