Forums at The Military Horse

Tim:

Don't even think about posting your parody on this family web site...

J

As a random observation, note how there are very few Korean War movies. There's vast numbers of WWII films, and quite a few WWI films. There's also a lot of Vietnam War movies. But there aren't very many Korean War films.

I wonder why?

It can't be that Vietnam came too soon after the war. After all, there were WWII movies being made by the end of WWII. And the big crop of Vietnam War movies came out in the 70s.

There are a few. The Steel Helmet is an interesting one, although it's like every other Fuller movie. Pork Chop Hill is a good one. And a few others are out there, but not a vast number. I suppose MASH is the most well known, but it's really a Vietnam War movie disguised as a Korean War movie. And the movie, which I don't like, doesn't really seem to follow the book, which really is about the Korean War, and which I recall having liked when I read it.

Pat

The Manchurian Candidate (original version) had a A Korean War nexus.

J

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Joseph Sullivan</i>
<br />The Manchurian Candidate (original version) had a A Korean War nexus.

J
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I'd forgotten that one. It's a great movie. Really good.

One I'd forgotten is the Bridges at Toko Ri. For some odd reason, while I don't really like it, I recall it being well regarded by Korean War era veterans.

Pat

I saw "Waterloo" years and years ago. Anyone have any thoughts on it? Is it still around?
Frank.

I spent nearly 5 years in Korea and have some interest in the subject.

I particularly liked "Fixed Bayonets" and "Men in War". "Pork Chop Hill" is another fairly good movie. I was in "Inchon", yeah on the cutting room floor. If my face ever crosses the screen it must be in a single frame. I doubt that I could have saved the film though. "The Steel Helmet" isn't that bad.

There are several films, TV serials in Korean that are interesting but don't ask me to name them. It has certainly been since 1981 since I saw any of them and probably 1979 or earlier.

Sincerely,

Hobie
"Duty is the rent you pay for life." The Queen Mother
"Do your duty in all things. You can not do more, you should not wish to do less." T. J. Jackson

Wow, "The Steel Helmet"; Hobie , I thought I was the only one who'd bring that one up. Same director/writer gave us "The Big Red One," Sam....somebody, NO, NOT PECKINPAH.........

HONORABLE MENTIONS; "Gettysburg," when Longstreet watches Pickett's regiment get annihilated;
"The Lafayette Escadrille," with a young punk of a Clint Eastwood. The baseball scene is just classic.

B45

The Steel Helmet and The Big Red One (I also mentioned Steel Helmet, so there's at least three of us who've seen it), were directed by Sam Fuller. The Big Red One is regarded as sort of being Fuller's psuedo autobiography, as the cigar smoking soldier is Fuller's alter ego.

Pat

I hope you won't find it annoyng that I always make reference to Italian stuff, hope you won't think I'm an ultra-nationalist [:D] it's just that I think for the majority of you it might add an "exotic" touch or, after all, another angle of perspective, slightly different.

This long premise to give a few hints:

"La grande guerra" (The Great War) by Monicelli with great Alberto Sordi and Vittorio Gassman, very moving.

"The two enemies" a tragi-comedy with Sordi and David Niven played in East Africa.

"A farewell to arms"

"Tutti a casa" (everybody go home) on the 8th september armistice

"il federale" (The Fascist) with Ugo Tognazzi and Georges Wilson

Luigi

Many excellent movies have been mentionned, and I must admit I'm far from having seen them all, particularly those from the 1940s and 50s.
Nobody have mentionned "Major Dundee" so far, nor "Cross of Iron", both from Sam Peckinpah (what about him, Bisley ?)

And what about
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968 version)
The Duellists (directed by Ridley Scott, if I remember well)

From my Froggy point of view, one of the best French war movie is "La 317ème Section", which is set in the last year of the French Indochina War. It was directed by Pierre Schoendorffer, who had been an Army cameraman in Indochina and later made the Vietnam documentary "The Anderson Platoon".

Now a couple of comments :
There are two "Stalingrad", one German directed by Volker Schondorf (spelling ?), and one more recent by French director Jean-Jacques Annaud, with international cast (Jude Law, Ed Harris, &c).
BTW, the director of "Das Boot" is Wolfgang Petersen, so not the same as the German "Stalingrad".

