War Movies

I haven’t gotten around to catching Inglourious Basterds (remember: one of the big buzz movies of Cannes this year) yet, but it’s definitely on my must-see list.

All the press around the movie’s release got me thinking about some of my favorite war movies. Inglourious Basterds looks to be kind of a campy take (that’s not a knock; I’m a big fan of campiness) on War World II, but I think realistic war movies are very important. While I don’t imagine any film can capture the horror and intensity of real combat, some (like Saving Private Ryan) supposedly come pretty close.

So I submit to you a list of my favorite “realistic” war movies (in no particular order; just however they popped into my head):

Saving Private Ryan
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
All Quiet on the Western Front
Patton
Apocalypse Now
The Dirty Dozen
From Here to Eternity
Black Hawk Down
Band of Brothers
Flags of Our Fathers
Memphis Belle
Das Boot
Generation Kill
The Hurt Locker
Sands of Iwo Jima
Catch-22
MASH