Depending on the world's political landscape, the popularity of war movies waxes and wanes, yet Patton, one of the very best war movies of all time, was made during the Vietnam era, which proved to be tremendously popular with both audiences and critics. And although Patton is a true classic, worthy of a place in my list, my choice for this honor goes to Francis Ford Coppola's beautiful, horrifying magnum opus, Apocalypse Now. Although it's not a perfect film, it comes close to capturing what Coppola referred to as, “the sensuousness of war.” More of a total sensory experience than a tightly structured narrative, it still commands the viewer's attention with its parade of gorgeous visuals, funny and grotesque characters, and a string of brilliant performances, including Martin Sheen's, Marlon Brando's, Dennis Hopper's, and the always-underrated Frederick Forrest.
Aside from Apocalypse Now, there are so many great war movies out there that it's almost impossible to narrow my list down to another nine contenders, but here goes. Among the greatest war films of all time, there's Patton, of course. Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is a shattering epic with some of the most realistic combat sequences ever filmed, Kubrick's Paths of Glory is one of the most powerful anti-war films of all time, boasting superb performances, an intelligent script, and stunning war sequences that leave one in no doubt that war is, in fact, hell.
Rounding out my list of the top 10 war movies, I vote for Kubrick's funny and harrowing Full Metal Jacket and Das Boot, the ultimate film about submarine warfare, with no glamour, but plenty of tension, terror, and death to spare. Platoon remains Oliver Stone's best film, and one of the best Vietnam films, ever. And of course, no list of best war films would be complete without including the truly epic scope of The Longest Day, and Edward Zwick's epic and heartbreaking Glory.
Picking the Best Film Noir is nearly as impossible as selecting the best war movie, but let me slip my rod into my shoulder holster, don my trench coat and fedora, and I'll make a stab at it. For best film noir thrills, suspense, and world-class movie making, I nominate, M, Fritz Lang's classic about the last doomed hours of a child molester who's marked for death by Berlin's underworld. Peter Lorre's performance here is one of the great film performances ever, and brought Lorre (and Lang) international acclaim. Filling out my lineup of the best Film Noirs, I must absolutely include The Maltese Falcon, certainly among the finest hours for director John Huston and stars Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre (what, again?!) and the immortal Elisha Cook, Jr., one of the twitchiest, most dangerous gunsels ever.
By the way, although it's often been misused, the term gunsel is old-fashioned slang for a homosexual; it does not mean a gunman or gangster. Okay? Now get it straight. Anyway, I must also doff my fedora in the direction of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle (Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, and Sam Jaffe, at or near their peaks), the outrageous and trend-setting Kiss Me Deadly (the best Mickey Spillane adaptation of all time, and a career highlight for the talented Ralph Meeker). Also worthy of note in my ten best film noir lineup are Roman Polanski's Chinatown, a rare color noir, with great acting by Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston (a superb character actor when the mood struck him), and a brilliantly twisty script by Robert Towne that every aspiring screenwriter should be forced to read (at gunpoint, if necessary), The Big Heat, Fritz Lang's sadistic masterpiece of mob violence and equally tough police retribution, starred Glen Ford, Lee Marvin (pass the coffee, Lee!), and Gloria Grahame (another one of the greatest film noir dames).
I also nominated the lesser-known The Narrow Margin, a real nail-biter set aboard a train, with first-rate work by Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor (another of the all-time great film noir dames. See below for The Killing). Rounding out my top ten noirs is Kubrick's The Killing. Great story, ingenious editing, and an incredible noir cast that includes Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook, Jr., Joe Sawyer, Marie Windsor, Timothy Carey, Ted DeCorsia, Vince Edwards and Joseph Turkel. My final top ten film noir is John Boorman's visionary Point Blank, one of the most influential and imitated films of the 60s, with great editing, icy cool cinematography, and a lead role tailor-made for the great Lee Marvin.
