Blog 07/23/25 – MHT's Military Movie Reviews
We have gotten complaints we don’t do enough movie reviews of this or that service so we put together a Top 10 list (with some modifications) of each service (OK No U.S. Coast Guard but we do list Petty Officer Scott Ruskan, a USCG rescue swimmer deployed from Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, as a true American Hero for his saving of 165 people during the recent Guadalupe River flooding in Texas working with the U.S. Army National Guard in an example of military relief efforts in sharp contrast to the haphazard effort during the Hurricane Helene devastation in 2024. We will pass on listing Space Force as only the very mediocre sitcom of the same name by Steve Carell could qualify.) What I noticed while researching these lists was Hollywood has seemed to be heading in the Tim Walz image that “a real man is a beta man” with the traits of 1) Collaborating & cooperating with others to make decisions; 2) Struggles with saying “no”; 3) Not competitive; 4) Friendly & warm; 5) Comfortable with his emotions & feeling; 6) Does not have a big ego & 7) Prefers to follow & not lead.
I became concerned there is no widespread evidence of a "lack of action stars" concerns in the media. The Gold standard class of “action stars” are aging out as we can’t rely on these 60, 70, & 80 year-olds; Tom Cruise, Wesley Snipes, Chuck Norris, Kurt Russel, Arnie Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, Kevin Costner, Sly Stallone, Pierce Brosnan, Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jet Li, Harrison Ford, Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Liam Neeson, Russell Crowe, Jack Nicholson, John Malkovich, Scott Glenn, Sam Shepard, Antonio Banderas, Christopher Walken, Samuel L. Jackson, Woody Harrelson, George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Kevin Bacon, Nick Nolte, John Travolta, Robert Downey Jr., Nick Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Steven Seagal, & Robert Duvall too much longer.
The brightest “up-and-comers” are no longer that young: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (53), Matthew McConaughey (55), Chris Hemsworth (41), Chris Pine (44), Chris Evans (44), Dave Bautista (56), Christian Bale (51), Henry Cavill (42), Vin Diesel (58), Jason Statham (57), Keanu Reeves (60), Tom Hardy (47), Leonard DiCaprio (50), Edward Norton (55), Jeremy Renner (54), Matt Damon (54), Ben Affleck (52), Will Smith (56), Hugh Jackman (56), Chris O‘Donnell (55), Chris Pratt (46), Ryan Reynolds (48), Charlie Hunnam (45), Timothy Olyphant (57), Jon Bernthal (48), John Cusack (59), Ethan Hawke (54), Cillian Murphy (49), Luke Evans (46), Daniel Craig (57), Bradley Cooper (50), Adam Driver (41), Jamie Foxx (57), Jason Momoa (45) Ben Stiller (59), John Krasinski (45), Owen Wilson (56), & Gerard Butler (55).
Discussions within the film community often highlight the emergence of new talent & the challenges of achieving blockbuster "action star" status. There aren’t that many! Why don’t Glen Powell (36), Miles Teller (38), Timothee Chalamet (29) (something that isn’t Dune!), Austin Butler (33), Joseph Quinn (31) (OK after “Warfare” he is the Human Flame in the new Fantastic Four movie), Michael B. Jordan (38), & Will Poulter (31) have more action movie roles? Here are stars who have already failed as “action star” or probably would if given a chance: Jesse Eisenberg, Seth Rogan, Jamie Dornan, Adrien Brody, Shia LeBeouf, Tobey Maquire, Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Steve Carell, Topher Grace, Johnny Galecki, Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, Justin Long, Charlie Day, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader, Jason Segel, Paul Rudd, Will Ferell, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, & Josh Gad.
Enough hand wringing, compare your list against our MHT lists with 54 movies & mini-series.
U.S. Army Movies
1) Saving Private Ryan (1998): Virtuoso Director Steven Spielberg crafts a World War II (WWII) D-Day masterpiece that focuses on a squad's mission to find and bring home a paratrooper whose three brothers have been killed in action (KIA.) It's renowned for its intense realism & graphic depiction of the D-Day beachhead. The film introduced a host of soon to be famous young actors including Adam Goldberg, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Nathan Fillion, Paul Giamatti, Ryan Hurst, Vin Diesel, Edward Burns, Byran Cranston & Matt Damon. The film was anchored by a Tom Hanks (Captain Miller) Oscar winning performance but was robbed by a foreign nod to someone named Roberto Benigni. Worse still, Harvey Weinstein did to the Oscar nomination process what he did to so many actresses by violating the Oscars for a lightweight cross-dressing gender fluidity “Shakespeare in Love” that is the worst winner in history until challenged by “Crash” & the Hollywood wasteland of winners from 2014 until “Oppenheimer” in 2023. You can walk the section of Omaha Beach where the 2nd Ranger Battalion came ashore on every MHT D-Day Tour.
2) Patton (1970): The epic biographical war film about U.S. Army General George S. Patton during WWII. George C. Scott gives a tour de force performance as Patton with a strong supporting role for Karl Malden as General Omar Bradley. Scott won the Best Actor as his opening monologue with an enormous American flag behind him, remains an iconic scene & almost Trumpian in grandeur. Every MHT tour to the Battle of the Bulge will make a stop at the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Luxembourg American Cemetery to visit the General’s gravesite.
