The Thin Red Line (movie)

Title: The Thin Red Line

Year, production: 1998, Canada/USA

Directed by: Terrence Malick

Cast: Sean Penn, John Cusack James Caviezel, Adrien Brody, Nick Nolte, John Travolta, John Cusack, John Savage, Woody Harrelson, Don Harvey, Georde Clooney, ...

Runtime: 170 min.

This is an adaptation of book "The Thin Red Line" written by James Jones http://allwars.blogspot.com/2006/10/thin-red-line-book.html.

World War II, U.S. marines fight with Japanes soldiers in Guadalcanal conflict.

To be honest I liked book more then film but the scen of taking the hill is great. The movie is too long...

Windtalkers (movie)

Title: Windtalkers

Year, production: 2002, USA

Directed by: John Woo

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Christian Slater, Adam Beach, Noah Emmerich, Mark Ruffalo, ....

Runtime: 134 min.

U.S. army in the II World War with Japan used native language of Navajo indians as radio code. Several hundred Navajo Americans were recruited as Marines and trained to use their language as code.

Some marines have to protect indians on the battlefields.

I don't like this film. I think it is because of director John Woo who's all films are in the same convention which I don't like. If you have seen Mission Impossible 2 then you know what I mean.

Saving Private Ryan (movie)

Title: Saving Private Ryan

Year, production: 1998, USA

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon, Vin Disel, Edward Burns, Adam Goldberg, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Jeremy Davies, Paul Giamatti, Dennis Farina, Ted Danson, ...

Runtime: 170 min.

US soldiers try to save paratrooper Private Ryan (Matt Damon). His 3 brothers died in the war and generals wants to save him.

First days of invasion in Normady in july 1944.

Great pictures made by Janusz Kamiński from Poland.

I saw that movie in cinema and that was a great decision. I regret that I haven't seen "Black Hawk Down" in cinema which I like the same as this one.

No Man's Land (movie)

Title: No Man's Land

Year, production: 2001, Bosnia-Herzegovina/Slovenia/
Italy/France/UK/Belgium

Directed by: Danis Tanovic

Cast: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic, Georges Siatidis, Serge-Henri Valcke, Sacha Kremer, Alain Eloy, Mustafa Nadarevic, Bogdan Diklic, Katrin Carlidge, ...

Runtime: 98 min.

Action is taken to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1993. At that time there were the heaviest fighting but it is not shown in the movie. Two wounded soldiers Bosnian and Serb has met in a trench in a no man's land between two front lines. They can't go out because they will be shoot. UN soldier wants to help them. The third slodier, Bosnian, is in a big trouble...

This movie sometimes looks to me like a comedy or something like this. This is very european movie, I think.

It shows for example that UN forces that were there didn't do much at that time and it was all about politics and good look in TV.

Bomber (book)

Title: Bomber

Author: Len Deighton

Year: 1970

Leonard Cyril Deighton: Febuary 19 1929 in London

He is british historian and author of spy fiction and historical novels. "Bomber" is historical novel about RAF bomber command raid over Germany. It is often consider as his masterpiece.

You will not regret. Great book.

A Bridge Too Far (movie)

Title: A Bridge Too Far

Year, production: 1977, USA/UK

Directed by: Richard Attenborough

Cast: Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Hardy Krüger, Ryan O'Neal, Laurence Olivier, Robert Redford, ...

Runtime: 176 min

This is a historic story. Allied soldiers wanted to get bridges in Holland to be able to go easily to Germany in World War II. They failed in that. This campaign was called Operation Market-Garden.

The American, Polish and British soldiers were parachuted in Holland. That campaing was planned to crash German forces but it failed.

Because of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two German panzer divisions the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine) failed.

