MEMORIAL DAY POLL
It's time for another Memorial Day film - now, if you don't see titles like Taking Chance, Glory, Saving Private Ryan, Hacksaw Ridge etc - make sure it's not already on the channel!
this is a mix of older and newer movies - vote for your favorites.
Comments (42)
My brother knew soldiers depicted in Blackhawk Down. Pretty accurate. Band of Brothers is excellent as well. Both of my brothers are in a soldier POV movie called "This is War" (debuted in Hollywood) & in the book "The Devil's Sandbox" by John Bruening. 4th Gen Vet (non-combat, Korean linguist), w/ 5th Gen serving currently. Gma was among 1st women Marines in WWII! ❤️
I've not seen any if the above.
“Best Years” is a fantastic Oscar winning movie. I wish I could win a poll but I think it lacks the name recognition to win over more recent movies.
*'Fortunate Son' intensifies* o7
The Hurt Locker is also an amazing film. But I'm glad to see Born on the Fourth of July up there in votes. I think it's one of the only Tom cruise movies I haven't seen (Magnolia being another). Also, The Darkest Hour is really great though it does look at WW2 from the British side. Still worth a watch though.
You are right about "The Hurt Locker". It was so well done and such a fine film that when I watched it (on cable I think), and because I came in after it started, I thought it must be a documentary!
"Born" and "Best Years" are hands down most in theme
Band of Brothers is awesome. I love the interviews with the actual Easy Company soldiers.
I'll throw this into the conversation..... The War at Home directed by and starring Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen (his father) and Kathy Bates.
Who is this poll for?
For U.S. Military Veterans, one might say. The question is not who but rather "What?" What is Memorial Day for? Answer: It is a federal holiday for mourning U.S. Military personnel who served in the U.S. Military. Mostly for those who died. The first version of Memorial Day was known as "Decoration Day" to honor Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. Thus some movie choices in this "Memorial Day Poll" are War or Battle Movies like "Patton" (1970); "We Were Soldiers" (2002); Black Hawk Down (2001); "1917" (2019) and "Letters from Iwo Jima" (2006) which focuses more on the Japanese view of those battles. The remaining films are about Veterans returning home from military service like "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946): Born on the Fourth of July (1989); and "Coming Home" (1978). All are emotional and sad, but I think the Sam Goldwyn's drama "The Best Years of Our Lives" is (IMO) the least traumatic and was created for entertainment while inspiring thoughtfulness in humanity while (like all of the choices) delivering important history lessons for us. "The Best Years" also won 9 Academy Awards, including Best Motion Picture and had huge commercial success.
My brother knew soldiers involved in this. Mostly accurate. The Devil's Sandbox book is a historical tribute to real experiences in Afghanistan involving my brothers' unit. My older brother grad HS '90 & immediately was sent into the 1st Gulf war (Iraq), then returned for Afghanistan w/ my younger brother as well. 4th Gen veteran w/5th Gen serving.
Born on the 4th of July should be for Independence Day
You must be thinking of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942) which could be a Memorial Day movie, a Fourth of July movie or a movie about old Broadway, Hollywood and movie making as it is a bio film about James M. Cohan (his statute is in Times Square NYC) and could also be classified as a musical. "Born on the Fourth of July" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" share the common feature of the main character having been born on the Fourth of July. I would say the film "Born on the Fourth of July" would only be slightly related to Independence Day.
I voted for "Patton", "We Were Soldiers Once" and then "The Best Years of Our Lives". In that order. I think they are the top tier of this group of fine movies. They are the true Classics. They are better in all regards. Better movies, better stories, better scripts, better actors, terrific acting, better History, more objective truth and more truth that people need to know than opinion. I am terribly fond of "The Great Escape" (1963), "The Longest Day" (1962), "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) and these should be on a poll sometime. On December 7th, Ashleigh can see "Tora' Tora, Tora" (1970) followed by " Pearl Harbor" (2001) but I think they should be seen in that order. (Unless she is just going for romance, then "Pearl Harbor" works.) Apart from the strictly War movies is the romance drama Musical "South Pacific" Other related classics include the comedy-drama "Mister Roberts" (1955), "The Sand Pebbles" et al. For July 4th, the Musical "1776" or the romance -Drama "The Patriot" are also must see movies.
