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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

War Movies for War Gaming

A Bridge Too Far (US, UK vs Germans at Arnhem, true story, well done, accurate movie, WWII)
The Longest Day (Story of DDay, also true story and filmed on location and very well done. Very accurate.)
Cross of Iron (Germans in Crimea, fighting the Russians, great battle in the factory)
Winter War (Finnish vs Russians in Winter War [WWII] fictional story but very well done)
The Tanks Are Coming (US Army tanks in WWII filmed using lots of real tanks)
Battle of the Bulge (US vs Germans in WWII totally wrong historically, but very exciting movie)
Pork Chop Hill (True story of US vs Chinese in Korean War, very good infantry action)
Wake Island (True story, highly fictionalized, Japanese vs USMC WWII)
Them! (US Army vs giant ants)
War of the Worlds (1954 George Pal version, great tanks)
Hamburger Hill (US vs VC in The Nam)
The Green Berets (John Wayne vs VC in The Nam)
Reptilicus (bad monster vs Danish troops in the 1960s, nice tanks)
Gorgo (bad monster vs British troops in the 1960s, nice tanks)
Combat! (TV show, 5 seasons of shooting, season 5 in color, US vs Germans WWII)
Wings (silent movie, first academy award for best picture, great tank scenes)

So many more. Many of these are black and white. All are great movies that I have watched many times each. All are filled with great wargame scenarios. Many should be very inexpensive, particularly if you buy them used on Amazon. Good luck and enjoy!

14 comments:

Snickering Corpses said...

Battle of the Bulge is one of those movies that tends to get wargamers up in arms due to the inaccuracy. But it's always been a favorite of mine. While the details bear little resemblance to the real thing, I think it captures the range of personalities and emotions involved pretty well. It's really a film more about the mentalities of those involved in the Bulge on all sides than it is on the facts of the battles.

Karcuss said...

there is also Flyboys about the U.S flyers in the French Airforce WW1.
and a great Arnhem one called theirs is the Glory (1946)which is about Arnhem and guess what it is re enacted by the para's. F n GREAT.
And Stalingrad, ZULU and ZULU DAWN
that gets the blood boiling to wargame and Rod Stieger WATERLOO

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

BOTB is a great movie, that's why it is on my list. It is a great movie and terrible history.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

The Zulu / Zulu Dawn movies are great. I get inspiration from them for my HaT Colonials.

Karcuss said...

Kelly's heroes
come on boys.
Then Blackhawk down, three kings
Glory, Gods and Generals, Gettysburg,
(did they ever make a third in the alleged trilogy) and Red dawn for wargaming ideas. And there is one mee favs Come and See (Russian 80s).
And of course Acopalypse now always wants me to build 50 or so slicks etc and Amtracs etc (pbr)

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

Wake Island
Bataan
Back to Bataan
Air Force

All good early WWII movies.

Snickering Corpses said...

Actually watched Kelley's Heroes again just the other day. Who doesn't love Oddball? Always with the negative waves, Moriarti!

Red Dawn is also a long-time favorite. I don't think I've ever heard of Come and See though.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

They are planning a remake of Red Dawn! Don't know how that will turn out.

Snickering Corpses said...

1) A remake will almost certainly be a disaster, I expect. I'm not sure there's much of anyone left in Hollywood who understands why that movie was made and the spirit that it demonstrated.

2) Has anyone else noted Hollywood seems to be increasingly incapable of doing anything original anymore except children's films? I get the distinct feeling there are more remakes and sequels than original movies these days.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

SC you are right. Hollywood has no clue on how to make new movies anymore. Why do they publish thousands of books every year that are new, but Hollywood has to recycle old properties.

The worst part is that they ruin the very thing they are trying to recreate by "reinventing" the original. Just about the only remake I liked was King Kong and that is because Peter Jackson was a fan of the orignial and stayed true to the tone of the original.

Jim. said...

How about THE GREAT RAID? The movie based on the Cabanatuan Raid in the Philippines. Excellent flick, and what did they use foar the Chi Ha tank that got bazookaed in the attack.
Jim.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

The Great Raid was a good movie but not a Great movie. I have it on video and have seen it a couple times. Very good history, accurate depiction of the events.

Karcuss said...

come and see
can be called "come see the paradises" and is about a boy, captured by an SS unit and joining the partizans etc you have to see the artillery explosions, The red army must have been quite happy to fire artillery in the making.

The red dawn remake is a low budget indie remake with a guy called thomas cruise (mee gods it will be awful but they will spend 200 million on it?????)

Mike Bunkermeister Creek said...

Ironclads was a pretty good Monitor vs Merrick ACW movie. Low budget, but not bad.