Polish forces in command of general Stanislaw Sosabowski were created in Enagland to be used as a help for polish freedom forces that uprised in Warsaw. They never been used there, a lot of polish soldiers died in operation market garden in Holland close to Arnhem. The other thing is that british after failed battle ujustly made Sosabowski a scapegoat for the failure of Operation Market Garden. He was accused of criticizing Field Marshal Montgomery and the Polish General Staff was forced to remove him as the commanding officer of his brigade. This year I saw in tv that british soldiers which fought with polish soldiers in Holland thanked polish soldiers and specially general Sosabowski who died in London in 1967 for their help in those terrible battles. Because of communistic goverment he was not able to go back to Poland... In movie Gene Hackman plays general Stanislaw Sosabowski.

Jarhead (movie)

Title: Jarhead

Year, production: 2005, Germany/USA

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Scott MacDonald, Peter Sarsgaard, Lo Ming, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Kevin Foster, Brian Geraghty, Damion Poitier, ...

Runtime: 123 min.

Welcome To The Suck!

Movie is based on a book written by former Marine Anthony Swofford. The book was bestseller in 2003 and is about his pre-Desert Storm experiences in Saudi Arabia and about his experiences fighting in Kuwait.

It is about waitting for a fight and shoot that never came because 100 days war was over before they could took shoot. Marines arrived in Soudi Arabia and were waitting, preparing, trainning, drinking water, being bored... These guys are really crazy.

The Thin Red Line (book)

Title: The Thin Red Line

Author: James Jones

Year: 1962

James Jones: November 6 1921 - May 9 1977.

This american author served in the US 25th Infantry Division during World War II. He fought in the Guadalcanal battle and was injured there. This book is about that battle.

I read this book when I was like 16 years old (there was a time that I was reading books ;) ).

The Deer Hunter (movie)

Title: The Deer Hunter

Year, production: 1978, USA

Directed by: Michael Cimino

Cast: Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage, Christopher Walken, Maryl Streep, George Dzundza, Chuck Aspegren, Shirley Stoler, Rutanya Alda, Pierre Segui, Mady Kaplan, ...

Runtime: 182 min.

Shows how the Vietnam war affects the lives of people in a small industrial town in the USA.

The movie got 5 Academy Awards including Best Picture in 1978.

The part from the war is rather short but I could not stop think about it after wathing it first time. Rober De Niro is one of the best actors I think, doesn't mater what characters he is playing.
It is a big pleasure to watch these actors as they playing.

Band of Brothers (movie)

Title: Band of Brothers

Year, production: 2001, UK/USA

Directed by:

• Phil Alden Robinson - part 1 "Currahee"


• Richard Loncraine - part 2 "Day of Days"


• Mikael Salomon - part 3 "Carentan"


• David Nutter - part 4 "Replacements"


• Tom Hanks - part 5 "Crossroads"


• David Leland - part 6 "Bastogne"


• David Frankel - part 7 "The Breaking Point"


• Tony To - part 8 "The Last Patrol"


• David Frankel - part 9 "Why We Fight"


• Mikael Salomon - part 10 "Points"

Cast: Eion Bailey, Ron Livingston, Donnie Wahlberg, Matthew Settle, Rick Warden, Frank John Hughes, Damian Lewis, Neal McDonough, Scott Grimmes, Rick Gomez, David Schwimmer, Dexter Fletcher, James Madio...

Runtime: 705 min. (10 parts)

This is a story about Easy Company of the US Army Airbourne Paratrooper division in operation in France in World War II.

• Part 1: CURRAHEE - training and deployment


• Part 2: DAY OF DAYS - D-day


• Part 3: CARENTAN - Easy Company tries to capture the town of Carentan


• Part 4: REPLACEMENTS - A group of fresh replacements joins Easy Company in times of market garden operation in Holland


• Part 5: CROSSROADS - Capt. WINTERS leads Easy Company men on a risky mission in Holland which ends with "turkey shoot" of fleeing German soldiers


• Part 6: BASTOGNE - Belgium, Easy Company digs foxholes in the snow close to the town colled Bastogne


• Part 7: THE BREAKING POINT - After successfull heldo of German forces from taking Bostogne Easy company is preparing to take town Foy


• Part 8: THE PATROL - War is coming to end. Guys from Easy Company have to cross the river and take German prosoners. Not every one is hapy about that.


• Part 9: WHY WE FIGHT - Easy Comany has entered Germany and found prison camp...


