Best Battles seen in movies...

[Colovion]

When Winters led his troops against the fixed gun emplacement in Band of Brothers on D-Day was awesome

[Nerouin]

Ah yes, also the part in "The Breaking Part" (episode 7 or 8 of Band of Brothers), in which Speirs runs through the town and back.. hillarious, and amazing that he was actually nuts and brave enough to do that.

I suppose to do such things you have to can the thinking and just do it.

[Oleander Ardens]

Other interesting battle scenes; Steiner (James Coburn) skirmishing in Russia during WW2 in Cross of Iron from Sam Peckinpah.

Recommanded.

Louis,

One of my fav. WW2 movies. With so many good battle scenes and a hearttouching intro...

I liked also some scenes of "Enemy at the Gate". The sniper sequences are awesome, but others are really bad...


Cheers

OA

[Balin son of Fundin]

Well i am a lotr man through and through, so i will say all of the lotr battles, but i like the ones in Braveheart aswell..

[eeyoredragon]

As some have stated not much can compare to Band Of Brothers. Not just the battle scenes, but the whole story is incredible. I'm still looking for some major flaws in the movie (or mini-serie if you want). My favourite episodes is by far Episode 6 - Bastogne and Episode 7 - The Breaking Point, which includes some really strong scenes and battle sequences (the attack on Foy for example). It's one of my favourite movies of all time

[Divine Wind]

Gosh! So many to choose from!

Heres a small list i came up with:

Waterloo - Fave part when the french cavalry ride through too the british and dutch squares and get slaughtered.

Zulu - A Michael Caine classic! Love the scene where the zulus run into the platoon volley fire and get massacred.

Glory - The last battle where the regiment attacks Fort Sumner (sp?) is just fantastic. One of the few war movies that has put a tear in my eye.

Saving Private Ryan - Both the beginning and ending battles are some of my favourite all time war scenes. I can remember being completely shocked and bewildered at how SPR was so different from any previous movie portraying the beach assault on D Day.

Longest Day - One of the first war movies i saw as a child and still one of my favourites. John Wayne is a legend.

Lawrence of Arabia - Love the scene where Lawrences cavalry attack the turks base by the port. They dont make scenes like that anymore with all those extras.

[Simovek]

Blah, The battle scenes in Return of the King sucked bad. The Charge was ok, but then the whole undead army thing just seemed way to rushed, kind of dumb.

EDIT: ^ The Longest Day. Just love that movie. John Wayne is the man. Love the the Brits and the Piper, marching into battle with pipes a'playin :)

[Darth Binky]

Glory - The last battle where the regiment attacks Fort Sumner (sp?) is just fantastic. One of the few war movies that has put a tear in my eye.

It was Fort Wagner.

You're probably thinking about Fort Sumter, which was the Union fort which was shelled to start the war.

But you're right, it is one of the better war movies out there.

[eadeater]

Although most of my favourites (I've watched Gladiator about 100 times now) have been mentioned, I would like to point out one more fight scene that is just classic. Apocalypse Now, when the helicopters fly in from the sea and attack the Vietnamese held beach, and they've got the HUGE speakers blaring out that tune - to scare the Viets, that is just amazing.

[Nerouin]

They don't make battle scenes like the ones from Lawrence of Arabia or Spartacus anymore for one simple reason- computer generation baby!

It's tough to tell what's real and what's not sometimes!

[Tribesman]

The final scene in "Blackadder Goes Forth" or the closing charge in "Gallipolli".
All Quiet On The Western Front (the original , not the one with John-Boy Walton) .

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

A Bridge Too Far was great. Has anyone ever read the book that inspired it? Great stuff. Also enjoyed the Close Combat game based loosely on it.

The Longest Day.

Glory was good, but kinda depressing in my book.

Gettysburg - one of my all time favorites; certainly favorite Civil War movie.

Gladiator was good, beginning was OK, not sure about the firey arrows and English-speaking Romans

LOTR battles were big and sometimes good, but the Two Towers charge was ridiculus - the horses would've fallen down the hill ~:p never mind the pikes

Lawrence of Arabia - great movie, a little long though

Fighting in Braveheart was good, though complete nonsense (Stirling Bridge... without a... er... bridge)

The Patriot - liked the movie, but Mel Gibson should not be a superman - no one could have done what he did in the film

Fighting in Aliens was moderately cool - exploding Aliens everywhere! If totally sci-fi

[Divine Wind]

Although most of my favourites (I've watched Gladiator about 100 times now) have been mentioned, I would like to point out one more fight scene that is just classic. Apocalypse Now, when the helicopters fly in from the sea and attack the Vietnamese held beach, and they've got the HUGE speakers blaring out that tune - to scare the Viets, that is just amazing.

That tune is Wagner - Ride of the Valkyries if your interested

A Bridge Too Far was great. Has anyone ever read the book that inspired it? Great stuff. Also enjoyed the Close Combat game based loosely on it.

Cant believe i forgot this film in my list! Fantastic film and highly reccommended if any of you guys havent seen this. Some really famous names and great war scenes.

[Seven.the.Hun]

i was kinda impressed by 3rd matrix battle scenes...i am a sci-fi fan of sorts, well a little i guess, but i had not seen anything quite like that one, so it was a cool twist on battles to watch.

[Plaxx]

Already mentioned, but:

Band of Brothers
Glory
Saving Private Ryan
and you have to like Maximus' war dog in the opening battle in Gladiator!

