Huckleberries Online

M&M: War Is Hard To Portay On Film

Posted by DFO

Dec. 12, 2009 6:10 a.m. • 5 comments

It took me a long time to learn to appreciate films about Vietnam. I was a child of the 1950s, and I grew up with the mostly jingoistic studies of that era: “To Hell and Back,” “The Sands of Iwo Jima,” “God Is My Copilot,” “30 Seconds Over Tokyo,” “Sergeant York,” “Back to Bataan,” “Objective, Burma!” and so on. These war films of my childhood were, generally speaking, actioned-oriented. Only a few of them - “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “The Best Years of Our Lives” - asked questions bigger that those involving courage, loyalty and the obligations of duty. The Vietnam films, though, were different. They did ask those questions. In the ‘60s, most of us did. And it made the films more … difficult. Easier to appreciate as art, maybe, but hard to embrace emotionally. Did I want to put my arms around “The Deer Hunter,” for example, or “Apocalypse Now”? Not really. Same for “Platoon” and “Born on the Fourth of July,” “Go Tell the Spartans” and “Hamburger Hill”/Dan Webster, Movies & More. More here.

Question: Which war movie is your favorite? Why?

Five comments on this post so far. Add yours!

poolman on December 12 at 1:15 p.m.
1) Apocalypse Now – Brando, Sheen, Hopper, Duval, Ford, Fishburn, Cappola. based on a classic book “Heart of Darkness”. Maybe the best line in the history of movies – “I love the smell of napalm in the morning, it smells like, victory”.

2) The Deer hunter. Russian roulette scene with De Nero and Walkin is one of the edgiest ever put down on film.

3) (tie) Born on the 4th of July, Forrest Gump, Platoon.
spokelooneh on December 12 at 10:47 p.m.
Poolman’s picks are good. I remember driving 75 miles to see the premier of Platoon, and it didn’t disappoint, and I was completely stunned after seeing it, I couldn’t even talk.

My favorite WWII war movie pictures are Catch-22, just absolutely brilliant, biting, and hilarious, Kelly’s Heroes (“You never said nuthin about no Tigers”), and The Great Escape, with its all star cast and bittersweet ending.
Stickman on December 13 at 9:36 a.m.
I like poolman’s third choice, Forrest Gump. Though not considered a war movie as such, it sure brought things back for me as I was there at the same time his character was and a lot of the movie has a lot to do with his experiences in Vietnam.
JohnA on December 13 at 2:29 p.m.
‘Patton’ remains the best war movie, I think, because it changed the way we looked at war, from the standpoint of the generals instead of the soldiers.

‘The Bridges at Toko Ri’ was significant because it dealt with a reserve officer called back to duty for Korea, sacrificing his cushy post-WWII life. As my father was also called back for Korea, I can attest to the costs of that sacrifice on his family.

Finally, ‘The Bridge on the River Kwai’ was remarkable for portraying the unending British resolve, even to the point of folly, in the face of insufferable conditions imposed on POWs by the Japanese.

Great war movies about our ‘Greatest Generation’.
Arpie on December 13 at 8:40 p.m.
I have been watching War movies with my 14 year old son for the past year. Trying to expose him to the realities of war. We have watched Saving Private Ryan and The Patriot. I just added Patton to my netflix list as I remember enjoying it when it came out.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.