• Part 10: POINTS - there are news that Hitler is dead. Easy Company went to bavarian town Berchtesgaden and has a mission to capture Hitler’s mountain fortress known as Eagle’s Nest
  

It is based on the book of Stephen Ambrose, "Band of Brother".

What to say? Janusz Kamiński as a camera operator like in movie Private Rayn. Great series. I have seen it only 2 times but definetly I'm gonna see it more times. My favorite parts are Day of Days, Crossroads, The Breaking Point.

Bravo Two Zero (movie)

Title: Bravo Two Zero

Year, production: 1999, South Africa/UK

Directed by: Tom Clegg

Cast: Sean Bean, Steve Nicolson, Rick Warden, Richard Graham, Ian Curtis, Robert Hobbs, ...

Runtime: 115 min.

Eight man from SAS special forces were put behind Iraqi lines during the Gulf War in January 1991. The mission was to destroy scud missiles. This top secret mission was called "Bravo Two Zero". Sergeant Andy McNab (Sean Bean) was a commander.

Based on Andy McNab's International Best Seller "Brawo Two Zero". This is a true story of the SAS mission in the gulf war!

I don't kow how do you think but I like films where spec groups have something to do but the good one. This one is very good.

The patrol

Fight

Black Hawk Down (movie)

Title: Black Hawk Down

Year, production: 2001, USA

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Cast: Josh Harnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Jason Isaacs, Eric Bana, Sam Shepard, Ewen Bremner, Ron Eldars, Tom Hardy, Charlie Hofheimer, Hugh Dancy, Tom Guiry, Steven Ford, Brian Van Holt, ...

Runtime: 144 min.

True story. US soldiers were put in to the fight in Somalia.
of the United States' involvement in Somalia during a war. On October 3, 1993, U.S. soldiers entered Somalia on an mission that as they thought should take less than an hour. 18 U.S. soldiers and 1000 Somalians were killed.

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I have seen it many times and still can't be boring during that. Best characters for me are delta force soldier Eric Bana (Sfc. Norm 'Hoot' Hooten), Tom Sizemore (Lt. Col. Danny McKnight) and Josh Harnett (SSgt. Matt Eversmann) both rangers.

The Lost Battalion (movie)

Title: The Lost Battalion

Year, production: 2001, USA/Luxembourg

Directed by: Russell Mulcahy

Cast: Rick Shroder, Phil McKee, Jamie Harris, Adam James, Daniel Caltagirone, Andre Vippolis, ...

Runtime: 92 min.


This movie based on facts.
American battalion is in trap made by germans in forest Argonne. It was in October the 1918 France just before the end of the First World War.

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This movie is a must. I haven't seen many movies from I World War but I think this one is great.

Hamburger Hill (movie)

Title: Hamburger Hill

Year, production: 1987, USA

Directed by: Jhon Irvin

Cast: Anthony Barille, Michael Boatman, Don Cheadle, Michale A. Nickles, Michael Dolan, ..
Run time: 112 min.

This story was written by John Carabatsos who was in vietnam in the 1ts Air Cavalary in 1968-69. He has interwieved soldiers that fought on the hill 937 on 10 of May 1969.

The movie is not just about the fight at Hill 937, which then was called a Hamburger Hill. A 1/3 part of the movie takes place in the camp and shows how was the life there.
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I liked that movie very much. I haven't seen it again for a couple of years. I need to refresh my memory some day.

Casualties of War (movie)

Title: Casualties of War

Year, production: 1989, USA

Directed by: Brian De Palma

Cast: Michael J. Fox, Sean Penn, Don Harvey, John C. Reilly, Thuy Thu Le, ...

Runtime: 113 min.

Very good movie about war in Vietnam and specially about what it does to people. I liked Micheal. Sean Penn is very good as always.

5 American soldiers take a vietnam girl from a village where she lives. She was raped by 4 of these soldiers. The fifth (Michael J. Fox) did not. The young girl is killed after all. The fifth soldier wants to punish the other four. The film is more about the realities of war and what war makes with people.

The movie is based on true story.