I just love ZULU, through they are some historical inaccuracies, the song "the Men of Harlech" being one of them. In 1879, about only a third of the men in B Coy, 2nd Bn, 24th Foot, were actually Welshmen. The depot of the regiment had moved to Wales only a couple of years before, and the battalion had been in South Africa for more than a year, so a bit early for the Welsh recruits to have found their way in number at the time. They made a rogue of Private Hook, although he was well noted, and ended his military career as RSM of a Territorial battalion. I may add that his descendants were not very happy of this unfair treatment. There are some errors in the uniforms as well, but still it is a great and "moving" movie.

Go Tell the Spartans was released in 1979, the same year as Apocalypse Now.

Eric and Luigi, I'm glad to see some discussion on non English language films, so keep it up.

On the film Stalingrad, I think that in the US the second move, with Judge Law and Ed Harris, was released as Enemy At The Gates. There's an old book on the battle by that name that covers the entire battle, but the film covers a fictional sniper duel. That film is awful in my view.

The Duellist is a good film, and is mentioned in some other thread. It's very unique in some ways, and I'm almost surprised it was ever filmed. It is very intersting.

Major Dundee is addressed in several threads, but Cross of Iron has never been mentioned. I like (in spite of myself) Peckinpah films, but there's something really odd about Cross of Iron. Perhaps that's because Peckinpah was careful to use one of his favorite actors, (name escaping me) as the central character, who just doesn't come across as a German. For some reason, it is almost as if they took a cast from a Peckinpah western and used them for a German war picture. It doesn't have the right feel.

I'd love to see La 317em Section. I wonder if it can be found in the US?

Pat

There're so many threads and messages in this forum, I'm afraid it will hard to read them all.

Enemy At The Gates is indeed the English title of Annaud's movie.

About La 317ème Section (released 1963), I've only seen Zone 2 DVD and the only language is French, without any subtitles offered. May be a search on Schoendeorffer would give you something ?

Eric

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by the Saint</i>
<br />There're so many threads and messages in this forum, I'm afraid it will hard to read them all.

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Very true, and we have the archived ones limited a bit right now due to the database. But these are fun topics, so it's fun to mention them again.

On Zone 2, I recall Grant indicating that there's different zones for DVDs so that this can be a problem. Does anyone know how that works?

Pat

James Coburn played Sgt. Steiner in Cross of Iron. I liked it myself.

Steve

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Camp Little</i>
<br />James Coburn played Sgt. Steiner in Cross of Iron. I liked it myself.

Steve
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It's one of serveral movies filmed in Eastern Bloc countries during the Cold War with the assistance of the local armies. I can't recall off hand, but I think it may have been filmed in Czechoslovakia. For that reason, the Soviet equipment is really authentic. Other moves that were filmed in Eastern Bloc countries include the pretty bad "Force Ten From Navarone" (filmed in Yugoslavia) and "Kelly's Heros" (also filmed in Yugoslavia).

Nobody would regard Kelly's Heros as an accurate depiction of anyone's army in WWII, but of note in it, it is unusuaul in that it is one of the first examples of a WWII war film in which the production went to quite some lenght to have accurate equipment. The uniforms and vehicles used in the film are generally pretty accurate, much more so than "Patton", although Patton is certainly a much better film. Both were released in the same year. If I recall correctly, filming it in Yugoslavia allowed the production company to take advantage of Yogoslavia's desire to blow apart some Yugoslavian villages to make room for a lake, or some such thing. Likewise, A Cross Of Iron featured some genuine destruction of Czechoslovakian locales which were scheduled for destruction for some project. That film received some criticism on that basis.

Pat

It seems to me that Cross of Iron was also shot in Yugoslavia.
T34/85s were still in use in the 1991-94 conflict by all parties. I saw a couple in action then. Actually the scene was not unlike the movie.

Eric

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by the Saint</i>
<br />It seems to me that Cross of Iron was also shot in Yugoslavia.
T34/85s were still in use in the 1991-94 conflict by all parties. I saw a couple in action then. Actually the scene was not unlike the movie.

Eric
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I looked it up and it was indeed also filmed in Yugoslavia. As for seeing T34s in action, yikes!

Pat

Have to agree on 'Enemy at the Gates' - absolutely horrible rendition, though the opening sequences were stirring. The whole sniper duel was miserable drama.

Cross of Iron was extremely good, and many scenes seem to have been penultimate Peckinpah, especially at the end. Viva Pappa Shaw... Seemed to be relatively true to the book as well.