3) Fury (2014): This film, set in the final days of WWII, follows a M4A2E8 Sherman tank crew led by Brad Pitt as hardened Staff Sergeant “Wardaddy” Collier as they battle their way into Germany. The Sherman “Fury” was borrowed from Bovington Tank Museum as was the German Tiger I Ausf. E #131 with its infamous 8.8cm KwK 36 gun with both being part of one of the great tank duels ever filmed. The majority of Tiger tanks seen in WWII films were either stock footage or mock-ups constructed on top of other tank chassis. Tiger 131 seen in “Fury” is the only real Tiger I still running in the world & the first time it appears in a film.
4) Black Hawk Down (2001): This Ridley Scott film, based on an ill-conceived Clinton peace-keeping mission in Somalia that goes horribly wrong on 3 October 1993. Task Force Ranger (3rd Battalion (Bn)/75th Ranger Regiment, C Squadron-Delta Force, & 1st Bn 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment including 8 MH-60 Black Hawks, 4 AH-6 & 4 MH-6 Little Birds) enters Mogadishu on a “snatch n’ grab” mission leading to a fierce & prolonged firefight within the city. It is praised for its realistic depiction of urban combat and the chaos of battle. The performances of Sam Shepard, Eric Bana, William Fichtner & Kim Coates as Delta Force Operators & Josh Hartnett, Tom Sizemore, Tom Hardy, Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom, Jason Isaacs as Rangers were all noteworthy.
5) We Were Soldiers (2002): The movie starring Mel Gibson as US Army Lieutenant Colonel (LtCol) Moore & Sam Elliott as Sergeant Major Plumley dramatizes the Battle of Ia Drang on 14 November 1965. In 1954, the French Army's Group Mobile 100, is ambushed & wiped out by Viet Minh forces in the Ia Drang Valley during the First Indochina War. Viet Minh commander Nguyen Huu An orders his soldiers to "kill all they send, and they will stop coming." Eleven years later, LtCol Moore leads his newly-created Air Cavalry Bn of 400 men into the same Area of Operations where a captured enemy scout confesses, they are opposed by a veteran North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Division of 4,000 men who will seek to dispense the same fate as befell the French.
6) The Longest Day (1962): A true epic war film based on Cornelius Ryan's 1959 non-fiction book of the same name chronicling the D-Day landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944. The movie was produced by Darryl F. Zanuck for 20th Century Fox, & was directed by Ken Annakin (British & French exteriors), Andrew Marton (American exteriors), & Bernhard Wicki (German scenes.) The film features a huge international ensemble cast that includes John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Robert Ryan, Steve Forrest, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, Eddie Albert, Jeffrey Hunter, Stuart Whitman, Rod Steiger, Richard Dawson, Gert Fröbe, Irina Demick (with her famous bike ride to distract the Germans guarding the bridge, she got the part the old Hollywood way courtesy of an affair with studio mogul/producer Zanuck, who cast her as an attractive member of the French Resistance), Curd Jürgens, George Segal, Robert Wagner, & Paul Anka. Many of these actors played roles that were essentially cameo appearances. My favorite snippet was Heinz Reincke playing German Ace Oberstleutnant (LtCol) Josef “Pips” Priller leading his wingman on a single strafing pass on Sword Beach in their Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8s all his command Jagdgeschwader 26 (Fighter Wing) could muster. After strafing run “Pips” tells his wingman “Head for Home! (Laughing) The Luftwaffe had had its great moment!”
7) A Bridge Too Far (1977): The second epic war film also based on a Cornelius Ryan book, this one directed by Lord Richard Attenborough. It depicts Operation Market Garden, a failed Allied operation through Nazi-occupied Netherlands in an attempt to open a direct route into Germany during WWII. It stars an all-star ensemble cast, featuring Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Hardy Krüger, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O'Neal, Robert Redford, Maximilian Schell and Liv Ullmann. The plan to capture the bridges along the route proved too difficult including British Field Marshal Montgomery ignoring intelligence & dropping the 1st British Airborne Division on top of the reconstituting II Panzer Corps of both the 9th SS Panzer Division "Hohenstaufen” & 10th SS Panzer Division "Frundsberg" ensuring its gallant destruction. MHT conducts an excellent Operation Market Garden & Invasion of Germany Tour.
8) The Hurt Locker (2008): This movie offers a tense & suspenseful look at a team disarming Improvised Explosive Devices during the Iraq War. Director Kathryn Bigelow gives the Hollywoodization of the physic toll on Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) troops. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Ralph Fiennes, & Guy Pearce. The film follows an Iraq War EOD team who are targeted by insurgents & focuses on their psychological reactions to combat stress. Despite Iraq War veterans criticizing the film's depictions as inaccurate, movie critics praised Bigelow's directing by their votes leading to the Academy Awards for Best Picture & Best Director.
