What movie started your love of war movies

[peter]

The Longest Day, it came on TV one lovely june evening, me being 8 years old. My mother allowed me to stay up late to watch the movie and I'm having an interest in WW2 and militaria ever since!

[J_Andrews]

BEFORE any MOVIE made me snap, there was TV.

 

Saturday mornings (circa 1953) my mother would get me out bed by announcing "Ten minutes til "The Big Picture"!"

[cutiger83]

BEFORE any MOVIE made me snap, there was TV.

 

Saturday mornings (circa 1953) my mother would get me out bed by announcing "Ten minutes til "The Big Picture"!"

 

What was "The Big Picture"? .....Kat

[sgtdorango]

It has to be "To Hell and Back" with Audie Murphy and also Kellys Heroes and The Longest Day...but i can remember To Hell and Back being the "one"!!.....mike :thumbsup:

[General Apathy]

 

 

It has to be "To Hell and Back" with Audie Murphy and also Kellys Heroes and The Longest Day...but i can remember To Hell and Back being the "one"!!.....mike :thumbsup:

 

 

Hi Mike, here you go, the film that started your ' neurosis collectomania ' :thumbsup:

 

lewis

[craig_pickrall]

What was "The Big Picture"? .....Kat

 

 

This was a half hour show that usually ran on Saturday mornings. It was produced by the Army Signal Corps and used great film footage from the Army archives. Each show would cover one particular subject. It may be anything from a battle to even the newest truck or tank.

[cutiger83]

This was a half hour show that usually ran on Saturday mornings. It was produced by the Army Signal Corps and used great film footage from the Army archives. Each show would cover one particular subject. It may be anything from a battle to even the newest truck or tank.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I would have gotten out of bed early on a Saturday for that too!....Kat

[BOLO]

The GREEN BERETS starring John Wayne has been a long time favorite

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsBSqrU-vz8...feature=related

[Sabrejet]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know if any new war movies are currently in production? TV seems to be the preferred medium with series like "B.0.B" and "The Pacific". I suppose the last "big" war picture was the dire "Valkyrie" with a mis-cast Tom Cruise and a bunch of mainly British character actors who were also mis-cast, in my humble opinion!

 

Sabrejet :thumbdown:

[General Apathy]

As a matter of interest, does anyone know if any new war movies are currently in production? TV seems to be the preferred medium with series like "B.0.B" and "The Pacific". I suppose the last "big" war picture was the dire "Valkyrie" with a mis-cast Tom Cruise and a bunch of mainly British character actors who were also mis-cast, in my humble opinion!

 

Sabrejet :thumbdown:

 

 

Hi Ian, regarding the 2008 movie ' Valkyrie ' then Eddie Izzard stars as German General Erich Fellgiebel.

 

During the 60th commemorations of D-Day a friends father was attending the anniversary events in Normandy as he was a British navy veteran serving on landing craft on D-day and had been a fund raiser for a memorial on the beaches to the British navy men involved in D-Day, these men landed both British and American troops.

 

During the ferry trip from England to France he was recognised as being a veteran and engaged in conversation by Eddie Izzard who is deeply interested in the history and events of WWII. Eddie spoke with him for most of the time aboard the ferry and again when landed, he also attended the unveiling of the monument.

 

My friends father passed away two years ago and a ceremony was arranged for scattering his ashes off the Normandy beaches from the cargo area of an amphibious WWII DUKW vehicle, Eddie Izzard had become a close friend in the few years from meeting on the ferry until my friends fathers death, he joined the family aboard the DUKW for the ashes ceremony.

 

I have a DVD copy of Valkyrie and there is a second disc of extras about the making of the film, Tom Cruise gives great credit to Eddie Izzard for his extensive knowledge of WWII events and history.

 

ken

[vicjoy1945]

Hi Kat, crikey, your father was watching a movie while waiting for you to be born, in England I think expectant fathers sit and watch moths flying around light bulbs, I don't recall there being any television or movies. :crying:

 

Ken

 

Hey Ken !

