Worst War Film Ever

Dub13

The concept of worst film needs to be a sum of bad plot, bad acting, bad special effects and bad portrayal of facts if historical.There are loads of these kind of movies to pick from.


We should also have a category for just outrageous silly movies,my nomination for this category would have to be Red Dawn.Its a 80s movie about an invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union and Cuba, and the resulting guerrilla actions of a group of American high school students in Colorado.Its bad very bad its so bad you have to keep watching it on till then end just to see how bad it can get.

fightin irish

The Green Beret's with John Wayne jumps to mind. An absolute right wing propaganda film set in vietnam while the war was raging.

Im pretty sure it's been widely lambasted through out the years.

Manic Moran

Red Dawn is something of a Cult Classic in the US. There's a pic of a destroyed Iraqi T-55 with "Wolverines" sprayed on the turret.

Invasion USA would be a dire movie, except it's got Chuck Norris in it, so it can't be.

Pearl Harbour might rate as a horrible war movie, except I don't categorise it as a war movie. More of a chick flick with some shooty bits.

NTM

Dub13

I have to agree with you about Pearl Harbor it was more a love story than a war movie,I hate it when they try to please the men with a lot of action then try to please the woman with a "love twist".

Are you serious about Red Dawn been a Cult Movie in the States...?

One for the first category would be U-571,it was not the US navy but Royal Navy who found the Enigma machine and Bletchley cracked it.IIRC they put the real story in the credits.I am a firm believer that you don't change history for a movie,if you want to change it that much just make a fiction movie and leave the brave men and woman alone to have there small place in history.

dr.bollocko

We were soldiers was pretty damn bad.

Time Magazine

The Core. War with... our planet!

mike65

What about the first 'nam flick? The Green Berets. Not only bad but 3 hours of it with ad breaks!

Mike.

TerrorFirmer

dr.bollocko wrote:

We were soldiers was pretty damn bad.

I thought it was quite good.

Historically, U571 was a joke in so far as they basically rewrote history for the american public and slapped on the tag "based on a true story".

Red Dawn was a terrible, terrible movie. Bad acting, badly made, poorly choreographed....just overall a terrible movie, could have been alot more entertaining at least.

Other then that I've seen a fair few bad movies but none really spring to mind immediately.

Wait - windtalkers. :mad:

Dub13

Was it the Delta Force films that had flying bikes...?Remember Under siege not really a war film but US Navy Seal turned master chef pony-tailed girlyman Steven Seagal,the best part of that movie was when the playbunny jumped out of the cake.


Also an honorable mention for GI Jane,what a load of crap.As for We were soldiers I also thought it was a good movie.

fightin irish

dr.bollocko wrote:

We were soldiers was pretty damn bad.

I would disagree with that one... It was historically bang on altho maybe Mel gibson just didn't suit the role.

Capt'n Midnight

Pearl Harbour takes the biscuit for getting the special effects SO wrong with such a big budget.
- wrong ships used
- have you ever seen the real film of the B25's taking off on the Tokoyo Raid ?
- now compare it to Tora Tora Tora, and then imagine what that film could have been if they had let Kirasawa do the japanese scenes.

Any non-comedy war film where at least some of the wounded don't scream when injured.

Space Above and Beyond. It wasn't SciFi, It was just a PC way to glorify the racial nature of the island-hopping carrier war in the pacific during WWII. At the time it was the most expensive "SciFi" per episode. Totally unmemorable compared to B5 or Farscape.

Green Berets , just for the sheer blatentness of the "facts". Acting, special effects are par for the course for a film of that era so it ain't the worst, a lot of the hardware is accurate anyway.

will have to repost when remember worse ones.

Capt'n Midnight

one quick google later

Has anyone seen Inchon ?
How could we have forgotton the Rambo sequals ?
Does Battlefield Earth count ?
Best Defense Strategic guest star Eddie Murphy

Heartbreak Ridge I didn't like
delta farce / navy seals / iron eagle etc. nah..

Manic Moran

Dub13 wrote:

Are you serious about Red Dawn been a Cult Movie in the States...?

Abosolutely. For example, in addition to the Iraqi tank with "Wolverines" painted on the side, which I can't seem to find right now, the operation that ended up with the capture of Saddam Hussein was titled "Operation Red Dawn", with the two target locations known as "Wolverine I" and "Wolverine II." The Major that wrote the order and came up with the mission name denies any link to the movie. Draw your own conclusions.

NTM

Dub13

Manic Moran wrote:

Abosolutely. For example, in addition to the Iraqi tank with "Wolverines" painted on the side, which I can't seem to find right now, the operation that ended up with the capture of Saddam Hussein was titled "Operation Red Dawn", with the two target locations known as "Wolverine I" and "Wolverine II." The Major that wrote the order and came up with the mission name denies any link to the movie. Draw your own conclusions.

LOL...thats great.


