Top 10 War Films

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you know, this means war! Good morning, Vietnam!

Hey, this is not a test. This is rock and roll!

Time to rocket from the Delta to the DMZ! Is

that me or does that sound like an Elvis Presley

movie? Viva Da Nang! Oh, Viva Da Nang! Da Nang

me! Da Nang me! Why don't I get a robe and hang

me? Hey, is it a little too early for being that

loud? Hey, too late! It's 0600. What's the O

stand for? Oh my God, it's early. You got a war

face? Hello and welcome to GeekCast Radio Episode

43. This is the Top 10 War Films. I am one of

your hosts, TFJ and Mike. Joining me is Movie

Revolt Dan. Hello. Hello. Optimus Solo, hello.

The one and only. And from that Canadian sister

station of ours, this week in Geek .net, we have

Mike the Bitchman Dodd. Holy crap, it's the Birdman!

Oh boy, and we are here, as I said, to count

down the top ten war films here in GCR's top

ten film countdowns. Take it away, Kev. What

do you got for us this time around? Well, if

you've been following around with us as we go

through these top ten genres of top ten lists,

you've seen that we've done our top ten action

films already with Die Hard being number one.

We've done our top ten comedies with a surprise

number one there. Yeah, a lot of people were

in rage. What was it, Silvers? It ended up being

Spaceballs. Betrayal! But there was some good

stuff in there. I thought there was a good collection.

We had a little Jim Carrey, a little Adam Sandler,

a little Monty Python. I mean there was a good

selection there. We've had some people on the

website that I've obviously disagreed with the

list, but It's our list so the comedy comedy

is one of those that you kind of expect that

with because unlike like if you like war films

you like war films and Yes, there's different

types, but It's not like comedy where everybody

can have a completely different sense of humor

and some people like you know dry humor and some

people like satirical stuff and some people like

over the you know you get there's a such a broad

range of different comedies so i'm not surprised

that people disagree with the comedy list being

the only person that is obviously seeing the

top 10 here for tonight Got to say so far out

of the three lists. Yes There's some stuff that

I would rather have on there and we're each gonna

have disagreements on stuff that we think should

have made the list But overall I cannot complain

about our top ten tonight. I Think we did a good

job Yeah, I'm pretty shocked Honestly with a

couple of the ones that got left off that we'll

be talking about We can get that get to that

right now actually because if you're not familiar

the way this works is Obviously we've all independently

submitted lists. I've compiled them Counted up

the votes etc. And we we ended up We all ranked

top 20s Basically, and we've ended up with a

top 10 list and what we do in our introductory

segment is we talk about all of the movies that

got at least a vote by somebody that did not

actually make the top 10 list we call it our

honorable mentions it can be As far as number

of films that can be covered here. It depends

on each genre and how many Different films got

voted on so we will open it up and then let go

around the horn as far as surprises that we've

Seen on our honorable mention list that maybe

somebody expected to see on the top ten list

and you can make your case for Why we got it

wrong that they're not on the top ten less and

we can start with our guests here Birdman I was

gonna say normally I'm you know, pretty much

a hedonist and everything else and I want to

Want to take control but yeah, we need to let

Dodd talk about this cuz yeah, this is a genre

of films I'm actually a really big fan of like

I lot I watch a lot of documentaries on Netflix

So wars kind of my thing One of the one of the

ones I was really surprised didn't make it. How

the hell did band of brothers not make this?

The reason why band of brothers why not a lot

of people voted for it was because originally

it was not a film it was a HBO miniseries so

a lot of us didn't count it as a film well it

was still on the list that's why i presume. Right.

But I mean, it's probably one of the best. It

should have been on the list, Kevin. I mean,

I think it's one of the best depictions of the

Second World War. I mean, there was a follow

up series, kind of the Pacific, which wasn't

as good as Band of Brothers. But another one

I was surprised Guns of Navarone. Surprise there,

because that's a classic. Red Dawn. That's another

one. This one could have gone either way, because

you can see it very much as an American propaganda

film, but it's a very cool guerrilla -style movie,

which is what I liked about it. I mean, even

the remake, despite what you may have heard,

it's not that bad. I actually kind of liked it.

Another one that I was surprised to see on here

was Inglourious Basterds, considering how popular

that was in the last couple years. Tora Tora

Tora. Dirty Dozen really surprised me. Same with

Ash. Yeah, a lot of the classics got left off,

like the classic classics not... Yeah, I mean,

but I guess you have to kind of appreciate that

style of filmmaking because I know it's hard

to go back and watch some of these movies from

the 50s, 60s and 70s compared to the 80s and

90s and even now it's just because editing is

different, pacing is different, directing is

different, so not everybody digs that. But some

of the more modern films, I'm surprised Jarhead

didn't make it. Born on the 4th of July. That's

another good one. Good Morning Vietnam. Damn

surprise. Same as Zero Dark 30. I call blasphemy

on Good Morning Vietnam. That should have at

least made number 10. At least. Because it's

not stripes. For me, I agree with a lot of people

that there's a lot of good... And like war movies

is my thing. I was a history major. taught history

for three years so I'm all about historical movies

and whatnot and I agree that there's a lot of

these that I'm like oh I think this should have

gone in and I think that should have gone in

but just hold your breath though because when

we get to the top ten I think it starts to make

sense how some of these didn't get in there because

there's just a lot of good war movies I think

for me maybe the if I was to pick four or five

that really surprised me. Last of the Mohicans

would be one. I just think that was a really

well done piece. I think it's kind of got lost

over the last decade or so. As far as recent

films, you know, even though it didn't focus

on the war completely, Lincoln is obviously a

popular movie these days. But as far as some

of the older ones, I think this one's really

underrated and that's Life is Beautiful. Never

heard of that one. If you haven't seen life is

beautiful. You need to go see it You need to

find it on Netflix if it's on Netflix or a red

box or on demand or something because that is

a Fabulous movie. It's almost in the vein of

like a like a Schindler's List type movie But

it does a really good job of kind of showing

you the multiple sides of war What year did that

come out? It was in the 90s 1997 Yeah. It is

on Netflix. It is streaming on Netflix right

now. Gettysburg surprised me a little bit. Deer

Hunter. And then some of my just kind of personal

ones that I like. I like U -571. I like kind

of the other and getting to see some of the submarine

warfare and that type of thing. Who was left

off too? And that's in the same vein as U -571.

I agree an enemy at the gates kind of a more

of on the on the sniper side I'm not surprised

it didn't make it, but I just kind of like that

it gives a little bit of a different View the

one that came closest without making it would

be blackhawk down Just missed it by a couple

points there I didn't personally vote for it

But I just wanted to throw it out there that

that was the one that was closest to making it

that didn't Dan what are your thoughts on some

of the honorable mentions here? I guess one that

Doesn't surprise me, but I think if we made this

list in five years from now I think it wouldn't

make the top ten is zero dark thirty being that

it just came out last year Maybe people haven't

seen it or were hesitant to vote for it because

it's hard to place a film That was only out for

a year and a top ten list, but I think that is

like a brilliant film It deserves the masterpiece

label usually the best film of last year And

I think it will only grow in respect as years

come and I'm actually even the Hurt Locker and

although all Captain Bigelow's best films around

here you 2571 as well. None of those made it.

Hurt Locker, another great movie that has kind

of also gained more respect as the years have

gone on. And I love that movie. It's those two

films, like the Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty,

maybe one of the best back -to -back films for

a director in quite a while. I loved Auspute.

I wish that really made the list. I think that

is the key film on how to build suspense. It

uses sound. to an epic level to In that submarine

like you really see nothing and you just see

these men Standing in a sub and it's so suspenseful

just because of its sound or lack thereof Other

ones that i'm surprised i'm surprised Black Hawk

Down didn't make it because it's It has the appeal

to broad audiences, but also for war buffs regarding

Mike mentioned the band of brothers. I personally

didn't vote for it because like we mentioned

It's I looked at it It's hard to compare that

10 hours of footage and compare it to something

like save it prior for Ryan or other films that

Covered similar material So that's why I personally

didn't vote for it But I agree that it's one

of the best if not the best depictions of World

War two just how it's able to get at those characters

and the core unit of that of The band of brothers

and I've been lucky enough to meet a lot of those

guys in real life Captain winners and all of

those and they're really great people and I think

that film really did them justice Other films

that didn't make it You mentioned life is beautiful.

That's a that is a great movie Tora Tora Tora

Probably the defining Pearl Harbor film and I'm

surprised that Pearl Harbor got more votes than

Tora Tora Tora I'm surprised Pearl Harbor got

any votes. Yeah You know what movie deserved

to be on here, and I just thought of it now?

All's Quiet on the Western Front. Yeah, there

would have been a few that probably didn't get

to our year. For most of the genres, we only

looked at... Probably the last 50 years, right?

Yeah. Well, most of the genres we were looking

at 1970 as a cutoff, just because we really weren't

going to be able to give credit enough. because

too many people have not seen some of the classics

and I didn't want people to be like you know

that's a classic well you know four out of five

of us haven't seen it or something so we kind

of tried to make us more of our generation or

our lifetime so that we could give a better depiction

of stuff that we've probably seen or at least

been exposed to but I agree yeah there are some

definitely definitely some classic older ones

on there that if I was making my own personal

list would probably make the list. And one last

one is that I would like to mention just the

pianist again. That's one that doesn't necessarily

involve the war It's more of the repercussions

of the war, but that is to a really well done

film. It's really beautifully shot The movie

that made it Adrian Brody. He gives a great performance

And again, that's I could see maybe people didn't

feel for that because when you think of the pianist

You don't think of war but it really it it tells

the story of what happens to those, you know,

those regular citizens and during, you know,

the biggest war of the last 100 years. And then

also Valkyrie, I think. Bryan Singer is probably

his last good film. It's hard to make a suspense

story about the assassination of someone that

you know was never killed. And that's difficult.

