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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Top 10 War Movies



The Top Ten War Movies


By Gary;

War is Hell.

That being said, war movies are a secret and evil pleasure of males of all ages.  They have also been big business for Hollywood from the very beginning.

So this being Veteran's Day let me thank our troops for their service and add my current top ten choices for war films.

Mostly I am looking for as much realism as possible along with an entertaining story line.  With so many great movies out there all I can do is list my personal favorites.


#1  -  All quiet on the Western Front   (1930)
 
 




All Quiet is the classic of all classics.  It shows the "glory" of war and the mindless death and slaughter in the trenches.

If after seeing this film you still believe the bullshit shoveled by the political elites then you are a true dunderhead.


#2  -  Zulu   (1964)



Great Quotes from Zulu
 
Chard to Bromhead:   "To hold our ground? Which military genius thought that one up? Somebody's son and heir? Got a commission before he learned to shave?"
Bromhead:  "I rather fancy that he's nobody's son and heir now!"
 
 
 
Chard:   "The army doesn't like more than one disaster in a day."
Bromhead:   "Looks bad in the newspapers and upsets civilians at their breakfast."

 
 
 
Bromhead:   "Damn the levies man... Cowardly blacks!"
Adendorff:   "What the hell do you you mean, cowardly blacks? They died on your side didn't they? And who do you think is coming to wipe out your little command? The grenadier guards!?"
 
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If "All quiet on the Western Front" had never been made, then Zulu would be the best war movie ever by a mile. 
 
It is not just the battle scenes that are over the top, but the riveting characters.  To think that the great Michael Caine is still making wonderful movies today.
 
 


#3  -  Troy   (2004)




Troy is an epic war film based on Homer's Iliad.  Along with the Odyssey, the Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature, and its written version is usually dated to around the eighth century BC.

Brad Pitt brings the great warrior Achilles to robust life.

It features an ensemble cast that includes Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Brian Cox and Peter O'Toole.




#4  -  "The Four Feathers "  (1939)
 



This spectacular Technicolor epic, directed by Zoltán Korda, is considered the finest of the many adaptations of A.E.W. Mason’s classic 1902 adventure novel about the British Empire’s exploits in Africa, and a crowning achievement of Alexander Korda’s legendary production company, London Films.

Set at the end of the nineteenth century, The Four Feathers follows the travails of a young officer (John Clements) accused of cowardice after he resigns his post on the eve of a major deployment to Khartoum; he must fight to redeem himself in the eyes of his fellow officers (including Ralph Richardson) and fiancée (June Duprez). Featuring music by Miklós Rózsa and Oscar-nominated cinematography by Georges Périnal, The Four Feathers is a thrilling, thunderous epic.




#5  -  The Last of the Mohicans   (1992) 




The greatest film ever made of early America.  You feel like you are there.

French and Indian War. Homesteads in flames. Colonial powers surging through the wilds. Indians displaced, massacred, and massacring, employed as mercenaries. Virtue shows up here and there, but men are doing evil on all sides.





#6  -  Master and Commander:  The Far Side of the World  (2003)




British-Australian epic historical drama film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey.

Russell Crowe brings the forgotten Napolonic Wars to life.

The film's plot and characters are adapted from three novels in author Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey–Maturin series, which has a total of 20 novels of Jack Aubrey's naval career.

At the 76th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for 10 Oscars, including Best Picture.




#7  -  Major Dundee   (1965)




Gritty, realistic and ultra-violent.

Wonderful war film directed by the great Sam Peckinpah and starring Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Jim Hutton, and James Coburn. Written by Harry Julian Fink.

Everyone dies  -  Dundee is an equal opportunity slaughter fest war movie.  Every possible group is killed off, often savagely.  Union soldiers are butchered, along with Confederates, Apaches, blacks, Mexicans, American frontiersmen and best of all lots and lots of French are killed.  This film has something for every taste.

The film is about a cavalry officer who leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners, and scouts on an expedition into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding United States bases in Texas. Major Dundee was filmed in various locations throughout Mexico



#8  -  Kingdom of Heaven   (2005)




King Baldwin IV:   When I was sixteen, I won a great victory. I felt in that moment I would live to be a hundred. Now I know I shall not see thirty. None of us know our end, really, or what hand will guide us there. A king may move a man, a father may claim a son, but that man can also move himself, and only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that howsoever you are played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus," or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.

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Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 epic action film directed by the great Ridley Scott .  It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton and Liam Neeson.

The Muslim Siege of Jersuleam alone was worth the price of admission.

The story is set during the Crusades of the 12th century. A French village blacksmith goes to aid the city of Jerusalem in its defence against the Arabic Muslim leader Saladin, who is battling to reclaim the city from the Christians leading to the Battle of Hattin. The film script is a fictionalised portrayal of Balian of Ibelin.





#9  -  The Return of the King   (2003)




The Lord of the Rings is also a grand war movie on a massive scale.

In the third film, The Return of the King, you have the unbelievably well done Battle of Pelennor Fields and the Siege of Minas Tirith.  The brutality of siege warfare and an enemy breaking through your defences is brilliantly done by director Peter Jackson.




#10  -  The Lighthorsemen   (1987)




Long overlooked this movie is a must see.

A 1987 Australian feature film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in Sinai and Palestine Campaign's 1917 Battle of Beersheeba. The film is based on a true story and most of the characters in the film were based on real people.


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