A whole squad of new war movie DVDs make their debut, just in time for some Memorial Day movie marathons!

Letters from Iwo Jima (2007)

There'll be a review of this sometime in the next couple of weeks, if NetFlix comes through!  (So far I'm impressed...)  I just hope it doesn't rub me the wrong way like Flags of our Fathers did....  I am curious to see how Clint portrays things from the other side of the line.  I've heard mixed tales of how its a bit too sympathetic, but I'll try to keep an open mind....

The island of Iwo Jima stands between the American military force and the home islands of Japan. Therefore the Imperial Japanese Army is desperate to prevent it from falling into American hands and providing a launching point for an invasion of Japan. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi is given command of the forces on the island and sets out to prepare for the imminent attack. General Kuribayashi, however, does not favor the rigid traditional approach recommended by his subordinates, and resentment and resistance fester among his staff. In the lower echelons, a young soldier, Saigo, a poor baker in civilian life, strives with his friends to survive the harsh regime of the Japanese army itself, all the while knowing that a fierce battle looms. When the American invasion begins, both Kuribayashi and Saigo find strength, honor, courage, and horrors beyond imagination.

Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

Making its HD-DVD debut is Flags of Our Fathers... you can read the WMB review here....

They Were Expendable (1945)

One of three John Wayne war flicks to make a re-issue this week, part of "The John Wayne Collection"....

They Were Expendable is the greatest American film of the Second World War, made by America's greatest director, John Ford, who himself saw action from the Battle of Midway through D-day. Yet it's been oddly neglected. Or perhaps not so oddly: for as the matter-of-fact title implies, the film commemorates a period, from the eve of Pearl Harbor up to the impending fall of Bataan, when the Japanese conquest of the Pacific was in full cry and U.S. forces were fighting a desperate holding action. Although stirring movies had been made about these early days (Wake Island, Bataan, Air Force), they were gung ho in their resolve to see the tables turned. They Were Expendable, however, which was made when Allied victory was all but assured, is profoundly elegiac, with the patient grandeur of a tragic poem.

The Green Berets (1968)

Personally I've never much cared for TGB. Maybe its the way they approached the Vietnam War from a typical WWII-movie "style" and "attitude." I may have to give it a second look, though. That and this was one of the Duke's later films and to me he just didn't seem like he was "with it" for this one....

Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.

The Wings of Eagles (1957)

Haven't seen it, so I can't comment (yet!)

Cmdr. Frank "Spig" Wead was a pioneer aviator, renowned screenwriter (whose works included John Ford's They Were Expendable) and a man of war. The skies beckoned Spig to action; a crippling injury ultimately left him powerless to act, propelling him to discover the power of his pen. He was talented, driven, flawed, a friend of Ford and the subject of this compassionate biography. John Wayne plays Spig and Ford directs The Wings of Eagles, which also offers a fascinating glimpse into the ways and world of Ford: Ward Bond plays moviemaker John Dodge, a role modelled on Ford. Maureen O'Hara, Wayne's five-time co-star (including Ford's The Quiet Man), and Dan Dailey (of Ford's 1952 What Price Glory?) play Spig's indomitable wife Min and cigar-chomping sidekick "Jughead" Carson.

Kelly's Heroes / The Dirty Dozen (Double Feature) (1970)

You can read the WMB review of "The Dirty Dozen" here... There's not much more to say about the DD!  Anyone who doesn't like this one, well, NUTS!

And Kelly's Heroes, also one of the best WWII movies of its time. Probably the inspiration for "Three Kings" as well....

During World War II a German Colonel is captured by the Americans but before he can be interrogated an artillery barrage hits the camp. However, Ex-Lieutenant Kelly manages to reach the Colonel, get him drunk and learn that he is on a secret mission to ship $16,000,000 of gold to a base in France. Kelly is determined to get the gold and plans for himself and a few of his fellow soldiers to slip into enemy territory and steal the bullion.

It's painfully serious and terribly funny all at the same time. A definite must see!

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