War > Q War

Advantages: Top grade performances, excellent script, nerve wracking climax
Disadvantages: Not a classic in league of Bridge on River Kwai

One of the best war movies to come out has been the 1960's movie The Guns of Navaronne. Now hold it, Guns is not a WW2 classic in the league of Bridge on River Kwai, Saving Private Ryan and Paths of Glory. Nor is it a holocaust epic like Schindlers List or The Pianist. The Guns is more a straight forward tale of "guys lets get together and conduct an operation". It was a very popular genre in the 60's especially, when you had movies like Where Eagles ...
...name a few. The formula was simple, get in some big shot names, come up with a story of a derring do plot on a Nazi base, show them as idiotic, brainless goofs and add in the obligatory female company. In that aspect The Guns of Navaronne is no different, but where it strikes out, is the movie has a sensible script, good enough twists, strong character development and enthralling action sequences. I guess that is particularly due to Carl Foreman, ... Read review

Advantages: Great direction, performances, great action scenes
Disadvantages: Dont expect any cerebral stuff.

As a kid loved watching the WW2 flicks. ''Where Eagles Dare'', ''Guns of Navaronne'',''The Great Escape'',''The Dirty Dozen'', ''Bridge on the River Kwai'' and ''Saving Private Ryan'' are some of my perennial favourites. It also helps that I have an avid interest in WW2 related stuff, and about the Nazi stuff also. Have a large collection of material on this, so guess I enjoy these movies more. Guns of Navaronne is based on the work of my fav writer ...
...real lousy flicks. The Plot On the Island of Navaronne, there are 2 mighty guns which are blowing up the Allied ships and preventing them from entering the Greek islands under Nazi rule. In order to destroy the guns, a crack team is made up under the command of Major Roy Franklin( Anthony Quayle) consisting of the following members. Keith Mallory (Gregory Peck)- An expert mouintaneer who has a good command over the German language. Corporal John ... Read review

Advantages: Simply a great film
Disadvantages: Cant really think of any

Another outstanding piece of British Cinema. John Mills plays a Captain charged with getting his ambulance through enemy held desert to Alexandria. He is joined by his Sergeant Major and a couple of female nurses. During the trip they pick up a 'South African' Officer (Anthony Quayle) left behind by his unit during the retreat. The story outlines the trials and hurdles the hardy group face in getting their ambulance back to Alexandria all the while ...
...Matters are complicated by John Mills alcohol problem and Anthony Quayle's seemingly endless supply of Gin. Some of the highlights of the film include the dramatic attempt at 'cranking' the ambulance up a steep slope (makes you sweat just watching it) and the subsequent release of the crank handle by the nurse (not even going to mention women drivers). You can almost see their hearts break as the ambulance hurtles down the slope. Anthony Quayle's ... Read review

Advantages: -
Disadvantages: -

...the true story of the battle which was the Royal Navy's first victory of World War II. In December 1939 three cruisers, Exeter, Ajax and Achilles, under the command of Commodore Henry Harwood, were sent to intercept the German pocket battleship Graf Spee which had been sinking Allied merchant shipping in the South Atlantic. After a fierce gunfight off the coast of Uruguay, the Graf Spee retired to the nearby port of Montevideo for repairs. As Uruguay ...
...Battle Of The River Plate will never win anyone's Best Film award but is a hugely enjoyable waste of two hours. In real life Langsdorff, a broken man, shot himself days after his ship was scuttled. This is not depicted in the film. ... Read review

Advantages: A great film, with great performances.
Disadvantages: The action is directed near the end of the film.

The Eagle Has Landed (1977) It is 1943, and Mussillini has just been rescued from a mountain top prison in Italy by a daring German commando raid. Now Hitler wants Winston Churchill kidnapped. From the pen of Jack Higgins, the film puts you straight into the depths of Nazi Germany and the story of how Colonel Kurt Steiner (MIchael Caine), Liam Delvin (Donald Sutherland) and 15 German paratroopers desend into the quiet English countryside to carry ...
...a battle scarred survivor of the Russian Front that is now the brains behind the mission. A young Jenny Agutter, who provides the love interest for Donald Sutherland as a young nieve country girl. There is a classic casting of Larry Hagman as Colonel Pitts and his fellow American officer, Captain Clarke, played by Treat Williams. All in all, this is a great film, providing the viewer with thrills, action, interigue and even a small love interest. ... Read review