The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown

Totally surprised that no one is talking about the next countdown. We have alternated between genre and decade/years. But we're out of decades right? What about these ideas:

Underseen Movies
Films not on previous list
1990s Decade redux
Like it sounds, it's been 10 years since the first time we did the 90s countdown. Is it time for a redo?


What do you MoFos think the next countdown should be?

I'm in favour of either Musicals, Film Noir, Underseen movies under 5000 votes (or whatever criteria), or films not on previous lists. Any of those countdowns would be good.

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Really neat graphic, Holden.

5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) It wasn't until a year ago that I finally and fully watched this film. A film that I had never taken the time to watch in its entirety and fully appreciated. Often filing them under heartfelt regret for not doing so much earlier in my life. An exception to the rule, I do believe my appreciation of not only the film but the full course of the story of T.E. Lawrence and what transpires affects and draws me in far more now than when I was a far younger man—making for ideal viewing and now, to witness this on the big screen somewhere, someday to witness it all in an old-time movie theater, seeing the gorgeous landscape traversing the usual dunes and exploring the desert's colors, vegetation, and mountains. These impeccable shots represent why Lawrence fell in love with the desert. It is a very deserving win for cinematography and stands out amongst its peers. This says a lot coming from someone who rates his enjoyment of any given film by how captured I am by camera work. Just. F@ckin. Beautiful.

4. Paths of Glory (1957) Another film that took until a year or so ago to finally check out and very much enjoy, and now I just need to revisit it to thoroughly appreciate it.


One more from my youth that I've watched multiple times through the years and would find more and more appreciation for... well, everything. A guaranteed spot on my list, even though it has been a few years since my last viewing. A truly excellent film that deserves its place at #3.


It is said that the very idea of War is, in itself, insanity. To the mind, the heart, to the very core of one's soul. To inflict horror, murder for the supposed Greater Good? WTF?
To experience the nightmare from the mindset of said insanity. We embark on a sojourn of contradictions and absurdities that only a nightmare could fathom.
Francis Ford Coppola's visually hallucinogenic demonstration kicks in from the very opening of slow whirring choppers, jungles exploding, and the upside-down close-up of Martin Sheen's character, accompanied by The Doors' "The End." To the actions of all involved and the continual narration, charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500. as well as Brando's dialogues We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "f@ck" on their airplanes because it's obscene!
An added layer of authenticity is how Coppola's vision of chaos and insanity birthed from the chaos and insanity of the filming process itself.




7. Under Sandet aka Land of Mine (2015) From the group watch for this Countdown, it became one of the heartbreakers I added to my list. Set in post-WWII Denmark, German youth are forced to remove a beach filled with landmines to remove them with zero prior knowledge. A harsh, moving, and extraordinary film that held me captured from the get-go to its heartbreaking conclusion. Amazing film


8. Hell's Angels (1930) With the sultry Jean Harlowe intoxicating a pair of brothers (and anyone else she encounters), a chunk of this film centers around this. But the REAL film is the aerial combat and the grit of the action, as well as some key scenes that made my jaw drop. Some intriguing filming, such as the night flying, was done in a blue monochrome, and the party that the three leading characters are at was in color. Which I really did appreciate when viewing this.


24. The Dawn Patrol (1938) Set during WWI with a strong cast: Basil Rathbone, David Niven, Errol Flynn, along with Donald Crisp and keep an eye out for Barry Fitzgerald. The film focuses on a very small division of flyers whose ranks are constantly refilled on a daily basis. A run isn't made that doesn't lose at least a few men, and the replacements get younger and more fresh out of flying school. Along with some rather good "live-action" flights of these biplanes. Especially the final flight that mixes models and staged sets surprisingly well.




