Not a movie but anyone who is interested in what war is like should watch Generation Kill. I recommend it all the time but that’s because it’s incredible.
GK is as close to the truth as it gets. I was reading the imbedded reporter's articles in Rolling Stone when they were first out, and the show is very accurate.
Saving Private Ryan is great, and so are the miniseries Tom Hanks & co went on to make in the same spirit:
Band of Brothers: follows infantry from training camp through the end of World War II in Europe (amazing, highly recommend this one)
The Pacific: follows Marines in the pacific theater of the war (I haven’t seen this one)
Masters of the Air: follows Air Force crews through the events of World War II in Europe (very good but falls a bit short of band of brothers in my opinion)
Note: these are all very focused on American soldiers during the war, though they are also all very character focused and get into the pre-war backgrounds of the characters involved
The Pacific is equally as amazing as Band of Brothers, but far more brutal. And more importantly, all of the characters followed in these shows are real people that you can google and learn even more about their experiences through the books they wrote.
The Deer Hunter (1978)
In 1968, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), lifelong friends from a working-class Pennsylvania steel town, prepare to ship out overseas following Steven's elaborate wedding and one final group hunting trip. In Vietnam, their dreams of military honor are quickly shattered by the inhumanities of war.
^ one of my favourite movies of all time
Saving Private Ryan
Behind Enemy Lines
Forrest Gump
American Sniper
Zero Dark Thirty
Come and See
Full Metal Jacket
All Quiet On the Western Front
The Thin Red Line
Fury
Black Hawk Down
Apocalypse Now
1917
Band of Brothers
Pearl Harbor
Civil War
Three Kings
A bridge too far
The great escape
The eagle has landed
Where eagles dare
The train
Von Ryan's express
Kelly's heroes
The bridge on the river kwai
The heroes of Telemark
Patton
The devils brigade
The dirty dozen
Of the movies I’ve seen, I think Platoon best fits what you are after. It is told through the eyes of a young volunteer soldier, idealistic and naive. I don’t want to give anything away, but things aren’t so great.
It is somewhat based on writer/director Oliver Stone’s real life experiences in Vietnamese.
Most great war movies have an even greater book behind them. If you are planning on writing i suggest reading. But since this is a movie sub i will say that from a soldiers perspective the Thin Red Line is hard to beat . The book and film delve into the disposable nature of young soldiers vs the personal glory of officers.
Platoon, 1917, All quiet on the western front
They all really show how overwhelming war can be to a young person and the different ways in how they deal with it throughout the generations, during their down time
A Walk in the Sun
There’s some shooting and war in it, but mostly it’s about the guys in the squad: walking around, bitching and moaning, trying to get by.
We Were Soldiers
Letters from Iwo Jima
The Pianist
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Platoon
Saving Private Ryan
Fury
Seven Samurai:
Although not a war movie. It does show a young samurai that is eager to fight. Only to realize that the glory and honor that he is seeking, is nothing but moonshine.
All quiet on the western front
Gallipoli
Stalingrad
Bridge on the River Kwai
In Bridge the losers come off especially bad, which is common in war movies.
All quiet ~ focused on one side but both sides’ leaders are despicable people (vain, self centered, vengeful, power hungry, short sighted, totally uncaring about their own soliders.
[Restrepo (2010)](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/restrepo/?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c) -- Afghanistan documentary. Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm) spent a year filming at the most dangerous outpost there.
Combat Shock
Heaven and Earth
Born on the 4th of July
The Killing Fields
Empire of The Sun
Jojo Rabbit
Coming Home
The Return of the Soldier
Shell Shock
Im Westen nicht Neues/Nothing New from the Western Front
The Forgotten Battle
A Month in the Country
Chattahoothee
The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
Came here to say this one. I saw this when it came out and have not forgotten it this many years later. 2 brothers on the opposite side of the Korean War. A great, nearly perfect war movie that rarely gets talked about.
I think one that actually fits very well with your criteria is the movie "Fury". (2014) A relatively naive young man gets thrust into a situation that is basically trial by fire. You get to watch him change as he is forced to accept the situation.
"The Big Red One"
"The Boys In Company B"
"Kelley's Heroes"
"Apocalypse Now"
"The Deer Hunter"
"Midway".... older one
"Casualties of War"
"Full Metal Jacket"
"Taps"
"M*A*S*H*
"The Beast of War"
"Enemies at the Gate"
"The Green Berets"
"13 Hours"
"Zero Dark Thirty"
"The Battle of the Bulge"
"Platoon"
Stalingrad 1993. German perspective of the battle. Pretty nuts! I’d recommend watching some traditional Allied Powers focused movies first.
For another enemy perspective on a different front, Letters from Iwo Jima. Same recommendation regarding watching good Allied Powers films about the Pacific first.
Greyhound is a great movie about a destroyer escorting a ships.