9) Hacksaw Ridge (2016): This WWII biographical Pacific War film was directed by Mel Gibson about conscientious objector Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a Seventh-day Adventist, who refused to use a weapon of any kind. Doss became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor, for his service during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945. The strong supporting cast includes Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Hugo Weaving, Rachel Griffiths, & an excellent Vince Vaughn. New South Wales doubles as Okinawa as the actual battlefield had been overrun by the island’s urban development.
10) From Here to Eternity (1953): A romantic war drama directed by Fred Zinnemann based on the 1951 novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the tribulations of three United States Army soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, & Frank Sinatra, stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the Imperial Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Deborah Kerr & Donna Reed portray the women in their lives. The film's title originates from Rudyard Kipling's 1892 poem "Gentlemen-Rankers," about British Empire soldiers who had "lost [their] way" & were "damned from here to eternity".
Mini-series
Band of Brothers (2001): This miniseries, co-created by Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks is widely considered one of the best war dramas, the episodes follow the men of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, from their training in the United States to the end of World War II in Europe. It is praised for its historical accuracy, magnificent cinematography & its focus on the soldier’s personal stories.
U.S. Navy Movies
1) Warfare (2025): A film written & directed by Ray Mendoza & Alex Garland, based on Mendoza's experiences during the Iraq War as a U.S. Navy (USN) SEAL. The film depicts an encounter he & his platoon experienced on 19 November 2006 after the Battle of Ramadi. The script is drawn from SEALs testimonies & is presented in almost real time. Rotten Tomatoes reported 93% of their 223 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus says it perfectly: "Narratively cut to the bone & geared up with superb filmmaking craft, “Warfare” evokes the primal terror of combat with unnerving power." The MHT Blog has our review: https://miltours.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=151
2) Run Silent, Run Deep (1958): Second only to Das Boot in submarine movies this film stars Clark Gable & Burt Lancaster. The title refers to "silent running", a submarine stealth tactic. The story accurately describes WWII submarine warfare in the Pacific Theater & deals with themes of vengeance, endurance, courage, loyalty, & honor, & how these can be tested by wartime stress. In addition to Gable & Lancaster playing the leads, the film also features Jack Warden & Don Rickles.
3) Lone Survivor (2013): Based on a true story, this film portrays the harrowing experience of a Navy SEAL team during 2005’s Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan. Four Navy SEALs Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg), Michael Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) & "Axe" Axelson (Ben Foster) are inserted on a mission of surveillance to track down Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. It goes horribly wrong when the team is discovered by two local teenagers who the SEALs make the moral decision not to eliminate.
4) They Were Expendable (1945): This war film directed by the incomparable John Ford portrays the exploits of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron Three, a Patrol Torpedo (PT) boat unit defending the Philippines against the invading Imperial Japanese Forces during WWII’s Battle of the Philippines (1941–42.) LT "Brick" Brickley (Robert Montgomery) commands a squadron of agile but small & unproven USN PT boats. He puts on a daring demonstration of their maneuverability & fighting capabilities with the help of LTJG. “Rusty” Ryan (John Wayne) who when wounded begins a romance with strong-willed & wholesomely attractive Army nurse Sandy Davyss (Donna Reed), who a patient rates her allure as, "Eleven-thousand men can't be wrong."
5) Top Gun & Top Gun Maverick (1986 & 2022): Two massively successful films in their own right. "Top Gun" is a classic that captured the huge patriotic swell of the Reagan years, while "Top Gun: Maverick" saved a post Chinese Coronavirus movie industry with a sequel that builds upon the foundation of the original, with a better screenplay that foreshadows our recent Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran. The first film introduced us to the Navy's Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) that brought us starring roles for the F-14 Tomcat plus Tom Cruise, Anthony Edwards, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Tim Robbins, Meg Ryan & Tom Skerritt. The sequel brought back Tom Cruise plus Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Ed Harris, & the final film for Val Kilmer. The critics hated the first film for what I’m sure those Beta men would call “toxic masculinity” but men & women flocked to the theaters making it the #1 box office film of the year while the Oscars honored the Vietnam fantasy “Platoon.” The second, despite getting people back to theaters & having a box office of 1.5 billion dollars , yes that is $1,500,000,000 it was bypassed for an independent absurdist comedy-drama that no one saw that explores philosophical themes such as existentialism, nihilism, surrealism, and absurdism, Neurodivergence, Depression, generational trauma, and Asian American identity. Skip those & see the two Top Guns again.
6) American Sniper (2014): Yet another superb, biographical war drama directed and co-produced by Clint Eastwood that follows the life of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, the most lethal sniper in US military history. Kyle became a deadly marksman with 255 terrorists killed from four tours in the Iraq War, 160 of which were officially confirmed by the Department of Defense. While Kyle was celebrated for his military successes, his tours of duty took a heavy toll on his personal & family life. Bradley Cooper as Kyle is superb & was robbed of an Academy Award by a boring British actor & Sienna Miller also did her finest work as Kyle’s wife Taya.
