10 war movies to stream or rent on Memorial Day
Most of us, the lucky ones, have only experienced warfare in the movies. But many of us feel its sting through the loss of loved ones.
These 10 moving, sometimes devastating war films make for perfect Memorial Day weekend viewing as you honor those who have lost their lives in service.
10. ‘They Were Expendable’
Fresh from filming American propaganda films during World War II, John Ford teamed up with John Wayne to tackle the subject on a set. An adaptation of William L. White’s book, it relates the exploits of a squadron of PTboat crews defending the Philippines from the invading Japanese. Wayne and Robert Montgomery, who served in the Navy during the war, co-star. 1945; not rated.
9. ‘Full Metal Jacket’
Stanley Kubrick’s film follows a platoon of Marines through training, where the bumbling but well-intentioned private (Vincent D’Onofrio) is bullied and hazed into a mental breakdown that’s one of the most unsettling ever set to film. And that’s just the first half of the movie: There’s still the madness of combat in Vietnam to contend with. 1987; rated R.
8. ‘Patton’
Few movie moments are as rousing as George C. Scott’s opening monologue in “Patton,” whose growling Gen. George S. Patton delivers a five-minute call to arms in front of a giant American flag. Scott led this epic World War II film to glorious victory on the Oscar battlefield, taking home seven Oscars, including best picture and best actor. 1970; not rated.
7. ‘Platoon’
Oliver Stone isn’t a director often heralded for subtlety. But that tendency toward loudness (in this case without being strident) was an asset in this Vietnam War drama. A young, untested soldier (Charlie Sheen) finds his enthusiasm for war challenged by exhaustion, deplorable conditions, death and cruelty. Stone, himself a Vietnam vet, took home an Oscar for his efforts and the film won best picture. 1986; rated R.
6. ‘The Messenger’
Woody Harrelson turns in his most affecting performance as Capt. Tony Stone, a strict, emotionally distant recovering alcoholic who has the hard job of notifying military families of combat casualties. He has been assigned to mentor Will Montgomery (Ben Foster), a damaged young man recently discharged from combat. It’s a moving character piece, and a different kind of war film — one that eschews the heroics of combat to take a sobering look at the fallout. 2009; rated R.
5. ‘Saving Private Ryan’
Steven Spielberg has never been a more visceral filmmaker than when he attempted to capture the horror of combat. We follow Army Rangers led by Capt. John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) through the battlefield and see what he sees and hear what he hears. There’s still nothing like it. And that’s just the first half-hour of a nearly three-hour film about sacrifice, in which Miller and his squad search for Pfc. James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), the last surviving brother of a family of servicemen who fought in World War II. Spielberg won a best-director Oscar for his work. 1998; rated R.
4. ‘The Thin Red Line’
World War II films had a banner year in 1998, and although Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” captured most of the attention, Terrence Malick’s first film after a 20-year hiatus has proven to be the more affecting work of art. It’s not for everyone; it’s difficult in both subject and form, and veers as far from the mainstream as American cinema can as it follows an ensemble cast of U.S. soldiers battling the Japanese in the South Pacific. Even war, apparently, can be poetry. 1998; rated R.
3. ‘The Best Years of Our Lives’
This hugely popular World War II film was one of the first to set aside the thrilling heroics of warfare to tackle the aftermath of war. Nobody comes back the same, as three servicemen discover when they return to their old lives in small-town America and struggle to readjust to civilian life. It’s especially a struggle for Homer Parrish, a double amputee with hooks for hands.
He was played by Harold Russell, a real-life double amputee and non-professional actor who lost his hands during a demolitions-training accident. He received an honorary Academy Award for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans,” and then won for best supporting actor, the only time the academy has awarded two Oscars for the same performance. 1946; not rated.
2. ‘Born on the Fourth of July’
Oliver Stone won his second Oscar for direction and scored Tom Cruise his first nomination for this drama. Cruise plays Ron Kovic, a real-life Vietnam War veteran who returns home paralyzed and traumatized to a country he can’t trust anymore as his horrified family asks, “What did they do to you in that war?” It’s the most physically and emotionally demanding role of Cruise’s career, and a viewing experience that’s as relevant as ever. 1989; rated R.
1. ‘The Deer Hunter’
Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale and Meryl Streep, playing working-class Joes and Janes in the Rust Belt, living it up before the men ship off to Vietnam. What they find there is horror of a kind that nothing in their upbringing could have prepared them for, its atrocities culminating in a Russian roulette scene that has lost none of its potency over the years. Neither have the painful transformations of the men who survive. 1978; rated R.