"We were playing Pinochle, it's a rough game" – awesome

And it's doubtful they would have sent soldiers form Omaha beach to search for a 101st trooper, who would've been dropped behind Utah beach some 20 miles away.

My favorite line in that movie.

As far as good cinema goes, I think making a war movie presents more challenges than other genres.

In any case, I find the ones my Dad and I watched when I was a kid, like Full Metal Jacket, Cross of Iron, or The Young Lions, are still my favorite.
These movies aren't history lessons, the directors are using a setting to develop a theme. Most war movies fail because the only theme they are pushing is that war is terrible, which is something we all should know. At any rate, All quite on the Western Front pushed that theme better than any movie since, and it came out in 1932.

Maybe War Movies are like Westerns. It's a genre you can only do so much with before you have to get weird to get a good story.

As I wrote, I know that not liking war movies is unusual in a historian. It's just the way it is–one of my many character flaws :)

Your second point is well taken: there are a LOT of sad photos taken during wartime. Tough to judge.

FInally, on Inglourious Basterds, here's the review I did in Variety. It was a phone interview that the editors formatted like a review. I think I was fair to the film.

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=news&articleid=VR1118013551&cs=1

Thanks for the note!

–RC

'Basterds' had its faults, but I found it to be entertaining. It was strictly a revenge movie from beginning to end. It's humor was often perverse, as war always is, but I enjoy the acting and dialogue of most of his movies. I think many historians sort of got their panties in a bunch because he took many absurd liberties with history, but I would argue he was the artist and that was his call. Did his movie have an overall message? I would argue that it did not, but I was engaged in the story and found myself laughing at things that usually I would not find that funny. I admit, I was entertained, and sometimes that is all a movie has to do. I did not go in expecting to see 'Schindler's List' or 'Come and See' or a "big message" movie.

On a bit of a heavier note, I have to take issue with a couple of comments in your article, especially the "there is nothing in the world sadder than photographs of POWs just after they've surrendered." Sad yes, but I would argue that photographs of dead people, whether soldiers or civilians, from any nation, are much sadder. I would even argue that photographs of children during wartime often present some of the most sad and depressing images ever. I am a former navy photographer and photo editor of history magazines and have seen my share of war footage and photos and there is nothing, in my opinion, as sad as seeing what war does to innocent children whom find themselves in situations where they have to witness the depravities of war.

Sorry to get a bit heavy there, but I just wanted to comment. Thanks for the great article.