Danger Close

A classic example of the once popular "Service Comedy" genre, this hit film was adapted from a hit stage play, in turn adapted from a hit novel. Henry Fonda reprises his role from the stage play as the titular Lieutenant (j.g.) Roberts, alongside a young and hilarious Jack Lemmon playing Ensign Pulver, and our first time with James Cagney as the insufferable Captain guarding his beloved palm tree....

One of the first big-budget Vietnam War films from the US, the production of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic was quite a war in its own right. The shooting was fraught with issues, including filming in the Philippines where rebels interrupted the work regularly, Coppola putting $7 million of his own funds on the line, and the usual complications that come with the jungle territory, like typhoons. Add...

Finishing in second place for our third poll in a row earned this film its rightful spot in the Danger Close catalogue. Set in a Japanese prison camp in Thailand in 1943, it pits the principled Lt Col Nicholson (Alec Guinness) against the ruthless camp commandant Col Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) in a battle of character and wit. This fictional story, loosely based on real events, won seven Academy Awar...

Even in a year like 1939 - which gave us the likes of Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, and Gone with the Wind - it’s hard to believe that an Oscar-nominated action adventure from a legendary, Oscar winning director, featuring an all-star cast of future Oscar winners, would somehow get lost in the shuffle, but here we are. It’s a film most of you have probably never heard of, but it’s a rollicking yar...

This film has been requested many times; usually by our Aussie and Kiwi listeners, and occasionally by people who think our podcast is entirely dedicated to this one film from 2019. Well-known down under, but not as much in the rest of the world, this is the story of one of the most famous battles Anzac troops fought in the Vietnam War. They were outnumbered between 10 and 20-to-1, and had it not...

Get ready for an alien-invader stompin' good time! In the rare case where Liam loves a film just because it is so fun, we go back to our childhoods and reminisce over the roll-out and execution of this Roland Emerich gem. From a time when a relatively sane Randy Quaid played insane characters (as opposed to just playing himself), comes this surprisingly well-aged "War of the Worlds" style adventur...

Robert Egger’s third film, following The VVitch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), The Northman has the largest budget and the biggest scope by far. Set in the late 9th/early 10th centuries in central Europe and Iceland, this epic revenge story is undoubtedly the most thoroughly researched and most accurate Viking film to date. With a phenomenal cast that includes Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman...

Well, here we are again. It’s World War II. Another three-hour war film, another big ensemble cast! In some ways a follow-up to The Longest Day (also written by Cornelius Ryan), this time in color, this film depicts Operation Market Garden, which followed the Normandy Landings in September 1944. The Allies dropped forces from the First Allied Airborne Army into the Netherlands, where they would as...

From director David Mackenzie, who brought us the excellent modern western Hell or High Water in 2016, comes a retelling of the First War of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century. Taking place during and after the capture and execution of William Wallace, this film focuses on Robert the Bruce and his allies in their fight for freedom from Edward I Longshanks and from the English invasion...

Hot on the heels of our Saving Private Ryan episode, we return to the beaches of Normandy (this time filmed in Corsica) with the WWII two-time Oscar winning classic, The Longest Day. Clocking in at three hours, this is the longest film we have covered so far, and our first John Wayne flick! It has a star-studded cast that includes Richard Burton, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, and a few of our old f...

Starring a young Colin Firth and probably no one else you would recognize, this film released on television in the UK six years after the conflict it depicted. We can’t blame you if you haven’t heard about the 1982 war between Argentina and the United Kingdom; after all it only lasted ten weeks. It’s known as the Falklands War to most of the world, and Guerra de las Malvinas to the Argentinians. M...

Directed by Gillian Armstrong and starring Cate Blanchett in the titular role, this is the fictionalized story of a British SOE (Special Operations Executive) operating in Nazi-occupied France in 1942. The character is a composite of several real women who worked as spies for the Allies during this time period. She is sent on missions to deliver packages to the resistance and help blow up a train,...

Easily the biggest WWI film of recent memory, 1917 conjured a variety of opinions from critics and viewers alike. Its 3 Oscar wins (Cinematography, Visual Effects, and Sound Editing) and over 200 total award nominations speak for themselves. Director Sam Mendes, with Roger Deakins as Director of Photography, boldly chose to shoot and edit the film as a “simulated one-shot”, à la“Rope” or “Birdman”...

