Conquer Club

What do you think the most important war movie is?
I believe the answer is Goodbye, Farewall, and Amen.

bedub1 wrote:What do you think the most important war movie is?
I believe the answer is Goodbye, Farewall, and Amen.

I may be the biggest M*A*S*H fan on this site and I'm not sure I'd agree with that. You do have a historical argument though. It still is the highest rate show in history. Something like 1 of every 2 Americans watched it.

Gordon's War:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070124/

Rather than beating the piss out of the poor like most soldiers and police do, they decide to turn on the law. In this case, the law is drug dealers of Harlem. Brilliant, touching material.

ViperOverLord wrote:

bedub1 wrote:What do you think the most important war movie is?
I believe the answer is Goodbye, Farewall, and Amen.

I may be the biggest M*A*S*H fan on this site and I'm not sure I'd agree with that. You do have a historical argument though. It still is the highest rate show in history. Something like 1 of every 2 Americans watched it.

I like how it's no about war, but the aftermaths of war and wars effect on the individual. It seems that it's a movie about PTSD, which I don't remember seeing in other movies.

According to ViperOverLord, TV shows are movies.

Star Wars

Saving Private Ryan?

as far as I know it shows some of the most realistic depictions of conflict.

Grave of the Fireflies

Rather than soldiers shooting at each other you get a look at the civilian side, and in some ways it's a lot worse than someone having their legs shot off. I think of all movies I've seen, GotF affected me the most. All Quiet on the Western Front is a fairly close 2nd place.

Saving Private Ryan hardly even makes the list of also-rans. It's a technically well-made movie and may well be very realistic as BVP said, but the storytelling sucks.

Red Dawn.

Apocolypse Now

I'm not sure I can define the most important war movie, but I've enjoyed both of these films: All Quiet on the Western Front and Johnny Got His Gun (based on the novel of the same name). Both, interestingly enough, are WWI films.

I'd also like to throw out a curve ball, and say Seven Samurai is interesting, in terms of a 'small scale' war.


--Andy

What constitutes "most important" stature? Do you mean the most important movie for warfare? If this is the case, I would elect "The Watchmen" as it is geared towards globalized domination. Even though it is fantasy based, the concept of creating a great big lie to fool the world masses into uniting against a common, albeit framed, enemy seems to be pretty telling and important information to be wary of.

Otherwise "Schindler's List" is pretty striking as a war movie that involves issues that still affect us today...I also like "Bridge on the River Kwai"...I could watch that movie over and over and not get sick of it.

Tea Party movies are the best, where the little guys rise up against tyranny and make a difference.

The answer is obviously Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

pimpdave wrote:According to ViperOverLord, TV shows are movies.

According to bedub it's a movie and according to the link it is a television movie.

It was a movie first. But you were talking about the TV show spin off. Have you even seen the film?

pimpdave wrote:It was a movie first. But you were talking about the TV show spin off.

No. Look at the link (and title). It refers to the last episode of MASH.

Baron Von PWN wrote:Saving Private Ryan?

as far as I know it shows some of the most realistic depictions of conflict.

I'd say Black Hawk Down was more about just showing a war/battle straightforward. Saving Private Ryan still had a plot and all that other Hollywood stuff. But that D-Day scene definitely gives me an appreciation for the horror soldiers felt on that day.

War of the worlds

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046534/

But really Schindlers list could be the most relevant for our current day.

It showed a man trading money for lives, instead of the exact opposite.

Phatscotty wrote:

what is it with you and cheesy movie clips?

I guess I should caveat by saying I consider a war movie a movie about war. So while Schindler's List was an important movie, it wasn't about war and thus not a war movie (by my definition). I thoroughly enjoy history movies, especially war movies.

The most disturbing war movie I've ever seen is Blackhawk Down. I feel like it's the most realistic and therefore may be the most important.

My favorite is The Great Escape. I'm hopeful that at some point, a bunch of high profile actors (George Clooney, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Leo Dicaprio, etc.) will get together and do a war movie in the vein of The Great Escape (but please, not a remake).

AAFitz wrote:War of the worlds

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046534/

But really Schindlers list could be the most relevant for our current day.

It showed a man trading money for lives, instead of the exact opposite.

So it should've shown money for lives trading a man? Or lives trading money for a man?

Enemy at the Gates

I feel that Black Hawk Down is the most important war movie, since it depicts the events of war to the letter rather than the most interesting parts. Band of Brothers would come in second, but that's a series (the episode "Why We Fight" in particular).

All Quiet on the Western Front, though, is better as a book than as a movie. That is by far the most important piece of media regarding war.

notyou2 wrote:Enemy at the Gates

I used to like this movie,I now hate it.