I have a couple others that I pull out at various times, too:

"Stalag 17"

"The Dirty Dozen"

"The Longest Day"

"The Battle of Britain"

"Tora! Tora! Tora!"

stikpusher

Actually The Dambusters has more to do with that portion of Star Wars. Right down to dialog and some of the visuals. There are even You Tube versions out there with dialog lifted from one and dropped into the other.

(and to me it will forever be known by its original 1977 title of Star Wars)

Actually actually, I've always said that the attack on the Death Star is a cinematic, sci-fi refighting of the Battle of Midway, according to the "five fateful minutes"/"Incredible Victory" interpretation of the battle.  A small band of flyers takes on an overwhelming (Imperial) power, and with grim determination, pluck and luck (or, the Force), wins, well, an "Incredible Victory."  Gold Squadron flying its Y-wing fighters are the torpedo squadrons, going in in their obsolete ships but drawing the fighers away.  The shots of the Rebel forces preparing in their underground hangars are like scenes in a hangar deck or on a flight deck.  I remember notes in the "Star Wars Portfolio", a collection of prints of proposed designs by Ralph McQuarrie, that mention using WW II photos of US Navy aircraft carriers, too.  There was one illustration of a Rebel pilot in full gear, running to his ship, clipboard in hand, that was based directly on a photo.  It reminded me, too, of the third crewman in Monogram's old TBF kit.

"Kelly's Heroes".

If I felt like not moving for fourteen hours, I might have a "Band of Brothers" marathon.

The original movie was titled “Star Wars”. Light saber drop.

Gibson’s own dog.

In that era in England it didn’t refer to African americans but to any non-white race, in particular Indians.

In any case it’s best forgotten as it’s always made me think a little less of Gibson.

I would love to see that remake. Barnes Wallis was a pretty inventive guy.

This could be a very long list, but I'll keep it short...

The Longest Day

Kelly's Heros

Air Force, old B-17B's and C's!!

In Harms Way

They Were Expendable

The Enemy Below

What Did You Do In The War Daddy?

Run Silent  Run Deep

Aaronw

 

 

Retired In Kalifornia

Few More Picks: 

• "633 Squadron" (1964) a.k.a. by me "The Squadron That Never Was" i.e. no such WWII RAF unit. First color & Panavision combat airplane movie per Wikipedia, five TT 35 Mosquitos converted to resemble FB Mk VIs; most Mossies flown in any post WWII movie, most flown since the movie as well I believe. Models also used, only wished they'd used Real Things simulating bombing runs, too risky never mind insurance issues likely. Air action was what I'd liked about the movie, the rest a typical 1960s war drama, memorial line by Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (1911-1989) "You can't kill a squadron!" absolutely true given 633 didn't exist anyway. 

 

 

 

 

Supposedly this movie inspired the trench run during the attack on the Death Star at the end of Star Wars (AKA Episode 4: A New Hope for the ultra geeks out there  ). 

 

Actually The Dambusters has more to do with that portion of Star Wars. Right down to dialog and some of the visuals. There are even You Tube versions out there with dialog lifted from one and dropped into the other.

(and to me it will forever be known by its original 1977 title of Star Wars)

stikpusher

One I need for my movie library, Cross of Iron.

He also wrote “Crack of Doom”, if you haven’t read it.

Retired In Kalifornia

Few More Picks: 

• "633 Squadron" (1964) a.k.a. by me "The Squadron That Never Was" i.e. no such WWII RAF unit. First color & Panavision combat airplane movie per Wikipedia, five TT 35 Mosquitos converted to resemble FB Mk VIs; most Mossies flown in any post WWII movie, most flown since the movie as well I believe. Models also used, only wished they'd used Real Things simulating bombing runs, too risky never mind insurance issues likely. Air action was what I'd liked about the movie, the rest a typical 1960s war drama, memorial line by Harry Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (1911-1989) "You can't kill a squadron!" absolutely true given 633 didn't exist anyway. 