7) Midway (1976 & 2019): These two American war films chronicle the Battle of Midway, a turning point in WWII’s Pacific Theater of Operations. The 1976 film was directed by Jack Smight & starred Charlton Heston and Henry Fonda, supported by a large international cast of stars including James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Ed Nelson, Hal Holbrook, Robert Webber, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Robert Wagner, Pat Morita, Dabney Coleman, Erik Estrada & Tom Selleck. The more recent “Midway” was directed by Roland Emmerich (action veteran with Independence Day, White House Down, Godzilla, & The Patriot on his resume.) This film stars Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Aaron Eckhart, Nick Jonas, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Tadanobu Asano, Darren Criss, and Woody Harrelson. The film was a passion project of Emmerich's but he found anti-hero Hollywood wanted nothing to do with it so he raised the funds on his own. With a production budget of $100 million, to date it is one of the most expensive independent films of all time & its box office take easily surpassed the budget. The Los Angeles Times gave the film the woke treatment "so square, so old-school & old-fashioned, it almost feels avant-garde", adding: "It aims to celebrate heroism, sacrifice, determination and grit, and if you don't like that it really does not care.” For those not woke brain-washed it is worth the watch!
8) Tears of the Sun (2003): Directed by Antoine Fuqua who has such action hits as Training Day, King Arthur, Shooter, Olympus Has Fallen, The Equalizer & The Magnificent Seven. The film depicts an eight-man U.S. Navy SEAL team amidst a fictitious 21st-century version of a civil war in Nigeria. Bruce Willis stars as the oldest Lieutenant in the Navy & commands the SEAL team sent on a rescue mission to extract U.S. citizen Monica Bellucci. She plays a physician on a Doctors Without Borders mission at a Christian jungle hospital. A coup d'état overthrows the President of Nigeria, sending the country into chaos & ethnic cleansing as the Muslim rebels try to eradicate the Christians. The rebel troops are led by Peter Mensah who makes a perfect villain as his men rape & kill all at the hospital & a village but need to catch the SEALs & those ambulatory patients they’re escorting. It is a race to the Cameroon border.
9) Flight of the Intruder (1991): John Milius directs the film version of the classic novel by Stephen Coonts about a Vietnam War, carrier-based USN A-6 Intruder all-weather attack bomber. A pilot schemes with a renegade veteran bombardier/navigator to “go downtown” making an unauthorized air strike on Hanoi. It stars Danny Glover, Willem Dafoe, Brad Johnson, & Rosanna Arquette. MHT has a detailed Blog on this film. https://miltours.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=84
10) Up Periscope (1959): A U.S. Navy frogman infiltrates a Japanese-held island during WWII. LTJG Kenneth Braden (James Garner) is inserted by the gruff submarine captain CDR Paul Stevenson (Edmond O'Brien), who worries about his crew including the always solid Alan Hale Jr. as Ensign Pat Malone. Garner also tries to mirror Burt Lancaster’s famous Hawaiian beach love scene with new girlfriend & intelligence officer Sally Johnson (Andra Martin)
11) Devotion (2022)/The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954): Here are two Korean War films the first is an important biographical war film based on the 2015 book Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, & Sacrifice by Adam Makos, which tells of the comradeship between naval aviators Ensign Jesse L. Brown (Jonathan Majors) & LTJG Tom Hudner (Glen Powell) during the Korean War. The film was directed by J. D. Dillard & had good critical reviews with its example of racial brotherhood in a military environment may not have been well-received during a time of an administration promoting racial divisiveness. The second is a classic based on a James A. Michener novel, who spent time aboard the aircraft carrier USS Essex off Korea. It deals with William Holden as Navy fighter pilot LT Harry Brubaker flying the Grumman F9F-2 Panther being summoned back to active duty by the Navy & has to fly a dangerous bombing mission. It includes an agreeable love story with Grace Kelly as his wife Nancy, including a comic cultural confusion in a Japanese bath house between their family & a local one where bathing attire is not customary. Supporting cast is frankly excellent with Fredric March as the Admiral, Robert Strauss as Beer Barrel, & Mickey Rooney & Earl Holliman as a stand out helicopter rescue team.
Courtroom Drama Films
The Caine Mutiny (1954): The film’s title refers to both the 1951 novel (by Herman Wouk that won the Pulitzer Prize) & the 1954 film, both which explore themes of leadership, duty, & the psychological effects of war aboard a U.S. Navy destroyer minesweeper during WWII. The story centers on the crew's mutiny against their unstable captain, LCDR Queeg, (Humphrey Bogart) and the subsequent court-martial of the officers involved.
A Few Good Men (1992): This naval courtroom drama is based on Aaron Sorkin's 1989 play & directed by Rob Reiner. It stars an all-star ensemble cast including Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Pollak, J. T. Walsh, Cuba Gooding Jr., & Kiefer Sutherland. The plot follows the court-martial of two U.S. Marines charged with the murder of a fellow Marine at Guantanamo Bay & the tribulations of their lawyers as they prepare to try the case. It received acclaim for the acting for Cruise, Nicholson, & Moore. It grossed more than $243 million on a budget of $40 million, & was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
U.S. Marine Corps Movies
1) Full Metal Jacket (1987): Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows quick-witted Private Davis (Matthew Modine), quickly christened "Joker" by his prototypical Drill Instructor (played by R. Lee Ermey who edges out Jack Webb from 1957’s “The D.I.” & trounces Academy Award winner Lou Gossett Jr. from 1982’s “An Officer & a Gentlemen”), & fat-body Private Lawrence (Vincent D'Onofrio), nicknamed "Gomer Pyle," as they endure the rigors of recruit training to be U.S. Marines. Though Pyle takes a frightening detour, Joker graduates to wear the Eagle, Globe & Anchor is sent to Vietnam as an enlisted combat correspondent, covering & eventually participating in the bloody Battle of Hué City during the Tet Offensive in 1968.
