Remake a War Movie?

[Dan Caviness]

I agree JB, the Longest Day, while a good movie in many ways and a joy simply for some of the performances (a young "Irish" Sean Connery going off again and again about how screwed up the English Army was keeps coming to mind...classic stuff) the movie didn't really capture much more than the fact that Normandy was a really big fight. Watching Johnny Wayne getting rolled around in a wheelbarrow didn't seem to help win the fight either but at least the draft dodger got a chance to wear a uniform.

Saving Private Ryan certainly managed to revisit the beach landings with quite a bit more impact, and it really is a story about Normandy and the hedgerows, so I guess it counts. It also manages to get everyone in the right armored vehicles, shooting the right weapons, wearing the proper gear, etc, etc.

Ivan's earlier comment about M-48's at the Battle of the Bulge hit a sore spot and I can still remember looking at that movie and going "say what?" when I saw those American tanks. Even a 14 year old knows the difference...and it was equally frustrating watching Patton for many of the same reasons.
Still, I imagine it may be difficult to scrounge up a 100 or so authentic German WWII tanks to shoot the Tunisian Battle of El Guettar, so I'll give them credit for at least whitewashing and attempting to camoflage those.

Best war movie, like any "best" category, is highly subjective. I'll say Cross of Iron is at the top of my own list as well, but agree, good luck on doing it better. Hell, the Big Red One is a fun watch as well, probably more for watching Lee Marvin than any military insight garnered during the show...
And of course there was always the chance they could have shot Mark Hamill and avoided a 12 movie entertainment franchise which failed to give R2D2 and C3PO top billing...

War movies, maybe more so than most, rely on performances?
Yes, I think I'll stand by that one....even if argueable...

In a group like the Blitz....we'll all need to put aside the historian hats...forgiving the movie directors for foolishly not knowing the late war Kurt Tank Focke Wulf 190 "Dora" or D9 wouldn't have an oversize prop spinner since he was heading towards his ultimate Ta-152 inverted vee design...etc..etc..
Normal people don't care.
We are...by definition...mine at the very least..."ab"normal at this point...

So if we put our critical hats aside, and try to enjoy a movie as it is and avoid using it for historical research not to mention accuracy... What the heck...enjoy the ride and watch "300"...which while serving no real military purpose does convey the importance of flank attacks and to stop frontal assaults when you can't climb over the dead bodies from the last assaults...etc..etc...

For the record, Kate Beckinsale should be in every war movie ever made.