What We’re Watching – WWII in the Movies IV

In honor of our upcoming event, Dinner with a Curator – “WWII in the Movies” on April 16, 2013, we asked our staff to take a moment to send us their favorite WWII films.

The response was so overwhelming that we decided to share them with you in a series of blog posts. Feel free to share your favorites in the comments section or on our Facebook wall.
 

Action

We could hazard a guess that the bulk of films about WWII fall into the category of the “Action movie.” Here are just a few that our staff shared with us. Spoiler alert: The Great Escape was a very popular choice!

The Big Red One starring Mark Hamill and Lee Marvin – It’s a movie I saw when it first came out when I was a kid and I remember watching it with my grandfather who was a WWII vet and asking him questions about the war while we were watching it. It was because of him that I always had an interest in the war.

Bryan Smith, Museum Store, Warehouse Coordinator

This is no easy challenge; there are so many. I’m tempted to choose Biloxi Blues because of how it captures a back-chapter of the war experience – the side dramas of preparing (on the Mississippi coast) to go to war, then never joining the real action before it ends. But my vote has to go with The Great Escape, the 1963 classic about a mass escape of Allied POWs from a German camp, starring the super-cool Steve McQueen. One can sense that it’s based on a real episode, a life-and-death struggle with many tragic consequences, but still leaving the viewer with the sense that we prevailed in tests of spirit and courage and ingenuity. For much of my life I’ve had a recurring dream that I escaped, against all odds, from a prison camp, and I’m certain that they started with my viewing of The Great Escape, starting before I had reached the age of 10.

Coleman Warner, President’s Office, Special Assistant for Internal and CEO Communications

The Great Escape, because Steve McQueen is the most beautiful man ever made. And we have a German Motorcycle just like the one he uses in our collection.

Toni M. Kiser, Assistant Director of Collections & Exhibits/Registrar

The Great Escape with Steve McQueen!!!! It is based on fact and is an entertaining and informative movie!!!

Ruth Katz , Director of Group Sales

The Enemy Below (1957) starring Robert Mitchum and Curd Jurgens – It was filmed on the type of ship that I used to work on, and it is an excellent presentation both of life on a small ship and on how submarines and destroyer escorts fought in WWII. It also doesn’t portray the Germans as evil, but rather as men doing a job they didn’t necessarily want to do, which is refreshing.

The best part to me is that because it was filmed on an active duty ship (the USS Whitehurst DE-634), most of the men on the ship are the actual crew, many of whom were given speaking roles. So you’re watching real sailors doing their real jobs. And when the depth charges explode, they’re really exploding depth charges. (The Enemy Below won the Academy Award for special effects for just this reason).

Eric Rivet, Collections and Exhibits, Curator

Watch the trailer for The Enemy Below.

Cross of Iron – Director Sam Peckinpah starring James Coburn

Peter Boese, Associate Vice President of Travel and Conference Services

View all of our “WWII in the Movies” posts here.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Dinner with a Curator – Larry Decuers presents “WWII in the Movies”
Stage Door Canteen

From factual to fantastic, Museum Curator Larry Decuers will highlight examples of the diverse array of WWII films. Covering what many consider the best of the genre, the presentation will include 1940s propaganda pieces, gritty combat films from the ‘50s and ‘60s and some of the more reverent works of the past two decades. Clips from Air Force, The Sands of Iwo Jima, 12 O’Clock High, Kelly’s Heroes and many others will be shown and discussed

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Purchase Tickets.

Dinner with a Curator is a seasonal series where Museum staff and guests discuss a featured topic related to World War II while enjoying a delicious three-course dinner. All dinners catered by Chef John Besh at the Museum’s American Sector restaurant. Space is limited. Reservations are required.