Duck Soup anyone? A great war movie, no?
As much as I am not a Tom Cruise fan I loved Born on the Fourth of July
Band of Brothers needs to be on Wednesdays after ST is done!
No love for the GWOT and it's warriors? Two excellent movies for your consideration. 'Warfare', set in Iraq in 2006. Or maybe 'The Outpost' (Battle of Kamdesh), Afghanistan 2009.
Gone With the Wind, definitely!
Iirc, Letters from Iwo Jima is a sort of partner film with Flags of Our Fathers -- they were initially going to be a single film, but were instead split to show separate POVs of the same battle. Flags of Our Fathers covers the American perspective, while Letters from Iwo Jima focuses on the Japanese perspective.
Didn't Ashleigh already watch We Were Soldiers?
NO but She needs to See it. Like "Patton", I think every American needs to see "We Were Soldiers Once"
Still rooting for the musical 1776 for our 4th of July celebration. The actor who played John Adams is still alive. Not sure how old he is, late 90s 97? 98? 99? His wife is also in her late 90s. For Ashleigh, he was the dad of Benjamin in the Graduate. When I taught US history, I'd always play snippets of the movie and then go on and elaborate regarding other historical facts.
He was also Mr Feeney on Boy Meets World
The Best Years of Our Lives was made by people who had lived through the war for audiences who had lived through the was. It is a great and authentic film. The fact that it beat It's a Wonderful Life" at the Oscars should give some clue as to its quality.
So my retired Marine fella helped me pick my movie votes this time. He says The Best Years of Our Lives and We Were Soldiers are the best of bunch.
I wish 1776 was part of this. I don’t see if you’ve done that
It should be for the 4th of July, especially to celebrate America’s 250th Birthday!
Now I'm just thinking about how I want Ashleigh to watch Once Were Warriors...
Ohhh great list. I'm going to go with 1917 because of the way it was shot. My second vote will be Black Hawk Down even though it's hard to watch.
The Best Years of Our Lives was a very tricky film to make right in the aftermath of WWII. Most of the feeling, especially in film and radio, was overwhelming optimism and celebration that evil in the world had been vanquished. This film didn't share that sentiment. It was very unusual for a major Hollywood film to deal with PTSD, and the very real physical, emotional, and psychological toll people like my grandfather had to endure when they came home. This isn't a "rah-rah," jingoistic exercise. It is realistic. I really hope people pick this one.
Harold Russell who received an Academy Award for his role in The Best Years of Our Lives was a real WW2 Army vet (although he plays a Navy-man in the film) and actually had the disability that he portrays in the film. Later he had to sell his Oscar for $60k to pay for his wife's medical bills...the Academy offered to buy it back from him for a measly $1, how crappy is that? This is a really good film. I know it won't win the poll, but I truly hope Ashleigh will watch it some day because it is so good. I saw it when I was a kid and even then I thought the film was done very well. My dad was in the Navy and was at Pearl Harbor when it was attacked.
The Best Years Of Our Lives is a genuine classic. It really deserves to be polling higher.
One of the finest films of all time.
It’s time you watch “Band of Brothers”.
It's the best WWII series out there. Great suggestion.
Man, I’d love to see We Were Soldiers win or even Black Hawk Down is great. I liked 1917 but it’s definitely not the best movie on this list. It’s just newer so I’m sure more people have seen it.
Tough one - but I went for 1917 simply because there are so few good WW1 films out there... My second choice would be Patton...
Is anyone else wondering what happened to the Chuck Norris poll
The Chuck poll got deleted because alot of people were pissed over Chuck having been a horrible person and not deserving of mourning or celebration.
While 1917 was 'good', it was a bit annoying to watch because there is just *so* much CGI in the film. It's almost distracting!