I agree about John Rambo but that was classic 80s stuff remember him helping all the Afghan's defeat the nasty Russians in RAMBO III.I hear there may be a new one on the way.


I kind of like Heartbreak Ridge,am I am freek....?

Manic Moran

No, I found Heartbreak Ridge to be quite entertaining, and I think We Were Soldiers definitely qualifies as "Good."

You know, I can't really think of any truly atrocious war movies.

NTM

TempestSabre

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

....

Space Above and Beyond. It wasn't SciFi, It was just a PC way to glorify the racial nature of the island-hopping carrier war in the pacific during WWII. At the time it was the most expensive "SciFi" per episode. Totally unmemorable compared to B5 or Farscape....

Hey leave SAAB alone. Worth it for Kristen Cloke Capt. Shane Vansen alone. That episode with Chiggy Von Richtofen was great. Lots of ScFi stories have have carriers bouncing from planet to planet. Its a storyline as old as the hills.

coyote6

Windtalkers with Nicholas Cage was absolutely awful. They took a very good story, the Navajo code, and screwed it up with horrible editing, flow and combat sequences.

I don't know about anyone else but it drives me nuts when I see crappy, Hollywood style weapons handling in a film. Aren't there plenty of retired shooters and operators that'd consult them on this stuff?

coyote6

dr.bollocko wrote:

We were soldiers was pretty damn bad.

My brother was with the 4th ID when they used to be based at Fort Carson, CO. He hosted Lt. Gen. Hal Moore (U.S. Army Ret.) for a visit and tour. He said that Mel Gibson portrayed his bearing and personality very well in the film. I can't speak for the other facts. Sam Elliott sure played the crusty Sgt. part well though!

Agent Smith

two words


pearl harbour.

TempestSabre

I didn't think We Were Soldiers is all that bad either. Green Berets is terrible though. I don't watch that many bad war film like rambo or norris, but they must be pretty dire.

Manic Moran

Found it.



NTM

mayhem#

Manic Moran wrote:

Found it.



NTM

That's just great!
:-)
Red Dawn is a terribly (pardon the pun) entertaining movie.

E.

TerrorFirmer

Has anyone seen "Invasion USA"?

The cover has musclebound Chuck Norris, barely covered in tattered clothing, casually firing two uzis from the hip as what looks like the capitol building burns in the background - dunno about the movie itself, but that has to win "worst war movie cover/poster" ever

Steyr

The Thin Red Line....................................

TempestSabre

Steyr wrote:

The Thin Red Line....................................

Not enough shooting in it for you?

I don't think its that bad, but its not your typical war movie.

Manic Moran

HavoK wrote:

Has anyone seen "Invasion USA"?

The cover has musclebound Chuck Norris, barely covered in tattered clothing, casually firing two uzis from the hip as what looks like the capitol building burns in the background - dunno about the movie itself, but that has to win "worst war movie cover/poster" ever

Yes, see my first post. I mentioned it, saying that it can't be the worst, as it has Chuck Norris in it, which is an instant alibi.

NTM

Mick86

Tour of Duty
Rambo 1 2 and 3
The Thin Red Line

Raekwon

According to IMDb, a 1969 movie called 'The Extraordinary Seaman' was rated the worst war movie of all time. To be honest, it sounds like a cross between a bukkake porn movie and the possible biography of a former England goalkeeper

johnny_adidas

think the thin red line is a great movie. cinematography is excellent.

we were soldiers i enjoyed. believe mel spent a while with the guy he played to get his character. although the continuous standing up in the middle of a battle with his invisible shield of bravery just gets annoying. passed a couple of hours last nite anyway.

Windtalkers without doubt is the worst war film ive seen. (havent seen green berets) i remember thinking after seeing it did i just waste some of my life watching this tripe.
another poor one id add to the list would be jarhead. talk about dragged out (maybe its just me but i kept waiting for some sort of battle to break out. they cudve told me beforehand and saved me from 2 hours on the cinema seats)

TempestSabre

Mick86 wrote:

Tour of Duty
...

Never heard of it. You don't mean the series do you?

TerrorFirmer

Manic Moran wrote:

Yes, see my first post. I mentioned it, saying that it can't be the worst, as it has Chuck Norris in it, which is an instant alibi.

NTM

Sorry manic, didn't notice that. Christ, my eyes:



Anyway, speaking of the series Tour of Duty, is it any good? Never saw it, but have always intended to...Saw an episode or two on TV on a Sunday afternoon, wasn't overly impressed, from what I saw it was the A-Team relocated to Vietnam, but I don't want to pass too much judgement without seeing it extensively.

great thread btw.

TempestSabre

Tour of Duty started off good, but seemed to run out of steam after a while. They tried to widen its appeal I think and it didn't work. UTV used to show it at night. Used to be one when you came in from the pub.

