All About War Movies gave me the idea of a list of the best and worst war movies I reviewed in 2011. To qualify, I could not have seen the movie in the last five years. I saw a lot of war movies in 2011. Few were great and few were terrible.
THE BEST
10. Cross of Iron - great performance by James Coburn as one of my favorite characters - Steiner; gritty combat; very anti-war; set on the Eastern Front in WWII
9. Army of Crime- the best of the French Resistance movies; concentrates on the French Communist Resistance in WWII
8. Beau Geste - old school entertainment; a rare war movie mystery and it works; great cast
7. Battle of Haditha - true story of an atrocity in Iraq seen through both perspectives; thought-provoking and fair-minded
6. The Train - Burt Lancaster at his peak; very suspenseful; Resistance protecting art treasures
5. Born on the 4th of July - Tom Cruise's greatest performance; goes from pro-war to anti-war in a realistic way; true story of Ron Kovic
4. Where Eagles Dare - the best of its type - war/action/adventure; a kick-ass movie with some great twists and a lot of dead Germans
3. Three Kings - a modern war film for modern audiences; great ensemble cast; personalizes the Persian Gulf War
2. Oh, What a Lovely War! - WWI set to period music; a remarkable movie with great songs; very hard on the brass - justifiably so
1. Waltz with Bashir - the most incredible movie I saw last year of any type; set in Israel's invasion of Lebanon; the visuals are jaw-dropping
THE WORST
5. In Harm's Way - bloated star-studded soap opera set around Pearl Harbor; even John Wayne and Kirk Douglas
4. Hanover Street - sappy romance set in WWII with a ridiculous spy plot thrown in
3. Journey to Shiloh - some friends trek to join the Confederate Army; series of lame adventures ensue
2. Tin Drum - a bizarre movie about a malevolent little boy set in WWII; many critics patted themselves on the back for praising this piece of crap
1. Braveheart - my mission to watch the top 100 war movies forced me to watch this abomination again; the small hope that I had been too hard on it in the past did not come to fruition; the most egregious falsification of history ever put on film