2) Sands of Iwo Jima (1949): The definitive WWII classic, this movie starring John Wayne (nominated for an Academy Award as Sergeant Stryker) follows his Marine squad through rigorous training & the brutal fighting on Tarawa & the deadly black sands of Iwo Jima. It's the touchstone for its powerful portrayal of the Marine brotherhood & sacrifice. The Marine Corps lent the production the actual flag raised on Mount Suribachi during the battle for its filming of the legendary flag raising. Due to the film’s success “The Duke” was invited to place his footprints in cement outside Hollywood’s fabled Grauman's Chinese Theater & actual black sand was flown from Iwo Jima to Hollywood & mixed into the cement in which he left his boot prints & "fist print."
3) Flags of Our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima (2006): Clint Eastwood’s first Iwo film tells the story of the six men who raised the American flag on Iwo Jima according to the book of the same name focusing on their experiences during & after the battle. The second film is told from the perspective of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) & Navy troops left below the island’s surface in the caves to die as slowly & kill as many U.S. Marines & sailors as possible. Both provide a poignant look at the human cost of war & the lasting impact on those who fought in this epic struggle.
4) Heartbreak Ridge (1986): The third of Clint’s trilogy in this poll features a hard-nosed, hard-living Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tom Highway (Starring & directed by Eastwood) who clashes with a superior & his ex-wife (Marsha Mason) as he takes command of an underperforming & disobedient reconnaissance platoon with a bad attitude. Like the legendary Sgt Stryker he has to impart his knowledge & discipline to his Marines before it is needed in battle.
5) The Great Santini (1979): A classic comedy-drama film written & directed by Lewis Carlino. It is based on the 1976 novel by noted southern author Pat Conroy. LtCol Bull Meechum (played magnificently by Robert Duvall) is a great F-4 Phantom II fighter pilot, so great that he has been dubbed "The Great Santini." While his take-no-prisoners attitude & willingness to fight has served him well in the Marine Corps, he's unable to turn it off in peacetime when home with his family. Eventually his competitive nature & abusive behavior take their toll on his relationships with his wife (Blythe Danner) & his 18-year-old son (Michael O'Keefe.)
6) Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957): During WWII, an American Marine (Robert Mitchum) & an Irish nun (Deborah Kerr) form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific Island. They find comfort in one another while hoping for a rescue, but they must avoid being captured by the IJA soldiers. Famed director John Huston does his usual great job.
7) Flying Leathernecks (1951): Major Daniel Kirby (John Wayne), leads a squadron of Grumman F4F Wildcats during the historic WWII battle of Guadalcanal. The movie details the exploits & personal battles of United States Marine Corps aviators during WWII. Kirby as the new commanding officer, a stern & strict leader, cannot believe the lack of discipline exhibited by his Marines. As the men resist Kirby's harsh adherence to orders, Captain Carl Griffin (Robert Ryan) politics for a more relaxed environment. However, by pushing his men beyond their limits, Kirby slowly transforms them into elite battle-ready warriors by forcing all of them to make sacrifices along the way. As indicated in the opening scene of the film, Howard Hughes, himself a pilot very interested in aviation, bankrolled the production. Hughes made the decision to film in Technicolor, making use of color wartime combat footage. Wayne’ character is based on John Lucian Smith (26 December 1914 – 9 June 1972) an American Medal of Honor recipient & Marine Corps flying ace who, as commanding officer of VMF-223, shot down 19 Japanese planes leading his squadron in the destruction of 83 enemy aircraft during the Solomon Islands Campaign.
8) In Love & War (1958): A stark reminder of the incompatibility of love & war & the often-tragic results of their combination. About half of the film is all about relationships between three Marines (Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, & Bradford Dillman) on shore leave in San Francisco & their sweethearts (Dana Wynter, Hope Lange, Sheree North & France Nuyen), four very different characters with very different backgrounds, as are their Marines. The second half is dominated by the Pacific War, with great technical advising helps depicting the Marines arduous hardships & their unimaginable heroic efforts & deeds. You get a very extensive & clear picture of what the war in the Pacific was really like. The four ladies encounter the ordinary fates of female civilian victims during the war, one is widowed with a child, while another spirals downward into an alcohol tragedy, and no one gets out of it unscathed. It is beautifully photographed & filmed in lush colors. It is well worth the watch.