 

Not nowadays...I was in the delivery room for my daughter...it was the Doc, a nurse, the wife and me.

 

For my son it was a bit different...it was only me and the wife...I delivered him in our bathroom !!

 

Wasn't planning on that !!

 

Vic

[General Apathy]

Hey Ken !

 

Not nowadays...I was in the delivery room for my daughter...it was the Doc, a nurse, the wife and me.

 

For my son it was a bit different...it was only me and the wife...I delivered him in our bathroom !!

 

Wasn't planning on that !!

 

Vic

 

Hi Vic, well it sounds like you were in the right place for the delivery, plenty of hot water, towels and scales to record the weight once born, master stroke.

 

Also a suitable recepticle for you to up-chuck in should it all have got too much for you.

 

Pleased it all worked out well for your wife, you and a healthy son was born, but ................... put more planning into the next four. :thumbsup:

 

ken

[Sabrejet]

Hi Ian, regarding the 2008 movie ' Valkyrie ' then Eddie Izzard stars as German General Erich Fellgiebel.

 

During the 60th commemorations of D-Day a friends father was attending the anniversary events in Normandy as he was a British navy veteran serving on landing craft on D-day and had been a fund raiser for a memorial on the beaches to the British navy men involved in D-Day, these men landed both British and American troops.

 

During the ferry trip from England to France he was recognised as being a veteran and engaged in conversation by Eddie Izzard who is deeply interested in the history and events of WWII. Eddie spoke with him for most of the time aboard the ferry and again when landed, he also attended the unveiling of the monument.

 

My friends father passed away two years ago and a ceremony was arranged for scattering his ashes off the Normandy beaches from the cargo area of an amphibious WWII DUKW vehicle, Eddie Izzard had become a close friend in the few years from meeting on the ferry until my friends fathers death, he joined the family aboard the DUKW for the ashes ceremony.

 

I have a DVD copy of Valkyrie and there is a second disc of extras about the making of the film, Tom Cruise gives great credit to Eddie Izzard for his extensive knowledge of WWII events and history.

 

ken

 

 

That's an interesting tale Ken. I much prefer Eddie now that he's ditched the frocks and make-up! (Still couldn't accept him as a Nazi general though!)

 

Ian :thumbsup:

[45ACP]

Wasn't a movie or TV but living the first 15 years of my life on various Army bases. As a soldiers son. Watched "Combat", "Hogans Heros" & "12 O'Clock High" with him on TV. Also watched "Back To Bataan", Airforce" & "Objective Burma" with him on TV. I was 10 before I realized all the men in the world didn't get dress in green suits and boots to go to work everyday.

[45ACP]

That is one of my favorite scenes. Makes you kind of proud to be an American.

 

 

The GREEN BERETS starring John Wayne has been a long time favorite

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsBSqrU-vz8...feature=related

[dropbear68]

Movies that did it for me? crikey theres so many there the only movies I watch, couldnt name just one so heres a few of my favs

PT109, They Were Expendable, Midway (my all time fav seen over 300 times) Tora Tora Tora, Objective Burma, Gallipoli, Odd Angry Shot, Guns of Navarone, Dirty Doz, Kellys Heroes, Ive seen all these watch them over and over again, drives my wife and kids absolutely bonkers.

[303lithgow]

1. Hell is for Heroes with Steve McQueen

2. The Great Escape with Steve McQeen

3. The Sand Pebble with Steve McQeen

[Doc4158]

My grandfather was a big Audie Murphey fan, he had a lot of his movies recorded on VHS. I remember spending two weeks with him and my grandmother when my parents went on a trip. He sat down with me and we started watching Audie Murphey movies, Guns of Fort Petticoat and Joe butterfly were great, but once To Hell and Back came on I was amazed by it. When my grandfather passed away 2 yrs later my grandmother gave me all the vhs, I continued to watch them into the DVD age of now. I now have To Hell and Back on dvd, want to find Joe Butterlfy.

