The War Collection

Collection of ten popular war movies. In 'Twelve O'Clock High' (1949) Colonel Keith Davenport (Gary Merrill) is more of a friend than a commander to his men, a US bomber crew stationed in wartime Britain. After a series of dangerous missions, the pilots are living on their nerves and when Davenport is replaced by the callous General Savage (Gregory Peck), the latter's attempts to whip the crew into shape result in a deluge of requests for transfers. However, young Lieutenent Bishop (Robert Patten) rallies his fellow pilots, and soon they and Savage begin to develop a mutual respect. 'Behind Enemy Lines' (2001) was inspired by the story of Scott O'Grady, the US fighter pilot who was shot down over Bosnia in 1995 and managed to find his way back to base without being captured. After photographing some Bosnian Serb troops hidden in a forest, Lieutenant Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) and his co-pilot Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) are shot down by an anti-aircraft missile. Stackhouse breaks his leg in the crash, and Burnett goes off to get help, but the Serbs soon locate Stackhouse and execute him. Burnett now finds himself alone in hostile country and sets out on the long and dangerous journey back to safety. Meanwhile, his commanding officer (Gene Hackman), against all army and NATO rules, sets out on a mission to locate and rescue Burnett. In 'Courage Under Fire' (1996) Lieutenant Colonel Nat Serling (Denzel Washington), suffering from guilt after destroying one of his own tanks in a friendly fire incident during the Gulf War, is assigned to investigate the death of Captain Karen Walden (Meg Ryan). Walden died in action, but accounts of her actions vary and so Serling has to discover the truth before she can be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour. At the same time he has to come to terms with his own traumatic experiences in the Gulf. 'Enemy at The Gates' (2001) is set in Stalingrad in 1942. Political Officer Danilov (Joseph Fiennes) sees young army recruit Vassili Zaitsev (Jude Law) in action and realises that he is just what the Russian people need to inspire them in their fight against the German Army. Zaitsev is a natural with a rifle, and Danilov arranges for him to be transferred to a sniper unit, where his actions will be publicised, thus making him into a national hero. But Zaitsev soon begins to feel he cannot live up to Danilov's expectations, and to make matters worse, he and Danilov both fall for the same girl (Rachel Weisz). Meanwhile, the Germans find out about Zaitsev and bring in their own top sniper, Konig (Ed Harris), to engage the young Russian in a deadly battle of wits. In 'Von Ryan's Express' (1965), when US pilot Colonel Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra) is shot down and placed in a German POW camp, he is more concerned with his own survival than escape. The top-ranking officer in the camp, he is initially reviled by his fellow British and American prisoners, who nickname him 'Von Ryan'. However, Ryan eventually comes to lead them in a daring escape attempt, taking over from the commanding British officer (Trevor Howard) and the escapees face many hazards as they commandeer a train to make their way across Italy, closely followed by the Nazis. In 'The Longest Day' (1962) an all-star international cast retells the events of the Allied Landings in Normandy in 1944. Events are seen from various points of view, including the Germans', in an epic and spectacular style. Along with the 43 international stars, the film used 23,000 Allied troops and, despite costing over $10 million to make, it has now become one of the most successful films of its genre. John Wayne, Robert Mitchum and Henry Fonda head the cast. In 'The Thin Red Line' (1964), during World War II, new recruit Private Doll (Keir Dullea) finds himself stationed in Guadalcanal under the leadership of a hardened sergeant (Jack Warden). As he does battle with the Japanese forces, Doll finds himself in continual conflict with his no-nonsense superior, and the ensuing struggle for supremacy places the mission in jeopardy. 'Tigerland' (2000) is set in Louisiana in 1971. When new recruit Jim Paxton (Matthew Davis) arrives at Fort Polk for basic training he soon makes friends with the rebellious Roland Bozz (Colin Farrell), a soldier who is doing everything he can to get himself thrown out of the army. Bozz has plans to escape to Mexico, but Paxton refuses to go with him, arguing that if he doesn't go to Vietnam, then somebody else will have to go in his place. However, when Bozz makes an enemy of his vengeful and sadistic fellow recruit Wilson (Shea Whigham), the need to get out of the army becomes even more pressing. In 'Patton' (1970) the life and times of America's most famous modern general, George Patton (George C. Scott), are recreated in a screen biography which focuses on Patton's controversial exploits during the Second World War, where he eventually gave up command of the Seventh Army after slapping a soldier and accusing him of being a coward. Patton was highly successful in his campaigns over North Africa, Sicily and parts of Europe. Scott won an Oscar for his performance but didn't accept it, and the film won a further six Academy Awards.

