Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As mentioned almost all of the HBO original movies/series based on fact range from interesting (Rome) to great (Band of Brothers). All the docs by Ken Burns, Ric Burns, Werner Herzog, Frontline, American Experience, The World at War series.
Random good historical dramas:
Mrs Brown
All the President's Men
A Passage to India
The Jewel in the Crown
Schindler's List
Lawrence of Arabia
Patton
The Last Emperor
Zulu
As was "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" on the small screen. The Auschwitz sequences in WAR were actually filmed in Auschwitz, and many of the extras were Holocaust survivors.
Personal favorite documentaries about close air support
One of the most neglected stories of American air power is the close support of ground troops. It is perilous duty and not often deemed glorious compared to dog-fighters or naval or strategic bomber pilots, yet likely hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of American soldiers and Marines owe their lives to the fighter and helicopter pilots who so nobly and courageously guard them from the sky.
"A Fighter's Pilot Story," an autobiographical PBS documentary series told by Quentin C. Aanenson, is one of the very best WWII documentaries that I've ever seen. It an historical documentary, not dramatized, that provides personal drama and perspective that rivals, if not surpasses that found in "Band of Brothers." Here is one of my favorite segments from the documentary.
The Smithsonian Channel has many great productions. I've especially enjoyed many of the "Air Warriors" episodes, often shown on PBS channels as well. I particularly recommend the A-10 Warthog episode, given its controversial birth and deployment history, despite its great efficacy and concept.
I highly recommend the Peabody Award-winning Tuskegee Airmen, with a superb cast and very good historical accuracy. It's much better than "Red Tails," a subsequent big screen release.
"Tora Tora Tora" has already been mentioned several times, it probably stands as the most accurate non documentary film ever made.
Another film which stuck very closely to the facts was "Nicolas and Alexandria', the story of Russia's last Czar and the revolution which toppled him. They obviously had to invent some dialog for some scenes, but nothing happens in the movie which did not happen in real life.
"A Bridge Too Far" altered a few facts and compressed a few characters, but as with the above, nothing happens in the film which did not take place in reality. I don't know that it was the first film to do so, but it is the first war film I can recall which showed artillery shells bursting in the air, as they actually did, rather than the typical ground blasts seen in most flicks.
Remove the boring business between Charlton Heston and his son, and "Midway" is quite accurate about the sequence of events, although much had to be overlooked in order to have a reasonable running time. The movie works much better on the small screen than it did in theaters. They blended footage they shot with actual combat footage from the war, and on the big screen it was screamingly obvious because the quality would drop terribly whenever the real footage was shown. On television this was not at all so noticeable.
The 1971 "Charge of the Light Brigade" stuck pretty closely to the facts, although some events were compressed for the sake of the flow of the drama. That was in stark contrast to the Errol Flynn "Charge of the Light Brigade" which was a joke in historical terms. That flick had the reason for the charge being Errol wanting to get personal revenge against a Turkish officer he had encountered in India. The film's end makes it seem like the charge was a success. Flynn would slaughter history once more in "They Died With Their Boots On" which ignored the facts in favor of trying to make Custer's last stand seem like a heroic, deliberate sacrifice rather than the blunder that it was. It was actually an enjoyable movie if you don't mind them inventing whatever history they felt was needed.
Flynn would slaughter history once more in "They Died With Their Boots On" which ignored the facts in favor of trying to make Custer's last stand seem like a heroic, deliberate sacrifice rather than the blunder that it was.
The depiction of Custer's cavalry charges at Gettysburg in "They Died With Their Boots On" is the only one on film of which I'm aware and at a minimum it captured the essence of Custer's great valor during the Civil War. Custer became Phil Sheridan's pit bull and was instrumental in several key battles that hastened the end of the war. Read about Custer's actions at Gettysburg in the following link and then watch the film, and you'll probably share my view that even the film didn't adequately portray Custer's heroics, but it comes fairly close to the facts.
Custer's actions at Gettysburg were rightfully overshadowed by much larger and consequential actions during the three days of battle at Gettysburg, many of which (such as Gen. George Greene's masterful defense of the crucial Culp's Hill) have never been portrayed on film to my knowledge.
I'm a big fan of WW2 stuff, especially pacific war related.
1) A good historical movie is "Hiroshima" from 1995. It mixes real footage and tries to fill in the events leading up to the bombing. I have bought the DVD awhile back, but it looks to be available online for download. It's a Canadian production that aired on TV (2 parter). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshima_(film)
2) Another interesting movie is "Emperor" with Tommy Lee Jones. An interesting look at the aftermath. Now it may not be exactly accurate, but the dramatical essence of keeping the Emperor is captured well. Also fascinating to the see the US 'take over' another nation wholly and fully.
Books that compliment this well are: "The Postwar Occupation of Japan" by Charles River Editors" and "The Fall of Japan".
3) Band of Brothers was mentioned. The companion to that is "The Pacific". While knocked for it's lack of cohesion of friendship when compared to the Band of Brothers as well as relative disparate plot line, the Pacific Theater was an entirely different war. Now, there is one character, focused on in the beginning that many people didn't like, which I understand, but watching it to the end is actually quite haunting.
A large part of it was based on the seminal war-diary book "With the Old Breed" by Eugene Sledge, one of the main characters in the show. After watching the series, I highly recommend reading this book if you haven't done so already. Arguably the best or one of the best, book of a soldier in war.
Ernie Pyle's Story of G.I. Joe. A tribute to the American infantryman in World War II.
Breaker Morant South Africa during the Boer War (1899-1902). Scapegoats for the Empire.
Heart like a Wheel
Speaking of Errol Flynn, see "Slivers of Bone" in the following article thread. As discussed, the famed boxing trainer Angelo Dundee really enjoyed this portrayal of the great heavyweight champion, Jim Corbett.
<<At one point in the historic climactic boxing match reenacted between heavyweight champion John L. Sullivan (played by Ward Bond) and James J. Corbett (Flynn), Errol threw a particular punch. They froze the film and Dundee exclaimed, “How about that counter left jab he threw!”
“When was the last time you saw a left jab in a movie?” said Sugar with enthusiasm. [Note: A jab is a punch thrown straight from one body to another, as opposed to a hook, which comes out and around.]
“A counter left jab!” said an excited Dundee. “Forget about a regular jab. My God, there’s so much talent there, it’s scary!” The highly decorated boxing great Angelo Dundee concluded by saying, “I would have wanted to manage that guy!” This was the trainer of the greatest prizefighter in history saying he would have liked the opportunity to manage a boxer with Flynn’s talent.>>
I saw the clip discussed in the above article, and it said the heavyweight fight between Corbett and John L. Sullivan was the first heavyweight championship in which gloves were used.
<<Sullivan, his face still swollen from Corbett's dazzling left jab in New Orleans>>
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Personal favorite documentaries about close air support
