It is Veterans Day, and that means you had time off work and you got everything done. Does that mean you are sitting in front of the TV trying to figure out what to watch? Well, you know I am a huge movie buff, so I have the cure for your Veterans Day boredom. Military movies span the genres. There is horror, historical, comedies, dramas, action, and even some romantic comedies. The list is long and deep of some of the greatest performances you will see. So here are 8 military movies you can watch to celebrate the veteran in your life.
And speaking of them, a little reminder: Many of them have seen things you can’t imagine. They carry an invisible load you can’t fathom. Reach out to them. Invite them over to join in the celebration. Some won’t want to celebrate. But a beer and a movie is just a regular Wednesday.
Saving Private Ryan
There is only one way to start a list of the best military movies, and that is with Saving Private Ryan. Maybe the greatest of all time, definitely the greatest opening scene of all time. Even if it is one of the most disturbing. Following a group of soldiers intended to represent the entire group of The Greatest Generation, they brave battlefields while trying to bring home the last surviving brother of a family decimated by the war. With a who’s who of the 90s and 00s chewing up the screen, there is perhaps no better way to spend an evening in remembrance.
“I’m a schoolteacher. I teach English composition… in this little town called Adley, Pennsylvania. The last eleven years, I’ve been at Thomas Alva Edison High School. I was a coach of the baseball team in the springtime. Back home, I tell people what I do for a living, and they think, well, now that figures. But over here, it’s a big, a big mystery. So, I guess I’ve changed some. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve changed so much my wife is even going to recognize me, whenever it is that I get back to her. And how I’ll ever be able to tell her about days like today. ” – Captain Miller (Tom Hanks)
Apocolypse Now
Well, if you are a fan of military movies, you probably guessed this would make an appearance. If Saving Private Ryan is the greatest war movie of all time, this is an easy runner-up. A dark story of a man venturing into the jungles of Vietnam to find a soldier who has gone off the edge. A man who let the war warp him into becoming a monster. With Marlon Brando as the villain created by the devastation of war, and Martin Sheen as a young man hot on his tail, this movie never quits. And it will leave you more introspective than when you came into it.
Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. – Kilgore (Robert Duvall)
A Few Good Men
If you read my Tom Cruise article, you probably already know my deep love for the man’s work. And A Few Good Men is without a doubt one of his best. As a matter of fact, if may be everyone in the movie’s best movie…a debate to start for sure. Watching a young Tom Cruise go head to head with a legend like Jack Nicholson reminds everyone how good both of them are. And it reminds everyone just how good writer Aaron Sorkin (West Wing, The Newsroom, Social Network) is as well.
“Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago, and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know; that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what you think you are entitled to!” – Nathan R. Jessup (Jack Nicholson)
Full Metal Jacket
When I went through basic training in the Army, I hadn’t seen Full Metal Jacket yet. The experience of walking into an environment where someone I didn’t know was calling me a piece of sh*t (and, let’s be honest, them doubling down on it when they did get to know me) was alarming for an 18-year-old. But after I left the military, I stumbled across this movie, and watching it gave me more PTSD than actually going through it. It will make you laugh at the off-the-wall stuff R. Lee Ermey says in the film (all ad-libbed, I hear), and it will make you cry when you see what happens to him.
“If you ladies leave my island, if you survive recruit training, you will be a weapon. You will be a minister of death praying for war. But until that day, you are pukes. You are the lowest form of life on Earth. You are not even human f**king beings. You are nothing but unorganized, grab-asstic pieces of amphibian sh*t!” – Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (R. Lee Ermey)
We Were Soldiers
The Vietnam War is good for movies. And good for Creedence Clearwater Revival, actually. It seems every one of the movies taking place in that war sports at least one of their songs. Out of all the Vietnam movies, We Were Soldiers is my favorite by far. Mel Gibson as Hal Moore (I met the general when I was in the Army, by the way, no big deal) was a stellar example of leadership. And so was his Sergeant Major, the gruff and gritty Sam Elliot. This movie is the pinnacle of the Vietnam War, and the performances, including Madaline Stowe, Kris Kline, Greg Kinnear, and Barry Pepper, were unbeatable.
I can’t promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me, God. – Lt. Colonel Hal Moore (Mel Gibson)
Blackhawk Down
This ones hits a bit harder. I know I said I met Hal Moore, but that was long after. I was in the Army right after 9/11, eight years after the events of this movie. I knew men who saw this. I knew men who lived it. I knew men who lost in it. That changes how a movie hits you. If you are in your fifties, you remember when this was happening. If you’re in your forties, you may know people like me. This is a hard hitter, and that is likely why it persists. When a movie features Josh Hartnett, Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore, William Fichtner, Sam Shepard, Jason Isaacs, and early-career unknown actors like Tom Hardy, Orlando Bloom, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, you won’t go three minutes without screaming, “There is that guy!”
“When I get home, people’ll ask me, ‘Hey Hoot, why do ya do it man? Why? Just some war junkie?’ Ya know what I’ll say? I won’t say a goddamn word. Why? They won’t understand. They won’t understand why we do it. They won’t understand that it’s about the men next to you, and that’s it. That’s all it is.” – Hoot (Eric Bana)
Men of Honor
Should a movie make it on this list based on a monologue? What about two of them? Probably not. Lucky for Men of Honor, it is on here because Cuba Gooding Jr. acted his ass off as the first black man to become a Navy Master Diver. Robert De Niro as a pretty racist instructor who eventually finds respect for him was one of the best performances of his career. And he was the person who delivered BOTH the monologues that made me love this movie. The Navy Diver Creed, claiming he wasn’t a fighting man, and his drunken ramble.
A Chief Petty Officer shall not drink. However, if he should drink, he shall not get drunk. If he should get drunk, he shall not stagger. And if he should stagger, he shall not fall. And if he should fall, he will fall in such a manner as to cover up his rank so that passersby will think he is an officer. – Chief Leslie W. Sunday (Robert De Niro)
Tropic Thunder
This may be the last great comedy. This movie took everything wrong with Hollywood and threw it in our faces with some of the best characters this side of the millennium. Military movies can be heavy. They can be really serious and bring you down. Why not add a little bit of comedy to the mix? Also, I am pretty sure every one of these actors found a little bit of themselves in the parts they played. Downy went too far. Stiller was a bit over-important. Black was out of control. Cruise was evil but usually right. McConaughey was the only one you could trust. Seems about right.
I know who I am! I’m a dude playing the dude, disguised as another dude! – Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.)
Veterans Day is once a year. But these movies are good all year round. By the way, so is the veteran in your life. Don’t make today the only day you check in on them.
