My first day off in two weeks. I've been binging on Kubrick and Stone and Coppala all day. Lot of good war dramas out there. War never changes. It's the great equalizer of humanity. Just thought I'd throw my two cents in on our next movie.
Does it have to be drama? If it can be a "documentary" I'm going to have to go with Restrepo, which is a very powerful film.
One of my favorite movies of all time. Isham's score is absolutely haunting: And it's arguably Kevin Reynolds' (Robin Hood Prince of Thieves) best movie. Shot completely in Israel, it's about a Soviet tank in the Afghanistan invasion that wanders free of its battalion. Story follows the tank crew on one side, and on the other side the vengeful Afghans, before they were Al Qaeda, before they were Taliban, before they were Mujahideen. It was virtually unknown in the US. Nobody saw it. Cinemax used to run it every now and then. It's noteworthy because it's so goddamn real. The production crew found it was cheaper to buy tanks than rent them, so they purchased 3 ex-Soviet T-55s off the IDF and then spent 6 weeks training everyone how to operate them. In my opinion, one of the best war films never seen. When Kevin Reynolds had Red Dawn taken away from him by John Milius, this is the movie he intended it to be. requisite appeal from authority about how I know me some war movies
I'm intrigued. To the top of my Netflix queue it goes. Thanks.
Not mentioned in this thread, a movie that YOU KNOW BETTER THAN FUCKING CHARLIE SHEEN HIMSELF -- Red Dawn. -I can't point people to that comment of yours often enough. Classic stuff. edit. Well, you mentioned it there at the end. My bad Regardless of whether The Beast is chosen, I'll watch it. High praise from you.
On a related note, what are the war movies that haven't been made about wars (or moments of war) that have been overlooked?
I had seen it three times by the time I was 22 years old. It was definitely on my radar. I discovered that film around the time I watched Apocalypse Now for the first time. -That is a film that ought to be in consideration.
Here's the script. It's interesting to read because it's really clear that Robert DeNiro was supposed to play Christopher Walken's character and Christopher Walken was supposed to play Robert DeNiro's character. The guy that ends up in Saigon? The gung-ho, all-American type. The guy who ends up falling in love with Meryl Streep and coming home shattered and weird? The bookish introvert. Not sure if it would have made a better or worse film. Probably would have been different. Unlike Blade Runner and Wall Street: Both of those films were written and initially cast with the roles of Sean Young and Darryl Hannah reversed (Pris was supposed to be a snarky, world-wise brunette; Rachel was supposed to be a doe-eyed blonde ingenue). Vaguely related: I first saw Deer Hunter in maybe 11th grade. Freshman year in College I ventured up to Nooksack Falls and environs maybe every other weekend. It always felt right; always felt familiar. Only found out several years later that's because Nooksack Falls features heavily in Deer Hunter, despite being 3000 miles from Pennsylvania. Most of the wilderness scenes in DH were shot in Whatcom County, WA.
I'm down. I feel like a couple of my suggestions have been chosen of late so I'm gonna sit out on making suggestions but I will absolutely watch whatever you guys pick. Good call!