[Barcid]

Waterloo - one of my all time favourites. No other film beats if for sheer scale in pre-CGI graphics movie history. I believe the extras were a substantial part of the Red Army? always wondered if that was true.

Others, well I enjoyed the fortress attack scene in Ran and the battle at the end wasn't too bad either. Quite liked the siege of Orleans in Joan of Arc (The Messenger). The ship battles in Master & Commander are the best i've seen so far. Air battles allowed? - really loved the movie Dark Blue World about the Czech pilots in the Battle of Britain - very CGI, plus bits of the original unused BOB movie footage, but great nonetheless.

[TCon88]

I know the film wasnt excellent but the battle is Star Wars Episode 2 was quite good if a little short.

[Feanor]

I don't understand the beef regarding Gandalf at Helm's Deep. He runs through the pikes granted but he's a wizard! A wizard! Come on, it's a film, you have to suspend your disbeliefs. If he could kill the Balrog when he was Gandalf the Grey he can take on a few pikey orcs as Gandalf the White.

It seems odd that watching a film about orcs and wizards is fine yet when the wizard beats the pikes of the orcs it becomes unrealistic.

I agree about the undead army though in that it devalued the Pelennor battle.

Those films were great.

[Longshanks]

The ship battles in Master & Commander are the best i've seen so far.

I definately agree. Master & Commander was outstanding.

[Dimeola]

My favorite was in the movie Seven samurai. I thought it realistic and portrayed a reality in battle and not the heroic crap.
Onr particular is my fav of the movie. There is a character who is a master swordsman and a zen practitioner as well. At one point they see a need to remove some of the bandits` three matchlocks. He quietly slips out into the night and a few hours later returns with a gun and a head count. Then leans back against a tree and goes to sleep.
If you`ve never seen this one its well worth a rental.
Dimeolas

[Dimeola]

The Longest day.....yea there is something timeless about Scotsmen marching to battle to the pipes. There is still much to be said for tradition. And thats one of the best.
Dimeolas

[kchickenlord]

The battle in gladiator was very unrealistic, but on purpose, it was designed to be exciting yet easy to understand, and in that respect it worked.
But realistic? not a chance.

The battles in Braveheart were similarly subjected to artistic license. but made the film better for all but the most hardcore re-enactor.

Arthur was a terrible film, hopefully it wont put film makers off making more arthurian legend films in the future (the films selling line on the billboards was "the untold true story behind the legend" appalling stuff!!)
But at least it wasnt as awful as troy!

Band of brothers has the most authentic battle sequences ive seen yet on film, it put private ryan to shame and exposes disasters such as windtalkers.

Hollywood will never really produce good battle scenes as long as they are appealing to the masses, people dont want to see boring troop movements, they want to see tom cruise and arnie using rapiers like katanas and chopping off limbs with ancient bronze swords with cutting edges like butter knives.

But the all time worst battle scene goes to pearl harbour, never has the raping of history been so complete!

Keep an eye out for tom cruises film "the few" which goes into production soon, this looks as though it may knock pearl harbour off its throne.

[DisruptorX]

I really couldn't stand the battles in LotR, the clearly cgi armies seemed to move like enourmous sentient masses in the zoomed out scenes and when zoomed in the camera whirled around drunkenly. In fact, the battles in the two towers and RotK were some of the most boring scenes I have ever seen.

My favourite Battles:

The Harem battle and the Final Battle in Conan All the battles in that movie had "weight", when someone was hit, you could almost feel it.

Braveheart, of course. The battles were just so well done.

I always found the first battle in All is Quiet on the Western front to be rather surreal. What with the soldiers running at the machine guns and dropping like flies, and the the other side charging forth and doing the same thing.

I might need to watch Ran again, the battles in that movie were rather good.

[kchickenlord]

I completely forgot about the fantastic battle sequequence in the longest day, you know the one, the french commando raid on (ouistreham?, i cant remember) with the large sweeping aerial view, top notch stuff.

[Goofball]

The best battle scene ever in terms of raw, in-your-face realism was the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan.

I thought Gettysburg was quite good also, but would rank it behind the opening scene in SPR because it lacked the same gritty realism. In the movie men just fell over and died rather cleanly, when in reality most suffered horrific wounds and died agonizing deaths.

Unquestioningly correct.

[kchickenlord]

Band of brothers is more authentic, but the budget is smaller and people are more attracted to saving private ryan with its flashier visuals.

[Devastatin Dave]

I LOVED Zulu. There were quite a few historical innaccuracies, but it was still an amazing movie. Another great scene is in The Charge of the Light Brigade. The sad part is that the movie was made back when there were no laws prohibiting animal abuse. It made it really realistic, but it cost many horses their lives.

[Fragony]

Saving private Ryan's opening scene was awesome. But someone still has to explain me how private Ryan can remember that battle when he was dropped inlands with a parachute

[DisruptorX]

I LOVED Zulu. There were quite a few historical innaccuracies, but it was still an amazing movie. Another great scene is in The Charge of the Light Brigade. The sad part is that the movie was made back when there were no laws prohibiting animal abuse. It made it really realistic, but it cost many horses their lives.

Charge of the Light Brigade is an old black and white movie, right?

[Nerouin]

Fragony- Ryan wasn't crying about that battle. He was crying because Tom Hanks and his Ranger squad had, almost to a man, sacrificed themselves to pull him off the front lines and save his life.

He was asking his wife if he, throughout his life, had been worth it.


It sucked that Matt Damon was Ryan. It should have been a no-namer, not a pretty boy.