Six under-rated war movies to see on Memorial Day

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - "Patton," "The Great Escape," and "Apocalypse Now" have justly earned a place among the greatest war movies ever made. These films capture the horror, the sacrifice -- and, yes, sometimes the excitement of battle.

However, this Memorial Day, before watching George C. Scott address the troops beneath a massive American flag or quoting along as Robert Duvall rants about the smell of napalm in the morning, consider checking out these criminally underrated gems.

Movies like "Windtalkers" or "Jarhead" never got the critical attention they deserved, but they are every bit as affecting as more famous movies like "Platoon" or "The Hurt Locker."

Others, such as "Army of Shadows" were hits with the arthouse set, but never got the popular support needed to enter the mainstream.

All, warrant a viewing. Here's a look at six films that belong among the most compelling and emotionally involving cinematic portraits of war.

JARHEAD - This darkly comic look at a group of Marines desperate to see action, and finding mostly tedium, during the first Gulf War had the misfortune of hitting theaters in 2005 when the second Iraq War was at a boiling point. Something about the drunken shenanigans of a group of soldiers bored out of their skulls in the desert seemed to strike audiences as insensitive when a new generation of troops were risking death and dismemberment in the same troubled region of the world.

That's a shame, because there is a lot to savor in "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes' adaptation of U.S. Marine Anthony Swofford's memoir of the same name. Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard and Jamie Foxx all contribute memorable performances, and the hazy, almost dreamlike cinematography by Roger Deakins is stunning. Moreover, the movie is a wholly unique look at the feeling of isolation experienced by the men and women sent to the far corners of the globe to wage the nation's war.

WHERE EAGLES DARE - This World War II action film is a pure fantasy; an enjoyable diversion that partly influenced Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." From its improbable pairing of Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood to its stirring raid on a Nazi controlled castle in the alps, "Where Eagles Dare" offers up a slice of classic Hollywood filmmaking that is sorely missing from the multiplex these days.

It's a men on a mission film in the vein of "The Dirty Dozen," that has not other ambition besides entertaining audiences. A climatic battle on a cable car still holds up and Burton was never more fun to watch onscreen.

CASUALTIES OF WAR - Brian De Palma's searing look at the rape and murder of Vietnamese villager by a group of American soldiers could not be more different in tone from "Where Eagles Dare."

Though the picture suffers from an overly preachy conclusion, the first two-thirds of the film are emotionally shattering -- a nearly pitch perfect depiction of the darker side of battle and its impact on civilians.

Michael J. Fox, in a rare dramatic turn, is fine, but Sean Penn as an emotionally unstable sergeant gives a risky and chilling performance that ranks among his best. The haunting score by Ennio Morricone also rivals his more famous work in films like "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" and "The Mission."

A commercial failure upon its release, "Casualties of War" deserves to stand alongside "Platoon" and "The Deer Hunter" as one of the definitive cinematic representations of Vietnam.

ARMY OF SHADOWS - Although it was critically drubbed when it was initially released in 1969, Jean-Pierre Melville's portrait of French Resistance fighters has undergone a dramatic reappraisal in recent years.

Stunningly restored in 2006, the portrait of suspicion, betrayal and heroism in Vichy France is a true film classic that depicts the Nazi occupation of the country like no other film save "The Sorrow and the Pity."

Melville, best known for noirish crime films like "Le Samoura?," drew on his own experiences as a member of the Resistance to fashion one of his most deeply felt works of art. It is fatalistic, but stirring -- boasting fantastic performances by Lino Ventura and Simone Signoret as some of the handful of men and women who valiantly stood up to their oppressors.

WINDTALKERS - Released in 2002 and deceptively marketed as a run-of-the-mill action film, John Woo's look at Navajo code talkers in World War II sunk without a trace at the box office. It deserves to be rediscovered, however.

Nicolas Cage, playing an army officer tasked with ensuring the secrecy of the code at all costs, even if it means killing the Indian soldiers he is ordered to protect, gives one of his most restrained and impactful performances. Woo also pulls off several bravura war sequences, that are highly stylized, almost balletic scenes of carnage.

The dialogue is weighted down in cliches, but there's always a battle just around the corner to keep things interesting and to make you remember just how good the Hong Kong action impresario can be when armed with the right material.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN - With its child's eye view of war, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical was seen as a less-than-successful attempt by the director of popcorn entertainment like "Jaws" to prove that he could direct a grown-up movie.

Yet, the 1987 look at a young British boy who finds himself swept into an internment camp during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai in World War II, is a profound and powerful look at innocence lost.

Christian Bale was just 12 years old when he took the lead role in "Empire of the Sun," but the future star of "The Dark Knight," gives one of the greatest performances by a child actor in movie history. He perfectly captures the terror, anger and, hard-won maturity of a boy separated from his parents and forced to come of age amidst death and despair.

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