- “Lincoln,” 2012. Possibly the best movie about a national leader actually leading his people in the direction they need, but not all want, to go. Daniel Day-Lewis was simply phenomenal as Abraham Lincoln.
- “Downfall,” [“Der Untergang”] 2004. The opposite of “Lincoln,”, an insane and evil leader taking his people down with him to disaster. Bruno Ganz provides a great performance as the near crazed Adolf Hitler. Incidentally Ganz was apparently a vey popular actor in the German speaking world, and his appearance was described as the equivalent of having Tom Hanks play Hitler.
- “Darkest Hour,” 2017. To understate the case dramatically, a lot of movies have been make about Winston Churchill, Darkest Hour is perhaps the best. Gary Oldman turns in a fine performance as Churchill rallying Britain in their “darkest hour” and his rendition of the “We will fight them on the beaches speech” is as stirring as anyone could want. (Though apparently the House of Commons did not actually burst into applause.)
- “Patton,” 1970. Another spectacular performance, this time George C. Scott coming perhaps as close to the complex character of George Patton as is possible to get. Note how Karl Malden’s Omar Bradley actually emerges as the hero of the film, however,
- “Lawrence of Arabia,” 1962. Yet another Oscar winner and another great performance, in this case Peter O’Toole as T. E. Lawrence. O’Toole does manage to convey some of the magnetism that T. E. Lawrence apparently manifested, though by most accounts the mystical light in O’Toole’s eyes was the result of scotch.
- “Dr. Strangelove,“ 1964. Everybody’s favorite dark comedy about nuclear war, with Peter Sellars playing multiple roles. It portrays the near-craziness of nuclear deterrence or the lack thereof.
- “We Were Soldiers” 2002. A reverential treatment of the leadership of Hal Moore leading his troops in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam. Mel Gibson starred. Although a badly flawed human being, Gibson did a wonderful portrayal of an inspiring leader.
- “Twelve O’Clock High,”1949. Everyone’s favorite command movie with a tough as nails General Savage (Gregory Peck) sent to buck up a unit whose morale was shaken. He does so but also cracks-up in the end. Based (very) loosely on an incident with the 100th Bomber Group in World War II, this is very much one of the “The Air Force won World War II alone” genre.
- “Command Decision” 1948. The stepfather of “Twelve O’Clock High,” Clark Gable is making the tough decision to take casualties. Once again the Air Force is winning the war all by itself.
- “In Harm’s Way,” 1965. Along with a plentiful supply of sex and melodrama, John Wayne offers one of his, for him, more subdued performances as an American admiral in the Pacific during World War II. Based on the novel _Harm’s Way_ by James E. Basset, who was Admiral Haley’s Public Relations Officer during the war. Oddly enough Bassett’s Admiral Torrey seems less a driven and noisy admiral like “Bull” “Kill Japs, kill Japs, kill more Japs” Halsey, and more a subdued and controlled commander like Raymond Spruance.
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