Supposedly this movie inspired the trench run during the attack on the Death Star at the end of Star Wars (AKA Episode 4: A New Hope for the ultra geeks out there  ). 

Thanks Scott, just got tired of watching Hollywood remake the same old movies over and over and went looking at foreign films for a change of pace. I notice about 75% of the films listed here are older, often B&W classics instead of Hollywood's recent stuff. 

I have Amazon Prime and they are offering Band of Brothers free with membership.  I never got to see all the episodes when it ran on HBO.  So thats what I have been watching all week.  Its been a great week for TV!

Far as all around movies, my favorite, when I feel in the need of a drama, is Bridges at Toko Ri.  

But I also want to watch a movie that makes me laugh, and that is Operation Petticoat.  

I grew up in a Navy family, hence Navy subjects!

Gamera,

Great movie recomendations, I have seen most of them.  The war movies coming out of Korea and Japan have been really, really good.  

A lot of films mentioned that I have not seen for years.  Two fillms that stand out to me are;

Paths of Glory        Kirk Douglas 

The Hunley            Donald Sutherland

Peter

Gallipoli.  Young Mel Gibson.

The Caine Mutiny (oddly just sw it on TV yesterday- colorized though, and I prefer the B&W- also sw The Bridge Over the River Kwai afterward, another great one).  The strawberries.

Rambo.  Not necessrily a war movie.  But Stallone.  They drew first blood.  Not me!  Nothing is over!  Nothing!  You just don't turn it off!

Two lesser known favorites of mine:

The Beast - russian tank crew in Afghanistan 

The Lighthorsemen - WWI Austrailian calvalery at Beersheba. 

I like to match my movies to the time of year. At this time of year, December, Patton, Battleground, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Empire of the Sun, and They Were Expendable are on then play list. At 4th of July time I like Gettysburg and The Patriot. June is The Longest Day, Saving Private Ryan, and perhaps The Dirty Dozen. September is Battle of Britain, A Bridge Too Far and Enemy At The Gates. October is Thirteen Days, Valkyrie for late July, Zulu Dawn then Zulu in late January, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo in April... see the method to my madness? 

A couple movies I have not seen named yet are: Farewell to the King and We We’re Soldiers Once. One I need for my movie library, Cross of Iron.

Another I liked was Flight of the Intruder.

From Here to Eternity

Hmm ;

 There's too many to list . So if I have to choose I'd go with these three . Action was good modeling was okay . They are "The Enemy Below" and "The Cruel Sea" and " The Bridge on the River Qwai ". I saw " Tora ! Tora ! Tora! anf thought they could've done it better .

    The destroyer in the opening shots languished in an Antique store front lawn till the owner passed  . Where it went I have no idea . It was a model of a Fletcher with a man in it . Powered by a trolling motor . His head was in the wheelhouse .

I like "Go tell the Spartans" quite a bit.

Hi,

Two older movies that had an impact on me when I first sawthem were "The Dawn Patrol" with David Niven, Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, and "Battleground" with Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban and James Whitmore.

Great choices guys! Lot of movies I love there!

If I may point out a few less known movies?

"The Great Raid": US 2005

US Army Rangers and Filipino freedom fighters liberate POWs from a massive Japanese prison camp in the Phillipines. Personally I like it better than 'Saving Private Ryan' and wish it were better known. Sticks pretty close to the actual raid on the Cabanatuan POW camp other than adding a fictional romantic sub-plot (of course!) though it does allow them to show the suffering of the Fillipino civilians during the Japanese occupation. Most of the material was drawn from a great book called 'Ghost Soldiers' which is well worth looking up.

"The Flowers of War": China 2011

During the 'Rape of Nanking' an American freebooter, a dozen Catholic schoolgirls, and a group from the red light district seek shelter in a church. Amazing movie about sacrifice and protecting the helpless and innocent

"Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War": South Korea 2004

A young Korean man signs up for the army to protect his naive and innocent younger brother who has been drafted during the Korean War. As the war rages on he ends up losing his innocence as his brother holds onto his.