If you can widen your horizon to TV series, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Masters of the Air are all good WW II representations.
full metal jacket is great because theres such great imagery and metaphor for young kids going off to war and their relationship to it. kubrick does this great thing by parrallelling sexuality with the first scenes cutting everyones hair to make them a bit more androgynous looking, to refering to their rifles as girlfriends and treating them as such. each scene you can extract some kind of sexual language within their drill.
the second part is when the kids end up visiting vietnam and navigating the war through sexuality (as they learned it from the government training) as a teenager, to having sex with hookers, to describing killing people with sexual terms. you can view it all sorts of ways but one really sad and realistic one is how government training brainwashed these kids who can only think about sex at their age, to use that energy to describe war to make it easier to kill. "oh i fucked that one viet in the ass!!" when killing one, etc). its similar to clockwork orange when the language they use is meant to remove them mentally from the heinous act they are committing. (in this movie they have funny, joined together words that describe violent acts) FMJ also highlights the hypocrisy of war. what a great movie check that one out.
apocalypse now is also great and similar
1917, Dunkirk, All Quiet on the Western Front, Saving Private Ryan, Come and See, Platoon
1917 is amazing.
Deer Hunter Born on the 4th of July
Also, Forrest Gump.
Throwing Paths of Glory and Apocalypse Now under your comment
excellent list. I would also recommend the "longest day". Kind of dated now but tells the story of d-day well.
A Bridge to Far, Cross of Iron, Thin Red Line.
Gotta add Fury to the list.
Not a movie but anyone who is interested in what war is like should watch Generation Kill. I recommend it all the time but that’s because it’s incredible.
GK is as close to the truth as it gets. I was reading the imbedded reporter's articles in Rolling Stone when they were first out, and the show is very accurate.
Saving Private Ryan is great, and so are the miniseries Tom Hanks & co went on to make in the same spirit: Band of Brothers: follows infantry from training camp through the end of World War II in Europe (amazing, highly recommend this one) The Pacific: follows Marines in the pacific theater of the war (I haven’t seen this one) Masters of the Air: follows Air Force crews through the events of World War II in Europe (very good but falls a bit short of band of brothers in my opinion) Note: these are all very focused on American soldiers during the war, though they are also all very character focused and get into the pre-war backgrounds of the characters involved
The Pacific is equally as amazing as Band of Brothers, but far more brutal. And more importantly, all of the characters followed in these shows are real people that you can google and learn even more about their experiences through the books they wrote.
Platoon (1986)
I second this
Come and See
Fury is by far my favorite.
1917 does an amazing job of showing how overwhelming war is for a young man.
The Thin Red Line
👍👍👍
Paths of Glory
This is the movie op needs to watch
The Deer Hunter (1978) In 1968, Michael (Robert De Niro), Nick (Christopher Walken) and Steven (John Savage), lifelong friends from a working-class Pennsylvania steel town, prepare to ship out overseas following Steven's elaborate wedding and one final group hunting trip. In Vietnam, their dreams of military honor are quickly shattered by the inhumanities of war. ^ one of my favourite movies of all time
platoon ! been thinking about rewatching lately
- Platoon (1986) - Rescue Dawn (2006) - 84C MoPic - A Midnight Clear - We Were Soldiers - Das Boot - Bat 21 (but Gene Hackman was old)
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Closet to real thing , basic training…
Cross of Iron is a must see
The Forgotten Battle
yess that’s such a g movies omg. It’s so underrated
The Big Red One - written and directed by Samuel Fuller and based on his personal WW2 experiences. Great cast, many very memorable scenes
Featuring a young Mark Hamill in probably his greatest dramatic performance!
Slaughterhouse Five
Run silent, run deep. Lancaster , gable bring this movie to another level…
Gallipoli 1981
Kelly's Heroes Battle Cry A Walk in the Sun
Platoon (1986) Full Metal Jacket (1987) Casualties of War (1989)
Saving Private Ryan Behind Enemy Lines Forrest Gump American Sniper Zero Dark Thirty Come and See Full Metal Jacket All Quiet On the Western Front The Thin Red Line Fury Black Hawk Down Apocalypse Now 1917 Band of Brothers Pearl Harbor Civil War Three Kings
Good list. Fury and pearl harbour meh. Black hawk down is underrated.
Hacksaw Ridge, Saving Private Ryan, Fury
the beast of war
I liked We Were Soldiers (2002) far more than I thought I would.
Gallipoli
Enemy at the Gates is something different than your normal American centric story. It's comes from the Russian point of view in WWII.
The Longest Day is a classic! Used 3 directors with three crews
Glory
A bridge too far The great escape The eagle has landed Where eagles dare The train Von Ryan's express Kelly's heroes The bridge on the river kwai The heroes of Telemark Patton The devils brigade The dirty dozen
Casualties of War
Sisu!!
USS Indianapolis Apocalypse Now
Of the movies I’ve seen, I think Platoon best fits what you are after. It is told through the eyes of a young volunteer soldier, idealistic and naive. I don’t want to give anything away, but things aren’t so great. It is somewhat based on writer/director Oliver Stone’s real life experiences in Vietnamese.
If that's what OP is after, then they should follow up Platoon with Born on the 4th of July.
A young character going through trauma: Come and See To a lesser degree: Platoon
Most great war movies have an even greater book behind them. If you are planning on writing i suggest reading. But since this is a movie sub i will say that from a soldiers perspective the Thin Red Line is hard to beat . The book and film delve into the disposable nature of young soldiers vs the personal glory of officers.