9) Battle Cry (1955): The film is based on 1953’s extraordinary novel of the same name by former Marine Leon Uris, who also wrote the screenplay, that was produced & directed by Raoul Walsh. It has an all-star cast including Van Heflin, Aldo Ray, James Whitmore, Tab Hunter, Nancy Olson, Anne Francis, Dorothy Malone (whose change into a bathing suit is famous), Raymond Massey, & Fess Parker. The film was shot at Camp Pendleton, CA & featured a large amount of cooperation from the Marine Corps. Here is the greatest excerpt from Uris’s book, Battle Cry, 1953, Putnam, Page 468 (Note: On Red Beach One, Saipan, beloved LtCol "High Pockets" Huxley, Commanding Officer 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment has been KIA, casualties are high & the IJA has launched a Banzai charge to drive the Marines into the sea): "As the stunned Marines braced for the death they knew must come, Captain “Two Gun” Shapiro stepped in front of them, his two pistols smoking, He turned to his Marines and over the din they heard a gristly shriek from his lips. 'Blood!' he cried. Max Shapiro sank to his knees, his pistols empty. He threw them at the enemy, 'Blood' he screamed, 'Blood!' The men of Huxley's Whores were petrified. A legend was broken. The invincible Captain, the man bullets could not touch, the man they believed was almost divine, lay there writhing in agony the same as any human being. The blood gushed from his mouth & ears & nose & he rolled over defiantly, trying to crawl to his enemy to kill them with bare hands, the same ghastly word on his lips. Was he human after all? Did he not realize that something must be done to elevate his men to a task beyond human capabilities? Was it his God who sent him forward to sacrifice himself? Or was Max Shapiro merely a mad dog, full of a glorious madness? Huxley's Whores rose to the heights of their dead captain. They no longer resembled human beings. Savage beyond all savagery, murderous beyond murder, they shrieked, 'BLOOD!' 'BLOOD!' ... 'BLOOD!' The enemy," who were mere mortals, fell back." The MHT hotel on Saipan is on one of the invasion beaches with a Sherman Tank still sitting in the surf zone, walk the beaches on the Victory in the Pacific Tour.
10) Rules of Engagement (2000): William Friedkin directs a taunt military legal drama. Col Terry Childers (Samuel L. Jackson) is a 30-year veteran, a decorated Marine officer with combat experience in Vietnam, Beirut & Desert Storm. However, the country he served so well has court martialed him for a rescue mission in Yemen that went terribly wrong. For his attorney, he has chosen Marine Col Hays Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones), a comrade-in-arms who owes his life to Childers when both were Lieutenants in Vietnam.
Mini-series
The Pacific (2010): This 10-part HBO miniseries follows the intertwined journeys of three WWII U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theater; PFCs Robert Leckie (Helmet For My Pillow), Eugene Sledge (With the Old Breed: At Peleliu & Okinawa) & Medal of Honor recipient SGT John Basilone, from their first battle against the IJA on Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, New Britain, Peleliu, across the sands of Iwo Jima & the horror of Okinawa, to their ultimately triumphant return after V-J Day. The producing team behind "The Pacific," including Tom Hanks & Steven Spielberg, the duo that also was behind HBO's award-winning miniseries "Band of Brothers."
Generation Kill (2008): This HBO seven-part miniseries offers a realistic look at the experiences of a Marine reconnaissance platoon (2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Recon Bn during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.)
U.S. Air Force Movies
1) Twelve O’Clock High (1942): U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) 918th Bomb Group part of the 8th Air Force, stationed in England flying B-17 Flying Fortresses is plagued with morale problems until no-nonsense Brigadier General Frank Savage (Gregory Peck) assumes command. His tough leadership is initially resented by not only his pilots but his second-in-command (Hugh Marlowe), a West Point graduate & son of a general. However, with the help of a hotshot flying ace LT Bishop (Robert Patten) the unit pulls together into a gung-ho fighting crew. Director Henry King builds a leadership principles course on film. The film begins in 1949, as American attorney & former Group Adjutant Harvey Stovall (Dean Jagger) spots a familiar toby jug in an English antique shop. He buys it, boards a train and then bicycles to the abandoned airbase at Archbury where he served in WWII with the 918th. The film then flashes back to 1942 & we find the significance of the Robin Hood toby mug. Usually, it sat on the mantle in the 918th’s Officers' Club facing the wall meaning no flights; whenever there's a mission the mug is turned to face out. "Not again" an officer mutters when he is confronted by Robin Hood’s face. The actual movie prop jug, which was the prized possession of the Frank Armstrong family, fell victim to theft in the early 1990s and has not been seen since.
Interestingly, a replica carries on the tradition in the Officer's Club at Whiteman AFB, MO, home of the 509th Bomb Wing with B-2 Spirit stealth bombers (the 509th Bomb Wing’ B-2 stealth bombers were involved in the recent strike against Iranian nuclear facilities named "Operation Midnight Hammer.") Savage faces the challenging task of instilling discipline, motivation & building a sense of purpose among the 918th bomber crews. He introduces strict training regimens, enforces military discipline & demands excellence from his men. While Savage’s methods are initially met with resistance & resentment, he gradually gains the respect & loyalty of the group as they witness his leadership’s positive impact. Throughout “Twelve O’Clock High,” the toll of combat & the emotional strain on the crews are vividly depicted. The film delves into the personal struggles & sacrifices made by the pilots & crews, deftly portraying the fear & trauma they experience during their perilous missions. “Twelve O’Clock High” is not just a war film, it explores themes of leadership, duty, sacrifice & the human cost of conflict. Peck delivers a powerful performance as Savage, depicting the complexities of a leader torn between his duty & the men’s well-being.
