The Worst

Whats the worst, most boring, most annoying etc WW2 film you have ever seen?

I'd pick Yanks featuring Richard Gere and William Devane.

 

that 70s one with george peppard . theres spitfires in it with german markings.......that was pretty grim

 

Easy one: Thin Red Line, both versions. After that, a lousy one was Battle Cry.

 

Do you mean 'Tobruk', hatch ? A weird film.

I'd also have to nominate 'Hanover Street' with Harrison Ford...

 

Hi Martin , Tobruk was'nt that orrible. I mean, you got to hear George Peppard refer to the GFP as "Headhunters." Also, Nigel Greene was in the movie.

Other than that, yup, I agree it was a terrible film but not as boring as TRL & Battle Cry. Good actors but, more boring than I could stand.

 

Midway was pretty bad as far as the aviation clips shown in it. One scene the planes were fighters, the next dive bombers, and next trainers and the next torpeado bombers, and this with the same pilots !!

The second version of 12 O Clock High was not too good as was the second version of All Quiet on the Western Front, with John Boy.

 

The French-Italian 1968 production "La bataille d'El Alamein" (Fr) or "La battaglia di El Alamein" (I) was pretty awful.

The German title is even worse and says it all: "Königstiger vor El Alamein" (=King Tigers (!) in front of El Alamein".

Cheers,

 

ARE YOU ALL KIDDING!!!!
WINDTALKERS ABOVE AND BEYOND!!!

 

Thin Red Line, I am with you Carl, it isn't a bad movie as such but I have it on vid, watched it a fair few times and have NO IDEA what it is about. The main reason for that is that whenever I sit down to watch it I either fall asleep or get distracted by something more interesting (like paint drying). There are a few good bits (the bit in the field for example) but all the same, it just seems to be lacking a plot. Not the worst though, Pearl Harbour, worst WW2 film I have ever seen, I constantly wanted the main characters to get killed and actually at the end I was cheering the Japanese for killing the obnoxious twits! Ok, maybe I am going a little far but for a 'patriotic' movie it went more than a little overboard and was rather hard to believe. The lovey dovey bit just dragged it further down the scale.

Great, now I have to go and watch a good movie to rebuild my faith, you see what you have done???

 

You guys are going to hate this but I have to name "Stalingrad". I was expecting another Das-Boot style rollercoaster ride, but was in so much pain from laughing I had to stop watching half way.

The most annoying thing about that movie is when the guys get hit. They must've roped in coreographers from the Russian State Opera with stunt guys from the "A-team" to do em. ie. Overdramatic, OTT and hilarious.

 

I liked „The Thin Red Line“. It‘s, like “Apocalypse Now” really more a piece of art, compared to a Saving Ryan’s Privates boom-boom-hero-movie: The movie is asking questions like where does evil come from, where does love come from? The movie offers no hope, no glamorous heroism, no relief, it just shows how war is poisoning the souls. I liked the symbolism shown in the struggle of nature for survival, the wonderful beauty of the grass hill in which death waits, the randomness of death and survival, degenerating individuals to just “one”, living or dead.

The invasion scenes in „Windtalkers“ were good too.

Cheers,

 

Andy, I know what you mean about the 'symbolism' etc but I just found it rather pretencious and more than slightly superficial, actually my reaction to Apocalypse Now was much the same initially, after watching it all the way through and actually taking time to think about it it is now one of my favourit war movies, I guess maybe I should do the same for TRL. I still stand by Pearl Harbour as the worst ever.

Stalingrad, strage choice, I liked it a lot. I am not sure what you mean about people getting hit, I don't reckon the deaths are too rediculous, particularly considering that you never see any of the major characters get shot. Either way, it's better than Cross of Iron (read the book and you will see why).

 

This is a tough one to call. I think the two Dirty Dozen sequels, both of which stank, deserve to share this title jointly.

 

First of all, "The thin red line" IS NOT a film which main subject is war... Terrence Mallyck, the director has a PhD in philosophy by Harvard University. Why are you so surprised that the film talks about everything but historical facts? If you don't like philosophy, don't watch it. The battle scens are very well done, acting is good and music and photography are BEAUTIFUL. But I wouldn't include it in action nor WWII films.

I have to choose "Windtalkers". Rambo-like, not believable, bad battle scenes (I didn't know that hand grenades and artillery shells exploded with huge fire waves as if they were bloody napalm...!) And it seemed very real the USS Missouri bombing Kuwait, sudennly transferred 50 years to the past to bom Saipan...

 

I agree with you Stefan, TRL was a bummer and VERY boring. Now if they chopped out about half the running time, it might be an interesting movie.

Looks like we disagree again Andy because (in my opinion) Apocolypse Now was way too long and boring. After the first 15 minutes-it sucked. At least it does not have the distinction of sucking from the begenning like TRL did.

I disagree with the comment about the remake of All Quiet On The Western Front. I recently watched it and it was not bad at all. Ernerst Borgnine and Richard Thomas played their characters perfectly and true to the original (1930) version's characters played by: Louis Wohlheim (Kaz Kazynski SP?) in the remake(Ernest Borgnine) and Lou Ayers (Paul Baumer) in the remake (Richard "John Boy" Thomas.)

BTW, Richard Thomas was the Yankee Private as the same soldier that Audie Murphy (The Medal of Honor Recipient) played in the original: Red Badge of Courage. It's been too long since I last saw the remake of TRoC, but I don't recall it being a bad remake as far as remakes go.

 

I wonder how cruddy the very recently played: Jessica Lynch movie was? Did anyone watch that garbage?

 

interesting actually.........NOT !

a couple of misrepresentations by the vets displayed. About 4 guys popped of by the chap in glasses when in reality he shot 12 according to him before the Ilamic slimes knocked to the ground. Jessica Lynch was protrayed as being totally awake and sober during here ordeal ? Did think that was possible and thought she had forgotten quite a few things after she was homebound. After the battle and capture I couldn't take it anymore........

 

I asked a few people here locally if they watched it and surprisingly, one said that it was OK but not the kind of movie that would keep you on the edge of your seat.

Oh and, nope, I did not watch it either. I watched a classic war movie: Sands of Iwo Jima, with you-know-who (check my avatar)

 

From the films I've seen, U-571 is the worst. If there has ever been a completely vain movie, it was this one.

For one, it is a misconception to avowedly set up an invented story which serves nothing but historic fake propaganda, to boot it, a very cloddish one.

There is no acceptable script, no tension at all, only bathetic clichees. The Germans murder castaways, it doesn't have ANYTHING to do with the plot, but we NEED to pile on who are the evil guys! The crew always talk what unlikely action they are going to undertake to save their asses, and they suceed all the time, surprise, surprise! The setup is so bull**** and far from reality thst it really stinks.

And too many more flaws to be mentioned...

This is the result if the makers of a movie have nothing in mind but its decoration.

 

sorry, I'm still getting over (after 15 years) his PT Boat comedy serial "McHale's navy"... I can't take the guy seriously