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WASHINGTON — From colonial America to the recent war in Iraq, Army stories have captured movie audiences for nearly a century; influencing pop culture since cinema’s early days.
An Army movie, the silent film “Wings” won Best Picture in 1927 at the first Academy Awards at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. The film depicted a romance revolving around two Army-Air Corps pilots during World War I.
Actors who portrayed U.S. Soldiers through the years include Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Frank Sinatra and Mel Gibson. The films portrayed stories set during every major U.S. conflict, from World War I to Vietnam and the conflicts in the Middle East.
But how accurately do these films portray U.S. Soldiers and combat operations at the time?
Although many of the stories told in Army feature films depict fictional characters and plots, the Army News Service spoke to a military historian on how close the films compare to actual Army life at the time.
Dave Hogan, who recently retired after 37 years at the U.S. Army Center for Military History in Washington D.C., has compiled a list of movies he feels accurately portrayed the Army.
Black Hawk Down
Hogan ranks Ridley Scott’s 2001 film “Black Hawk Down” as the most realistic Hollywood production depicting combat operations in an urban setting. Starring Josh Hartnett and Orlando Bloom, the movie tells the story of the 1993 U.S. operation in Mogadishu, Somalia, during a part invasion, part humanitarian mission to the East African city. A surprise ambush by Somali forces brings down two Black Hawk helicopters, forcing Army Rangers to defend themselves in a crowded corner of Mogadishu.
“It did feel authentic,” Hogan said. “The feeling of isolation trying to work with each other in this environment. You don't always see the enemy who's shooting at you or the crowd surrounding the hell-bound helicopter.”
Black Hawk Down won two Academy Awards for film editing and sound mixing.
Fury
The World War II war drama follows a U.S. Army tank crew from the 2nd Armored Division during the final battles in the European theater. Brad Pitt plays the war-hardened Staff Sergeant Don “Wardaddy” Collier, leading an all-star cast that includes Shia LaBeouf as gunner Boyd “Bible” Swan and Jon Bernthal as driver Grady Davis.
Director David Ayer insisted on authentic period uniforms to accurately depict the conflict. He also drew on the experiences of military veterans in his family.
During the war, German forces operated Tiger I tanks, which were superior machines to the M4 Sherman tanks used by the Americans. Hogan said the film’s plot centers around a historically-accurate premise as the U.S. Army tank crew faced odds stacked while struggling to overcome the “inferiority” of their vehicle.
From Here to Eternity
In “From Here to Eternity” the film depicts three U.S. Soldiers stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii in the months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt’s first sergeant strongly encouraged him to join his unit’s boxing team. Hogan said the 1953 film captures the military’s obsession with sports.
Before and during World War II, the Army encouraged Soldiers to join basketball, baseball, boxing and other sports to raise morale during wartime.
“From Here to Eternity” won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Cold Mountain
Hogan calls Cold Mountain (2003), directed by Anthony Minghella the most faithful cinematic portrayal of the Civil War for its opening battle sequence during the Battle of Crater, a pivotal battle of the Siege of Petersburg. Hogan lauded the film for not holding back on the goriness of the war.
“It was just a brutally realistic portrayal of the hand-to-hand fighting, the way that Union forces were trapped in the crater trying to get at the Confederate forces,” Hogan said.
However, Hogan noted that Ronald Maxwell’s “Gettysburg” (1993) also deserves praise for portrayal of other aspects of the war.
Hogan said “Gettysburg” used re-enactors to perform accurate battle formations for the time period. The producers also shot on location near or on actual Civil War battle sites. However, Hogan said, the filmmakers tamed much of the brutal violence of the war to appeal to wider audiences.
The Thin Red Line
Finally, Hogan picked the 1998 film “The Thin Red Line” by Terence Malick as a grounded and accurate portrayal of the 1943 Battle for Guadalcanal's Mount Austen in the Solomon Islands. During the operation, the first amphibious assault of World War II, U.S. Soldiers, Marines and Solomon Island natives battled Japanese forces for control of the islands.
Featuring an ensemble cast including Adrien Brody and Sean Penn, the film follows members of the 25th Infantry Division who went AWOL and tried to live among native Melanesians.
“There was something about that movie, that I just found more convincing than [the 1998 World War II film] Saving Private Ryan in terms of how it portrayed the way Nick Nolte plays the officer and trying to make this advance against an unseen enemy,” Hogan said.
For Hanks’ epic war film “Saving Private Ryan” Hogan praised the direction of renowned filmmaker Steven Spielberg and the opening sequence depicting the Allied invasion of Normandy or “D Day.” But Hogan said outside of the beginning scene, the film didn’t paint a realistic picture of a war mission.
“So much was invested in that opening scene of the assault on the D-Day beach,” Hogan said. “They really did capture a lot of the realism for that.”
“But the rest of the movie struck me as … a typical World War II movie. I just felt that the whole premise, sending a unit deep behind enemy lines, through disputed territory to try to just notify this guy that he no longer had to serve, was just far-fetched.”
Honorable mention: Last of the Mohicans
The 1992 classic portrays a fictional story set during the French and Indian War. Starring Daniel-Day Lewis as Hawkeye, the epic tale follows the last of a dying Mohican Tribe, which escorted the family of a British colonel to safety. To prepare for his role hunting and trapping in the forests, Lewis trained with U.S. Army Special Forces Soldiers.
Although the film depicts the British Army in colonial America, Hogan said the film’s battle formations accurately reflect the real military strategy of the period, some of which continued into the Revolutionary War. Filmmakers set the main story near Lake George, New York.
“In terms of accuracy in depicting the military tactics of the time, the film does quite well, better than any other film I know,” Hogan said. “The scene portraying siege tactics against Fort William Henry is especially impressive; kudos to Dale Dye [a technical advisor on the film].”
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2025 10:23 |
| Story ID: | 493310 |
| Location: | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 594 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, The Army at 250: Five of the most realistic Army films in cinema history, by Joe Lacdan, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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