And it's difficult to take American audiences

like Tom Cruise and place him into a German uh...

nazi uniform and make it work and i think for

the most part it is a scientist nazis and scientologists

i guess i can see the comparison uh... i agree

though that that film that was better than then

i got credit for and then the last one is dear

hunter i think that is one is amazing and i know

it's that we talked about how the style of editing

and directing is a lot different for a lot of

audiences that movies probably they're gonna

Walk out in the first 45 minutes because you

have this really long wedding sequence that is

Uncut basically and I think a lot of people would

be like what am I watching? I like feel like

I'm watching someone's own video But it it serves

a purpose and it really allows people to see

what happens to those free -willing, you know

full of life Normal people and what what the

war did to them? And so but that is the people

walking out of the theater sometimes piss the

hell out of me Know this has nothing to do with

war film. Well, I guess it kind of does but I

was watching Les Mis this year in the theater

and There was a whole group like a whole family

that literally walked out 10 to 15 minutes into

the movie and I just wanted to like stop them

and be like Did you not realize that this was

a musical? Like They literally walked out because

I guarantee they walked out because there was

no speaking. So at that point It also could have

been because of Russell Crowe. I mean, let's

be fair. I was just like, I was blown away. I'm

like, you got to be freaking kidding me. Like,

you knew nothing about Les Mis, you knew nothing

about the story, you knew nothing about it's

Broadway, you know, history, musical, anything.

And you're walking out because there's, you can't

stomach them singing throughout the movie. I

wanted to slap them. People are ignorant. The

same issue when I saw Django, you know, that's

very violent film and people walked out I'm like,

it's a Quentin Tarantino movie Like did you expect

like, you know this to be kind of first half

of that movie is the best part I would never

walk out. I could see people walking out towards

the end. But Yeah, it's crazy. It's just how

people are they I think people go to the theater

don't really know what they're watching They

see a title they walk in and then you know You

know what happens? They they see a trailer they

get hooked in they get drawn in and that's it.

It's basically slick advertising Yeah. Because

it never quite tells you what to expect. Or they

hear everyone else is going to this movie and

they're like, oh, everybody else is doing it.

We got to go see this movie, even though it's

something they would never be interested in.

Yeah. And war movies, I think, follow under a

very unique perception through multimedia advertising

because you have to balance on one hand. We're

glorifying a conflict. There's a winner and there's

a loser. And history is obviously written by

The winners so you have to be very careful on

how you market movies like this I mean look at

Pearl Harbor for example I mean look how that

movie was not marketed as a war movie was marketed

as a romantic movie That just happens to involve

people shooting each other That's gotta be one

of the most historically inaccurate films that

were even possible on our list. Yeah, like I

said, I'm really surprised it even made the list.

In fact, if you want to see a really good review

of it, go over to thatguywithglasses .com. Listen

to Doug Walker's review on it. It's 40 minutes

of hilarity you will not forget. And a lot of

really good points are made, too. But yeah, I

mean, it's weird, though. I mean, I think people...

I mean, this is my personal opinion. I think

people go to war movies I think as they feel,

it's their patriotic duty in some ways. And like,

I don't know, maybe that's how I would perceive

Americans. And I'm going to make this a cultural

thing simply because a film like Zero Dark Thirty.

Do you not feel like it's your patriotic duty

to see some of that because it just did happen?

I felt like I didn't feel I still haven't seen

Zero Dark Thirty because I just literally can't

get interested in it. That's kind of how I felt

with World Trade Center and what was the other

one that came out right at the same time, is

it? United 93? Yeah, United 93. I felt obligated

to see those two movies almost immediately. So

yeah, I kind of get what you're saying with some

of them. What year did World Trade Center come

out? Because I don't remember. I think 2003.

I didn't see that movie until 2006. I just still

couldn't know. I still haven't seen it. I saw

it, and I can't believe they made a movie about

that. So soon? No, no, no, no, not even so soon.

Just look at the lead actor. We did a whole show

on it over on Twig. Nicholas Cage? Yes. Oh, wow.

Holy shit. Oh, yeah, you're right. Holy shit.

Yes. You know what? That just made me think of

something to tie into the whole war on terror

thing. Who's the person you'd least want to associate

with the war on terror? Robert fucking Pattinson.

I can't remember what the movie was called, but

at the at the last five minutes of the movie,

he goes to make up with his dad like he's been

estranged for like a year and he's like, oh,

I'm so emo and sad. I'm going to live my life

and be beautiful, blah, blah, blah. The movie

cuts to the plane crashing into the World Trade

Center. It's like five minutes before the ending.

I'm not even shitting you. And they just randomly

decide this is now a movie about terrorism in

the last five minutes. So Mr. Sparkle himself

was destroyed by Al fucking Gaida. I do have

to say that there is a I'm very I'm ecstatic

that this movie did not get a single vote on

anybody's list. But I do want to bring it up

because I know a lot of people listening probably

will associate it with something that would show

up on someone's top 10 war list. To me, it's

literally one of the three worst films I've ever

seen in my life, and it's the closest I've ever

been to walking out of a film, and that is A

Thin Red Line. I absolutely despise that movie,

and I'm very glad that we did not give it a single

vote. Was that Robert Redford or whatever in

that one? No, that's Terrence Malick. Oh, okay.

I hate everything about it. Have you ever watched

it have you because Terrence Malick has a very

unique style like I like he did tree life and

I watched that movie in a in a very packed theater

and listening to the reaction to that film I

can understand because tree life is not a it's

not a narrative it it's it's it's a Director's

vision put on screen. Well, I've honest so what

i was curious that i know terence malik style

does not really flow with everyone and i wanna

and i have wanted to uh... watch tree of life

because i'm interested to see what that all that

entails but the the main reason why i can't stand

a thin red line is to me i cannot stand it when

someone takes a real uh... historical event that's

so many people are affected by or have been touched

by or had somebody involved with and uses that

vehicle to make a political statement or to make

a point about how they feel about war or about

how they feel about this event or that event.

To me that's just wrong to do. It's in bad taste.

I think war is too serious of a thing to Uses

your own personal vehicle to make a point But

I guess you can make that argument for almost

every war movie because almost every no I get

in every in every way like what you're saying

is always gonna be Mostly gonna be the vision

of a director. Well, every director wants to

make a point but when you go beyond when you're

ignoring Factual events and you're ignoring some

of the realities of war and you've gone all the

way to the extreme To make the entire focus of

the movie You be you're making a point like when

someone like I don't know I'm just throwing out

here. Let's see I'm just trying to look at the

list here like Gettysburg for example You know

whether no one's really trying whether they're

trying to make a point or not The story and the

facts come first in that movie like it's a film

telling the story of that battle I mean picture

of that war but there is some interpret there

is some room for interp Interpretation and artistic

direction story comes first and the facts come

first. I don't mind that but when the point and

when your personal Agenda comes first then I

have a problem with it as a historian I Find

it funny that this this film of thin red line

has in it Jesus and Casey Jones Jim Caviezel

and Elias codeus and see I love both of them

guys you both of those guys and I liked I liked

a lot of people I had high hopes going into that

movie and I literally was so disgusted at one

point that I almost walked out and I have Never

done that in a movie See, I guess I don't I I'm

not I didn't build for thinner in line I'm a

huge fan of it but and I understand what you're

saying the idea of taking certain facts and forming

it and adjusting it to fit your personal point

of view when what you might not be represent

what you might be representing is not Accurate,

but I guess I never saw that within run line.

I I think Terrence Malick attempted to I don't

think it was a political or a message statement

I think he has a certain idea of what he tries

to get it because you can like say the similar

issue with like Inglorious Basterds That's a

wildly historically inaccurate But I guess it's

up front with it and I guess right you can argue

that thin run line isn't as much and it almost

represents itself as a factual representation

of what happened when in fact it really, it's

more of a interpretation of what someone sees.

That's my problem is the way it paraded itself,

I guess. Like you said, a movie like Inglorious

Basterds or there's been other ones like they're

upfront about it or the way they do it to me

just doesn't rub me the wrong way and for some

reason this one just really rubbed me the wrong

way. Okay. Could understand that and I guess

we also talked about how Mike mentioned that

the winners write the history and I think that's

why Films like we haven't mentioned our letters

from Erzima We didn't mention DOSB, but seeing

a film from the other side even Tora Tora Tora

Which is a very even -handed film that doesn't

really paint like one side is evil one side is

the good guy it's more of a better representation

of what really happened as I think that those

films are important because of what they do and

how they try to Be as factual as much as possible

and not try to make these people as evil People

that but humanize them and make them, you know,

they're not much different than us Yeah, because

it was a genius idea for them to do both For

the letters from Iwo Jima and the flags of our

fathers I thought that was a really cool thing

that they did to be able to try to tell that

from both sides I always am a little curious

as to why letters from Iwo Jima gets all the

acclaim and and flags of our fathers get panned

usually by everybody. There was one scene in

a movie very much uh showing the other side it's

uh once again from All's Quiet on the Western

Front where it's a bunch of German kids they

get conscripted into the war and they announce

there's the armistice on and the kid's writing

in in his journal is like say hey the war is

over we're gonna we're we're going home and the

kid gets sniper'd. And that always struck me

as a really important moment in film, because

that's something I saw that in my grade 10 history

class, and I've never quite forgotten it. Now,

I don't know. I've never seen the movie, but

I wonder if it would qualify. Would Lawrence

of Arabia count, or Gallipoli? Lawrence of Arabia.

