Ronin / The Wild Bunch

I'm not a big Nick Nolte fan, but FAREWELL TO THE KING is a very good movie...with lots of circa-WWII weaponry.

THIEF and HEAT get a lot of well-deserved attention in these discussions, but there's another Michael Mann movie which ought be considered-- LAST OF THE MOHICANS. I particularly like the ambush of Col. Munro's forces after surrendering the fort. The war cries and the initial desultory musket fire, as both sides worked themselves up to engage, really captured the manner in which these types of actions generally unfolded. Wes Studi, as Magua, turned in a great performance (as always).

THE WAY OF THE GUN also garners a lot of attention. A similarly named John Frankenheimer movie YEAR OF THE GUN doesn't have as much gunplay, but pretty accurately depicts the tactics used by Italy's red brigades.

Of course, no list of gun/war movies could be complete without mentioning THE WILD GEESE (the Richard Burton/Richard Harris one...not to be confused with the egregious stink-bomb WILD GEESE II). Reportedly, a couple of the actors playing minor roles had actually served with "Mad Mike" Hoare. FN-FAL's, Uzi's, FN-MAG's, all against a backdrop of "soldiers of MIS-fortune" in Africa. Stirring stuff!

In a similar vein, THE DOGS OF WAR is a good one. It is worth the rental just for the opening scene involving the proverbial "last plane out". The Grenville grenade launcher is a bit overused in the finale battle (Hollywood simply MUST have its big, fiery explosions), but it's still a worthwhile flick.

Cornell Wilde's THE NAKED PREY isn't a "gun" movie, per se, but early in the movie there is some great footage of REAL elephant shooting. Of course, ZULU is a classic. The later ZULU DAWN is a great movie too. It deals with the British rout at Isandlwana, which led up to the defense of Rourke's Drift depicted in ZULU.

The William Freidkin remake of the French THE WAGES OF FEAR, which is inexplicably entitled SORCERER, starring Roy Scheider, isn't a "gun movie", but I'd wager that the "gun movie" fans on this list would like it...a lot.

Rosco

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Rosco Benson on 2001-05-03 09:40 ]</font>

Thanks, Rob, Of course, I've yet to figure out any way to make money off of the fact that I tend to have pretty good recall of things that interested and/or amused me.:sad:

Another couple movies that are worth the time and which, loosely, fall into our "gun/war" category. LION OF THE DESERT stars Anthony Quinn as an Arab leader resisting the Italian's occupation of Northeast Africa just prior to WWII. The Italian commander is well-played by Oliver Reed (always a favorite of mine). An interesting tidbit is that Libya's Kadaffi bankrolled the production.

THE BEAST follows a doomed Russian tank crew in Afghanistan. Lost and pursued by Afghan rebels, the tank's commander throws out a rebellious crew member to slow down his pursuers (hey, torture takes TIME, right?). Instead, the abandoned crew member is given sanctuary and joins the Afghans' pursuit of the tank to extract his revenge. Perhaps more of an RPG movie than a "gun" movie.

Rosco

P.S. - How could I ever forget to include John Milius' masterful RED DAWN. It ought to be required watching in every school in America. I also forgot the great DEATH WISH (the original only...the sequels are practically unwatchable).



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Rosco Benson on 2001-05-03 11:14 ]</font>

We gotta give Clint Eastwood his props for gun work, starting with Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western trilogy: A Fistfull of Dollars, A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.




And who can forget the Dirty Harry movies. A lot of Model 29s with 8 3/8" barrels were sold by S&W due to Clint. Even caused something of a revival of interest in the Auto Mag pistol.



But perhaps the best movie Clint Eastwood has ever done is Unforgiven. I would go as far as to say it is easily the best Western of the last two decades. Some critics called it the most significant movie of the 90s. Not since Sam Peckinpah broke new ground with a Western movie where bullets actually hurt and men spilled real blood, had a director effectively taken the genre to another level. As a director, Clint blurred the line between the usual predictable divisions between good and evil. He gave us characters of unusual depth and substance and more fully fleshed out than any Western Hollywood has ever done. Eastwood's portrayal of the William Munny character was nothing short of sensational. The entire cast was excellent and the Oscar winning performance by Gene Hackman was a powerful one. Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris turned in great performances as well. I consider it one of the best Westerns ever made. It gets a DD four paws up rating!!



DD

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Desert Dog on 2001-05-04 01:18 ]</font>