Bad War Movies

[Small Team Bacsi]

I’m adding to this, one we found last night, channel surfing. And I add it somewhat tongue-in-cheek, bc it ‘kinda sorta’ is an ‘almost’ war movie. But it certainly hits the ‘bad’ requirement. Although we actually enjoyed it. Not sure why…..

Anyone seen it??

The Final Countdown


View attachment 14008

Apparently the Navy sponsored the release of the movie and tried to use it as a recruiting tool.

The Final Countdown (film) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

It’s a bad movie I also enjoyed at least 2 maybe 3 times over the years.

For me it was the dog

Not sure it’s been mentioned but what I remember as a great book made into two very bad war movies. At least the last one of those movies really well cast , a great director and loved the critics as I remember

The Thin Red Line

 

[Ihavenoidea]

Battleship, hands down.

I do like the projectiles fired by the alien ships are the same shape as the pins used in the board game.

I've seen this movie a few times, but never put that together. Nice catch.

 

[Ihavenoidea]

I’m adding to this, one we found last night, channel surfing. And I add it somewhat tongue-in-cheek, bc it ‘kinda sorta’ is an ‘almost’ war movie. But it certainly hits the ‘bad’ requirement. Although we actually enjoyed it. Not sure why…..

Anyone seen it??

The Final Countdown


View attachment 14008

Apparently the Navy sponsored the release of the movie and tried to use it as a recruiting tool.

The Final Countdown (film) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I watched this several times when it was out as a kid and loved it. This came out after Topgun, and I was a huge fan of the F14 Tomcat as a kid. Saw some of it again not so long ago, and it definitely hasn't aged well. The best scene is the F14's versus zeros though. With the music and footage, it still makes me smile.

 

[Humey]

My favorite terrible WW2 epic is The Longest Day, featuring a veritable international Who's Who of Hollywood's finest (male) stars at the peak of their powers. Released in 1962 it is old enough that there was plenty of authentic ordinance to work with, they had the acting talent on hand, there were a host of technical advisors to keep things real, and it was awful. You'd think having English, German, French and American actors would lend some authenticity to the accents, but they're not good. You'd think John Wayne as your parachute CO would be great, but he was in his un-athletic 50s at the time and was wildly unlikely looking in the company of his troops. You might hope that using real soldiers in real loations would lend some authenticity. You'd be wrong.

The biggest problem was that the script was a giant wooden thing, a palisade of long, dry explication read directly from cue cards placed at an uncomfortable distance. Actors that had done Shakespeare in the park were reading lists of invasion statistics like they were at a congressional hearing. The primitive greenscreen techniques may have been the bees knees at the time, but look like a high school performance today. They had talent, money, knowledge, resources and it was a bust.

not a comment on your movie selection but rather on John Wayne (who i always loved) and his fellow actors. When those guys turned 50/60, they looked terrible, fat, and old. Look at Clark Cable; he died at 59 and honestly, while i am currently a year older, I look at least 10 years younger than he did when he made his last movies. I guess between the booze, smoking, unhealthy eating, and the women, they burned out quickly. Of course there were guys who didn't look like crap when they got that old, Cary Grant being one of them. Compare that to male actors today who have to hit 70 plus before they look start looking bad.

 

[Humey]

Battleship, hands down.

I do like the projectiles fired by the alien ships are the same shape as the pins used in the board game.

i know everyone will disagree with me, but I love watching the movie. It's damn fun, I love the music and love the final battle when the battleship is used. Its a ridiculous move but i don't care

 

[Humey]

So, Moore and Plumbly hung around the Infantry School when I attended different schools giving me multiple exposures and chances to form opinions/impressions.

IMHO, Mel Gibson nailed Moore. Plumber was not as gruff as his character. It was not captured well in the movie but it was obvious that Plumbly loved the Army and all the Soldiers.

The final combat scene was fiction but the rest of the movie captured the feel of experience, IMHO.

yeah, i think its a good movie regardless of areas where it may not be realistic

 

[Humey]

The best war movie is Kelly's Heroes and was always a fan of Where Eagles Dare.

I don't know how realistic Hacksaw Ridge really is, but i really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed Band of Brothers but didn't care for The Pacific.

 

[Ihavenoidea]

i know everyone will disagree with me, but I love watching the movie. It's damn fun, I love the music and love the final battle when the battleship is used. Its a ridiculous move but i don't care

The battleship scene is stupid, unplausible, and fun as hell. The rest of the movie I could car less about.

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

The best war movie is Kelly's Heroes and was always a fan of Where Eagles Dare.

I don't know how realistic Hacksaw Ridge really is, but i really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed Band of Brothers but didn't care for The Pacific.

I am always curious why folks who do not like the Pacific what it is they do not like about the series.

IMO it’s the best most honest look at extended ground combat I have ever seen in movie or series. It may also have been the most accurately researched look as well.

 

[Ihavenoidea]

I am always curious why folks who do not like the Pacific what it is they do not like about the series.

IMO it’s the best most honest look at extended ground combat I have ever seen in movie or series. It may also have been the most accurately researched look as well.