"The Eternal Zero": Japan 2013

A listless young Japanese man finds out his grandmother was married to a pilot killed during the Second World War before she married the man he calls grandpa. And her original husband is actually his biological father. The young man seeks out vets who knew his grandpa only to find out he was a coward only interested in saving his own skin. But grandpa was killed on a kamikaze mission. If grandpa was a coward why did he sign up for a suicide mission? Please ignore the horrible music on the trailer, great movie and that gawdawful pop song only pops up for the ending credits...

On a lighter note:

"Railroad Tigers": China 2017

Reminded me of a modern Chinese version of 'Kelly's Heroes.' Jackie Chan and his team of screwball Chinese partisians take on the Japanese Army. I laughed till my sides hurt...

Aaronw

I walked into my bosses office once to get my performance eval and declared "Captain it is I Ensign Pulver, and I just threw your cruddy palm tree over board".

                                                   HA !!!

" Now,... Whats all this noise about no movie???? !!!!!

littletimmy

 

 

Aaronw

Mr Roberts, the story about the crew of the supply ship USS Reluctant, sailing from tedium to apathy with an occassional side trip to monotony. It is one of those movies I can watch over and over.

 

 

When the plant went overboard, I "CHEERED" ! Also one of my favorite's.

 

I think anyone who has had an important but thankless job can relate to this movie with or without the addition of a tyranical supervisor and his prized palm tree.  

Aaronw

Mr Roberts, the story about the crew of the supply ship USS Reluctant, sailing from tedium to apathy with an occassional side trip to monotony. It is one of those movies I can watch over and over.

When the plant went overboard, I "CHEERED" ! Also one of my favorite's.

goldhammer

In Harm's Way, Midway, Operation Pacific, Run Silent Run Deep, Longest Day, Sands of Iwo Jima, Windtalkers

Can't remember the title, but modern carrier is transported back to WWII, and just as about to alter the outcome, is returned to the present.

 

The Final Countdown.

Griffin25

Platoon, Too Late the Hero, Cross of Iron.

 

Cross of Iron , good flick. Then there was the sequel called Breakthrough which was not so good. Stalingrad is a good one and for a laugh Kelly's Heroes.

fermis

BoB, for sure!

I watched it as it came out, got the dvd box set and have watched it all on 3 more ocassions...start to finish! That's a long day!

Gen. War, mentioned by blacksheep, is a good flick. There was another...I believe it was called "The Wild Blue"..."Wild Sky"...something like that. I wanna say it was Chek, or maybe Romanian. It was about a few pilots that escaped and went to join the Eagle Squadron. It's all subtitles. I watched it twice in a row, 1st time was spent reading, by the second time, I could watch and already knew basically what was being said. Despite the language barrier, I was thoroughly entertained.

 

Dark Blue World, it has been on my to watch list but I haven't been able to find to watch.

I'll add a few

Mr Roberts, the story about the crew of the supply ship USS Reluctant, sailing from tedium to apathy with an occassional side trip to monotony. It is one of those movies I can watch over and over.

The Blue Max, it has an ok story and some great WW1 aerial scenes

The Bridges at Toko Ri - Korean war carrier jets

Dive Bomber, filmed just before the US entered WW2 with much support from the US Navy so it has some great footage from the end of the yellow wing period. The story is a bit corny but but has some memorable scenes. 

Full Metal Jacket

Band of Brothers.  Years ago binge watched the entire series renting them.  2 episodes per disc, watched a couple discs each day.

Saving Private Ryan.  That opening scene on the beach was instense and enough to make it a great movie.

Apocalypse Now.  Even though it was cheesy, I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

Patton.  Epic!

Platoon.  Another great movie, and Charlie sure channeled Martin.