Watch Movies on Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day, where we honor those who have served the United States of America in the armed forces. Fancast has a plethora of movies about the struggle and hardship that soldiers endure in the line of duty. Watch these films in their entirety and think of those who are currently serving overseas.

The Longest Day
A balanced account of the invasion of Normandy from both the Allied and Axis perspectives, with a massive cast featuring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, Roddy McDowall, Rod Steiger, Robert Wagner and Sean Connery.

Von Ryan’s Express
Frank Sinatra is an American soldier leading Trevor Howard and a pack of Allied troops in their efforts to escape an Italian P.O.W. camp by hijacking a German train through Italy in hopes of reaching Switzerland.

Halls of Montezuma
Richard Widmark is Lt. Carl Anderson, a no-nonsense Marine leading his outnumbered squad on missions to capture Japanese soldiers to interrogate them about their experimental rocket base. Also starring Jack Palance, Robert Wagner, Karl Malden and Neville Brand, with Jack Webb as a chain-smoking war correspondent.

Guadalcanal Diary
In a stunningly quick turnaround time, this 1943 film details the battle in the Pacific theater of WWII only a year after the first significant Allied victory over the Japanese actually happened. Starring Anthony Quinn, William Bendix, Richard Jaeckel and Lionel Stander.

The Desert Rats
The international perspective features Richard Burton as a Scottish commando put in charge of an Australian regiment fighting the crucial battles against Rommel’s (James Mason) forces in North Africa during the Siege of Tobruk.

The Sand Pebbles
The legendary Steve McQueen scored his only Oscar-nomination for this Best Picture 1966 nominee about a life aboard the USS San Pablo, charged with protecting American interests along the Yangtze River as a civil war threatens to erupt in 1926 China. McQueen, of course, is a maverick as the only guy on the boat that doesn’t farm his duties off to the locals, preferring to handle his own work. Also starring Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, Mako and Richard Attenborough.

The Man Who Never Was
A true tale of Allied skullduggery that diverted the Nazis from the invasion of Sicily, where bogus invasion plans were planted on a dead body passed off as a spy and allowed to wash up on shore. Dash cunning of them! The plan, however, might have a spanner thrown in the works by the dead man’s girlfriend (Gloria Grahame).

Behind Enemy Lines
the story of Lt. Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson), a Navy pilot frustrated with his lack of action who winds up getting more than he bargained for once his jet is shot down over the Balkans, stranding him alone in hostile territory. His superior officer, Admiral Reigert (Gene Hackman) then proceeds to defy orders and protocol to mount a rescue mission for his wayward soldier.

Between Heaven and Hell
Robert Wagner stars as an arrogant Southerner from a rich family who finds himself profoundly changed after he is drafted into the army to serve during World War II and his commanding officer makes it his mission to break him.

The Gallant Hours
James Cagney stars as Admiral William F. “Bull” Halsey, recounting his greatest wartime success - his fateful five-week showdown with Japanese Admiral Yamamoto in the Pacific theater of World War II.

Ambush Bay
A unit of Marines - including Mickey Rooney and Hugh O’Brian - has 96 hours to make their way through a dense Philippine jungle in order to find the information they need to launch an invasion of a Japanese island.

Beach Red
An unflinching, pull-no-punches story about the American campaign to take control of a Japanese island in the South Pacific, starring Cornell Wilde and Rip Torn.

Attack!
A searing tale of corruption within the military brass, starring Eddie Albert as a posturing yet cravenly incompetent infantry captain, Lee Marvin as the corrupt colonel who covers up those blunders in the hopes of exploiting the captain for political gain after the war, and Jack Palance as the fiery lieutenant who has sworn to kill that captain with his bare hands if he bngles one more mission.

Operation: Bikini
Tab Hunter’s underwater demolitions team must locate a top secret sunken U.S. submarine before the Japanese get their hands on it.

The Secret Invasion
A precursor to The Dirty Dozen finds five criminals - Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Edd “Kookie” Byrnes and Henry de Silva - given a chance at redemption by running suicide missions for British Intelligence.

Tomorrow Is Forever
Claudette Colbert is a woman who lost her husband (Orson Welles) during World War I, and when their son grows old enough to want to join the RAF during World War II, she refuses to give permission out of fear of losing him the same way. That is, until a mysterious crippled Austrian refugee comes into their lives, bearing a hidden resemblance to the man she married, to encourage the boy in his desires to serve.

Hornet’s Nest
Rock Hudson is an American paratrooper and sole survivor of his unit who makes use of Italian children and a German doctor to blow up a Nazi-controlled dam.

Saints and Soldiers
A small group of American soldiers cheat death in the German ambush that became the Malmady Massacre in Belgium, but find themselves surrounded by Nazis with no means of escape, and their survival is jeopardized by the strife between their Mormon corporal and their atheist medic.

633 Squadron
Cliff Robertson leads a desperate attack against an impregnable German V2 fuel plant.

The Blue Max
George Peppard is a German fighter pilot named Bruno Stachel, who is determined to win the Blue Max - the highest honour in aviation (it’s a British film, so we’ll add the ‘u’ to honor). To do so, he must shoot down 20 enemy aircrafts. His quest puts him at odds with some of his fellow soldiers, who believe he cares more about earning the medal than protecting his allies and winning the war. When General Von Klugermann (James Mason) meets Stachel, he decides the man has potential in propaganda, and begins to exploit his exploits. Even Stachel’s affair with Von Klugermann’s wife Kaeti (Ursula Andress) doesn’t derail his agenda.