Reporter's Notebook

100 Greatest War Movies panel

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The discussion of the 100 greatest military movies was based on a list developed by Military History magazine in 2007. They don’t have the list online, but you can see it here, along with some highly partisan commentary.

UPDATE: Here’s the full audio of the panel discussion.

The panelists were:

Capt. Dale Dye: A Marine Corps vet, Dye has worked as an actor and military technical adviser in more than 60 films, including “The Great Raid.”
Jonathan Flora: Also a veteran, Flora is a director and producer.
Phil Strub: He’s a the DoD man in charge of liaising with filmmakers who want military hardware and people in their movie.
Larry Suid: The author of “Guts and Glory: The Making of the American Military Image on Film.”
Gary Arnold: A longtime Washington, D.C.-area film critic.
Gene Santoro: The editor of American History magazine, Santoro led the team that developed the list of 100 best war movies for Military History magazine.

From left: Flora, Arnold, Strub, Santoro, Suid.

Right off the bat, Santoro was taking heat for putting “Letters from Iwo Jima” at No. 4. The movie is too recent, the other panelists said, and doesn’t send a great military message. The crowd showed loud agreement.

The discussion quickly left the list itself and sounded on a few major themes. Chief among those: Hollywood doesn’t understand the military, now less than ever.

“Hollywood doesn’t get it. It doesn’t get it,” Dye said. “It doesn’t get that there are honorable people serving in the nation’s military.”

Too many screenwriters are six degrees or more removed from anyone actually in the military, the panelists said, and too often the push for pretty visuals and contemporary cynicism results in too little research.

Panelists and audience members railed against all manner of inaccuracies in today’s war movies, from soldiers who bring their head to their hand when saluting to the frequency of junior officers somehow taking control over the heads of their leadership.

I’ll tell you what nobody brought up: “Top Gun.” It didn’t make the top 100 list, even though we at Military Times think it’s a classic.