I started making a list, then kept adding to it, then explaining something I liked about each of them... now too much to post.
I think what I like most are the ones which are historically accurate, almost like documentaries, even if filled with an ensemble cast of stars playing real people. And I like films which capture the reality, even if the characters are all fictional, taken from real events. I also like films which make an effort to get the details right, and none of this animation for me.
The Longest Day
- filmed in docudrama style, black and white, ensemble cast of many actors who were veterans of WWII.
My uncle, who flew recon and filming for the invasion and during it, took me and my cousin to see it. He flew Spitfires and P-38s over France and was later a base commander in England. He thought it was good and explained a lot to us.
Saving Private Ryan - modern version of D-Day, not as good to my eye as the Longest Day. The post-landing manhunt has some very realistic scenes, some not so much. My father-in-law, who landed at Omaha as a MSgt, said it was good, but not as noisy, as intense, or as much killing as the real thing. Of course, it went on for days for him, not 13 minutes.
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
British and Americans attempt to take bridges into Holland, but German Panzers repel them.
An all-star cast, including many who fought in the war, based on a true story and huge book by Cornelius Ryan, does a good job of showing the battle from a lot of perspectives. To me, it seems "Wan honest story, in that the good guys don't always win; they just have the sense to live to fight another day. The personal meaning to me is that a great friend of my parents, Moffatt Burris, fought there, portrayed as "Major Cook" by Robert Redford. My father-in-law, a MSgt who landed at Omaha Beach, rolled up there as reinforcements, but only in time to join the retreat.
The Best Years of Their Lives (1946)
It is set in 1946, as the war ends and three men return home to a rather small, nameless town in America. The film is another masterpiece by Billy Wilder, fooling the viewer by being rather low-key, but covering so much experience so quickly, capturing the difficulties of trying to adjust to a "normal" life which has left them behind, and conquering it by being honest about who they have become. Wilder had just returned from the war himself, where he was a Major in the US Army Air Corps in Europe, and struggling personally to fit back into Hollywood.
We Were Soldiers Once and Young
Real battle, real soldiers, nothing but combat, wall to wall.
Read the book, too.
Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
The script is from a novel, but the novel is set in real events: the daytime bombing of Germany by the USAAC 8th Air Force. Instead of dealing with the actual near mutiny of General Curtis LeMay over the loss of a quarter of his crews on each mission, it focuses on one bomber group and the officers trying do fool themselves into thinking they can straighten things out by being better leaders than the men they remove and demote. Gregory Peck, as the confident Brigadier General Frank Savage, learns that the horse he was going to break, is breaking him. Again, actors who are veterans and can get into the roles.