I guess I can thank my grandfather for my love of War movies hahaha.

[willysmb44]

I remember the sound at the opening of Midway as well (saw it in an old 1930s movie theater that has long since been torn down, sadly), probably the first war movie I saw in a theater. I now recognize it was a so-so movie, ripped off from other films, but that opening sequence as a kid blew me away. Me and my best friend played, "B-25 bomb run" in the school bus going to elementary school a lot that year.

Guns of Navarone was impressive to me as a kid because even when it was airing on TV and I was just a kid, I knew enough about artillery to recognize they did a darned good job on the gun mount mockups for the sets. But the rest of the movie was too boring for someone my age.

We also saw, "Force Ten from navarone" as a kid but I didn't get all the plot twists. I mostly remembered the ending and Robert Shaw saying, "We have a long walk home" at the end.

I was too young for my parents to let me see "A Bridge Too Far" and I was ticked about that. But when I was 18, I got to walk the bridge at Deventer and walked up the same stairs that the Brit flame thrower team went up in the movie. Odd as it may seem, that was more impressive to me than going over the real bridge (I guess because the real bridge had long sionce replaced the one fought over in 1944). To this day, I'm glad I the foresight to look up the town when I was in Holland! I was surprised to see that the Red Devil house set was actually a parking lot and I read later that's what it was when they filmed the movie as well, I had assumed at th time that was a real house they destroyed for the filming.

I still watch that movie on DVD from time to time and it's one of my favorites, still have the time-life magazine dedicated to the making of the movie that I bought from the local store as a kid (even though I didn't get the see the movie until it came out on TV much later).

[Jack's Son]

Okay........."The Incredible Mr. Limpet."

You finally got it out of me! :w00t:

[Garandomatic]

Interesting 4th page! A few things...

 

1st, I hope my kid isn't delivered anywhere NEAR the bathroom... I get to think about that for the next couple months, great!

 

2nd, Eddie Izzard. Interesting, you learn something every day.

 

3rd, Steve McQueen is the man. I like 'em all, but prefer Never So Few starring with the Chairman of the Board when we are talking McQueen WWII films. I got sick this summer and happened into an AMC McQueen marathon. I didn't get crap done!

 

4th, the movie that got me was TANK with James Garner. I was 4. It was a Sherman tank. Then I read about Pearl Harbor when I was 8, was mad for a couple years, and was well on my way. To be honest, "1941" has a lot to do with it, too. Been a Belushi fan since the age of 8. Goofy though it may have been, I love it. Kelly's Heroes is a major favorite, too.

[jkash23686]

Band of brothers was the first series / movie for me. Then I saw Tora Tora Tora and was hooked. But as a kid I would always ask my grandfather who was a Sea Bee in Okinawa what it was like but he would never tell me too much. I just got bits an pieces. But when I started collecting he laughed at me and said:

 

"I wish i knew this way back when my helmet was all but unused and Japanese flags, guns and helmets and threw them in the San Fran Bay since I was sick of lugging them around."

 

When I asked him why it was unused he said:

 

"Since i was a delivering things to the front most of the time the only thing that attacked me was a zero here and there, and i figured screw it why wear this thing, if that's whats shooting at me this thing ain't gonna help."

 

All i could do was shake my head and smile at him

[sprprops]

I know im dating myself here but it was SPR lol. I had seen The Longest Day etc. before but SPR brought it all into focus.

 

BTW Steve McQueen in Bullitt really made me want to get a Black 68 Dodge Charger (not the mustang). Alas I got a Dodge Challenger instead.

[rosieres64]

A Walk In The Sun ..... was great.

[kammo-man]

ZULU .

 

Closing scene .

 

 

The Zulus praising their Victors , just stunning .