Westerns and War Movies discussion

[ShawnFuzz]

I am a big fan of Westerns and War movies. Anyone else?

Please tell me your favorites!

I chose to put these two genres together because so many Westerns involve the American civil war. Plus they are both genres that were popular in the past, but no so much now.

I will name a couple of my favorites, but not all (there are so many!). These may be obvious first choices, but I am just trying to get the conversation started!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly is among my all time favorites! Clint Eastwood is a cinematic hero to me.

Saving Private Ryan is my favorite war movie. I never would have thought the actor who played a child in a grown-ups body in "Big" could have played such a serious role.

I really do have many more movies that I love under the Western and War Movie genres... but I am hoping to hear some of your favorites, and hopefully discuss them!

 

[Tude]

I'm not really a movie watcher. They did force us to watch Glory in 8th grade and it wasn't bad. Actually, the beginning where the one guy's head gets blown off by a cannonball was pretty cool.

It's not a movie, but something else this post made me think about is this one episode of The Twilight Zone that's based on the Civil War. It never gets played on the tv marathons and I'm pretty sure it's not on Paramount, either. I had to watch it on some random website. It's called "An Occurrence on Owl Creek Bridge." I love the show so I'm biased but it's really a great episode not many people know about since it's only been aired once supposedly.

 

[nightglow]

I usually avoid war movies due to memories/seeing enough. But if it is an important war movie, like to tell someone's story, I'll watch it with others if they ask. It is important for their voice to be heard when they can no longer speak, and I don't want others to be discouraged from watching that. Especially since it is tame depictions, real pictures or footage is censored if shown, but gets the idea across and they should be handle that. It is a learning experience.
Now sometimes a movie will have war in the background, I feel that is different as that isn't the focus or main plot of the movie. That's fine.
As for westerns, I don't really care for them. They don't bother me really, I just don't have interest in them. Some people love them.

 

[Tude]

I haven't seen any Western movies I can think of. But we have some older friends we visit every so often. They always have Bonanza on when we get there so I guess they watch it everyday. I end up actually watching it while we're there. That surprised me the first time it happened because I never figured it would be something I like.

My favorite video game is Red Dead Redemption 2 so I guess that was a lasting effect of watching Bonanza

 

[. Rarity .]

I have seen a few War Movies I've liked, its not my ideal genre but I like to expand.

1917, it was amazing, I loved how unexpected it became, and the ending was just spot on. I esspecially loved the cinematography and the river/flower scene

I checked, looks like Oppenheimer counts as a war movie. Personally a big fan. I dont like bomb movies, but this was filmed differently. I liked how they didn't show parts and that was up to your imagination through the main guy's eyes, and how they didn't have any big bomb go off. It was also up to the imagination. I found it way more effective, and satisfying compared to being just shown everything.

I appreciate it when movies leave some stuff up to the imagination.

 

[QueenCobra]

I’m not big into Westerns or war movies, but I thought the Vietnam scenes in Forrest Gump were well-done. Although it’s always sad when Bubba dies…!

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I’m not big into Westerns or war movies, but I thought the Vietnam scenes in Forrest Gump were well-done. Although it’s always sad when Bubba dies…!

It wouldn't be a good war movie, or scene in the case of Forrest Gump, if someone close didn't die.

Band of Brothers is a fantastic series to watch if anyone gets a chance. The love of my life at the time refused to watch. But once she saw the introductory interviews with the actual old men who served in that story, she was sucked in.

It's easy to forget that people you cross paths with in everyday life, may have served our country, and have seen a lot of horrible things as a survivor.

When I meet a veteran, which is common where I live, I ask lots of questions. I want to know what our soldiers are doing for us while we sit at home playing games.

Sorry, I may have gone a little personal, but that should be the point of movies... right? To take us to a world we can't imagine? But others live it.

 

[Mimi Cheems]

I haven't seen many Western movies, but I LOVE watching old Western shows with my dad.

I love Bonanza, Gunsmoke.. Walker, Texas Ranger.. etc.

Some of my favorite war movies though.. Kelly's Heroes is IMMACULATE. I love it because it was my pops (grandpa) favorite movie. I love Dirty Dozen, too. Some of my favorite actors from those series/movies include; Clint Eastwood, Michael Landon, and Donald Sutherland. I LOVE Donald Sutherland. He was an amazing actor. I miss him.

There was another movie I watched with my dad once.. but I can't remember the name of it.. John Wayne was in it and they were on this ship and Wayne's character was severely injured. I've tried googling it but I can't find the title of this movie. I think it was during WWII. Maybe In Harm's Way?
There was also another movie I recall watching, which was also a war movie. All I remember was this guy in a bar who fell in love with one of the girls there-- and he also ended up getting really sick with perhaps malaria? And she ended up getting pregnant and they had a child together. I'm unsure if these are both the same movie.. My memory is so poor, but I enjoyed both of those movies.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I haven't seen many Western movies, but I LOVE watching old Western shows with my dad.

I love Bonanza, Gunsmoke.. Walker, Texas Ranger.. etc.

Some of my favorite war movies though.. Kelly's Heroes is IMMACULATE. I love it because it was my pops (grandpa) favorite movie. I love Dirty Dozen, too. Some of my favorite actors from those series/movies include; Clint Eastwood, Michael Landon, and Donald Sutherland. I LOVE Donald Sutherland. He was an amazing actor. I miss him.

There was another movie I watched with my dad once.. but I can't remember the name of it.. John Wayne was in it and they were on this ship and Wayne's character was severely injured. I've tried googling it but I can't find the title of this movie. I think it was during WWII. Maybe In Harm's Way?
There was also another movie I recall watching, which was also a war movie. All I remember was this guy in a bar who fell in love with one of the girls there-- and he also ended up getting really sick with perhaps malaria? And she ended up getting pregnant and they had a child together. I'm unsure if these are both the same movie.. My memory is so poor, but I enjoyed both of those movies.

I absolutely love this! Mainly because you enjoyed watching then with your dad and "pops"!!

That is the reason I love these two genres as well! There were many times when I asked my Dad to play catch outside, but he said "maybe later". So I sat on the floor in the living room watching random movies on TV with my Dad. Everything from black and white world War 2 or Samurai movies...

I always rooted for the Mexican bad guys for some reason, because I loved the sombrero's!

 

[Nunnafinga]

Jeffrey Hunter and John Wayne in The Searchers(1956)

My favorite western is The Searchers.It's a different kind of western because it's not really a cut and dried good guys versus bad guys kind of movie.It shows both sides of the U.S. government's battles with the Native Americans and John Wayne's character isn't the nicest guy in the world.I think it might be the best John Ford/John Wayne collaboration(I'd say it's neck and neck with The Quiet Man)

Peter Graves,William Holden,Neville Brand and Richard Erdman in Stalag 17(1953)

Stalag 17 might be my favorite war movie....even though there's no real combat scenes in it.It's about a group of American POWs trying to figure out who the German informant is among their ranks.William Holden won the Oscar for his performance.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

@Nunnafinga I havent seen either of these movies. I look forward to watching them!