The biggest pile of crap is Apocalypse Now and Platoon. Oliver Stone must have been really stoned if that is what he remembers. Yea, Right.. a huey slick is really going to pick up a river patrol boat. The good guys in his movies are the stoners. The guys who drink beer are the baby killers and rapists. The Deer Hunter is another attempt to make money and not portray a realistic situation.
I don't know if mini-series can be included, but if so; Band of Brothers.
This ^^^^^ and the Patriot.If you want a realistic look at combat in Vietnam up in the DMZ, the best movie you can watch is Hamburger Hill (The last half of the movie). Taking one step up in the mud and sliding back down 3 steps, being shot up and bombed by our own aircraft and then the rush and adrenalin high from engaging the enemy in close combat.
Not what most would think of as a 'war' movie, Downfall covers Hitler's last few days and the fall of Berlin. In German with English subtitles. Five stars!
I found the DVD at Target.
Downfall (2004) - IMDb
"In April of 1945, Germany stands at the brink of defeat with the Russian Army closing in from the east and the Allied Expeditionary Force attacking from the west. In Berlin, capital of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler proclaims that Germany will still achieve victory and orders his Generals and advisers to fight to the last man. "Downfall" explores these final days of the Reich, where senior German leaders (such as Himmler and Goring) began defecting from their beloved Fuhrer, in an effort to save their own lives, while still others (Joseph Goebbels) pledge to die with Hitler. Hitler, himself, degenerates into a paranoid shell of a man, full of optimism one moment and suicidal depression the next. When the end finally does comes, and Hitler lies dead by his own hand, what is left of his military must find a way to end the killing that is the Battle of Berlin, and lay down their arms in surrender."
To Hell and Back (Audie Murphy).
You know the scene where he jumps on the tank that's on fire and starts blasting..?
I read the accounts of others somewhere, and they all said in real life he did that for almost an HOUR straight. Not giving thought to the fact that the tank was likely to blow any second...
Great movie. I'm impressed he played himself in it, too.
To Hell and Back (Audie Murphy).
You know the scene where he jumps on the tank that's on fire and starts blasting..?
I read the accounts of others somewhere, and they all said in real life he did that for almost an HOUR straight. Not giving thought to the fact that the tank was likely to blow any second...
Great movie. I'm impressed he played himself in it, too.
^THIS^ Fantastic movie! Now I know at least 3 people have seen it. Me, rambone, and Rocket57. The actor who protrayed Hitler was spot on.
Photos from Downfall
Definitely a fantastic movie.
And Dave Doehrman's got it right...read "We Were Soldiers Once...and Young." The movie ending sort of offended me a little...the real ending to the battle should have been told. Perhaps it would have been to much for the audience or something?
Lots of great movies being mentioned in this thread. I'd like to add that many of the original US War Department movies made during WWII can be found online (search the moving image section over at archive.org)
Midway, With the Marines at Tarawa, The Memphis Belle, The Battle of San Pietro...all can be found online and make for good watching, even if you have to watch it on a computer screen. If you're industrious enough you could always download the movies and then covert them over to DVD and burn them...
From what I have been told, they actually toned the movie down from what actually happened so as to be believable to audiences.