Comments on: “Nazis. I hate these guys.”: 15 WWII Movies Worth Watching Before You See Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds.

By: Frederick

Frederick — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:41:39 +0000

My personal favorite would have to be “Ich war 19″. If you can find a copy with English subtitles it’s certainly worth a watch.

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:41:10 +0000

A movie I didn’t see listed is the Russian film The fall of Berlin (I believe made in 1949). Today it’s perceived as campy, though it was considered a classic at the time. It used some actual German tanks and other equipment captured by the Russians. Speaking of accents, one thing I find particularly funny is that in this film, they tried to make the Hitler character sound like Hitler though he was speaking Russian the whole time. It features Stalin as a hero and matchmaker between the male and female leads.

Unfortunately, the film is expensive (about $40 from Movies Unlimited).

I suppose this isn’t really about Nazis, since none appear in it, but The Americanization of Emily is definitely worth watching for an alternative view of D-Day. It starred Julie Andrews (as Emily) and James Garner. One of the most amazing films I’ve ever seen. It ridicules the whole idea of war heroism, though Paddy Chayevsky, the writer, won the Purple Heart in WW II. It’s amazing that a film like this came out in America in the early 60’s.

By: spectral

spectral — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:11:07 +0000

To they who are saying “why isn’t private ryan on the list?” He explained why he wasn’t adding It, you needed only read the whole preface. Personally I agree about not liking the old movies that much, with the exception of “PATTON” and “A BRIDGE TO FAR”.. My hands down fav is “DOWNFALL” noone will ever top that portrayal of hitler. DAS BOOT, and another Uboat movie worth checking out is U-571, Uboat themed movies kick arse. I wonder though most of all why they haven’t come out with a movie about Hiroshima, with modern day fx it would be killer..

By: Gaylord!

Gaylord! — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:58:49 +0000

I’m not very sure if i should see The Big Red One. It looks very serious and feels very claisscal america-propagandish bullshit. I felt i had enough of that after Saving Private Ryan.
Should i give this movie a chance?

By: Francis Ouseph

Francis Ouseph — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:14:51 +0000

There is the classic Odessa File which is not in your list. No other film can move you the way it does.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:02:14 +0000

I guess you could come out with a list of the 15 most mediocre movies and get an argument but I’d like to toss in my two cents worth too. I think you were talking German not Japanese fascists here so “They Were Expendable” and others in that vein like what I consider perhaps the best war movie ever, “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo” (they everything right in that movie except casting tall, full head of hair Spencer Tracey as short, bald Jimmy Dolittle)kinda don’t apply. Also someone mentioned “Pearl Harbor” apparently not knowing what a steaming pile that turkey was. Real war movie aficionados retch at the mention of that dog, call it the polar opposite of “Thirty Seconds over Tokyo”. That having been said I’d like to note the following two films. “What did you do in the War Daddy?” is particular favorite of mine. It’s hard to find and was panned by critcs because it was a comedy but I think this attitude
comes from the fact that the bulk of movie critics were never in the military. They say that combat is hours of boredom interspersed with moments of abject terror. Humans tend to find humor even in such bleak surroundings. I remember reading where a war correspondent asked a B-17 tail gunner why he decided to become a tail gunner and he replied “It’s the only outfit I know of where you can retreat at 300 miles per hour”. “What did you do in the War Daddy” is a riot with two of my favorite actors, Dick Shawn and James Coburn. It even has Carroll O’Connor doing the hard nosed general bit he pulled off so well in other flicks. It even has a super patriotic flag waving finale so if you’re an America hating nutball either get over it or skip watching it. (BTW if you happen to be an America hating nutballit’s not likely you will find any of the movies cited here any fun to watch at all) The other movie is called “The Secret of Santa Vittoria”. It too is a comedy, but not the laugh variety. Like “What did you do in the War Daddy” it’s set in WWII Italy and pits town drunk Anthony Quinn against ubicquitous bad guy kraut Hardy Kruger. Santa Vittorias claim to fame is unique and tasty wine and when the towns folk replace their local fascist government with the town drunk they get the idea that they may have been a touch impetulant when the Nazis show up and announce they intend to approriate the towns entire stock of wine. The rest of the flick is spent showing Quinn leading the town in ingeniously hiding a million bottles of wine from the germans. Not a shoot’em up like “Where Eagles Dare” but great fun. I don’t know your age but I’m 52 and I’ve found to my distress that most people under thirty have never heard of these films. The modern movies young folks watch are slick and high tech but I find the great majority of them to be either stupid, offensive or both they lack the character and originality of older movies.

By: mac mackenzie

mac mackenzie — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:14:30 +0000

whys cross of iron even in your list? theres only 1 party member in the film, and nobody likes him… best war films all seem to be foriegn, das boot, stalingrad, letters from iwo jima, days of glory, brotherhood, assembly, americans just cant do war films too much cigar chompin gum chewin brooklyn tom sizemore style numptys in them

By: Josh

Josh — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:55:58 +0000

Did anyone mention The Devil’s Brigade?

By: motoman

motoman — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 10:04:00 +0000

I’d like to nominate “Anzio,” another dark and cynical, if historically questionable, WW2 film from the ’60’s. Robert Mitchum as a (pacifist?) war correspondent, Earl Holliman as the obligatory Sergeant, and a creepily effective Peter Falk as a pathfinder. A semi-Spaghetti war film as the crew was Italian.

For some really camp butchering of history, how ’bout Battle of the Bulge? Cringeworthy nonsense starring Robert Shaw, Telly Savalas, Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews and Charles Bronson.

Play Dirty, BTW, is one of my favorites.

By: Reatha

Reatha — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:53:27 +0000

I was wondering if you knew the name of an old WWII movie. I remember there was a woman and her family home was destroyed and she was arrested but then rescued by a german soldier whom she then fell in love with. Later in the movie she was engaged to a jewish guy and had to explain that she wasn’t a prisoner but his lover. Do you think you can help?

By: Nilay Vishwakarma

Nilay Vishwakarma — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:06:58 +0000

nice list . You must Also add Schindlers List Man . Thats really worth watching

By: Sylvan

Sylvan — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:08:33 +0000

An excellent list, indeed!

I must disagree with those who do not care for “Saving Private Ryan” merely because of it being “Big Budget Hollywood”; it was -for me- the first time I saw a World War II film that -to me- brought home the scope of the conflict while, simultaneously, getting into intricate details of both personal and brutal life on the lines. From this, you may guess that I’m not one for war films.

That said, World War II films like “Casablanca” are favorites of mine and “The Great Escape” certainly belongs on this list! Kudos!