Posts from ColeThornton in thread „Shenandoah“

Both "Pork Chop Hill" and "A Bridge Too Far" were anti-war films.

Neither Peck nor Attenborough would ever have made a film that justified war in any way. The far left Peck actually made Pork Chop Hill because he wanted to make a strong anti-war statement during the stupid Cold War.

That's exactly right chester. I think the great director John Huston put it best when he said, "If I ever make a pro-war movie then you can take me outside and shoot me."

It can be difficult to make an anti-war movie about World War II since most people agree that was a necessary war, it is much easier with Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. Of course a film doesn't have to be anti-military like Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" to qualify as anti-war.

Although I may be biased in saying this, I think the British war films made during the Second World War were better, and certainly less gung ho, than the American movies. I know "Objective Burma" was banned for about seven years in this country, and even then it was only released with an apologetic introduction.

My grandfather has just been given "The Way to the Stars" on DVD by his cousin, he bought it once before but it didn't have subtitles. He's allowed me to keep the film on VHS, along with "In Which We Serve".

Yes "The Way to the Stars" is my grandfather's favourite war film, he saw it 50 times in the RAF (it was the only movie they had!) and the late Sir John Mills was his favourite actor.

According to Gregory Peck, who was one of the most active liberals in Hollywood, "The Guns of Navarone" was supposed to be an anti-war film. The moral arguments between his character and David Niven's character were written by blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman for that very reason. Peck said he regretted how the anti-war point had been lost on some viewers amid all the fighting.

Since Chester advised me to start a new thread about this film, I would just like to say it was a great Civil War drama, and clearly anti-war which accounted for its success. All the best war films are anti-war - The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River Kwai, The Way to the Stars, Jarhead, The Cruel Sea, Kelly's Heroes, The Deer Hunter and many more.

It was notable that Stewart, who knew what war was about, only ever made one real war film, The Mountain Road in 1959.