SpitfireIV

I really liked 'The Thin Red Line' (both versions, but the newer one more so, you have to watch it a few times to really get into it, and an excellent soundtrack to boot!

My nominations....

-Charlotte Grey (is that a 'war' movie?) Anyway I thought it was stupid.
-U571, for reasons already mentioned.
-Tigerland

I'm sure there must be a few more......

Steyr

I just thought the thin red line dragged on. Im not the "gung ho" type but i suppose if i watched it again?

komsomol

omg do not dare call We Were Soldiers a bad film..

Jasuz its one of my favourites, one of few vietnam war films (if any?) that actually portrays the other side (even if in a tiny capacity).

Excellant film, only complaints is the obvious flag waving and drama, but what can you really expect from hollywood nevermind mel gibson.

Also my main complaint is that they almost completly ignored the details of the book, where the main action was actually the withdrawl from LZ X-Ray, they had to march them all back to the fire base, and on the way that was where the bulk of the casualties took place. Nothing bush ambuses all the way home.

Read the book everyone, very detailed.

Dub13

Was anybody else impressed with the series "Over There",I thought it was well done and a shame it did not get a second series.

the_syco

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

- have you ever seen the real film of the B25's taking off on the Tokoyo Raid ?

Any links? I'd like to see that.

=-=

As for SAAB, it was a sci-fi series set in the future. In the future, you always have massive ships.

=-=

Saw an ep or two of Tour of Duty. Wasn't too bad.

Over There, tho, was pretty good. Very real. Maybe too real? Esp some of the plots (killing the kid in front of the convoy, as the dude in charge of the convoy was afraid of an ambush).

=-=

I thought Jarhead was cool. Only bad thing was the sad ending.

Was hoping he'd get his chance, but no... an airstrike seemed better

Dub13

I liked Jar Head because it was different,it told a war story from a different angel.The only prob with Jarhead was the trailers were full of action sequence's and I think a lot of people went to it expecting a shoot them up thrills a minute kind of movie and it was far from this.So a lot of people were disappointed and only people with a military interest as opposed to just looking for an action movie were some what happy.

Capt'n Midnight

the_syco wrote:

Any links? I'd like to see that.

http://worldwar2database.com/html/doolittlevid.htm
http://worldwar2database.com/movies/doolittle_T1.mov = 4MB
at 1:42 on TV it looked like the bows dropped in the trough of a wave

footage was in two films so better copies around

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g40000/g41197.jpg

cork1

did anyone ever c hamburger hill talk about painful.

Mick86

TempestSabre wrote:

Never heard of it. You don't mean the series do you?

Obviously you've heard of it.

Also add China Beach to that list.

TempestSabre

Mick86 wrote:

Obviously you've heard of it.

Also add China Beach to that list.

Its about films not series, might as well add the A team...:rolleyes:

cooker3

Am I the only one who liked pearl harbour?

cyrusdvirus

Tigerland wasn't a bad film.

If you want a truly bad war film try anything on a digital channel, after TCM on the Sky system. Think it's called movies for men. So bad they are funny.

As for the lad slating SAAB, what was your opinion on Starship Troopers???

Morpheus

Starship Troopers was one of my favorites, ive watched it dozens of times, went to cinema 4 times when it came out... Johnny Rico (what a name) communal showers! how nice that would be in the RDF eh? (remembers what some of our females look like) or maybe not?

now starship troopers 2???

*Morpheus excuse's himself and walks off mumbling about self disembowelment and blunt spoons*

cyrusdvirus

ya see Morph, i wasn't going to mention ST2, for the plain and simple reason that I have successfully managed to avoid it entering my life.

But spoon disembowellment is a sufficent punishment for all those involved. I think they saw the popularity of the cartoon and said, we'll have a bit of that!!!

TempestSabre

Morph&#233 wrote: »

Starship Troopers was one of my favorites, ive watched it dozens of times, went to cinema 4 times when it came out... Johnny Rico (what a name) communal showers! how nice that would be in the RDF eh? (remembers what some of our females look like) or maybe not?

now starship troopers 2???

*Morpheus excuse's himself and walks off mumbling about self disembowelment and blunt spoons*

Starship Troopers I liked. Starship Troopers2 I'm still trying to forget. The horror...

cyrusdvirus

So gents, we have a winner? Starship Troopers 2 is the worst war film ever???

TerrorFirmer

Whilst I admit it was a shit sequel, I thought SST2 was rather good. The thing I hate most is people saying "The special effects are the worst ever", despite the fact the film has not only excellent effects, but they're done by the same company that made the effects for the first film.

I think its a big bandwagon thing....

Suppose I'm the only one looking forward to SST3 then.

silverharp

How about - Where Eagles Dare, for the most unbelievable kill ratio

TempestSabre

HavoK wrote:

Whilst I admit it was a shit sequel, I thought SST2 was rather good.....

How can it be good and bad at the same time

It was woeful. I should sue them for the time back. :mad: