war films
7 6 5
Casablanca
RELEASE DATE 1942
Hollywood’s definitive wartime propaganda pic blends together the melodrama of
lovers who can’t be together with the harsh reality of conflict. Michael Curtiz’s World
War II classic has two top-of-their-game actors in the lead roles, Humphrey Bogart and
Ingrid Bergman, as Rick and Ilsa. Rick’s a bartender in Casablanca, Ilsa’s an old flame
in town with her new husband, a notorious agent who’s out to bring down the Nazis.
The great source of tension between them stems from Rick, who can’t stand idly by
when he has the power to help Ilsa’s man. It’s chemistry like theirs that’s rarely seen
onscreen nowadays, a result of their off-set friendship, which also gave the film its most
memorable one-liner. Casablanca is the wartime romance to end ‘em all.The Thin
Red Line
RELEASE DATE 1998
20 years away from filmmaking and
Terrence Malick returned with The Thin
Red Line. A lingering, slow-drawl of a war
film that shows how mankind’s desire to
fight one another devastates nature. Cut
down from a much, MUCH longer version,
the finished movie surprised a lot of the
cast who learned in the theater that their
roles were bigger/smaller than expected.
It’s the thin red line of the title, which is
according to Malick what separates the
sane from the mad, that’s best brought
to life over and over in the performances
of its soldiers. In particular? Nick Nolte’s
unhinged Colonel; possibly his
best-ever role.
Paths of Glory
RELEASE DATE 1957
Kubrick took inspiration from Humphrey
Cobb’s novel a World War I Colonel who
refused to walk his men to certain death.
Kirk Douglas is steely as Colonel Dax,
the commanding officer of four soldiers
sentenced to death, who turns to his
pre-war civilian life as a lawyer to defend
the men. Along the way he becomes
strongly disillusioned with the madness
of his superiors, part of Kubrick’s strong
anti-war sentiment making its way into the
main part of the plot. As heavy-handed as
that may be, it’s the final twang that finds
the survivors of Dax’s company gathered
in a local inn, knocking back the ale, and
listening to a local woman sing, that packs
the real punch. It’s seeing Dax watch his
men, eyes brimming with tears in the
moment, knowing that they don’t have
long until the next big push.Full Metal
Jacket
RELEASE DATE 1987
This dark film takes aim at the Vietnam
war, told through the eyes of Matthew
Modine’s Joker, a man who hedges his
bets by scrawling ‘Born to kill’ on his
helmet but also wears a peace symbol,
to show “the duality of man”. Yeah, he’s
quite a character, and this is a film full of
complex, troubled individuals each dealing
with the pressures put upon them by their
intense drill instructor. R. Lee Ermey’s
role is one of the most memorable of
the whole movie, his torrent of insults
designed to toughen up the men, the
source of an hour-long improvisational
rant. This is war, Kubrick-style.