War Films

1. War Films

2. Types of War Films • Historical • Heroic • Biographical • Anti-War

3. Historical War FilmCharacteristics: • Large Ensemble Cast (no single star); • Many cameo appearances; • Strategy of Warfare as important as personal stories; • German / Japanese / Russian soldier speak in their own language with subtitles; • Narration or title screens to set time and place; • Many famous characters as well as “representative” characters; • A central characters sacrifice himself/herself.

4. Longest Day (1962)Directed by Ken Annakin • “This film is accurate in its facts, but the visual portrayal is not so. Many men lost their lives on the beaches that day. This movie shows very little death. This movie makes it seem like the troops that stepped out of their landing crafts into uncertainty that day faced very little resistance, which is completely contradictory to what really happened.” www.allwatchers.com/Topics/Info_4147.asp Historical

5. Longest Day (1962)Directed by Ken Annakin Historical

6. Tora Tora Tora (1970) Directed by Richard Fleischer / Kinjo Fukasaku / Toshio Masuda / Akira Kurosawa • The movie sticks solely with historical events; • A joint collaboration between the American and Japanese filmmakers; • State of the art special effects were used to simulate the attack. www.hauntnut.com/reviews/T/tora.html Historical

7. Tora Tora Tora (1970) Directed by Richard Fleischer / Kinjo Fukasaku / Toshio Masuda / Akira Kurosawa Historical

8. Midway (1976) Directed by Jack Smight • Uses left over and recycled special effects made for Tora Tora Tora; • Very pro-American; • Historically inaccurate. • “The editing is a mish mash of model work, actual overused combat footage, and excepts from a previous movie, and is confusing to the point of, well, confusion.”www.imdb.com Historical

9. Saving Private Ryan (1998) Directed by Steven Spielberg • “What Saving Private Ryan does extremely well, is show the world the harsh reality of war without pulling any punches…Somehow the extreme violence can be justified as the whole world knows that this is an important chapter in human history and a startling, graphic depiction only adds more weight to the seriousness of the subject matter. I'd have to say this is probably one of the most important films of the 20th century because of its frank approach to one of the darkest periods of our time on this earth.” www.imdb.com Historical

10. Saving Private Ryan (1998) Directed by Steven Spielberg Historical

11. Heroic War Film Characteristics: • Based upon historic events, but focused on fictional individuals involved in the events. • Small casts • Well known lead actors • Suspense and Action central to the plot • The war that is being fought is secondary to the personal sacrifice and individual strengths of the characters being presented. • The individual tragedies of war are focused on. • Cathartic deaths • One or two survivors to remember the fallen.

12. Zulu (1964) Directed by Cy Endfield • On January 22nd 1879 the British Army suffers one of its worst defeats when Zulu forces massacre 1,500 of its troops. • A short time after the main battle a Zulu force numbering in excess of 4000 warriors advances on a British supply dump guarded by 139 Welsh infantrymen. • The film concentrates on this bloody 12 hour battle. www.imdb.com Heroic

13. Guns of Navarone (1961) J. Lee Thompson • Two powerful German guns control the seas past the Greek island of Navarone making the evacuation of endangered British troops on a neighboring island impossible. Air attack is useless so a team of six Allied and Greek soldiers is put ashore to meet up with partisans to try and dynamite the guns.www.imdb.com • The Morality of War becomes an issue the commandos must wrestle with:Mallory: The only way to win a war is to be just as nasty as the enemy. The one thing that worries me is we're liable to wake up one morning, and find we're even nastier than they are.Franklin: I can't say that worries me!Mallory: Well, you're lucky. Heroic

14. Biographical War Film Characteristics: • Like Historical films, but focused on the motivations and achievements of an individual leader. • Documentary style • hand held camera • German / Japanese / Russian soldier speak in their own language with subtitles • narration or title screens to set time and place • many real characters as well as “representative” characters

15. Patton (1970) Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner • “A few years ago, I had the pleasure of reading The Patton Papers, a collection of Gen. Patton's diary entries and letters edited by Martin Blumenson. I think that no actor has ever captured the spirit of a man better than George C. Scott, nor has any movie better portrayed that spirit than Patton.”www.imdb.com • Although he is known for The 'Godfather and Apocalypse Now, people should be reminded that one of the authors of the film's screenplay is Francis Ford Coppola who shared an Oscar with Edmund H. North for this film. • Patton won six other Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (George C. Scott), Sound, Film Editing and Art Direction/Set Decorationwww.allreviews.com Biographical

16. Anti-War Characteristics: • Similar to the Heroic style, but the main characters do not believe in what they are doing. The costs are greater than the benefits • Fictional events and fictional individuals demonstrate the costs and absurdity of war –though often based on real events and people. • Small casts • Well known lead actors • Dramatic Style • Suspense and Action central to the plot • The war that is being fought is secondary to the personal sacrifice and individual weaknesses of the characters being presented. • The “leaders” are usually vain, self-righteous and disinterested in their soldiers • The individual tragedies of war are focused on through the tragic deaths of main characters • One or two survivors to remember the fallen.

17. Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Directed by David Lean • In 1950s in order to help Hollywood survive the challenge issued by the new medium of television films were made that were called "larger than life. • Such films featured stuff small screen could not: cinemascope, bright colours, exotic locations, truly epic stories and spectacles with thousands of extras. • The undisputed master of that genre was David Lean, one of the greatest British directors who ever lived. • he made five such great films, and two of them are regarded as masterpieces (Lawrence of Arabia & Kwai). • The Bridge On The River Kwai, a war spectacle that won seven Academy awards and later became praised as one of the best anti-war films ever made. www.allreviews.com

18. Apocalypse Now (1979) Directed by Francis Ford Copola • “The journey itself is at times comic and at other times brutal. The overall feeling is one of soldiers not knowing why they are fighting or who they are fighting. The feeling of confusion and fear is inherent in the film and is very well delivered. Willard's journey never fails to grip and is interesting on whatever level you watch it"www.imdb.com • “Francis Ford Coppola's film reminds us of why we never want that again. For all the war hawks in the world, it is tough to feel good about Vietnam after seeing it recreated on celluloid in films like Apocalypse Now, Platoon, and Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Today, even having never served one moment in the trenches or in the swamps of some warring country, we have seen the darkness that eats the souls of mortal men and left them grasping for that one piece of humanity left."DAVID PERRY @ www.cinema-scene.com

19. Apocalypse Now (1979)