Over the weekend I thought about what new hook I could use for posting about Memorial Day. I’ve explained its history multiple times and related my own almost entirely non-military family history. Except for my mom’s Uncle Ed who was one of the happy few who participated in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
I’ve written posts about war movies and multiple posts about movies specifically appropriate for Memorial Day (here and then here).
I thought about organizing movies according to the wars that they portray. Have you ever noticed how few decent movies there are about the American Revolutionary War? Recently, there’s The Patriot but that’s about it. I can think of more movies about the French-Indian War than about the War of the American Revolution.
I can’t think of any good movies about the War of 1812 which I guess is understandable since we lost it. Movies have been made about it, certainly, but they’re mostly 1950s or early 1960s Hollywood fluff. They aren’t even good drama let alone good history.
Appropriately enough, there are a number of good movies about the American Civil War. Particularly notable are The Red Badge of Courage, Glory, Friendly Persuasion, and Shenandoah.
The only pictures I can think of about the Spanish American War or the Mexican American War are pretty awful.
There are a number of good movies about World War I: The Big Parade, Wings, Hell’s Angels, The Fighting 69th, and The Story of Sergeant York, just off the top of my head.
It was when I began thinking about the movies made about more recent wars that I noticed something interesting. Just as an aside, it occurred to me that World War II is now almost as remote in time as the American Civil War was when I was a kid. Times passes.
But what I began thinking about when I thought about more recent movies was propaganda movies. American propaganda movies seem to fall into several different categories.
First, there are advocacy movies. Just to name two of my favorite directors, Alfred Hitchcock and Michael Powell, Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent closes with a stirring call to arms encouraging American entry into the war while Michael Powell’s A Canterbury Tale is clearly intended to highlight the ties between the United States and the United Kingdom with the point that England is worth fighting for.
The second type of American propaganda movie is exemplified by The Northern Star and Days of Glory (Gregory Peck’s first starring role). Both of these movies dramatize how wonderful and heroic our Soviet allies were.
The third type of American propaganda movie is the hate movie. Hitchcock’s Lifeboat is arguably an anti-German hate movie as is Michael Powell’s 49th Parallel. The real vitriol was directed against the Japanese with The Purple Heart being the standout. It’s the archetype of the anti-Japanese hate film.
The fourth type of propaganda film is the anti-war picture. The best Vietnam War pictures fit into this classification, e.g. The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon, etc.
Watched “Gettysburg” for the first time last weekend, in preparation for a family trip next week. I sort of know by reputation that many like Gene Siskel considered it “bloated Southern propaganda,” and Ted Turner’s involvement gave credence to the charge.
But other than the “bloated” part, I had a very different reaction. I found it to be anti-Lee propaganda with an approach to the events that was decidedly opposed to foundational tenants of the Lost Cause myth, that Lee could do no wrong, was betrayed by the negligence of inferior officers, that the opposing army didn’t have something to do with losing, and that Confederate soldiers uniquely possessed a spirit and tenacity missing in the soldiers in blue.
On further thought, I should have written “if anything, it was anti-Lee propaganda,” since I think the movie was pretty fair, but the casting of Sheen as Lee was probably a bit subversive in retrospect. I think they “traded up” from Duvall because Sheen was more popular.
I went back and looked at your 2015 list. I would have included the movie “Bataan” in that list, if for no other reason than it was to my knowledge the only movie made during WWII that showed an integrated fight unit. One the soldiers was an African American. (The movie was not shown in the South for that reason, or so I’ve read.) I imagine this movie would fall into the advocacy group.
The Americanization of Emily is an excellent anti-war film, far more subtle and biting than it’s peers.
Casablanca.
Casablanca is pretty clearly a propaganda film, mildly supportive of the French. As an anti-German hate film, it’s pretty weak tea. Basically, the Germans in it are just soldiers. Compare that with, for example, the coldness of the German character in Lifeboat.
Dave Schuler: As an anti-German hate film, it’s pretty weak tea.
Sure, but that fits the film’s overall pro-diversity outlook, which includes dozens of nationalities, including American, French, German, Spaniard, Czech, Norwegian, Austrian, Bulgarian, Russian, and at least one Drunkard.