Yeah, I mean, its center is considered a war

film. I mean, it's really almost a character

study of... But I think it would count, but it's

obviously before that 1970 time frame. If it

weren't going all time, yeah, that's... I mean,

that's one of the greatest movies of all time

bar none, not even counting genre. But yeah,

I think if we're looking at all time, that would

be considered without a doubt. And Gallipoli,

I consider that. I mean, it's within the time

frame. It was in my group of movies I was considering.

I just ended up not voting and voting for it.

Any other thoughts on our honorable mentions

before we get to our number 10 movie? I just

want to take another quick look over the list.

Let me see. Last of the Mohicans. I'm not surprised

that didn't make the top 10. I mean, I don't

know. Us natives in film never get a fair shake.

Just saying. Sometimes being brown just doesn't

pay. Another one, I think Stripes, but then again,

that's more of a comedy as opposed to being an

actual war war movie. Jarhead's another one I'm

really surprised. Because that's a nice breakdown

of watching someone go through the shit. I mean,

I would call it a modern full metal jacket. for

all the crap that that character has to go through.

Other than that, MASH, once again, very surprised.

But no, that's pretty much all I got. Do you

have to go on? No. The one thing I will say,

and this actually doesn't pertain to film, but

Mike had said that usually the winners of the

battles are portrayed where I find interesting

these days. is that FX can start a television

show called The Americans about KGB spies and

what if... like showing the other side of of

of the cold war in the eighties i find that very

interesting nowadays that they can show that

kind of stuff on tv i thought that's cool i think

we're now in in the right kind of space at least

in terms of accepting the fact hey this used

to happen that yeah that like we can do it now

we're not going to get a sympathy show or a cool

show about al -qaeda spies invading american

airports hell no maybe in 40 years or probably

less than that it's a possibility because the

KGB did some pretty nasty stuff. Hell, they could

have started a nuclear war. Now, Al -Qaeda's

not as bad as that, depending on who you ask,

but it's possible. And that's an interesting

thing about war movies, because eventually the

other side's story gets told, and it's usually,

there was a joke on South Park, and I think it

kind of rings true with like certain things.

It says, you can make fun of anything after 25

years. Think about how many people used to make

holocaust jokes, and some people still do. I

mean, Joan Rivers made one not too recently,

and she's Jewish. So I don't know, I guess that

kind of ties into it as well. But yeah, that

show the Americans is showing the KGB side of

it. Yeah, I mean, eventually we might get the

Al Qaeda side of it. I mean, I know there was

a video game a couple of years ago called Six

Days in Fallujah. which showed Americans trapped

behind Al -Qaeda lines. And it was going to be

a very realistic depiction of the war. And that

game got asked because people didn't want to

see that because it wasn't all, yay, we won the

war. There's two sides to every story. That's

true. All right. Dan, any last thoughts? Um,

no, I think only other one we didn't mention

was probably Master and Commander That's one

that kind of gets overlooked a lot and that's

pretty well crafted really great movie by Peter

Ware Also, really great score. That's I love

that score. It's great visuals and scenery in

that film, too Yeah, and so that's one that definitely

deserves a mention. But besides that I think

we covered a good amount All right, then we are

ready to get to our top ten. Let's see which

wars are most represented. And like I said, you

know, a lot of us have been mentioning quite

a few movies. We've done a lot of name dropping

as far as films that didn't make it. But I think

all in all, once we start getting through this

top ten, we'll see that there was just literally

not enough room for some of these films to make

it. So going into our number ten pick, we're

just on the edge of movies that we were considering

because we're going back to a 1970 film. And

the war we're talking about is World War II,

specifically talking about an individual, and

that would be Patton. I'm talking about General

George S. Patton during World War II starring

George C. Scott. Dan, your thoughts about our

number 10 film here, Patton? Awesome. I'm glad

this made the list. It was number two on my list.

I love Patton and starts and ends with George

C. Scott and his amazing performance. He inhabited

you know, the one of the most legendary war,

you know, generals of American history. You know,

it has that iconic moment everyone remembers,

with Patton standing in front of the gigantic

American flag. It also is, besides that, it's

a really great story about a portion of World

War II that doesn't really get talked about much.

A lot about the European campaign, a lot about

the Pacific campaign, but the wars that went

on in Africa are a huge important part of that

war, and they don't get nearly as mentioned as

much, and that covers a lot of that. that went

on. And I think what's most interesting about

that film is how it starts and how George C.

Scott did not want that to start the way it did.

He did not like the fact that it began with him

giving that monologue. He felt it was too strong

of a way to start and it only went down from

there. And he was very angry because he didn't

find out that's how it was shot until the premiere

of the movie. And he got very angry with the

director and it was just huge to do. But anyways,

I'm glad this movie made it because it's quite

awesome. It received a lot of accolades. It had

seven Academy Awards, including best actor, best

picture, best director. In 2006, the Writers

Guild of America actually selected this one as

the 94th best screenplay of all time. Since we

are doing kind of our own AFI list, some AFI

statistics, out of AFI's top 100 movies of the

last 100 years, this movie came in at number

89. On there are 100 heroes and villains. General

George Patton came in as number 29 on the hero

list One of its quotes was nominated and one

its score was nominated on AFIs 100 years list

And it also got nominated on the 10th anniversary

edition of a hundred years a hundred movies So

a lot of people have respect for this film Birdman

have you seen this one? Which one sorry? Patton.

You know what? I've only ever seen the big speech

scene and a few other clips, but it's one movie

that I've never seen the entire way through,

but I know of all of its accolades. So it's probably

on. I know there's a huge collector set like

DVD for this movie, so it's something I may track

down, actually. Right. And as far as like focusing

on a specific real life individual, for the most

part. This this is kind of like the the prototypical

film you look to When you're trying to depict

a specific character from a war I think So I

am not disappointed at all that this one came

in at number 10 for number 9 we're gonna jump

from 1970 all the way up to the year 2000 So

we're going 30 years into the future and the

war we're depicting here is the Revolutionary

War And the movie is The Patriot. 30 years. Sounds

like a good round number. Now, I can understand

a lot of people. If anyone's going to give us

problems for any of the films on our list, it's

going to be this one. Because a lot of people

like to hate on Mel Gibson and whatnot. The reason

I'm happy that this film made the list is because

the revolutionary period in American history

is probably my favorite. Maybe neck -and -neck

with Civil War, but it's it's it's basically

one of my favorite time periods And there is

not a lot of movies about the Revolutionary War

period I find if they do make a movie about the

Revolution or it's either really good or really

bad I think there is a space there for someone

to come and make the You know just an epic Revolutionary

War film. I just don't think it's been done yet,

but I think That it's a possibility. I mean it's

the characters that you're dealing with are so

rich the time period You're dealing with is so

rich, and I just think there is a great Chance

for someone to do something with this time period,

but I'm glad it's represented here with the Patriot

now I realize a hundred percent that this is

a fictionalized story of a character that you

know did not exist so to speak it's more of a

meld between a number of people that truly did

exist. fictionalized version of this, but there

are a lot of historically accurate things that

you can take away from this film. When I was

teaching, I am not a proponent of showing whole

films to classes and whatnot, but you could take

some of the five and ten minute clips from this

film and really show kids or individuals some

accurate portrayals of how different things were

going on in this time period. So it does have

that going for it. I really like this film. I'm

a huge Mel Gibson fan. So I'm glad this is on

our list But I can see that some people would

probably have a problem with this being on our

list Who wants to speak about the Patriot? I

just found the movie kind of boring and It just

didn't really grab my attention, but you are

right though. There aren't many films about the

Revolutionary War Civil War. There's tons but

revolutionary were Handful at most. Yeah, when

you go to like Civil War, especially World War

two You know even an end to like the Vietnam

War there is a Good number of films there, especially

World War two in the Civil War. But for some

reason Yeah, I think this this time period I

don't know if people are afraid to tackle it

or or what I Love this film simply because as

you said Kevin it kind of melds Fiction and facts

all at the same time. It's taking someone that

might have been like a family that might have

been alive during that time. And it, you know,

it, it does that. And I love that about it because

it focuses on the story of the family and it

focuses on obviously the father son relationship

and the fact that he doesn't want his kids to

grow up to be, you know, this cold heartless

soldier that he used to be. And I just, I just

think the film is amazing. It's, it just, it's

one of the better war films I would say from,

you know, in the two thousands. You know, it's

that generational war film, even though it's

about the Revolutionary War. I mean, everybody,

everybody was, not just because of Gibson either.

I, you know, I've sat on the show before and

I've sat on other podcasts. I like Mel up to

the point where he went crazy. I still like Mel.

And I still like him and I can still watch him

for the stuff that he's done in the past, but

if he came out with movies today, I don't know.

I just think another thing that gives this movie

some credit is there is some good acting in this.

Between Mel Gibson, Chris Cooper, Jason Isaacs,

there's some real good performances here. There's

some great lines of dialogue and there's some

just darn right bloody, like horrific action.

