War Movies

drunjk

Gerry Lopez status
Jun 27, 2017
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re ttrl in book dale doesn't cry bout taking ears and teeth in fact he filled a jar with gold jap teeth by the time they moved on to the phillipines. one of dfw's fave works. malick supposedly shot hours upon hours of raw footage that more closely represent it.
 

bluemarlin04

Michael Peterson status
Aug 13, 2015
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Did a tour in Iraq as a young man.

The most realistic movie about war is Jarhead.

War is incredibly boring followed by a few short moments of terror.

At least that was my experience. I’m sure every war was different and Vietnam was prob much crazier.
 

sickdog

Legend (inyourownmind)
Aug 5, 2006
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My dad was in the Battle of the Bulge, he never talked about it. One third of his 66th Black Panther Division (all white) were killed on the way from England to France before ever firing a shot, One of two transfer ships, the Leapoldeville (sp), sunk from a German torpedo. Only story he ever told was about putting out a fire at a farmhouse he stayed at with beer, and apple cider.

My favorite movie of all time is kind of a war movie. The Man who Would be King. High adventure, with more laughs than comedy flicks. Sean Connaroy, Michael Caine, John Huston's favorite movie also.
 
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kelly7873

Nep status
Jan 20, 2002
837
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Honolulu
Movies that I like that haven't been mentioned:
1) Zulu
2) The Longest Day
3) A Bridge Too Far
4) Sands of Iwo Jima
5) The Wind and the Lion, I don't know if it should count as a war movie but they showed excerpts of it while I was in boot camp.
 

flyinraptr

Michael Peterson status
Dec 18, 2008
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San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
2 summers ago I went to the American Military Cemetary in Luxembourg. Man that is a powerful and emotional place. We lost over 100,000 soldiers in the Battle of the Bulge.

Not movies but I liked Band of Brothers and the Pacific.
I had the opportunity to visit Normandy and Bastone - the town at the center of the Battle of the Bulge about 10 years ago. Absolutely - right - walking around both places you can't help but feel like you're walking on hallowed ground.
 
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flyinraptr

Michael Peterson status
Dec 18, 2008
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Our Top Sergeant and Command Sergeant Major both served in Vietnam. Top joined a group of us to see Platoon when it first came out. He left the theater part way through in tears. Later, he just kept saying “It’s too fuking close!” Our CSM said he’d never see it. BTW , he survived 6 bullet wounds and spent another 20 + years in the Army. Both men were highly regarded by everyone that met them. They’re true badasses that helped shape the lives of many ornery young men.
They were a lot of instances of that happening when Saving Private Ryan first came out in the theaters - WWII vets - who always complained that Hollywood never got it right - the opening beach landing scene brought it all back for a lot of them - many of whom probably internalized what they went through for years -
 

flyinraptr

Michael Peterson status
Dec 18, 2008
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1917 - good movie - primarily focuses on one person - a messenger in the British army. The movie is based on stories the director's grandfather - also a messenger in WWI used to tell him. There are not a lot of battle scenes but there is a continuous suspense that sh!t is going to happen - you get a vivid sense of the carnage and death - and living conditions that become normalized. There are not a lot of WWI movies out there that give you a sense of what that war - trench warfare - was really like - this is one of them.
 

One-Off

Tom Curren status
Jul 28, 2005
14,120
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33.8N - 118.4W
Our Top Sergeant and Command Sergeant Major both served in Vietnam. Top joined a group of us to see Platoon when it first came out. He left the theater part way through in tears. Later, he just kept saying “It’s too fuking close!” Our CSM said he’d never see it. BTW , he survived 6 bullet wounds and spent another 20 + years in the Army. Both men were highly regarded by everyone that met them. They’re true badasses that helped shape the lives of many ornery young men.
I went to see Apocalypse Now in the theaters when it first came out. There was a scene where the helicopters are landing but one kid is hanging on screaming, "I'm not going! I'm not going!" Everyone is the theater was laughing and then one guy stood up, tears in his eyes, and yelled, "Shut up! It was like that!" and then left the theater. Everyone was in stunned silence after that.
 

flyinraptr

Michael Peterson status
Dec 18, 2008
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So Mrs. Flyinraptr and I are in the process of having a new casa built ... a couple months ago drove up to Managua to meet our builder at his office. The walls inside his office are bare except for a framed Citation behind his desk. On closer review - i see it is a US Marine Commendation for Service in Iraq signed by GW Bush. Making conversation i find out he was originally stationed at Camp Pendleton and told him used to surf all around there -after i few minutes of chatting about Oceanside I looked up at the commendation i said something to the effect of ... looks like you were able to make it out Iraq in one piece. He replied - Yes - I did .... but i lost 5 of my buddies from my unit.
 
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Subway

Administrator
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Dec 31, 2008
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Don’t laugh but the war segment in Forrest Gump struck a lot of “realistic” cords for a few vets I knew (including pops); The tedium, bootcamp, constant sort of confusion and tension, underlying racial tensions, walking around all day long for weeks on end, then the jungle lights up with sunshine, sniper fire and incoming mortars, followed soon thereafter by our heavy air and naval weapons zeroing in and really lighting sh!t up
 

john4surf

Kelly Slater status
May 28, 2005
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Don’t laugh but the war segment in Forrest Gump struck a lot of “realistic” cords for a few vets I knew (including pops); The tedium, bootcamp, constant sort of confusion and tension, underlying racial tensions, walking around all day long for weeks on end, then the jungle lights up with sunshine, sniper fire and incoming mortars, followed soon thereafter by our heavy air and naval weapons zeroing in and really lighting sh!t up
The smell... thats what Is burned into my memory. H.E., gunpowder, iron (metal) of blood, the stench of a gut shot, fear, all combined to make 13 months boil down to 3 minutes of pure terror...
 

Subway

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Dec 31, 2008
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My dad said his NYC upbringing was a blessing. He said some of the country white boys just didn’t or couldn’t or wouldn’t or weren’t raised to bond with black guys and vice versa. Think how young they all were too. My dad came home an anarchy-libertarian with zero trust or faith in governance, and a life time of health problems.. bad ass all the same though he was
 

HarryLopez

Phil Edwards status
Jan 17, 2007
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Neck deep
War movies make me think about the crazy bravery and crazy awesomeness of what people are capable of, and also how fckn rich, not even involved people are to do such things to other people. I get that killing something else might be necessary when we were knuckle dragging, stick using, big jawed monkeys, but now?
 
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bluemarlin04

Michael Peterson status
Aug 13, 2015
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The smell... thats what Is burned into my memory. H.E., gunpowder, iron (metal) of blood, the stench of a gut shot, fear, all combined to make 13 months boil down to 3 minutes of pure terror...
Same here. I don’t know why but I’ll never forget the smell associated with being in Iraq. The weapons, oil, HMMVS, dirt, etc
 
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