War Movies Blog

Classic movies are not always those that are very old, those that are made with greatest skill, had the best screenplay or the best cast. Classics are those movies that after the years are still attractive and still are fondly remembered. And Red Dawn is one of such movies - it can hardly be called a masterpiece, it can hardly be called a deep and complexed story, but it was good enough so many people still enjoy it over 30 years later.

The war takes place at the front lines, in the occupied cities, but also in secluded places, where the soldiers captured by enemy are kept away until the conflict will end. There were several approaches to the theme of prisoners-of-war camp, f.e. Bridge on the River Kwai, Stalg 17, Rescue Dawn, The Password Is Courage, but Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence is completely different from all of them.

In 1960s and 1970s Italian cinema was full of innovative and challenging creators, but on the other side of the scope there were productions like The War Devils - cheap, simple and cheap. The magic formula was simple - take script of another movie, simplify it, add scenes taken from another movies, throw in some meaningless dialogues and some action scenes and voila - the Italian pulp dish is ready to be served.

In December 1944 Hitler put the fate of his nation in last bold operation - all the offensive units Wehrmacht had available were put together to push towards Antwerp in Belgium in order to break the flood of Allied forces to the continent. Since the German fuel supplies were really stretched the spearhead of the offensive through Ardennes could not waste time or effort on dealing with prisoners, which lead to SS-handled massacres in Malmedy and other Belgian villages.

During late 1960s and early 1970s American war movies took a turn to new direction - Hollywood seemed to be more interested in adventure flicks (in style of Italian low-budget productions) rather than stories based on true events. Films like Too Late the Hero or The Dirty Dozen had more in common with westerns than classic war movies.

World War 2 had many faces and inspired many movies - some of them showed the most spectacular events of the war, but The Caine Mutiny is not one of them - here we have the other type of war movies, the drama (almost chamber drama) that takes place on one of many warships on the Pacific away from the glorious battles, but not away from the drama of the war itself.

While their planes were called Flying Fortress American bomber crew members were as vulnerable to enemy fire as any other pilot in World War 2, a simple fact that US Air Force learned the hard way when they entered the war in Europe. The crews were traumatized by the heavy losses and look of the mutilated bodies of their friends after they had to face the enemy fighters and anti-aircraft guns over the targets.

War movie based on true events that depicts medieval battle with Brian Cox, James Purefoy and Paul Giamatti - sounds great, right? Of course it does - there were very little medieval times war movies lately, not to mention good ones.

Polish army supporting Red Army was pushing through their homeland making it hard for Wehrmacht to prepare defence lines. But even the best unit will not reach its targets when there is a jinx among the soldiers. At least that is what they believed while looking at Private Orzeszko, because everything the touched instantly turned into catastrophe not only for him, but also for the rest of his platoon.

There were many comedies situated on the edge of army, navy or airforce - all you need is someone not suitable to serve in the army and live weapons. Down Periscope is one of those movies that are made for fun only without any deeper meaning.