Philly boys Al and Birdy became friends in high school despite the extreme difference in their personalities, Al being the popular and athletic extrovert, Birdy the antisocial “weird” introvert. Al gave Birdy his nickname because of his fascination – obsession really – with birds, especially with flight. Al and Birdy have just completed their service of duty in the Vietnam War and have returned to the States. Al sustained some serious physical injuries, which required major reconstructive surgery to his face.
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War
Thunder Over the Plains (1953) André De Toth, Randolph Scott, Lex Barker, Phyllis Kirk, Romance, War, Western
It’s 1869, Texas has not yet been readmitted to the Union, and carpetbaggers have taken over the state. Federal Captain Porter, a Texan, has to carry out orders against his own people. He brings in the rebel leader whom he knows is innocent of the murder for which he is charged. But in trying to prove his innocence, Porter now finds he is a wanted man.
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Hell in the Pacific (1968) John Boorman, Lee Marvin, Toshirô Mifune, Adventure, War, Drama
During World War II, a shot-down American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain find themselves stranded on the same small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. Following war logic, each time the crafty Japanese devises something useful, he guards it to deny its use to the Yank, who then steals it, its proceeds or the idea and/or ruins it. Yet each gets his chance to kill and/or capture the other, but neither pushes this to the end. After a while of this pointless pestering, they end up joining forces to build and man a raft…
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Julius Caesar (1970) Stuart Burge, Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, John Gielgud, Drama, History, War
All star cast heads up this 1970 remake of the William Shakespeare classic tale of the betrayal of the the Roman senate against their emperor, the plotting and scheming that led up to the assassination of the title charecter, and all of Romes’ fickleness towards the events.
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Army of Shadows / L’armée des ombres (1969) Jean-Pierre Melville, Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Drama, War
France, 1942, during the occupation. Philippe Gerbier, a civil engineer, is one of the French Resistance’s chiefs. Given away by a traitor, he is interned in a camp. He manages to escape, and joins his network at Marseilles, where he makes the traitor be executed…
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La ciociara / Two Women (1960) Vittorio De Sica, Sophia Loren, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Raf Vallone, Drama, War
Cesira is a beautiful widow and a successful grocery store owner in Rome. WWII is raging, and she fears for her beloved daughter, 13-year-old Rosetta, amid the daily bombings. They travel to the village where Cesira was born, where Cesira believes they will be safer. There, they are happy even as food dwindles.
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The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) Preston Sturges, Eddie Bracken, Betty Hutton, Diana Lynn, Comedy, Romance, War
Trudy Kockenlocker, a small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers, wakes up the morning after a wild farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can’t remember–and she’s pregnant. Norval Jones, the 4-F local boy who’s been in love with Trudy for years, tries to help her find a way out of her predicament. Trudy complicates matters further by falling for Norval, and events snowball from there.
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Lady, Let’s Dance (1944) Frank Woodruff, Belita, James Ellison, Walter Catlett, Musical, Romance, War
Lady, Let’s Dance was a 1944 black and white film directed by Frank Woodruff that was nominated for two Oscars. Produced by Monogram Studios, the film is unique as an ice skating musical. Lady, Let’s Dance starred ice skaters Belita, James Ellison, Werner Groebli and Hans Mauch (more commonly known as ‘Frick & Frack’) and Walter Catlett.
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The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) Ken Loach, Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Drama, History, War
In 1920, rural Ireland is the vicious battlefield of republican rebels against the British security forces and Irish Unionist population who oppose them, a recipe for mutual cruelty. Medical graduate Damien O’Donovan always gave priority to his socialist ideals and simply helping people in need. Just when he’s leaving Ireland to work in a highly reputed London hospital, witnessing gross abuse of commoners changes his mind. He returns and joins the local IRA brigade, commanded by his brother Teddy, and adopts the merciless logic of civil war, while Teddy mellows by experiencing first-hand endless suffering. When IRA leaders negotiate an autonomous Free State under the British crown, Teddy defends the pragmatic best possible deal at this stage. Damien however joins the large seceding faction which holds nothing less than a socialist republic will do. The result is another civil war, bloodily opposing former Irish comrades in arms, even the brothers.
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Die Blechtrommel / The Tin Drum (1979) Volker Schlöndorff, David Bennent, Mario Adorf, Angela Winkler, Drama, War
Danzig in the 1920s/1930s. Oskar Matzerath, son of a local dealer, is a most unusual boy. Equipped with full intellect right from his birth he decides at his third birthday not to grow up as he sees the crazy world around him at the eve of World War II. So he refuses the society and his tin drum symbolizes his protest against the middle-class mentality of his family and neighborhood, which stand for all passive people in Nazi Germany at that time. However, (almost) nobody listens to him, so the catastrophe goes on…
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