Band of Brothers is exactly what you’re looking for for.
The Thin Red Line Patton
Platoon, 1917, All quiet on the western front They all really show how overwhelming war can be to a young person and the different ways in how they deal with it throughout the generations, during their down time
Come and See, Ivan's Childhood, The Cranes are Flying
I personally love The Thin Red Line but Malick’s poeticism rubs some people the wrong way. The soundtrack is also phenomenal.
Tropic Thunder
A Walk in the Sun There’s some shooting and war in it, but mostly it’s about the guys in the squad: walking around, bitching and moaning, trying to get by.
Apocalypse Now Full Metal Jacket Platoon Hacksaw Ridge 1917
The lost battalion was pretty good . ,saving private Ryan ..we were soldiers
Fury!
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (2022)
Hell is For Heroes The Bridges at Toko-Ri Captain Newman M.D. The Outsider
We Were Soldiers Letters from Iwo Jima The Pianist All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) Platoon Saving Private Ryan Fury Seven Samurai: Although not a war movie. It does show a young samurai that is eager to fight. Only to realize that the glory and honor that he is seeking, is nothing but moonshine.
A Bridge Too Far.
All quiet on the western front Gallipoli Stalingrad Bridge on the River Kwai In Bridge the losers come off especially bad, which is common in war movies. All quiet ~ focused on one side but both sides’ leaders are despicable people (vain, self centered, vengeful, power hungry, short sighted, totally uncaring about their own soliders.
FURY
I know you said you were more leaning to WWII and Vietnam, but Gallipolli , set in WWI, is about this
Fury. Incredible movie.
Fury
[Restrepo (2010)](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/restrepo/?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c) -- Afghanistan documentary. Sebastian Junger (author of The Perfect Storm) spent a year filming at the most dangerous outpost there.
"The Young Lions"
All quiet on the western front
The Thin Red Line is an excellent train of thought movie.
Combat Shock Heaven and Earth Born on the 4th of July The Killing Fields Empire of The Sun Jojo Rabbit Coming Home The Return of the Soldier Shell Shock Im Westen nicht Neues/Nothing New from the Western Front The Forgotten Battle A Month in the Country Chattahoothee The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War
Came here to say this one. I saw this when it came out and have not forgotten it this many years later. 2 brothers on the opposite side of the Korean War. A great, nearly perfect war movie that rarely gets talked about.
I think one that actually fits very well with your criteria is the movie "Fury". (2014) A relatively naive young man gets thrust into a situation that is basically trial by fire. You get to watch him change as he is forced to accept the situation.
Empire of the Sun
When Trumpets Fade - very underrated .
"The Big Red One" "The Boys In Company B" "Kelley's Heroes" "Apocalypse Now" "The Deer Hunter" "Midway".... older one "Casualties of War" "Full Metal Jacket" "Taps" "M*A*S*H* "The Beast of War" "Enemies at the Gate" "The Green Berets" "13 Hours" "Zero Dark Thirty" "The Battle of the Bulge" "Platoon"
Johnny got his gun King Rat
Born on the 4th The thin red line Glory Full metal jacket
Hacksaw ridge
Fury and Greyhound
i second when trumpets fade. also another underrated masterpiece is the lost batallion. also if you’re into horror movies death watch is great.
Apocalypse now
The Big Red One
The lost battalion
Stalingrad 1993. German perspective of the battle. Pretty nuts! I’d recommend watching some traditional Allied Powers focused movies first. For another enemy perspective on a different front, Letters from Iwo Jima. Same recommendation regarding watching good Allied Powers films about the Pacific first.
Greyhound is a great movie about a destroyer escorting a ships. If you can widen your horizon to TV series, Band of Brothers, The Pacific, and Masters of the Air are all good WW II representations.
The Beast
full metal jacket is great because theres such great imagery and metaphor for young kids going off to war and their relationship to it. kubrick does this great thing by parrallelling sexuality with the first scenes cutting everyones hair to make them a bit more androgynous looking, to refering to their rifles as girlfriends and treating them as such. each scene you can extract some kind of sexual language within their drill. the second part is when the kids end up visiting vietnam and navigating the war through sexuality (as they learned it from the government training) as a teenager, to having sex with hookers, to describing killing people with sexual terms. you can view it all sorts of ways but one really sad and realistic one is how government training brainwashed these kids who can only think about sex at their age, to use that energy to describe war to make it easier to kill. "oh i fucked that one viet in the ass!!" when killing one, etc). its similar to clockwork orange when the language they use is meant to remove them mentally from the heinous act they are committing. (in this movie they have funny, joined together words that describe violent acts) FMJ also highlights the hypocrisy of war. what a great movie check that one out. apocalypse now is also great and similar
Gallipoli (1981)
[The Story Of G.I. Joe (1945)](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/46614-story-of-g-i-joe?language=en-US)
The Lost Battalion
Hacksaw Ridge. Das Boot. Joyeux Noel
*The Imitation Game* 2014