In his directorial feature-film debut, J. P. Watts stretches a £600,000 budget to show us an aspect of World War I we hadn’t really seen before: the British efforts to tunnel underneath no-man’s land in order to lay mines under the German trenches. For those of you who have seen 1917 (our next episode), you will find some familiar territory: filthy trenches, (not so) filthy uniforms, higher-ups ob...

Part biopic, part historical drama, this film tells the story of Alan Turing and the team at Bletchley Park (the eminently secretive Project X) whose work led to the breaking of the German Enigma machines, and arguably to the Allies winning the War. This is one of the best performances we have seen out of Keira Knightley, who plays a brilliant mathematician, opposite Benedict Cumberbatch’s phenome...

What has not already been said about this monumental film? The Omaha Beach landing sequence it opens with is one of the most gritty and violently realistic combat scenes ever put on film to this day, and it gave a new generation of viewers an idea of what their grandparents had gone through in that war while they were still around to see it themselves. Critics and viewers alike have long praised i...

Filmed in the fjords of Norway and on the coast of France (standing in for Northumbria), this epic tale set in the ninth century immortalized a singular moment in time. The first film depiction of Viking culture since the Nazis had claimed Norse lore for themselves, the story is based as much in myth and legend as it is in history (like most of what we know about Vikings). Famously the film set th...

Releasing to critical acclaim, this film took home seven Academy Awards, including Best Actor (George C. Scott), and Best Director (Franklin J. Schaffner). It is often at the top of “best war films” lists, and a favorite of film buffs. It follows Patton's various commands through their campaigns in North Africa and the invasion of Europe in the latter part of World War II. It’s widely considered o...

BONUS EPISODE: The Terminator! The Danger Close team is taking their holiday break for this week's release, but we didn't want to leave you all empty-handed. So here is a gift from us, our first Patreon episode from last year! You can listen to two of us gush over one of James Cameron's most popular films, and hear the other host be wrong. If you enjoy this episode and want to hear us return for T...

DISCRETION ADVISED: This film depicts several sexual assaults that are discussed in the episode. Our first David Lean film, but certainly not our last! Set during World War I and the October Revolution of 1917, this love triangle (square? parallelogram?) takes place during turbulent times, and the production spared no expense with its full-scale recreation of ten square blocks of Moscow, thousands...

In this sprawling two-part biopic, director Steven Soderbergh shows us the experiences of Ernesto "Che" Guevara during the Cuban revolution in 1956, and Che’s subsequent failed attempt at revolution in Bolivia in 1967. Approaching Gettysburghian lengths, the two parts relay in sometimes oppressive detail (drawing from Guevara’s own journals) the conditions these rebels were up against and the obst...

A rebellion film if there ever was one, Italian director Gillo Pontecorvo's magnum opus dramatizes the fight against French Colonialism in 1950s Algeria. A quintessential example of Italian neorealism, the documentary-style of the filming, the film stock itself, and the use of non-professional actors give this film a gritty, real-life feel. It has been an inspiration to terrorist organizations and...

Are we doing it? We're doing it! We are diving into our very first musical! Depicting two pivotal battles in the American Revolutionary war (1775-1783), it certainly has some war in it. And it is a FILMed performance of the stage play. It has been a sensation since its debut on Broadway for good reason, and it really does bring some of America's founding fathers to life with that wonderful blend o...

From British director Ken Loach, this story is set in 1920 during the War for Irish Independence, depicting the conflict between Irish militants and occupying British forces, and the internal struggle between the newly formed Irish Free State Army and the IRA. One side supported a treaty with the British, while the other side would only accept an unconditional departure of all British troops from...

Groom your beards and dust-off your Civil War uniforms and dresses, cause we are going back to 1863! This popular Ron Maxwell film has no shortage of stellar actors: Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger, and even Sam Elliot and his mustache make an epic and most welcome return. But is this just a four and a half hour battle reenactment, or is there something more to it? Do we get a neutral and...