WW2 Flicks

Still under the weather. Upside is that I’ve been doing a lot of reading. On the couch, on the floor, in bed, in the tub. Haven’t been this horizontal since my hospital days of oh-nine.

One item I did enjoy was a 10,000 word article on the rivalry between George Patton and Bernard Montgomery during World War 2. It was the author’s contention that this ego-fueled rivalry unnecessarily extended the war by at least six months. In a conflict that averaged 37,900 deaths per day, how terrible it must be for those two men – now – if any part of that thesis is true. (And I’m not necessarily agreeing with it; nor do I wish to pass judgment on two brilliant and courageous men.)

While pondering all this, I got to thinking about the war movie. The classic war movie. I’m not a huge fan, like I am with SF or fantasy or philosophically mind-bending flicks, but I will see the good ones. Plus, being a fan of TCM I’ve seen my share of good and bad WW2 films.

Off the top of my head, here are the ones I consider “favorites” –


- Patton (1970)
- Von Ryan’s Express (1965)
- The Guns of Navarone (1961)
- The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
- Midway (1976)
- A Bridge Too Far (1977)

Midway and A Bridge Too Far are memorable from my youth. As a kid, with cable teevee newly piped into my home, me and my brother must’ve watched these two flicks dozens of times, and never once in their entirety.

Saving Private Ryan has perhaps the most intense and (I guess) realistic scenes of warfare ever filmed during those first forty-five minutes or so when Allied troops storm the beach. Like Tom Hanks’ character, I was shaking by the time it was over. The rest of the film, however, I didn’t really like for various reasons.

There’s also a film I remember from my youth that I have never seen since. Nor can I find it’s title based on the fragments I remember. I’m wondering if you can help me.

It takes place on a little island in the Pacific. A group of 300 American GIs are holding off a much larger force of Japanese. Something like 5,000 or so. I seem to remember those numbers. The no-nonsense soldier’s soldier commander of the GIs and a bleeding-heart American reporter embedded with the troops bicker constantly about the Big Questions. Quickly the Americans are retreating, and the Japs are picking them off one-by-one. They need to make it to some other point on the island to get rescued. Finally, it’s down to a handful and the reporter gets shot. The commander throws him over his shoulder, and just as they’re about to get saved, he gets shot. But the bleeding heart is rescued.

Anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?