I'm not sure if our history teacher showed us

this. I don't know. It was probably one of those

many community college courses. I could have

sworn I saw this in some sort of school setting

even though I had already graduated high school.

I could have sworn I saw this somehow where someone

told me if you slow mow it up enough, the cannonball

scene... You can see every step from the cannon

being fired into when it hits the guy. Well,

what some real good stuff to watch on this one

actually is some of the special features. Oh,

yeah. There are some special features on at least

on the original DVD release of this film that

really give you a good idea of how war was fought

back then and and. Into some of the weapons that

they were using and whatnot and there's some

very interesting cannonball and musket and and

stuff like that features Even down to the uniforms

that they're wearing and stuff like that that

really give you a good idea of how things really

were during that time period So the special features

are definitely worth it, especially for anybody

that's teaching this time period. Oh Yeah, Dan

your thoughts on the Patriot It's it's okay.

I'm not a huge fan of that movie. I don't dislike

it I think there are a lot of honorable mentions

that we mentioned that I would probably put ahead

of that there are great moments in that film,

but as a whole I think it doesn't it pales in

comparison into other things we mentioned like

dear hunter or even like Tora Tora Tora or even

block like Black Hawk Down and Zero Dark Thirty

But like you mentioned, it's it's great. It's

hard It's a hard period to quantify in a film

is the Revolutionary War those battles are you

know, they're not the most cinematic at times

Just it's how brutal they are. So I guess in

that aspect. It's kind of good that they're we're

spreading a little around a little bit And going

into our number eight, we're bouncing all over

the time period here, because we've gone from

1970 to 2000, and now we're going to back to

1989. And we're also going to catch another war

here. 1989 is going to be talking about the Civil

War, and that film is Glory, starring Matthew

Broderick, Denzel Washington, Carey Ells, Morgan

Freeman. And Neil, it's from Star Trek. Directed

by Edward Zwick. I think this is a great Civil

War film. There's a lot of good Civil War stuff

out there, but I was expecting this movie to

make the list, and I am glad that it did. It

got some Academy Award nominations and wins.

And it was on some AFI stuff too. It was nominated

for the hundred years a hundred movies One of

the heroes is nominated for a hundred heroes

in a hundred years So it does have the acclaim

unlike obviously the Patriot didn't Who's a big

fan of glory that would like to talk about glory?

I saw this movie in my grade 10 American history

class and I Don't often gravitate think this

is actually the movie that really got me into

war movies actually because I remember watching

it and just learning about the first black regiment

and I remember going up to my teacher Mr. Perry

afterwards thinking man that was fucking awesome

what else you got and I think he threw me a copy

of Full Metal Jacket next and some other movies

and I don't know just I love Broadway's performance

in this i love i can't the the i can't remember

the guy who has the glasses in the unit that

wasn't dens or just i remember him dying poorly

and they called him like a coward and once again

it's one of those scenes that really sticks with

me and them fighting on the beach and everything

i don't know just i really like glory it also

had a wonderful soundtrack to it some great Performances

and it showed a side of the civil war that I

myself before that had never really thought about

Dan you had this list ranked on your on your

votes as well. What are your thoughts on glory?

I think we're glory really signs. It's it's it's

a very human story It it takes you know the war

the civil war and but what is a key? component

of this is not necessarily the war itself, but

the war within human nature and its inability

to kind of get along because the big key here

is the the conflict between African Americans

and the white soldiers and it does it really

well and it doesn't Sometimes when you deal with

a movie that has deals with race and race conflict

it gets really kind of cheesy and overly generic,

but I think it this didn't do that and it Represented

the issue well and with some of the best actors.

I mean Denzel and Morgan Freeman To this movie

helped kind of make them huge stars I mean it

was the break breakout film for Denzel Washington

or one of the breakout films and he gives an

amazing performance along with Morgan Freeman

and From Matthew Broderick. It's probably his

best serious role that he's ever done And and

even in the war sequences are great the battle

sequences. It's well shot It's super beautiful

film and I think like I mentioned the best part

is just how it's a very human story and it places

Even if you don't know much about the Civil War

or if you are lacking in that area, you can get

invested because it allows you to know who these

people were beyond just being soldiers. Agreed.

I don't think you could have put that any better.

No, not at all. I think people are going to find

it not necessarily hard, but they're going to

be one of those jaw -dropping moments of Watching

a certain 1986 comedy with a classic character

that Broderick played and then seeing this because

that Again, as we talked in our in the last episode

about comedic actors going serious. I Bet that

was a shock for a lot of people seeing Ferris

Bueller as the as the character in glory Yeah,

it was really a surprise just to see how well

he pulled that off Like wow, you are not just

a one -hit wonder kid exactly And in fitting,

I don't know, it's kind of weird how it worked

out like this, because for number 10 we were

at World War II, then we went to the Revolutionary

War, and then we went to the Civil War, and we

are hitting our fourth war here with number seven,

and we're going back to 1987, visiting the Vietnam

War via full metal jacket. Number seven really

this should have placed a little higher in this

should have very I would say that until I look

at the ones that are above it But yeah, Full

Metal Jacket is our number seventh one 1987 film.

Obviously the Stanley Kubrick film here Matthew

Modine are Mike's law and order of man there

Vincent D 'Onofrio Adam Baldwin In this Obviously

is kind of like a cult favorites when it comes

to war films And it's gotten quite the reception

It has a 97 % on Rotten Tomatoes, which you know,

not a lot of movies get that high of a percentage

It ranks number 95 on AFI is 100 years 100 thrills

You know a lot of people love this film so who

would like to talk about full metal jacket I

have a question for the panel before anyone talks

about it How many people stop watching the movie

after Hartman gets shot? I know. It's a good

point if you want to take a break, if you want

to go grab a snack and come back. But I can see

your point because it's almost like this was

two different movies spliced together. Yeah.

Because actually, there's a wonderful documentary.

If you guys can get the Blu -ray 25th anniversary

for this movie. Whoa, it's like two hours of

like amazingness. But yeah, I mean, Mike's got

a point though, because once you get out of the

training camp and you go to actually Saigon.

it's it's a completely different movie because

the characters are really really easy to identify

when they're in training but when they're in

the field they're all dressed the same i know

that's supposed to be the kind of imagery and

the iconophy that you're supposed to see here

i don't know it does kind of lose its effect

until you get to about the last 10, 15 minutes

of this film with what happens with Joker. You

know what? I can talk so far as when he shoots

the little girl, that really hits home and then

they start singing the Mickey Mouse song. And

I remember thinking as a kid, oh, that's kind

of goofy. That's kind of weird. But then once

you listen to the commentary on this movie with

with like Adam Baldwin, Matthew Modine and all

that, you really get a really weird insight into

it. And Yeah, like this is this is probably my

favorite war movie. Simply because, like I said,

all the performances are great. Hartman is amazing.

They are are Lee Emory. This man can never die

if if if anybody gets a pass on death, it's him

Because he makes that role. I mean he was a former

drill sergeant He was really pestering these

these guys and I remember they say off -camera

He's like a really sweet old man, and they don't

expect this from him But when they need him to

turn on the charm so to speak he's right there.

Um And this was also my first Stanley Kubrick

movie I saw this first and then I saw of uh clockwork

orange this is the only cubric movie i've ever

seen beginning to end i just don't like his i've

tried watching other films of his but i just

don't i might this is not my it's just not my

thing i don't dislike other films that he's done

but it's just like no thanks if i were to recommend

one cubric movie to you i'd say clockwork orange

2001 you gotta be in the right headspace for

Eyes wide shut was, eyes wide, I don't give a

shit. Exactly. It wasn't my thing either, but

Full Metal Jacket just had that right appeal

about it where it could apply to everybody. Because

everybody was like 20 years out of Vietnam, people

seeing this and we were like Vietnam vets saying,

hey, That's what happened to me at camp or when

we were in the war. That's what happened. Like

you'd get fired upon from random positions. You

didn't know where it was coming from. And the

enemies you were fighting could very well have

been civilians because Vietnam was a different

war. It was really guerrilla. I mean, World War

Two, Korea, etc. The other guys wore uniforms.

They weren't hiding in ghillie suits all the

time. They weren't suicide bombers running at

you with like, you know, explosives chained to

their chest. And that's something Full Metal

Jacket, they got the brutal style of Vietnam

War without being too bloody about it. It really

said a lot, I felt. Now, let me ask you guys

this. As the wars have progressed here in the

US, well, just with the specific wars that the

US has been involved in, specifically between

World War II and Vietnam, did the army get...

How am I going to word this? Did the Army get

really desperate? Because, take a look at, no,

no, no, seriously. No, no, they did because.

Wait, because, take a look at Steve Rogers. He

was essentially a 4F. Nobody, if you get 4F status,

you don't get to be in the service. And you look

at Gomer Pyle here. There's no way, unless they

were absolutely desperate for soldiers, there's

no way they would have even let him into boot

camp. I'm gonna piss off a lot of people with

what I'm about to say. Put that disclaimer out

there. But you're right, okay, if you're talking

about wars like, let's start from the beginning,

if you're talking about US, Revolutionary War,

on through the Civil War, on through World War

I and World War II, people came out of the woodwork.

to get involved and sign up to fight in these

wars basically. You had professional baseball

players leaving baseball to go fight in these

wars. I understand you have drafts and stuff

like that, but basically it was like a patriotic

duty, it was an honor, it was like, sign me up.

