Steven Spielberg has made several outstanding war films. But which representative of the genre has impressed him the most personally? His choice is quite surprising.
With Saving Private James Ryan, Steven Spielberg created one of the most influential war films in the history of moving pictures. Over the course of his career, the director has also repeatedly worked in the war film genre, for example for the underrated 2011 adaptation of the novel Companions.
Spielberg not only makes war films himself, however, but has also been influenced by a number of works by other filmmakers. He does not consider any of the usual suspects to be the best representatives of the genre. According to Steven Spielberg, the best war film is neither Apocalypse Now nor Full Metal Jacket, but Agents Dying Alone
Master director Steven Spielberg has made up his mind: Agents Dying Alone is the best war movie
Agents Die Lonely was released in 1968, originally titled Where Eagles Dare and takes us into the turmoil of the Second World War. The film was directed by Brian G. Hutton (Shock Troop Gold). Despite a prominent cast (including Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton), it rarely appears in the usual lists of classics.
Here you can watch the trailer for Agents Dying Alone:
While war films like The Bridge on the River Kwai and Come and See are regularly mentioned when it comes to outstanding war films, many people probably don’t even know that Agents Dying Alone exists. As Little White Lies notes, Spielberg once called the film his “favorite war movie of all time”.
In Agents Die Alone, we follow a special Allied commando in the Second World War who is given an important assignment: A US officer is to be rescued from a castle in the Bavarian Alps. The mission is plagued by problems right from the start and then mistrust arises among the men.
For over two and a half hours, we follow a merciless fight for survival through the hell of war. The conflicts within the group are the most exciting. But there are other dangers and challenges too: In addition to the Nazis as antagonists, Hutton stages nature as a relentless adversary.
