Now Screening - What Are You Watching Right Now?

[Marco]

I like a classic war film too, and haven't seen either of those

Marco.

[Macca]

I thought you weren't much for war films?

[Marco]

Lol - don't know where you got that from! I *love* good war films (but only ones with plenty of action/fighting scenes, not the type with too much 'talking' that ramble on for hours), and classic westerns

Marco.

[struth]

ive loads of classic westerns and war films.. almost all the good ones Have to say i thought Hamburger hill to be fairly poor in comparison to say We were soldiers

[Marco]

I know you've got a few good ones, as you've mentioned some on here. For war films, in particular to hit the spot for me, the main focus has to be on the battle scenes, not on making a political/historical point, or worse on some yawn-inducing romance!

I want to see blood and guts, lots of it, and plenty of shooting/fighting scenes, and stuff being bombed and blown up. In that respect, films such as Tora! Tora! Tora!, or with more of a 'western' angle, Zulu, are just fab!

What else, from your knowledge, would likely appeal to me on those lines? My favourite westerns tend to be about famous outlaws, where there are lots of gunfights, or 'revenge' themes, where some guy has had his wife and family killed by 'baddies', and he exacts his revenge by going after and killing all responsible, one by one.

Nothing requiring too much thought or concentration, or complicated plots!

Marco.

[struth]

I will avoid what i guess youve already seen and plunge for these off top of my head... ive got them all in some form.....1/Thin Red Line maybe.. its set in Guadalcanal campaign. 2/Casualties of war..3/good morning vietnam..4/platoon..5/the big red one..6/major dundee(a western)...maybe 7/last of the mohicans too.

[Marco]

Nice one, noted. Some I've seen and some I haven't. I also enjoyed Battle of Britain, and one of my favourite films of all time, The Guns of Navarone. Plus, The Dirty Dozen.

For me, with war films, the golden era was the late 60s to mid 70s.

What about some reccos on good 'revenge' type westerns?

Marco.

[struth]

Chato's Land is pretty violent.. any of the Eastwood ones obviously..young guns etc...big jake is good.. some of the Anthony Mann/James Stewart films are dark, although not bloody due to being 50's. pat garrett and billy the kid from 73 is good. Nicholson/ Brando effort, when the Missouri breaks is good too. youd like it

[Macca]

Westerns - 'The Searchers' is a quality revenge western. Not action all the way through but enough to keep you interested. Like Grant said any western with Eastwood in is good, he never made a bad one. The black and white 'Gunfight At The OK Corral' is a good watch. There's a remake with Kurt Russel which is also okay.

Vietnam - Don't rate any of the Vietnam films Grant listed except 'Platoon' which is a bit 'Hollywood' but gets away with it. The daddy is still 'Apocalypse Now' of course, 'We Were Soldiers' is also excellent and sticks pretty close to history. 'Hamburger Hill' worth a watch although suffers a bit from the low budget.

'Big Red One' is an interesting film (set in WW2) but I don't rate it that highly. 'Dunkirk' is excellent - not the crappy modern one, the original. 'A Bridge Too Far' is still the best thing anyone's ever done IMO. Not so keen on the made-up stuff like 'Dirty Dozen' although it is very watchable. 'Kelly's Heroes' is classic but I count that as a heist, not a war picture, so it's okay to make stuff up. And there's 'Sahara' with Humphrey Bogart - anything with Bogey in is always worth a watch. There's a colour re-make of that which is also okay.

WW1 - there's only really 'Paths Of Glory' and 'Gallipoli' that spring to mind as being outstanding. 'Sergeant York' is worth a watch though, as is the original 'All Quiet On The Western Front'. The colour re-make sucks. Oh and then there's 'Lawrence Of Arabia', might be a bit too slow for you, Marco, but has some of the most tremendous action scenes ever. You probably seen that one anyway.

Pre-20th century you've got 'Zulu' of course although very much made -up. I'm one of the few who also likes the prequel 'Zulu Dawn' where the Zulus get to kick ass - and it's very historically accurate that one. 'Charge Of The Light Brigade' (the 1968 one) is quirky but has its moments. Avoid 'Waterloo' with Rod Steiger. God knows what they were thinking when they made that. 'The Alamo' with John Wayne (not the crappy re-make by the bloke from Happy Days) is one of my favourites, bit slow to get going though. And the original 'The Four Feathers' is pretty good.

ACW - given the yanks obsess about it, it's weird that there's not many stand out films about it. 'Gettysburg' isn't bad, especially the first half. Long, long film that one though but the history is good. 'Red Badge Of Courage' with Audie Murphy is one of my personal favourites but it isn't that great really. Maybe there are some others I forget?

[struth]

thought i mentioned we were soldiers but obviously i didnt lol. yup its probably the best of the viet ones set in 65 and the Battle of Ia Drang