You were getting the best of the best wanting

to be involved in these wars. When you get to...

you know into the Korean War, Vietnam and and

and you know even into the modern day wars especially

with Vietnam people weren't proud of that war

it wasn't like lost well no I'm just saying no

no I'm saying even going into it people were

not They didn't want to be involved in that it

wasn't like World War two where where you didn't

you know? The marketing and everything didn't

almost even need to be there. It was you know

We need to go help out we need to do this like

everybody's on board everybody's for it You know

obviously people were politically disagreeing

with Vietnam people were you know and and it

got to a point where Just in society, war no

longer was something that was attracting the

best of the best. The best of the best were finding

ways to not get involved in wars. The best of

the best were getting involved in business. The

best of the best were finding every way they

could to avoid having to go to war. And it has

turned, you know, and it shifted. The army, you

know, the armed forces are not comprised of the

same demographic or the same population of people

that it had been in the past. I'm not saying

necessarily it's a, you know, I'm not ripping

on anybody that's involved in the armed forces

now, but it shifted when all of a sudden wars

became not the popular, you know, all for one,

one for all type thing that it had been in the

past. Right, I just I'm just going through the

full metal jacket Wikipedia article and I just

have to bring this bit of trivia up I cannot

believe this the original plan envisioned Anthony

Michael Hall Bryan from Breakfast Club starring

his private Joker There's no way in hell that

this film would be what it is If that was if

it was Anthony Michael Hall and as Joker no way

he's too young at that time Mean I could see

it maybe but they'd have to rewrite the role

Because he couldn't carry the film himself No,

he was at the right age and the right experience

if Hall was a secondary character saying hi I'm

just 18. I'm here to fight Maybe if they had

him be a friend to Joker and have him die during

basic or have Gomer kill him first and then Hartman?

Yeah, I could totally see that, but no, he could

not carry that film. Yeah, no, not at all. Dan,

what are your thoughts on Full Metal Jacket coming

in here in the number seven spot? Oh, very glad

it made the list. Like what you guys mentioned

a lot about it already. And again, this thing.

You can't talk about that without talking about

Arlie Ermey, who is just the highlight of that

movie. He's amazing. Just his sense of humor

and just how he ad -libbed everything he said.

And it made sense for Stanley Kubrick to get

someone like an actual... You know someone who

does that role in real life and regarding the

two halves I kind of I like that format and I

I probably maybe a few people like like the second

half a little bit more I think both are fantastic,

but I just I just love that the sniper sequence

in in the second half it's one of my favorite

of all war films and You mentioned other I mean

Stanley Cooper has a lot of great war movies.

I mean Puzzle Glory, one of the best World War

I movies of all time. You can see a lot of that

influence on things like Savior Private Ryan,

and also Doctor Strangelove, which is not necessarily,

I guess, maybe war film, maybe not, depending

on how you look at it. But yeah, great. Film

on a Jacket, it was able to do a lot of things,

was able to be comedic, dark, and respectful,

and have a really poignant message without being

blatant. So going into our number six pick on

our top ten list We're actually going to stay

with the same war and stay just about the same

year almost we're going to 1986 for Mr. Beringer

William Defoe and Charlie Sheen and this Vietnam

film is platoon The first casualty of war is

innocence. Now, obviously this one had all kinds

of acclaim, winning best picture. Roger Deaver

gave it four out of four stars calling it the

best film of the year and the ninth best of the

entire decade. It has 87 % on Rotten Tomatoes.

It was number 83 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies.

Most of us had it somewhere on our list, so who

would like to speak to Platoon? It's it's funny

that this beat out full metal jacket. It's kind

of fitting because by one point yeah at the time

I mean full metal jacket I think people forget

that wasn't really a film that was loved by like

the Academy Awards didn't really get anything

and a lot of the reason it's because Platoon

came out the year before and it was so loved

it just it was almost like Vietnam fatigue at

that point but platoon is another it's It is

these two films. It depends like I keep going

back and forth with which one I like more like

it's almost like whatever when I won't watch

the last time but I I love platoon and it's back

when Charlie seen actually had innocence. It's

crazy to think that but he did and there's it

It really told that story. Well of the Vietnam

War and gave that there were a lot of great Vietnam

war films before that and it's hard to kind of

do something new with a topic that was visited

so much but they did that and with really great

imagery and again another strong cast and some

great actors and it it almost felt like apocalypse

now The lighter version is not as heavy with

the imagery and the more metaphorical meanings,

but uh, yeah, I I love platoon. It's a it's a

classic all -time grade Another one of those

movies I saw when I was in high school and immediately

fell uh in love with Just a great movie over.

I love trojan. I love william defoe as the the

wise one who gets, you know dead um but no i

really like this movie it's one of those movies

i've been meaning to buy on blu -ray for quite

some time probably we'll buy on amazon literally

as we type this uh but yeah it's it's one of

those movies that's staged here plus it had a

really once again great soundtrack to it and

all the enough had a video game i don't know

how the hell you make a nintendo game at a platoon

but they did they sure did goodness that cracks

me up I would speak more to this but it's just

been so long since I've seen this movie I did

I did rank it on my list because I remember the

impact I had on me when I did see it but I'm

not gonna be able to speak to too many details

just because I need to rewatch this like tomorrow

I'm the same way because I haven't seen this

since since high school right so it's you know

we've had our two Vietnam films and we've had

all US wars going up through this juncture But

that is about to change with our number five

film on the list. We're going not just a few

years back, we're going a long way back. Except

for film release wise, we're only going to back

to the year 2000. And our number five film is

the epic historical drama. The film that made

Russell Crowe relevant. Gladiator. This is the

film that I'm surprised made the list actually.

Do all my gushing and then let you guys bring

me back to reality. I guess I Still think this

for me from the year that decade from 2000 to

2009 This is like at the top of my list. This

is to me one of the best films of the decade

I just think there's so much to like about this

film. And the thing about this film is it was

popular across the board when it came out. It

was popular in every age group, every demographic.

People watch this film over and over again. I

mean, Russell Crowe was freaking amazing. Joaquin

Phoenix was amazing. And I just think there were

just so many epic parts. I mean, it almost belongs

more maybe in an epic film category than a straight

war category. It obviously won best picture as

far as AFI goes. It had a member on, you know,

General Maximus Decimus Meridius was number 50

on the top 100 heroes on AFI's list. Emperor

Commodus was nominated as a villain. It got in

100 years, 100 movie quotes. Father to a murdered

son husband to a murdered wife and I will have

my vengeance in this life for the next Its score

was nominated in AFI 100 list. It's You know,

the movie was nominated itself So I mean a lot

of people love this film and and it's still one

of my all -time favorite movies But let you guys

bring me back to earth and tell me why it's not

there ever a line in this movie Where crow screamed

something wasn't there some famous line? There's

a lot of famous lines in here I don't remember

what he said, but there was one scene where he

screamed something, and it was in every single

trailer that this movie had. Are you not entertained?

Yeah. That's what he screamed. Something like

that. And why does that remind me of For Sparta

from 300 or whatever? Because that's what they

were trying to capture, the feeling that this

movie gave when he did that. But to me, it just

boils down to the story, though. You have this

guy who is basically in a perfect position. Having

his life torn away from him, you know reduced

to slavery and then somehow being able to rise

back up and to get his vengeance I'm not saying

it's very realistic or anything like that, but

it is just a great movie and for me last thing

I'll say before I let you guys talk So many of

the movies that try to go into these Long time

ago eras are terrible Or completely flop. I mean

you can just go down the list Alexander Troy

Kingdom of Heaven King Arthur, I mean even though

I find bits and pieces of those that I can enjoy

What's that But say if we're talking about all

those companies, I think what was it was first

night the one with like Sean Connery. Yes Wasn't

there another one called Camelot and it was kind

of halfway shit, too Yeah, but I'm seeing like

all of these that go into that genre. It's because

I think you ride the thin line between history

and fantasy, where it almost wants to draw in

the Dungeons and Dragons nerd, to which I am

a part of. Because we expect those epics. Yeah.

But this is the one that for me went to that

era, went to those long time ago forgotten eras,

and somehow was able to still get it right and

not you know what it was i i think kevin it was

the michael bay of historical action movies because

think about how think about how fast that movie

moves it's like somebody competent directed all

the character scenes and they let michael bay

do all the action scenes think about that like

watch that movie with with that mindset like

oh yeah it totally works I just think, you know,

Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix together was

just ridiculous in this film. Oh yeah. Yeah,

it doesn't surprise me that Dodd brings that

up about how the film moves considering it was

by one of, it was directed by one of the Scott

brothers, Ridley Scott, so. Yeah, but his movies

move like molasses though. This is his, this

is his, you know. His first alien drags in places.

