A good friend of mine awhile back went through his favourite films & put his thoughts on Instagram & FaceBook, so cribbing his idea I thought I'd put on my favourite war films. They aren't in any kind of order, I'd struggle to do that and I've chosen war films not only because its a subject that interests me but the last film we saw was 1917 so have been inspired to go with the war film theme. So here they are:
The Great Escape. A film that would deffo be in the top five of my list, this is a great film. Strangely I associate it with Christmas as that's when its usually on...again! Made in 1963 it has a wealth of stars, |Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen, Donald Pleasance, Charles Bronson and many more. It very loosely tells a true story of an escape from a Prisoner of War camp and the brutality of the Nazi Regime who murdered around 50 of the POW's on their recapture. The nonsense with Steve McQueen on his motorbike is entirely made up. McQueen would only do the film if he could sod about on a motorbike! The film has great music as well!
Zulu. Its a brilliant film, not always historically correct but the same can be said of many films. I have very fond memories of having lunch behind the 'barricades' of the sofa and cushions whilst watching Zulu with Gary & Alec as little boys. Alec being totally captivated with the film, to this day (about twenty five years on) its one of his favourite films.
It stars Michael Caine in his first film as Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead and Stanley Baker as Lieutenant John Chard. In fact the film was a labour of love of Stanley Bakers. There are inaccuracies of course (not least the family of Private Henry Hook were outraged by how their ancestor was portrayed as a drunk layabout when in reality he was not only tee total but an but an exemplary soldier!) but they are swamped by it being edge of the seat daring do stuff! Sadly one of my favourite moments in the film when the garrison of Rorkes Drift sing 'Men of Harlech' after the Zulus have appeared and sung a series of battle cries, never happened! Its a stirring part of the film.
The Dambusters. Could well be my number one to be honest, its a black and white film made in the 1950's when alot of the details of the 'Upkeep' bomb were still secret. It has a phenomenal musical score making famous The Dambusters March, still beloved of RAF bands today. Michael Redgrave plays Barnes Wallis who invented the bouncing bomb and Richard Todd plays Wing Commander Guy Gibson who commanded 617 Squadron that carried out the attack. Three original Lancaster bombers were converted to look like the type that were used, I think I'm right in saying two were scrapped after filming (the fools!!) .The special effects of blowing up the dams are of course pretty ropey compared to todays wizardry so you do have to take that into consideration, though there is a little archive footage of prototype bombs being dropped and viewed from the seashore. Its a bloody good film and the Dambusters March still brings a lump to my throat.
Bridge on the River Kwai has the most brilliant opening scenes. The quiet of the jungle is broken by men whistling. It gradually gets louder then the orchestra takes up the strains of 'Colonel Bogey' and these rag taggle Prisoners of War march into the prison camp as if they were on Horse Guards Parade, a superb opening to the film which is actually abit annoying as its about the Colonel of the British played brilliantly by Alec Guinness remonstrating with their Jap captors that officers shouldn't work even though the men do. A compromise is made and the Colonel wants the bridge built to the best of their ability. Some documents only just released show that the War Office wasn't very happy with the film as it makes the prisoners look like they are collaborating when in truth they sabotaged the railway at every opportunity, and an ex prisoner that I'd spoken to reckon the film made the Jap guards look like 'a load of nig-nogs' that could be influenced. Not so he said! For the slightest reason or no reason the guards would belt them with rifle butts, though as I've said before these are films for entertainment not documentaries. It is however a great film.
Waterloo. Maybe Rod Steiger as Napoleon was a strange choice but Christopher Plummer as Wellington was spot on. It also stars 17000 soldiers of the Soviet Army who portrayed the troops in the battle. No CGI in 1970! It's an epic that sticks to the action and doesn't go off on tangents of characters love lives etc and is superbly done. From the charge of the Royal Scots Greys to the final assault by Napoleons Old Guard. A long film, but a great film.
Lawrence of Arabia. Starring Peter O'Toole as Lieut (later Colonel) Thomas Edward Lawrence. It's a 1962 epic that also stars Omar Sharif as Sherif Ali, Jack Hawkins as General Allenby and Anthony Quinn and Alec Guinness both playing Arabs (Auda Abu Tayi & Prince Feisal). Not something that would happen these days I think. The film is concerned with Lawrence's involvement with the Arab Revolt against the Turks during World War One though it starts with his death in a motorbike accident in 1935. The desert scenes are perhaps the most spectacular, the piece where he meets Sherif Ali for the first time is around four minutes of a figure a riding across the desert demonstrating the vastness of the desert I think. Peter O'Toole is good as Lawrence though there's an interesting historical anomaly. O'Toole was 6 ft 2in tall, Lawrence was only 5ft 5ins! It's a long film running to nearly four hours but well worth an afternoon to watch it.
A Bridge too far. I saw this film when it first came out in 1977 with my friend Alan. Its a great film. Bit of an epic directed by Sir Richard Attenborough (most of his films were epics). It tells the story of the ill fated Operation Market Garden to punch a way through to Arnhem by dropping paratroops ( British/US & Polish) to capture the all important bridges followed by XXX Armoured Corps roaring up to Arnhem. It was a disaster and the bridge at Arnhem, the bridge too far, was never taken and many troops were killed , the remaining eventually having to surrender. Its got lots of big names of the time in. Dirk Bogarde, Anthony Hopkins, Gene Hackman, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Ryan O'Neal, Lawrence Olivier and more. Some say it was the last big war film made and was of course pre CGI technology . It also coined the immortal line from Anthony Hopkins playing Lieut Col Johnny Frost of 'Bring up the PAIT!' (Projector, Infantry, Anti Tank) that is now in WW2 buffs vocabulary!
Journeys End. A fine film that shows the harrowing side of war (World War One) and its effect on people. It is based an a play by RC Sherriff, himself a war veteran, though he had trouble getting the play off the ground in 1928 as people didn't want plays about the war. Memories were still too raw I think. The film of 2017 stars Asa Butterfield, Sam Clafin, Toby Jones and Stephen Graham and others of course. It shows the slow disintegration of four officers whilst waiting for the attack they know will come. A sombre but enthralling film.
1917. This latest World War One release seems to be either loved or loathed. I thought it was a great film, it portrayed the squalor & filth of the trenches and was a powerful story. The purists will always complain of course....saluting without a hat on, belts worn incorrectly etc but these are swamped by a by a good if simple story and some good acting. The military/historical adviser, a very knowledgeable chap called Andy Robertshaw asked Sam Mendes whether he could be in the film, just a small non speaking role in the background. He was refused on the grounds of he'd have been too old to be there in reality! Anyway, a very good film.
I'll leave it at these nine films I think. I could add many more, and there are glaring omissions such as Saving Private Ryan, Sink the Bismark, Cockleshell Heroes, Charge of the Light Brigade, Cromwell and more besides but I don't want to bore you dear reader. I might even do another instalment at a later date.