Finally, 'Tora! Tora! Tora!' (1970) is a film covering Japan's 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. Told from the perspective of both the Japanese and the Americans, it draws upon the talents of four different directors - including Richard Fleischer and Kinji Fukasaku - and at a cost of $25 million, was one of the most expensive movies ever made. The film won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Actor: Sean Connery
Actor: John Savage
Actor: Tim Consedine
Actor: Albert Dumortier
Actor: Cary Loftin
Actor: Karl Michael Vogler
Actor: Christopher Lee
Actor: Nick Searcy
Actor: Edmond O'Brien
Actor: Ed Harris
Actor: Keir Dullea
Actor: Eddie Albert
Actor: Paul Anka
Music: Paul Anka
Actor: Arletty
Actor: Jean-Louis Barrault
Actor: Bourvil
Actor: Red Buttons
Actor: John Cusack
Actor: Ray Danton
Actor: Irina DeMich
Actor: Fabian
Actor: Steve Forrest
Actor: Leo Genn
Actor: Paul Hartman
Actor: Alexander Knox
Actor: Peter Lawford
Actor: Wolfgang Preiss
Writer: David Pursall
Actor: Ron Randell
Writer: Cornelius Ryan
Actor: Tommy Sands
Writer: Jack Seddon
Actor: Michael Shannon
Actor: Tom Tryon
Writer: James Jones
Actor: Jeffrey Hunter
Actor: Leon Ames
Actor: Edward Andrews
Actor: Joseph Cotten
Actor: Sean Penn
Actor: Adolfo Celi
Actor: Takahiro Tamura
Actor: Frank Sinatra
Actor: Dean Jagger
Actor: Bob Hoskins
Actor: George Macready
Actor: Roddy McDowall
Actor: Gert Fröbe
Actor: Kenneth More
Actor: Trevor Howard
Actor: So Yamamura
Actor: Scott Glenn
Actor: Lee MacGregor
Actor: John Kellogg
Actor: Henry Fonda
Actor: John Wayne
Director: Henry King
Actor: Gregory Peck
Producer: Frank McCarthy
Actor: Richard Wattis
Actor: Richard Beymer
Actor: Denzel Washington
Actor: Sergio Fantoni
Actor: Karl Malden
Actor: Joaquim de Almeida
Actor: Zeljko Ivanek
Actor: George Clooney
Actor: Ron Perlman
Actor: John Leyton
Director: Terrence Malick
Writer: Terrence Malick
Actor: Brad Dexter
Director: John Moore
Actor: James Whitmore
Actor: Wesley Addy
Director: Ray Kellogg
Actor: Robert Wagner
Actor: Mel Ferrer
Actor: Sal Mineo
Actor: Stuart Whitman
Actor: George C. Scott
Actor: Michael Strong
Actor: Frank Latimore
Actor: James Edwards
Actor: Lawrence Dobkin
Actor: Michael Bates
Music: Don Davis
Writer: Jospeh Landon
Actor: Robert Patten
Producer: Darryl Zanuck
Actor: Richard Todd
Actor: Millard Mitchell
Actor: Eva Mattes
Actor: Tatsuya Mihashi
Actor: E.G. Marshall
Actor: Colin Farrell
Actor: Lou Diamond Phillips
Music: James Horner
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Music: Alfred Newman
Music: Maurice Jarre
Actor: Edward Mulhare
Writer: Francis Ford Coppola
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writer: Edmund H. North
Actor: Leon Russom
Writer: Hideo Oguni
Writer: Ryûzô Kikushima
Writer: Romain Gary
Actor: Toshio Masuda
Director: Toshio Masuda
Actor: Kinji Fukasaku
Director: Kinji Fukasaku
Actor: Raffaella Carra
Actor: Eugene Deckers
Special FX A/V: Jacques Maumont
Special FX A/V: Robert MacDonald
Director: Ken Annakin
Producer: John Schofield
Director: Richard Fleischer
Actor: Matt Damon
Actor: Hugh Marlowe
Director: Mark Robson
Actor: Gary Merrill
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Actor: Stephen Young
Producer: Elmo Williams
Director: Bernhard Wicki
Actor: Jude Law
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Writer: Jean-Jacques Annaud
Actor: Ivan Shvedov
Actor: Michael Moriarty
Actor: Seth Gilliam
Actor: Joseph Fiennes
Actor: Gene Hackman
Producer: Steven Haft
Actor: Ben Chaplin
Actor: Elias Koteas
Writer: Patrick Sheane Duncan
Producer: Grant Hill
Actor: Christian Marquand
Actor: Curd Jürgens
Writer: Wendell Mayes
Actor: Rachel Weisz
Producer: Joseph M. Singer
Producer: David T. Friendly
Actor: Regina Taylor
Music: Hans Zimmer
Writer: Larry Forrester
Writer: Beirne Lay Jr
Actor: Richard Burton
Director: Andrew Martin
Actor: Adrien Brody
Actor: Owen Wilson
Actor: Cole Hauser
Actor: Jim Caviezel
Producer: Saul David
Actor: Woody Harrelson
Actor: Vladimir Mashkov
Actor: Geoffrey Pierson
Actor: Paul Stewart
Director: Edward Zwick
Producer: Arnon Milchan
Actor: Leslie Phillips
Actor: Vito Scotti
Actor: Jack Warden
Actor: Martin Balsam
Actor: Jason Robards
Writer: Sy Bartlett
Producer: John Davis
Producer: Robert Geisler
Producer: John Roberdeau
Actor: Bronson Pinchot
Actor: John Gregson
Actor: Michael Medwin
Actor: Gabriel Macht
Writer: Zak Penn
Actor: Sophie Rois
Writer: David Veloz
Actor: Charles Malik Whitfield
Actor: Robert Mitchum
Actor: Robert Ryan
Music: Nathan Larson
Actor: Olek Krupa
Actor: James Brolin
Actor: Rod Steiger
Actor: Gabriel Thomson
Actor: Matthew Davis
Actor: Clifton Collins Jr.
Producer: Beau Flynn
Writer: Alain Godard
Actor: Matthias Habich
Actor: Mario Bandi
Actor: Hans Martin Stier
Actor: Clemens Schick
Actor: Donald Houston
Actor: Meg Ryan
Writer: Ross Klavan
Writer: Michael McGruther
Actor: Arian Ash
Actor: Haven Gaston
Actor: Afemo Omilami
Actor: James McDonald
Actor: Shea Whigham
Actor: Marko Igonda
Actor: Robert Arthur
Actor: David Keith
Actor: Nick Nolte