But yeah, I mean this is arguably one of his

best movies, but you can see why people love

it and why some people hate it I mean no matter

which we spent it. It's a it's an entertaining

movie no matter what and It spawned many many

D &D characters ever since I Just think you know

just for some of the dialogue. It's just amazing

Dan. What do you think? I'm Big proponent of

gladiator. It was on my top ten and I think I

had it at around number nine or number ten again

You mentioned Russell Crowe. It's it it one of

his best performances also, I kind of butcher

his name, but Digimon has has you yeah the his

uh, you know his partner in crime I guess you

would say in the gladiator ring. He was also

great as well walking Phoenix and Think it's

probably if you look Ridley Scott's last great

film He's had a lot of good films since then

but it's last great film that I would put up

there. I I just I love the fact that it like

Mike mentioned it has really great action but

and it's within that great action there's a solid

story and with solid characters and with great

performances It's kind of funny, back in one

of my old jobs, when we would get really bored,

we would, my friend and I at work would create

these tournaments of classic movie characters

and face them off like in a death match against

one another just because, you know, that's what

we do. And the person who would always end winning

the tournament was always Maximus, just because

I just loved that character and his ability to,

he's a great fighter and it's just a... not just

a great writer, but we forget that he's actually

a general as well and his ability to command

and You need someone like Russell Crowe to play

that part Which I thought he was amazing at but

yeah, I think as time has gone on I feel almost

the sediment towards this movie has gone negative

I'm not I don't know if it's because of With

these glass, you know more recent films you it's

kind of gotten people less excited about the

movie But I I still I still love the movie. I

find it entertaining and For an epic of this

nature. It's still maintained. It doesn't like

it doesn't crawl like we mentioned It's it's

well edited and it keeps the pace going but never

really dragging too much it so Anyways, I love

I'm glad it made a list What I love about this

film is that the filming started in in January

and May of 99 I guess Ridley needed two years

after GI Jane to be able to make one of the greatest

movies in gladiator And and to me it all just

boils down to that that that scene when he's

finally Revealing himself to comma this walking

in Phoenix Like that is it's impossible not to

remember that scene You know with that quote

that I read off earlier and just when he finally

it says, you know Reveals himself and just scares

the living shit Out of comedists like I don't

know how you ever can forget that scene. That

is just it was so perfectly done All right, so

now that we're into our top five we'll keep them

countdown moving here and go to our number fourth

On the list and we're going back to World War

two here and it was 1993 drama from Steven Spielberg

And to me, this is number one on my list as far

as the war movies of all time and that Schindler's

list This movie is as close to perfectly done

as you can possibly get I don't know how anybody

can criticize or critique this film in any way.

There was no RoboCop. There you go. I just don't

know how you can find something wrong about this

film. You know, it was all over the Academy Award,

Best Picture, Best Director, etc. As far as capturing

the other side of war and capturing the Holocaust,

As far as that component of World War two Like

it does not get any better than this for me This

is a film that can be used in a classroom So

easily, I mean, yeah, there's a lot of stuff

that you don't want to show kids because it is

so real that it'll shock kids But there's so

much stuff that just it's visually just explains

things and hits home and like Following the girl

in the red dress In an otherwise black -and -white

movie and then I mean I could go on this movie

Over and over and I would just would never shut

up. I love this movie so much As far as AFIs

100 years 100 movies that came in at number nine

Number 13 hero for Oscar Schindler number 15

villain for a man goth It's just a great movie

And I'm very happy that it's on our list and

number four is not a bad spot for it. Anybody

else have seen Schenler's list? This is another

one I remember being shown in history class.

Well, it's just like there's so many good parts

of it. Like I didn't show it in its entirety

because I was teaching middle school and some

parts are just not appropriate for them. But

like the scene where they have a mound of all

the shoes that they're collecting. Or the teeth,

you know gold teeth that they're taking out of

people's mouths or or this or that and it's just

I mean It's so real and so It just affects you.

I Think senior list is where Spielberg really

grew up as a director it not that he was immature,

but he It was, I think still to this day, it's

his masterpiece. It's his best film. And it took

a really difficult topic. You know, the Holocaust,

obviously, it's one of the saddest. the most

tragic events in human history and there's been

movies about it and it's a really easy topic

to get into like the tragedy porn aspect of it

where you kind of just overdo the tragedy and

it gets to the point where you just it's just

too much to bear but I think he did it in a very

subtle way while still being very impactful and

like you mentioned those those small moments

that that are everlasting and the the actually

the blu -ray of this just came out the 20th anniversary

blu -ray and it's absolutely beautiful it's just

gorgeous black and white and it shows you it

i think that was a genius move to decide to shoot

it in black and white because it almost it it

made it even that more drab that more that more

um rememberable because it just it the life was

just sucked out of you and but not in a negative

way but you kind of have to when you approach

a topic that is so controversial and such a heavy

issue, it's hard to do right. And this is done

beyond right. It's done as best as you can possibly

do it. It's in every aspect, cinematography,

score, acting, script writing, and direction.

And it's, again, one of the best movies of the

90s, maybe the one of the best movies the last

30 years. If we were just to remove best war

films, I think this would Just say best movies

since 1970 this would I would say would have

to be within the top five So I'm really glad

it made the top five of this list. I Think another

thing just real quick is another thing that really

makes this film so great is is how accurate and

how How much attention to detail was given how

much research and how much advice and everything

went into really taking a very touchy subject

and accurately portraying it to the nth degree.

And I think that's what Spielberg does. I mean,

he is one of those directors that if he does

a piece like this or like Lincoln, he wants to

get it right. He just doesn't want to, you know,

oh, hey, let's fictionalize it. What I find interesting

about Schindler's List and the casting, Ben Kingsley,

who plays Stern in Schindler's List, this year

becomes the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. I find that

very, very interesting casting. And, you know,

Liam Neeson is just... Oh, yeah. It surprises...

Outside of what I think are just crappy movies

in the Taken series, it surprises me where Liam

Neeson pops up. You've got him in Star Wars.

You've got him in the A -Team, if you like, the

A -Team movie, if not, fine, whatever. But he

pops up at the least likely moments that you

expect him to. I think he's kind of turning into

this generation's Malcolm McDowell. He'll do

anything for a paycheck as long as it's fun.

So give it about 10 years and Liam Neeson may

indeed be doing birthday parties. Well, I mean,

it's to the point where he has done so many epic

things that, like, he has nothing left to prove.

It's like, I'm just going to have fun now. He's

like, I'm fucking awesome. What are you going

to do about it? Any other people have thoughts

on Schindler's List? All right. Guess not. Then

we will move to our number three on the list.

We're getting towards that top one here, number

three. Another film that we've already covered

a couple different times. We're going back to

1979 and we're going to touch on the Vietnam

War one more time. This time through the eyes

of Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando

and not Charlie Sheen, but Martin Sheen. We're

going to Apocalypse Now as our number three war

film on our list. Who would like to start with

Apocalypse Now? Dan, that was number one on your

list. Yeah, it was number one. Depreciate apocalypse

now. I think what you also have to do is watch

the Heart of the Heart of Darkness the documentary

about the making of Apocalypse now and just how

That's also I had to read that book in college

actually so you could also read the book Heart

of Darkness and then It's it's pretty intense.

Yeah, and just I mean Martin Sheen almost killed

himself. It was crazy Just everything that went

on to that movie in a way you can almost it If

you look at the 1970s, it was a decade of directors

who had major control over all their films. In

Apocalypse Now, it took years to make. It cost

so much money, went over budget. It kind of stopped

that. So a lot of people look at it as the bookend

of that era because of what studios were like,

okay, maybe we shouldn't give directors this

much power. But anyways, regarding the film we

talked about earlier, it's kind of the reason

I brought, I asked you about the thin run line.

regarding its historical accuracy and kind of

taking a event like a war and placing your vision

upon it, because that is what apocalypse now

is. It's not trying to be, hey, this is a direct

representation of what happened. It's beyond

that. It's deep in every way possible. Everything

that's said and everything that's done has three

or four or five or six different meanings to

it. It's a movie that you have to watch repeatedly,

I think, to kind of understand where it's going.

Don't watch director's cut. It's actually horrible.

Watch the original cut. It's much better. Well,

you have to tell us why the director's cut is

bad. It's just a lot long. It's really long,

but it's just extra stuff that doesn't need to

be there. It doesn't really flow with it. It

feels really forced in and it really hurts the

film as a whole. To speak to what you were saying

before, though, I think the reason why I have

more of a problem with the Thin Red Line doing

it is also the war that they're covering. And

with Apocalypse Now, I think it's just somehow

by default becomes more accepting to have people

take and put their own vision on it because it's

dealing with the Vietnam War, which in and of

itself is such a convoluted, controversial, multifaceted

war. Compared to doing something like that with

like a World War two or something like that So

I think it's just it's just somehow more accepting

for a francis for coppola to do this with a vietnam

war Than than what I see with the thin red line.

So that's where the difference is for me Okay,

I mean, yeah, I mean that makes sense. But I

like I mentioned I think it apocalypse zone never

tries to represent itself as hey look I'm trying

to be this I'm trying to be a biography of this

real -life soldier. It's pretty evident from

the start that hey, this is This is not a true

to life story, but it's amazingly done and I

to me when I think of What you can do because

when I look at There's different ways you can

handle a war film You can be an acro representation

saying I want to show people what it was like

to be in a war I want to give these soldiers

their just do so people know what they had to

go through or you can take Something like that.

You can take a historical event and shape it

into a certain way in order to Kind of get to

a certain meaning or certain be like certain

hypothesis or theory on something I mean you

see it all the time with paintings with every

form of art And I think just I think it's fine

to do with that with a movie if it's well crafted

enough and for instance for Coppola is one of

the best directors I mean his I don't think there's

a director ever that had as strong a decade as

he did in the 70s I mean Godfather the conversation,

you know apocalypse now. It's pretty impressive

film list right there. So that's why I just think

it is a representation of what you can do with

something like a war movie and go beyond anything

that was done before and has been done since.

So it currently has a 99 % on Rotten Tomatoes.

Like I said, that's very hard to do. Mike or

Mike, what are your thoughts on Apocalypse Now?