2) Memphis Belle (1990): Based upon the true story of the real B-17 Flying Fortress of the same name, Memphis Belle is an epic tale of the airplane's role in the USAAF during WWII. Heroism, bravery, & hope are on full display in this movie as the crew, work not as a group of individuals, but as a real team. It may be cliché, but the movie is no less deserving of recognition. While on Guam during the Victory in the Pacific we were able to see Memphis Bell IV (a B-52) at Anderson Air Force Base.
3) Strategic Air Command (SAC) (1955): The first of the SAC trilogy, Air Force reservist LtCol Robert "Dutch" Holland (Jimmy Stewart) is recalled into active duty at the peak of his professional baseball career. Critics were lukewarm about all of the performances except for Stewart, who had real life experience as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, having been a B-17 instructor pilot, a B-24 squadron commander, & a bomb group operations officer, completing 20 WWII combat missions. Public reaction centered on the spectacular aerial footage, so much so that the huge six-engine Convair B-36 Peacemaker & Boeing B-47 Stratojet strategic bombers were the film’s real stars. Still, it was 1955’s sixth highest-grossing movie & a great recruiting tool as its release led to a 25% increase in Air Force enlistments.
4) Bombers B-52 (1957): The second film in the SAC trilogy stars Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, & Efrem Zimbalist Jr. The film focuses on the introduction of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bomber by the SAC in the 1950s. Malden plays Master Sergeant Chuck Brennan, a respected & highly experienced 20-year veteran who must choose between continuing his career in the Air Force or accepting a job in the private sector that would pay him three times his military salary. SAC is about to introduce the B-52 Stratofortress bomber as its primary manned strategic weapon with the 329th Bomb Squadron. Brennan dislikes his hot shot commanding officer, LtCol Jim Herlihy (Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) Brennan has not trusted Herlihy since an incident during the Korean War. This conflict interferes with flight operations & aircraft support when Herlihy starts dating Brennan's daughter Lois (Natalie Wood) generating tensions between the three characters.
5) Gathering of Eagles (1963): The third SAC film stars Rock Hudson who plays Air Force Colonel Caldwell who has just been re-assigned as a cold war B-52 group commander who must shape up his men to pass a grueling inspection that the previous commander had failed causing his relief of command. He is also recently married, and as a tough commanding officer doing whatever he has to do to shape his men & base up to a passing level. Hudson like Gregory Peck in Twelve O’Clock High quickly develops a reputation as a stern taskmaster. He instigates the early retirement of a squadron commander & critiques the professionalism of his second-in-command, Col Farr (Rod Taylor.) Caldwell's wife, Victoria (Mary Peach), joins him at the base, but his devotion & harshness scares her putting a strain on their marriage.
6) Flying Tigers (1942): It dramatizes the exploits of the First American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Republic of China Air Force that was formed to help oppose the Imperial Japanese Army’s (IJA) invasion of China. Operating in 1941–1942, it was composed of pilots from the United States Army Air Corps, USN & USMC. Squadron Leader Jim Gordon (John Wayne) leads the pilots who fly Curtiss P-40C Warhawk fighters with the iconic shark teeth paint jobs against IJA aircraft in the skies over China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The pilots are a mixed bunch, motivated by money (they receive a bounty for each aircraft shot down) or just by the thrill of aerial combat. Jim's old pilot buddy Woody Jason (John Carroll who channels every hot-shot fighter pilot from Rickenbacker to Maverick) shows up. He makes an immediate impression as IJA planes raid the Flying Tigers' airbase, he goes after them, taking up a P-40 without permission, & loses the plane not realizing that he has no ammunition. As the ultimate arrogant aviator, he starts causing trouble immediately as a mercenary causing two pilots to be lost & opening a love triangle with base nurse Brooke (Anna Lee) who was the Duke’s girlfriend. Nothing better than the leather jacket with the China-Burma-India Theater Blood Chits "This foreign person has come to China to help in the war effort. Soldiers & civilians, one & all, should rescue, protect, & provide him with medical care."
7) Red Tails (2012): The film is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American USAAF fighter pilots during WWII. It was directed by Anthony Hemingway in his feature directorial debut, but being a Producer George Lucas passion project, he took over the directing for reshoots with re-writes. Lucas covered the added cost of production with his own money, & provided a further US$35 million for distribution by 20th Century Fox. Red Tails is the last film Lucasfilm made independently before being bought by The Walt Disney Company. The characters in the film are fictional, although based on real individuals & stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Ne-Yo, Michael B. Jordan, Method Man, Bryan Cranston & Gerald McRaney.
8) Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944): Based on the book of the same name by Captain Ted W. Lawson. Lawson was the pilots of the seventh of 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers launched from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet to deliver bombs on the Japanese capital of Tokyo. The historic Doolittle Raid was just four months & 11 days after Pearl Harbor. The raid was planned, led by, and named after USAAF’s LtCol Jimmy Doolittle. The picture stars Van Johnson as Lawson, Robert Mitchum as Lt Bob Gray, & Spencer Tracy as LtCol Doolittle. Tracy's appearance in the film is more in the nature of a guest star; he receives special billing rather than his usual top billing and has considerably less screen time than star Van Johnson. The film depicted the raid accurately & used actual wartime footage of the raid that shocked the Imperial Japanese Empire & was the first of 321,600,000 pounds of bombs that would fall on Japan including two bombs that saved millions of lives, “Little Boy” & “Fat Man” to end the war. See the atomic bomb pits on Tinian as part of MHT’s Victory in the Pacific Tour.
9) The Hunters (1958): A Korean War film adapted from the novel, The Hunters by James Salter. The picture stars Robert Mitchum as Major Cleve "Iceman" Saville (the original “Iceman” as Val Kilmer used the same callsign in the “Top Gun” films), a veteran WWII ace, returns to combat, eager to fly the F-86 Sabre jet fighter & Robert Wagner as the young aggressive hot-shot Lt Ed Pell two very different USAF fighter pilots going after Chinese MiG-15s in “MiG Alley” during the Korean War. This film has been called the best jet-to-jet ariel combat until “Top Gun” unleashed all kinds of aerial battle films.
10) Bat*21 (1988): This Vietnam War rescue mission film directed by Peter Markle was based on a book by Col William C. Anderson, USAF(Retired) that was a dramatization based upon the rescue of a USAF Officer shot down behind enemy lines in Vietnam. During the last days of the Vietnam War, LtCol Iceal E. "Gene" Hambleton (Gene Hackman), USAF call sign BAT-21 Bravo, has his EB-66C electronic warfare aircraft shot down by a SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missile. Hambleton makes radio contact with Captain Bartholomew "Birddog" Clark (Danny Glover), the pilot of a Cessna O-2 Skymaster, flying a forward air control mission. The capture of the downed pilot becomes a priority of the NVA while his rescue is spearheaded by “Birddog.”
Mini-series
Masters of the Air (2024): WWII miniseries created by John Shiban & John Orloff based on the 2007 book of the same name by Donald L. Miller and follows the missions of the 100th Bomb Group, a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber unit as part of the Eighth Air Force in England. This series is the final of three companion piece miniseries, following Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), & was less heralded due to not airing on HBO but on Apple+ instead. In October 2012, there were reports of the third miniseries focusing on United States Army Air Forces Bloody Hundredth B-17s aircrews that was being considered for HBO by Tom Hanks (Playtone TV) & Steven Spielberg (Amblin TV) but was produced by Apple Studios. It stars Austin Butler (“Elvis”) as Major “Buck” Cleven & consists of nine episodes.
TV Movie: The Tuskegee Airmen (1995): Made for TV HBO movie focusing on the titular real-life group of the first African-American pilots in the USAAF, The Tuskegee Airmen is a film centered around the pilots' mission for equal respect & dignity from their white counterparts. While its historical accuracy & pacing are questionable, it is a movie that was groundbreaking when it was released. At a time when many war movies, & Air Force movies in particular, had very few Black characters, this film arguably broke the mold of movie-making forever. It starred Laurence Fishburne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney B. Vance, Andre Braugher, John Lithgow, Cuba Gooding Jr. & Mekhi Phifer.
Multi-Service Movies
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016): Michael Bay directs the film of a real-life attack on two U.S. compounds in Libya. The Ambassador to Libya is trapped by Muslim militants aligned with Al-Qaeda in one & the CIA Annex Chief in the other delayed a rescue attempt by the Global Response Staff (GPS) of six CIA contractor special operators made up of three Marines two SEALs (one being The Office star John Krasinski), & an Army Ranger. The Annex itself is attacked & despite calls for help the State Department kept the reaction force in Sicily grounded. The only help that came were a GPS SEAL in Tripoli & two Delta Force Operatives that reinforced the Annex that was now under attack. Four Americans including Ambassador Stephens are killed, the Ambassadors IT specialist plus the SEAL in charge of the Benghazi GPS plus the SEAL from Tripoli. It may be possible that the box office take & media reviews were deflated due to the Presidential race in 2016 as the Secretary of State had to take responsibility for this debacle during the 2012 Presidential Election cycle.
The Right Stuff (1983): This adaptation of the non-fiction novel by Tom Wolfe that chronicles the first 15 years of America's space program. By focusing on the lives of the Mercury astronauts, including John Glenn, USMC (Ed Harris), Alan Shepard, USN (Scott Glenn), Gordon Cooper, USAF (Dennis Quaid), Wally Schirra, USN (Lance Henriksen) & Gus Grissom, USAF (Fred Ward), the film recounts the dangers & frustrations experienced by those involved with NASA's earliest achievements. It also depicts their family lives & the personal crises they endured during an era of great technological innovation. The test pilot machismo is forever captured on film by Sam Shepard as the legendary Chuck Yeager.
Epilogue: You need to catch some of those from the last century on Turner Classic Movies or the streaming services to see the classics.