Dozens of readers took issue with the 64-film field that kicked off Military Times' Military Movie Madness, rattling off enough suggestions to fill at least another bracket in the search for the greatest military movie ever made.

The film most mentioned, amid a sea of personal favorites and Academy Award honorees, may represent not only an overlooked epic, but an overlooked part of military history, at least when Hollywood is concerned.

"There aren't many notable movies about the Civil War, and 'Glory' is one of them, but I think you snubbed 'Gettysburg,'" wrote Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Brian Fields, lending his support to the four-hour 1993 Turner Pictures production featuring Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger and Martin Sheen.

"Gettysburg" saw limited success in theaters, making back about half its reported $20 million budget, before running as a miniseries on Ted Turner's cable properties and finding success via home video sales. Reviews at the time were mixed, with one critic calling it "one big Civil Bore" and another labeling it "the most ambitious and magnificently flawed cinematic undertaking since 'Apocalypse Now'" — one of the top Movie Madness seeds.

While "Gettysburg" didn't earn critical acclaim, many films that did still didn't make the field. Multiple readers expressed surprise at the exclusion of "The Hurt Locker," the Iraq War bomb-squad film that won the Academy Award for best picture in 2010.

Others brought up "Paths of Glory," the 1957 Stanley Kubrick classic starring Kirk Douglas in the trenches of World War I: It didn't make the field, but it did earn a spot on the National Film Registry, billed as "showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage," in 1992.

While John Wayne stars in several Military Movie Madness contestants, some readers thought his roles in 1949's "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," 1945's "They Were Expendable" and 1944's "The Fighting Seabees" merited inclusion. Others thought the bracket needed more Michael Caine, either from 1969's "Battle of Britain" or 1964's "Zulu," one of the actor's earliest film roles.

Zulu offers "tremendous examples of poor and outstanding leadership, and the ability to endure almost anything," retired Army Col. Johnny Brooks wrote.

Other movies brought up by multiple respondents included the Vietnam drama "The Boys in Company C" (1978); "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" starring William Holden and Grace Kelly (1954); and 1968's "Anzio," starring Robert Mitchum and Peter Falk.

Many emailers suggested one way to squeeze in some of the above films would've been to ditch the science-fiction aspect of the bracket, namely "Starship Troopers" and "Aliens." But reader Michael Kohan took a different view in nominating a cinematic giant: 1954's "Godzilla."

"If this list is having 'Aliens,' then why not the GREATEST monster of all time wreaking havoc on Japan's military?" he asked.

Military Movie Madness

voting

continues through early April.

About Kevin Lilley

Kevin Lilley is the features editor of Military Times.

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