Countdown List Watched 57 out of 100 (57%)

1. The Great Escape (1963) (#28)

2. Rome, Open City aka Roma città aperta (1945) (1945) (#37)

3. Stalag 17 (1953) (#35)

4. All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) (#66)

5. Patton (1970) (#28)

6. Grave of Fireflies (1988) (#12)

7. Under Sandet aka Land of Mine (2015) (MIA)

8. Hell's Angels (1930) (MIA)

9. l'armee des ombres aka Army of Shadows (1969) (#29)

10. Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) (#3)

11. M*A*S*H (1970) (#39)

12. The Dirty Dozen (1967) (#32)

13. Glory (1989)) (#38)

14. Johnny Got His Gun (1971) (#97)

15. Platoon (1986) (#16)

16. Apocalypse Now (1979) (#2)

17. Braveheart (1995) (#25)

18. Henry V (1989) (MIA)

19. Saving Private Ryan (1988) (#8)

20. Downfall (2004) (#13)

21. Das Boot aka The Boat (1981) (#9)

22. 1917 (2019) (#31)

23. Mrs. Miniver (1942) (#85)

24. The Dawn Patrol (1938) (MIA)

25. Shoulders Arms (1918) (MIA)

One-Pointers Watched 5 out of 24 (20.83%)

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I don't like the idea of redoing a list, but the underseen list would be a great idea. It would be an excellent way to get recommendations. The only thing which might cause a problem is it may be hard to get a top 100 since the odds of multiple people voting for the same film would be much lower. It might still work out though.

Just so we don't take away from the War list too much, I'll start a thread/bump a thread to discuss the next list on Monday.

1. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
2. Anatahan (1953)
3. Grand Illusion (1937)
4. The Cranes are Flying (1957)
5. Sunflower (1970)
6. Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
7. Barry Lyndon (1975)
8. A Man Escaped (1956)
9. Paths of Glory (1957)
10. Casablanca (1942)
11. Two Women (1960)
12. Spartacus (1960)
13. The Fifth Seal (1976)
14. General Della Rovere (1959)
15. Carriage to Vienna (1966)
16. Hondo (1953)
17. The Red Angel (1949)
18. Mr. Klein (1976)
19. The Hill (1965)
20. Sergeant York (1941)
21. Hell in the Pacific (1968)
22. The Shop on Main Street (1965)
23. Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (1960)
24. Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
25. From Here to Eternity (1953)

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The main problem is how does anyone define "underseen"? Something you may consider underseen is a established classic or cult classic to somebody else. "Underrated", "Overrated", etc. all face the same problem.

Imagine if we were to do an overrated list. The amount of backlash the countdown would get after each reveal would be insane lol.

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Underseen could be defined by an external criteria, ie. under a certain number of votes on imdb or number of members who have watched a film on Letterboxd. The host could determine the exact criteria.

I don't want to derail this thread too much, so I'll wait for the voting thread to go up tomorrow to provide some additional thoughts on the topic.

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I'm voting Overrated Countdown.

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@James D. Gardiner, The Red Badge of Courage (1951), Sink the Bismarck! (1960), To Hell And Back (1955), and A Bridge Too Far (1977) are all movies I considered for my lists. Good movies.

@edarsenal, The Dawn Patrol is great stuff and was on my list. I need to get this on DVD. A real keeper.

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We can't do Musical next because..
*breaks out in song..
..Countdown starts with 'C' and that rhymes with 'T' and that stands for Trouble right here in River City!

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I

I think it's time to retire "decades" or if you are going to do decades have a qualifier.

The idea of a concensus "underseen" list is completely flawed. If you get thirty or twenty or even six MoFos to vote for it, that rather proves it isn't underseen. On the other hand if a movie really and truly is underseen and you are one of the few enlightened people who appreciate it, by logic that title will die in terms of collecting enough points to make the collective. Catch-22. Any movie that is underseen will never get enough votes and any movie that gets a lot of votes is clearly seen by plenty.

So start a thread of the movies you think are underseen, start a discussion, and if you express your passion well enough others may check it out. And you'll probably discover that, shocker, in a community of film fans there are others of us who have seen and even like the flick. But a MoFo List? It is a non-starter.

And I'm glad we held off discussion until a dedicated thread was created.

But…but I was waiting till the thread was started to say an under seen list is the worst idea ever. Do I get a cookie or something?

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