Top 10 World War II films

‘The Dirty Dozen’ (1967)
Like “The Great Escape,” this picture boasts a macho cast of Hollywood heavyweights in a ripping tale of military convicts recruited for a suicide assault on a German stronghold. But it’s often misunderstood. It’s not all guts, glory and gunpowder. In fact, most of the action is reserved for the third act. The meat of the story follows this motley band of misfits as Lee Marvin (brilliant as a rebellious major at odds with his superiors who has to impose discipline on his newfound charges) struggles to whip them into shape. The cast includes such rough-as-burlap personalities as John Cassavettes (who received an Oscar nom), Telly Savalas, Charles Bronson and Jim Brown along with Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine and Robert Ryan. Directed by Robert Aldrich from a script by Nunnally Johnson and Lukas Heller, “The Dirty Dozen” has become one of the gold standards for high-octane guy movies.

‘From Here to Eternity’ (1953)
In “The Godfather,” Mario Puzo’s reference to singer Johnny Fontane wanting to land a role in a war picture to rejuvenate his career is said to have been inspired by Frank Sinatra securing the role of Pvt. Maggio in this, which earned the crooner an Oscar. But “Eternity,” set against the backdrop of life at Pearl Harbor before, during and after the Japanese attack, is more than that. It’s escapist melodrama of the highest order. Director Fred Zinnemann took on a job of adapting a hugely popular novel that many said could not be made into a movie without severely altering its scope and racy content and put it into the pantheon of cinematic classics. The cast also includes Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Montgomery Clift and Ernest Borgnine. The image that lingers is the one of Lancaster and Kerr rolling around in the surf together, but there’s so much going on, including some of the darker aspects of military life.

‘Patton’ (1970)
Sometimes the perfect actor meets the perfect role. That was the case here with George C. Scott playing Gen. George S. Patton Jr., the esteemed tank commander of the U.S. Army who was respected by friend and foe alike. Sometimes biopics can fall into an annoying “and then this happened” formula. But the script by Francis Ford Coppola and Edmund H. North feels fresh and original throughout. Also, this is the unvarnished truth, illustrating the general’s many faults, and not simply a glossy red-white-and-blue celebration of an American military legend. While this is a war picture on an epic scale, the focus is more about the magnitude of one man whose life is deeply rooted in conflict, who needs an enemy and the thrill of combat to make him feel alive. The only sad part about “Patton” is that Karl Malden’s excellent portrayal of Gen. Omar Bradley is so overshadowed by Scott. The film received 10 Academy Award nominations and won seven Oscars. Ironically, although Scott won one of them for playing a highly competitive individual, he refused to accept it because he didn’t consider himself in competition with any actors.

‘Mrs. Miniver’ (1942)
Aside from Pearl Harbor, the war didn’t hit directly on the home front for Americans. But it did for the British. Director William Wyler’s story about a middle-class English housewife (Greer Garson) trying to keep her family together and safe when Nazi bombs start to fall all around them had such a powerful impact on those who saw it that Winston Churchill later said it was more influential in hastening U.S. involvement in World War II than a whole fleet of destroyers. Based on a series of newspaper columns, the film beautifully depicts life in a quaint English village, complete with red and white roses entered in a floral contest. Then it shows in touching fashion the effect of war’s ugly intrusion and successfully shattered the myth in the minds of many Americans that all English lived a life of high-brow snobbery. “Mrs. Miniver” won six Oscars, including best picture and best director. But Wyler couldn’t be there to collect: He was flying a bombing mission over Germany at the time.

Honorable mentions: “Das Boot,” “The Train,” “The Best Years Of Our Lives,” “The Guns of Navarone,” “The Longest Day,” “Stalag 17,” “A Walk In The Sun,” “The Pianist,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Europa, Europa,” “The Diary of Anne Frank,” “Au Revoir, Les Enfants,” “To Hell and Back.”

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