tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post6010504077176652484..comments2023-04-06T07:14:41.846-07:00Comments on Oscars Wild Years: The Zombies - Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)Whisk E. Bearhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04302287536270268286noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-64611200570257286222009-06-19T11:34:21.166-07:002009-06-19T11:34:21.166-07:00I thought about making the Vietnam point, too -- y...I thought about making the Vietnam point, too -- you could make the case that the best (American) war movies are born out of that war.<br /><br />And while I can't think of any great World War II songs, I did just list a few great novels that deal with World War II. But World War I most definitely has the edge on war poetry.<br /><br />(Great discussion; too bad we're confined to the comments.)Whisk E. Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04302287536270268286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-40314888244221962262009-06-19T11:31:24.253-07:002009-06-19T11:31:24.253-07:00Also, since novels got lumped in with songs -- two...Also, since novels got lumped in with songs -- two of the very best (and very different) war novels are set in World War II: The Naked and the Dead and Catch-22. I'm not sure I count Slaughterhouse Five as a war novel, per se, but that would make three.Whisk E. Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04302287536270268286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-35087879580616927482009-06-19T11:31:15.755-07:002009-06-19T11:31:15.755-07:00My point of view is probably colored from the rece...My point of view is probably colored from the recent watching of BoB. I was thinking about it more - there are also a shit-ton of great Vietnam movies (well out of proportion to that war's actual cost) and that's the morally ambiguiest. And there aren't really a lot of great Korean War movies. So I guess the movie thing is more about how much effect the thing had on the culture at large in America. WW2 was "our" war in a way that WW1 wasn't. Vietnam is the war that divided America; Korea is the war most people just kind of completely forget ever happened. I'm standing by the song thing though.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06748458662198629958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-78343371579093818292009-06-19T10:58:35.348-07:002009-06-19T10:58:35.348-07:00Yes, WWII just kills it in terms of great war movi...Yes, WWII just kills it in terms of great war movies, but I don't necessarily think it's for the reason you cite. Hell, Bridge on the River Kwai, with its Stockholmed Alec Guinness, is a great example -- it blurs that line between good and evil. It's the same with Thin Red Line. And Downfall? A movie that suggests compassion for Nazis?<br /><br />I do think World War II has more resonance with viewers and filmmakers alike, in part because of its immediacy. Filmmaking really came of age around the period of World War II, so it follows that the war is a more natural fixation than the previous one.Whisk E. Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04302287536270268286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-8446862764719892612009-06-19T10:31:46.438-07:002009-06-19T10:31:46.438-07:00All Quiet on the Western Front mother truckers. An...All Quiet on the Western Front mother truckers. And I don't mean the one with Ernest Borgnine, though it is funny to hear him say "let's go get some Frenchy's!" in that movie. Of course it's nowhere near as funny as him telling Frank Sinatra "I'm gonna cut you up, wop" in From Here to Eternity.Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01870662109073367876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-65033816989098084182009-06-19T10:07:34.512-07:002009-06-19T10:07:34.512-07:00A Very Long Engagement is pretty good.
But you th...A Very Long Engagement is pretty good.<br /><br />But you think about the number of good or great WW2 movies and it just dwarfs the list of good WW1 movies. Bridge on the River Kwai. Downfall. Great Escape. The two Spielberg flicks. The Thin Red Line. From Here to Eternity. There's just a million of them. They couldn't make a "Band of Brothers" about the first World War, because there's just nothing going on. The war is too static for your average infantry-man.Craighttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06748458662198629958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-53200374728929930322009-06-19T09:53:29.729-07:002009-06-19T09:53:29.729-07:00Also, Colin Bluntstone and Robyn Hitchcock sound u...Also, Colin Bluntstone and Robyn Hitchcock sound uncannily similar, and yes, I realize it's the other way around.Whisk E. Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04302287536270268286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9107413697874748755.post-45517718963655595272009-06-19T09:48:57.885-07:002009-06-19T09:48:57.885-07:00I actually rather appreciate WWI as a good "w...I actually rather appreciate WWI as a good "war movie" war specifically because of the moral ambiguity. And, off the top of my head, Paths of Glory, Wings, and La Grande Illusion. I'd throw in The Dawn Patrol, too, but that's more of a sentimental favorite.Whisk E. Bearhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04302287536270268286noreply@blogger.com