Popular war movies depicting Canadian soldiers ...

[Rey]

I remember one called Map of the Human Heart. Inuit bomber pilot in WWII.

 

[old medic]

Yellow Canary (1943)

Mostly set in Halifax, and not really popular.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036549/
http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=138096&mainArticleId=138094

 

[GaelicSoldier]

Might be boring but here goes.

A movie depicting the strategy and eventually spectacular success the Canada had at Vimy could be made into a good movie.  Got a decent theme,  we succeeded where many had failed before.  And its got a certain well I don't know what the word is but, a bunch of 'well trained' American, French and British armies couldn't take the Ridge for the life of them (literally).  Then along comes a bunch of so called 'country boys' aka the Canadians and takes the Ridge with amazing speed and a low loss of life (for the fighting style of trench warfare that is).  Could seem like a heroic and somewhat patriotic movie but, enh what do I know about movies?

Cheers :cheers:

 

[GunnerO]

This is a pretty interesting topping to me since I'm a military movie junkie.I'am surprised that no one has mentioned Legends of the fall with Brad Pitt. Where him and his brothers go to Calgary to join the army to go fight the "Kiaser". This is where Holywood should have done some more research. Pitt and his brothers are wearing the colar dogs of the 10th battalion for Calgary. The movie depicts Canadian in the lines fighting the Hun in Febuary 1915. That is not true. The only Canadians in France at that time were the PPCLI, who were attached to the British 27 division.Also the Germans were not firing gas shells at that time.As we all know the first gas attack was at Ypres on April 22 1915 and the gas was released for cylinders along the front lines.Plus we were not equiped with the Lee-Enfield at that time we had the "splended" Ross rifle.Well theres my 2 cent or a little bit more. Oh yah the movie Bridge on the river Kiwi, one of the commandos that blows up the bidge is a kid from Montreal.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I don't remember any movie about blowing up a bridge in New Zealand    ;D

 

[GunnerO]

Hey I was a gunner nobody told me I had to lear to sppell.It is Bridge on the river Kwai

 

[GaelicSoldier]

S_Baker,

Thanks for the input and putting me in my place.  I'm always open for suggestions and never take criticism the wrong way.

Btw the 'country boy' remark was a humorous quote from a Sergeant in my unit, I meant nothing bad or disrespectful by it.  Apologies if I offended.

Cheers :cheers:

 

[GunnerO]

I just remembered another movie. I cann't recall the name of it so if someone recalls what it is please post the name. It stars Loyd Bridges as a Canadian colonel in command of a Canadian commando unit. The unit has to take this ship that is pact with TNT and ram it in to some kind of German docking facility to destroy this dockyard. I remeber watching it in the late seventies when I was a kid. Let me know if anyone knows the name of it.     

      UBIQUE :skull:

 

[old medic]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062688/

Attack on the Iron Coast (1968)

 

[jimmy742]

One was an old black and white with Gary Cooper playing a Canadian officer from the Prairies serving with the British Army in India during the late 19th Century.

You could argue "Two Solitudes" features Canadian soldiers (military policemen certainly) since part of the plot includes the conscription issue. 

 

[rick7475]

One was an old black and white with Gary Cooper playing a Canadian officer from the Prairies serving with the British Army in India during the late 19th Century.

"Lives of a Bengal Lancer"

IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0026643/



Looks good, thanks for catching that one!

 

[Shec]

HAve we captured The Great Imposter starring Tony Curtis in the true story about an imposter who amongst other false identities assumed that of an RCN Surgeon during the Korean War.    Scenes of HMCS Cayuga in action.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053879/

 

[Centurian1985]

Wasnt there one about the Israeli fight for dependence with a Canadian soldier who got killed at the end? If I recall correctly it was based on the 'true' story of a Canadian officer who went to the area and became a leader of Israeli forces.

 

[Shec]

Wasnt there one about the Israeli fight for dependence with a Canadian soldier who got killed at the end? If I recall correctly it was based on the 'true' story of a Canadian officer who went to the area and became a leader of Israeli forces.

American actually.   Cast A Giant Shadow starring Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Yul Brenner is a fairly accurate (for Hollywood) biographical account of West Point grad. US Col. Mickey Marcus who wrote the the IDF's first organization and field manuals.  He accidentally was killed by a sentry during the relief of Jerusalem in 1948.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060218/

Closely related though , History Channel's  documentary series The Canadians has an episode about Toronto's Major Ben Dunkleman who won the DSO leading a QoRC rifle company in NW Europe and later served with Marcus in Israel's War of Independance & is considered the father of the  IDF's 7th Armoured Brigade.  This same series also had an episode about RCAF ace Buzz Beurling who died flying for Israel in the same conflict.

 

[baboon6]

Beurling never actually made it to Israel, he was killed in an aircrash in Italy on the way there.

There were quite a few Canadian and other Commonwealth fliers (mostly but not all Jews) in the fledgling IAF though. My great-uncle, a former South African Air Force Dakota pilot, ended up flying Piper Cubs for some of his time there. Like the majority of them he returned to his own country after the War of Independence.

 

[Shec]

Beurling never actually made it to Israel, he was killed in an aircrash in Italy on the way there.

A mysterious crash that took a mysterious man.  He was on the Israeli payroll and was ferrying a Norseman there when he crashed on take-off.  Sabotage is suspected with an eye being cast upon MI-6.  But the Norseman was tricky to fly so who knows?  He is buried in the Christian cemetary in Haifa.

 

[rick7475]

Given Beurling's history of flying new aircraft without a lot of prep time, such as the Spit Mk IX (or was it V) incident where he lost altitude due to a pilot error and almost died, most historians believe the fiery Norseman crash was due to unfamiliarity of the controls during take-off. But, you never know ... his wings are on display at the Aviation Museum in Ottawa in front of the Spitfire, BTW.

 

[darcy175]

In James Bond Goldeneye the scene where they demo the eurocopter shows a Canadaian Admiral (unfortunately he choked to death by one of the villans) but i though id add to the list. cheers

 

[48thOfficer]

It'll be interesting to see if there is a Canadian pilot (perhaps Billy Bishop?) in that movie "Flyboys" coming out on Friday. It's been WAY too long since a WWI movie came out. Happily, the last one I remember has Brad Pitt enlist in the Canadian Army and scalp an entire German machinegun nest with a bayonet..... 

 

[Centurian1985]

This is a pretty interesting topping to me since I'm a military movie junkie.I'am surprised that no one has mentioned Legends of the fall with Brad Pitt. Where him and his brothers go to Calgary to join the army to go fight the "Kiaser". This is where Holywood should have done some more research. Pitt and his brothers are wearing the colar dogs of the 10th battalion for Calgary. The movie depicts Canadian in the lines fighting the Hun in Febuary 1915. That is not true. The only Canadians in France at that time were the PPCLI, who were attached to the British 27 division.Also the Germans were not firing gas shells at that time.As we all know the first gas attack was at Ypres on April 22 1915 and the gas was released for cylinders along the front lines.Plus we were not equiped with the Lee-Enfield at that time we had the "splended" Ross rifle.Well theres my 2 cent or a little bit more. Oh yah the movie Bridge on the river Kiwi, one of the commandos that blows up the bidge is a kid from Montreal.

These things tend to fall under the umbrella of 'artistic license'...