I agree. I thought that it was a great version of the book as well. It was a different version of the book, but a great watch if you read the book. Some movies/series don't do that.

 

[NJROTC-CC]

I doubt anyone has seen it because it’s so darn bad but the 1978 “The Inglourious Bastards” starring Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson. There are a ton of other really bad war movies.

 

[Humey]

I am always curious why folks who do not like the Pacific what it is they do not like about the series.

IMO it’s the best most honest look at extended ground combat I have ever seen in movie or series. It may also have been the most accurately researched look as well.

its been a while since i have seen it and have never watched it again compared to Band of Brothers where i will always catch an episode when its on HBO. For me, i didn't connect with the characters and if i remember correctly, they jumped between different groups of people so it was never one continuous group of soldiers like Band of Brothers. Secondly, I didn't like that they would land on an island, have a battle with the Japanese and then leave. I realize that is how it actually happened but as a way of storytelling, it disconnected me from the story. My favorite character from the show was the guy who wound up in the psych ward but there were episodes he was barely appeared in. Something about the war in Europe connected more than the island hopping. Not sure I can put it into words but between the Island hoping and no really good characters like Winters and Nixon and the rest,The Pacific didn't do it for me. For me with the Band of Brothers, you learned to love each character regardless if they were an ass or not. I felt no connection with the men in The Pacific. There was just something missing

 

[Herman_Snerd]

For " The final countdown", the cheesy limo and Cmdr's "look wealthy" facial expression at the end makes me giggle. It's cheesy, it's got plot gaps you could drive a mac truck through, it's illogical, but I find myself enjoying that silly movie.

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

its been a while since i have seen it and have never watched it again compared to Band of Brothers where i will always catch an episode when its on HBO. For me, i didn't connect with the characters and if i remember correctly, they jumped between different groups of people so it was never one continuous group of soldiers like Band of Brothers. Secondly, I didn't like that they would land on an island, have a battle with the Japanese and then leave. I realize that is how it actually happened but as a way of storytelling, it disconnected me from the story. My favorite character from the show was the guy who wound up in the psych ward but there were episodes he was barely appeared in. Something about the war in Europe connected more than the island hopping. Not sure I can put it into words but between the Island hoping and no really good characters like Winters and Nixon and the rest,The Pacific didn't do it for me. For me with the Band of Brothers, you learned to love each character regardless if they were an ass or not. I felt no connection with the men in The Pacific. There was just something missing

Fair enough those are legit points.

they made a conscious choice to show the USMC war in the pacific thru the eyes of 3 Marines.. And only those 3. If one of those 3 did not actually see the event it was not shown.



So following 3 different people who were in different places at different times does end up with a more choppy story that does move from island to island .

The Pacific for me stands alone in its brutal unvarnished honesty .

 

[Small Team Bacsi]

I agree. I thought that it was a great version of the book as well. It was a different version of the book, but a great watch if you read the book. Some movies/series don't do that.

3 books

Leckey wrote a number of books and one was used for the series.

Sledge of course wrote his book which was one of the 3 used.

Add a book was written about Basilone that was also used.

Then they did their own research. A number of people claimed to have first hand view of Basilone when he was killed. And they often differed on how he died . Those behind the series went right to the source the Navy medical records as far as cause of death.

Small things like the Marines when their first arrived in Australia are given and wearing new unit patches in completely different places on their uniforms depending on the unit they were with.

In fact the patches arrived before the instructions on where to put the patches arrived.

 

[Humey]

Fair enough those are legit points.

they made a conscious choice to show the USMC war in the pacific thru the eyes of 3 Marines.. And only those 3. If one of those 3 did not actually see the event it was not shown.



So following 3 different people who were in different places at different times does end up with a more choppy story that does move from island to island .

The Pacific for me stands alone in its brutal unvarnished honesty .

i agree it was brutal and probably the most realistic. But as a form of storytelling, it wasn't as good.

 

[NJROTC-CC]

3 books

Leckey wrote a number of books and one was used for the series.

Sledge of course wrote his book which was one of the 3 used.

Add a book was written about Basilone that was also used.

Then they did their own research. A number of people claimed to have first hand view of Basilone when he was killed. And they often differed on how he died . Those behind the series went right to the source the Navy medical records as far as cause of death.

Small things like the Marines when their first arrived in Australia are given and wearing new unit patches in completely different places on their uniforms depending on the unit they were with.

In fact the patches arrived before the instructions on where to put the patches arrived.

That’s it. The screenplay for the Pacific had to be constructed by stitching together several books, about main characters in different units. Whereas, Band of Brothers was based on one book, about one unit (who trained together for two years before they went into combat), and written by a master historian and storyteller.

But the portrayal of combat in the Pacific was very true to the books. I read both Sledge’s book and Leckie’s book.

 

[Kentucky9]

I win…you are welcome

 

[DTT!FSA!]

I agree. Arguably the worst, and most unwatchable, war movie ever made.

 

[severn]

This is a contrarian post. Two movies that I've watched and influenced my military profession: The Green Berets and Deer Hunter. It was an exciting period when U.S.
paratroopers wore a khaki cap with an Airborne patch and SF pre-phase wore a Green Beret with a "candy stripe."