war movie

DVD of the Week: War Horse

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War Horse is a sweeping epic that traces the journey of an especially spirited horse and its series of owners before and during World War I.  It’s not a critical spoiler to let you know that the horse survives, although its various handlers are all savaged by war.

It’s a movie that we could have seen in the 1950s – but a very, very good 1950s movie.  The story is sentimental, but neither simple nor dully plotted.  The movie is beautifully composed and shot, and many scenes recall John Ford’s use of landscapes and action.  The silhouettes and sky in the final shot are lit as in the similar climax of Gone With the Wind.

War Horse is also one of the better movies about World War I, of which the central fact was its massive, brutally stupid waste of lives on a thereto unimagined scale.  Along the way we see clear and accurate depictions of trench warfare, No Man’s Land, foraging, and the relative utility of cavalry, infantry, artillery, machine guns, and tanks.  Spielberg doesn’t distract us from the overall horror with unnecessary gore.

War Horse: Spielberg’s sentimental epic

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War Horse is a sweeping epic that traces the journey of an especially spirited horse and its series of owners before and during World War I.  It’s not a critical spoiler to let you know that the horse survives, although its various handlers are all savaged by war.

It’s a movie that we could have seen in the 1950s – but a very, very good 1950s movie.  The story is sentimental, but neither simple nor dully plotted.  The movie is beautifully composed and shot, and many scenes recall John Ford’s use of landscapes and action.  The silhouettes and sky in the final shot are lit as in the similar climax of Gone With the Wind.

War Horse is also one of the better movies about World War I, of which the central fact was its massive, brutally stupid waste of lives on a thereto unimagined scale.  Along the way we see clear and accurate depictions of trench warfare, No Man’s Land, foraging, and the relative utility of cavalry, infantry, artillery, machine guns, and tanks.  Spielberg doesn’t distract us from the overall horror with unnecessary gore.

Coming up on TV: An Anti-war Masterpiece

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James Coburn and James Garner in THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY

Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting the 1964 The Americanization of Emily on November 11.    Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing English women for the brass.  Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War.  She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy.   Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it.  Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network.

Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe.

Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

Coming up on TV: An Anti-war Masterpiece

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James Coburn and James Garner in The Americanization of Emily

Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting the 1964 The Americanization of Emily on April 7.    Set in England just before the D-Day invasion, The Americanization of Emily is a biting satire and one of the great anti-war movies. James Garner plays an admiral’s staff officer charged with locating luxury goods and willing English women for the brass.  Julie Andrews plays an English driver who has lost her husband and other male family members in the War.  She resists emotional entanglements with other servicemen whose lives may be put at risk, but falls for Garner’s “practicing coward”, a man who is under no illusions about the glory of war and is determined to stay as far from combat as possible.

Unfortunately, Garner’s boss (Melvyn Douglas) has fits of derangement and becomes obsessed with the hope that the first American killed on the beach at D-Day be from the Navy.   Accordingly, he orders Garner to lead a suicide mission to land ahead of the D-Day landing, ostensibly to film it.  Fellow officer James Coburn must guarantee Garner’s martyrdom.

It’s a brilliant screenplay from Paddy Chayefsky, who won screenwriting Oscars for Marty, The Hospital and Network.

Today, Americanization holds up as least as well as its contemporary Dr. Strangelove and much better than Failsafe.

Reportedly, both Andrews and Garner have tagged this as their favorite film.

One of the “Three Nameless Broads” bedded by the Coburn character is played by Judy Carne, later of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In.

Coming Up on TV: A Great Sam Fuller War Film

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On April 2, Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting the 1951 Korean War movie The Steel Helmet. It’s a gritty classic by the great writer-director Sam Fuller, a WWII combat vet who brooked no sentimentality about war.   Gene Evans, a favorite of the two Sams  (Fuller and Peckinpah), is especially good as the sergeant.