You can go Mike. It's one of those movies, such

iconic imagery, like seeing Martin Sheen just

rise out of that pool of mud. Fucking awesome.

I had that as like my desktop background for

like a year. I just love that scene. Plus that

Flight of the Valkyries sequence. I love this

whole napalm in the morning. Yeah. So much cool

shit came out of this movie. And Marlon Brando

before he went crazy and started eating butter

for fun. Just. Once again, fantastic film. And

there's not too much more can be said about it.

Although, Dan's right. Watch the documentary.

It gives you a whole new insight into it. Yeah.

I just find it funny that you go from being a

doomed Kryptonian to a general. You and your

references. Also, the other thing about this,

and this is a question I have to ask again because

we talked about it earlier. Was it too soon?

I'm not saying this movie's bad at all, but this

movie came out in 79 Vietnam ended in 75 This

came out four years after the war Yeah, I'm kind

of surprised they got funding for that and I

know there was all the the production had many

problems Just dealing with the fallout from the

war Yeah, I don't necessarily think so. I mean

zero dark 30 just came out and that I mean that's

dealing with the last decade and up to a few

years ago. I don't think, it depends on what

you're doing with a story. I mean, there was

World War II movies coming out or images of World

War II during the war. I don't know. I'm the

person that thinks you have to have time, needs

to elapse before you can make something. Sometimes

having a film made in the moment is almost better

because you can then look back on it and see

like, okay, what was the understanding of that

war at the time? Because what we think about

something now is much different than what was

going on back then. So it's like having something

like Hurt Locker being made that shows a kind

of representation of the Iraq war or the Afghanistan

war which I mean it's hard to do because there's

been a lot of movies about the Iraq war that

have been rather terrible because they get so

lost in the in the in the politics of it and

it's more about trying to prove a point rather

than make a good movie I think so that's where

the issues come but Think saying I'll have to

wait a few years before we can tell the story

if you have a story that's respectful And it

doesn't try to exploit what happened. I don't

have an issue with it. I don't think you have

to wait I don't have an issue with United 93

coming out a couple years after September 11th

because I felt it was a great represent It represented

that moment and it was important and almost allows

us to move forward in some way It's almost like

a part of the healing process. So I don't have

an issue with it. Yeah All right, any other thoughts

on our number three movie on the list apocalypse

now mike no all right well that is our third

vietnam war film but not to be outdone is world

war two because our third world war two film

will come in at our number two spot and that

is going to be the 1998 saving private ryan which

i know would top a lot of people's lists um another

amazing Film from Steven Spielberg And saving

private Ryan, I mean what didn't it win when

it came out? It didn't win it didn't win Best

Picture. That's what it didn't win, right? Except

for best original song. Yeah, exactly. I mean

it got nominated for 11 Academy Awards And it's

on all kinds of AFIs lists. I won't go into all

the numbering, but I'm not at all surprised that

Saving Private Ryan is on our list. If it was

not on our list, that would pretty much make

our list an immediate epic fail. So I'm not surprised

that it's on our list. Am I surprised that it's

number two? I'm not really even surprised that

it's number two. It's an awesomely done movie.

I mean, I had Schindler's List ahead of it, but

I can see why other people might have Saving

Private Ryan ahead of it. Um, who wants to speak

on Saving Private Ryan? Oh my god, I forgot the

cast in this movie. You forgot what? I forgot

most of the casting in this movie outside of

Hanks and Sizemore. Vin Diesel! Edward Burns,

Vin Diesel, Genovani Ribzi, Matt Damon, Ted Danson.

What the hell is Sam Malone doing in this movie?

I forgot he was in this! Baljee Amati, Dennis

Farina. Just... bunch Brian Cranston Mr. Breaking

Bad himself what is he doing yeah and everyone's

favorite firefly Nathan Fillion I I didn't see

this movie when it first came on I saw it a number

of years later I like it it's a good movie It's

probably something I need to go back and watch

because Like I said, I saw it a few years after

it came out and I haven't seen it since if you

want to if you want to show somebody teach a

class about You know if you've been going through

with a class and teaching them different things

about war and how you know the revolutionary

war was fought and whatnot If you want to teach

someone about at that time modern war and how

that was done Right. I mean if you just show

them the whatever it is the 30 minute storming

of the of the beach clip I mean, that is just

ridiculous. I want to hear something really disturbing,

guys, and I take kind of a weird pleasure out

of this. You take weird pleasures out of a lot

of things. Oh, this is where I show my sadistic

side. So feedback at thisweekendgeek .net for

all hate mail. I love the fact that the battle

scenes were so realistic. It gave World War II

veterans nightmares. And there's the hate mail

right there. It was even supposedly, I'm reading

some stuff up on it, is an influence on Quentin

Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds as far as

just watching this film and being in awe of what

they did. It's like, you can't look at, this

was the most, at the time for me, this was the

most real war film I had ever seen. as far as

not talking about the other sides of war like

with Schindler's List or whatnot, but you take

all of the films that were done back in the day

that couldn't show this or couldn't show that

or kind of sugar -coated things. This stripped

everything away as far as a major combat film.

We're not talking about guerrilla warfare. We're

not talking about the type of fighting that you

would see in like Vietnam or whatever. I'm just

talking about straight -up war. Like this was

real. They did not Make this easy to watch I

Mean also with Savior Private Ryan, it's also

a technical marvel I mean its use of sound has

been copied ever since then I mean, I don't think

you've heard like it's used You know, we've all

seen the grenade effect where you have the grenade

in the ring of the years and that how that sequence

You know everything becomes really silent that

was really started with this movie and it's been

repeated, you know ad nauseam since then and

It's beyond just like whatever everything you

mentioned Kevin. Just it's it was it took it

everything that was at its disposal and made

a really well crafted movie and it was Really

well directed and it I'm glad it made it deserves

to be within the top five it I mean it told the

story that was at this at one and in some moments

very kind of depressing and downright, you know

It's hard not to be cynical after seeing all

these things people go through and then having

kind of an uplifting message as well But it's

fantastic. And like you mentioned if you want

to see Just what war is like I've never been

in it So I can only assume that watching this

is the closest thing I'll overcome hopefully

to being part of it and let me read something

here from for you World War two veterans stating

that the film was the most realistic depiction

of combat they had ever seen. The film was so

realistic that combat veterans of D -Day in Vietnam

left theaters rather than finish watching the

opening scene depicting the Normandy invasion.

Their visits to post -traumatic stress disorder

counselors arose in number after the film's release,

and counselors were advising that the more psychologically

vulnerable of veterans avoid watching it. And

I think we should also mention, because it almost

sounds like we're glorifying the way we're talking

about it, almost like glorifying what Hey, look

at what's happening. But I think it's very I

mean even ever since then it's been very a huge

proponent of kind of veteran veteran rights and

kind of allowing us as normal citizens to understand

what they went through and it would never was

glorifying war it was representing what it was

really like so You know these veterans can get

the respect that they deserve because of everything

they did, you know Not to sound cheesy, but for

our freedom. I mean like they they went into

You know bullet fire running in the bullet fire

knowing that they're probably gonna die, which

is kind of crazy and it and This along with like

Banner Brothers Which kind of it's almost the

other story of Savior Private Ryan and how that

even expanded upon it further It's just that

to me is just the quintessential World War two

Back to World War two, I'm gonna pop in Banner

Brothers. I'm gonna pop in Savior Private Ryan

because I don't think you can get any better

than that Spielberg really knows how to tackle

history. I mean just look at you know, no seriously

he does well from 93 with Schindler's List, which

we already talked about to to this to To Amistad

doing that movie. I mean I'm Lincoln Yeah, Lincoln.

I was looking at more sorely like before that

happened, but I was but I mean it's it's one

of those things where As I said before, he knows

how to make a good, historically accurate film.

Well, he knows how, like we talked about before,

he knows how to walk the line. He knows how to

straddle the line of accurately portraying something

without making it too sugar -coated or too Hollywoodized

or, you know. too unrealistic, he just does it

the right way with historical films for me, at

least. That's his bread and butter. Yeah, it

is. I find it funny that our countdown here has

had World War II in Vietnam dominated and it's

also had Spielberg dominated. Yeah, we've had

three World War II movies, we've had three Vietnam

movies, only one Civil War, only one Revolutionary,

and then of course Gladiator from back in the

olden days. Any other thoughts on saving Private

Ryan? Not for me fucking awesome bias All right,

well then that leads us to our number one film

on the list so far we have had Patton Patriot

Glory full metal jacket platoon gladiator Schindler's

list apocalypse now and saving private Ryan which

all leads us to our number one spot on our list

and Surprise, it's not anything about any of

the US featured wars we're going back old school

to the first war of scottish independence 1995

don't rave heart son of a bitch this is betrayal

and this is this fucking movie wow oh god the

reaction is strong from the panel even though

most of us had it on our list it's see to me

it's weird because you look at war do you classify

as modern warfare or historical warfare and maybe

that's how we should have almost divided this

list up if we went to uh to historical warfare

we would have only had two films on the list

well i'm sure there's other ones i know had to

extend the cutoff date but yeah i mean braveheart

over fucking saving private ryan apocalypse now

Well, this is how I got here though. If we're

going to look at things here, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5th

on TFG1's list, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6th on Dan's list,

4th on Birdman's list, 2nd on Steve's list, and

1, 2, 3, 4, 5th on my list. So we basically all

had it in our top 5. Yeah, it is top five top

ten material, but it's not no. I'm sorry. There's

no blue everything else away No, I 19 points.

It was in number one spot Before we get to everybody's

apparently negative reactions, even though we

all put it in our top five It was obviously a

box office phenomenon at its time Got real good

reviews. Obviously one best picture best director

10 Academy Award nominations. AFI is 100 years

under Thrill's number 91. William Wallace was

nominated as one of the 100 heroes. They had

the quote taken, you know, they may take away

our lives, but they'll never take our freedom.

That score was nominated. It was nominated for

all kinds of stuff. uh... definitely got the

critical acclaim a lot of people love great part

especially in the nineties uh... what's good

and he hasn't said anything yet about great part

of the number one i'm surprised at summer when

i did have a number six i do think it walks on

top ten number one night i do think we necessary

for ryan chris less uh... what those record would

go above it with that they all that's is what

we're going to know i think this is what happens

here To me if you look at our top two Saving

Private Ryan and Braveheart are more so Universal

and what I say by that is what I mean by that

is like everybody appreciates and likes them

Compared to if you take some of the Vietnam films

There's more app to have somebody that leaves

one of those off You know what I mean or like

a Schindler's List might not appeal to everybody

as great as it as it is You know some of these

other films are not as whereas you get to like

a Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan No one dislikes

those movies. You know I mean they're gonna include

those movies whereas some of these other ones

Maybe one person leaves that off because they

don't care for that style or one person leaves

it off because they don't you know what I mean

Yeah, so I'm not surprised that these two kind

of rose up You know my time my top on machine

there's lists But I'm not surprised that these

two are near the top Yeah, and I think to part

of it it with with Braveheart It's I mean we

talked about historical accuracy Braveheart is

one that has very little But it's not something

many American audiences are coming in with a

background knowledge of. So they have no idea

how accurate it is or not. And so it's not really

a key factor. Not that that makes a movie good

or bad, but something like Apocalypse Now, like

we mentioned, which is, it's controversial. It's

not everyone's cup of tea. So I could see, like

you mentioned, why that wouldn't make it, or

something that's really weighty, like Shiner's

List. I doubt anyone's ever gonna say, you know

what my favorite movie is? Schindler's List because

it's not something you're gonna re -watch every

day because it's a tough watch. Braveheart, it

deals with hard topics. I mean, there's some

violence in it for sure. I mean, the last torture

sequence, I mean, it haunts my dreams to this

day, but I enjoy it. It's a well -crafted, some

really good battle sequences. Brendan Gleeson,

who I love, I mean, that guy's awesome in everything

he does. some craziness of Mel Gibson before

he was completely crazy. And to Mel Gibson's

credit, he is a fantastic director. I think he's

a much better director than he is actor. Not

saying he's a bad actor, but he knows how to

craft a story. He knows how to take a really

complex and large topic and make it and break

it down and make it flow really well. Like he

did that with something like Apocalyptia, which

is in a completely different language. But that's

not a great movie that I guess it wouldn't fit

this list, but I love Mel Gibson as a director,

and I really hope he kind of gets back to that.

It maybe gets a little less crazy. But surprise

is number one. But overall, I think that the

list as a whole is pretty strong. So you could

flip -flop a few things, but it's just the nature

of things, I guess. Using that same philosophy

that is some more of those universal appeals

a gladiator would have even been towards the

top because you know So many people don't dislike

that film Yeah, if we were looking at the fifth

list overall I mean if you're looking at Patton

and glory and Fullmetal Jack of platoon gladiator

shinless list apocalypse now saving private Ryan

and Braveheart I can see patriot being one that

people would be like that needs to go and something

else needs to be in its place But overall, I

mean those are ten epic war movies. I just think

if you flip -flopped one and two Saving Private

Ryan is an infinitely better movie than Braveheart.

If you flip -flop those two, I would be perfectly

happy, but the fact that Brave... I actually

had to look at... You probably shouldn't have

voted for Saving Private Ryan. I had to actually

look and make sure, because I wasn't sure what

number one was going to be until you started

saying, oh, 1995. I don't do the predictions

anymore, because everyone just looks at their

list and figures out which one hasn't been talked

about. Right, but see, I haven't had my list

open for any of the three... Countdowns we've

done so far here in GCR. So but I was thinking

I had to go back and look in the honorable mentions

to make sure King Pearl Harbor was not Not on

the list. I do I would walk out. I don't Like

you you could have got saving private Ryan to

number one had you ranked it But but no, it's

like I don't know and and I think partially why

I don't like Braveheart Even after it because

I saw it when it first went like it you ranked

at number five Well, I like it, but I don't like

it as much nowadays Like I like when I went back

and I watched it It was it was alright and then

and then you have that magical Animal Pixar story

that is essentially the same damn thing in animation.

That's yeah, but anyway Yeah, I did rank it number

five because overall, outside of the theatrics

of it, it is a good movie. I just don't think

it's a number one movie. I think it's a number

five movie. I think it's maybe the top five,

yeah. Yeah, I can see top five. The film's depiction

of the battle of Sterling Bridge was listed by

CNN as one of the best battles in cinema history.

I'm just reading that. I found that funny. Yeah,

I mean I could see I definitely expected it to

be in the top ten I did not expect it to be number

one I fully expected actually saving private

Ryan to be number one just even though I didn't

have it as number one I just expected that that's

the one that everyone's gonna vote on Yeah, like

I said overall I am very happy with this and

with this list Look just kind of giving your

thoughts overall not just on Braveheart though

just on the list overall Dan what are your thoughts

on the list overall? I have all the list we've

done so far. I think this is the one I'm usually

the happiest with You know, I think the one clarion

thing we mentioned is the Patriot but overall

I think every movie on this list you may not

agree where it is on it Like maybe this doesn't

deserve a number five. Maybe this should be number

seven, but everything else I think it deserves

to be in top ten and at war films there are a

ton of amazing war films you There are ones we

left off. I'm sure there's ones we didn't even

mention because there's there's it's such a A

lot of the great directors seem to kind of go

to war stories because of just what they provide

I mean something like they say fact is often

more appealing than fiction and there's no more

better human drama or more compelling stories

than the war, I mean that's the It it's kind

of the the best of us the worst of us and so

I think that it's really hard trying to quantify

and put just 30 or 40 years of war films in 10,

but I think we did a really solid job and I'm

really pleasantly surprised that Apocalypse Now

was as high as it was. I'm really happy Shenil's

list made it and I'm really happy that Savior

Prior to Orion was as high as it was. I think

out of the list we've done so far this is as

close as we've come to getting it right in my

opinion. 1 through 10. Obviously comedy is just

so much of a bigger There are so many different

avenues you can go in. Action is a little bit

more streamlined. But for this one, even though

there are so many war films and there are so

many good war films, I just think the cream of

the crop rose to the top here and we got basically

a solid list, 1 through 10. I don't see as many

people giving us a hard time on this one as they

did with our comedy one. Birdman, what are your

thoughts on the list overall? I think overall

we got this, like you said, pretty much right.

Yeah, there's a lot we left off because that

1970s cutoff date, but who knows if you ever

want to revisit this topic and do pre 1970, we

could easily find 10 movies there. But yeah,

I mean, like I said, the number one disappoints

me. I can see it from a certain angle. I mean,

the battle scenes were really fucking cool in

that movie. And it was honestly a really good

movie. It's not a war movie per se. I would almost

classify it as a historical epic. But I'm just

glad Apocalypse Now made the list, Full Metal

Jacket made it as high as it did, Saving Private

Ryan. Yeah, I think we did okay. Mr. TFG one

I With the exception of number one, I think we

did fantastic. I still think Good morning, Vietnam

should have at least been in the top. No, I'm

serious Not not not just because I like Robin

Williams, but I in I genuinely enjoy that movie

because it's showing you the Vietnam War from

a completely different angle It's almost showing

it to you not on the front lines. It's not showing

you The the events of the war is showing you

someone who gets thrown into that situation,

right? You know and that's why I think it deserved

to be in the top ten other than that and other

than the number one I'm pretty happy with the

list As am I and don't worry folks We will get

a little bit lighter hearted here when we go

into our next our next top ten list will will

not be so intense with our war theme we'll get

something a little bit more fun and Oh yes, very

much more fun because we hope you enjoyed this

episode of Geekcast Radio and wish you'll join

us next time when we'll be knocking one out of

the park, slam dunking, doing touchdown dances,

and avoiding slap shots as we count down the

top 10 sports movies. For now, I am TFG1 Mike

with Optimus Solo. Movie of Old Dan. Mike the

Birdman Dodd. Thank you for listening and we

will see you next time on Leash the Geek in You.

And I see a whole army of my countrymen here

in defiance of tyranny You've come to fight as

free man And free men you are What will you do

without freedom will you fight fight and you

may die run and you'll live at least a while

and dying in your beds many years from now would

you be willing to trade all the days from this

day to that for one chance just one chance to

come back here and tell our enemies that they

may take our lives But they'll never take our

freedom! Joker! Sir, yes sir! 4212, Basic Military

Journalism. You gotta be shittin' me, Joker!

You think you're Mickey Spillane? You think you're

some kind of fuckin' writer? Sir, I wrote for

my high school newspaper, sir! Jesus Christ,

you're not a writer, you're a killer! A killer,

yes sir! Homer Pyle. My name is Maximus Decimus

Meridius. Commander of the armies of the North.

General of the Felix Legions. Loyal servant to

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murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And

I will have my vengeance. In this life or the

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