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There are a lot of combat games coming out this this summer and fall. They make us get all nostalgic for some of the great war films of our generation. Remember these?

Apocalypse Now (1979): Francis Coppola's mammoth cerebral journey into Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, with Martin Sheen sent on a mission to kill a renegade colonel (Marlon Brando) during the Vietnam War. The helicopter attack on an enemy-occupied village is probably the most exciting combat ever filmed. This is one of those movies where the making of history is almost as interesting as the film itself (it took Coppola years to make and almost bankrupted him personally), as dutifully documented in the hard-to-find Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. The movie was re-issued in 2001, with the tagline Redux, with 47 minutes of additional footage and severe restructuring. Both versions are excellent in their own right, and each is an example of interpretive cinema, not to mention superb cinematography (by maestro Vittorio Storaro). And, yes, it has Robert Duvall in classic rare form playing Lt. Colonel Kilgore: "Charlie don't surf!" Apocalypse won two Oscars: Best Cinematography (Storaro) and Sound (Walter Murch, Mark Berger, Richard Beggs, and Nathan Boxer).

The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957): Big-picture epic director David Lean ( Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago) guided this film to the Best Picture Oscar. Essentially a character study, The Bridge on the River Kwai is about the clash of two strong-willed men, played by Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa. Set in a prison camp, British P.O.W.s are ordered to build a bridge for their Japanese captors, when the head of the troops refuses under articles of the Geneva Convention, chaos ensues. Meanwhile, a group of commandos plot to destroy the bridge. Gorgeously photographed and edited, Bridge is able to make its point without being overbearing and preachy, and the suspenseful finale does not disappoint. Bridge netted six other Oscars: Actor (Guinness), Cinematography (Jack Hildyard), Director (Lean), Film Editing (Peter Taylor), Music Score (Malcom Arnold), and Adapted Screenplay (Pierre Boulle). An interesting note about the screenplay, Boulle was credited as the sole author for the two real writers (Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson) were blacklisted at the time. The duo finally got their Oscars in 1984.

A Bridge Too Far (1977): Another adaptation of a Cornelius Ryan novel, this one focuses on one of the biggest disasters of World War II: Operation Market Garden. The plan was to drop paratroops behind enemy lines to secure key bridges, while tanks and support moved in on a single-lane road. Brainchild of British Field Marshall Montgomery and his ferocious ego, all dissent and unfavorable intelligence was ignored--even proof that a German Panzer division was on R&R at the prized bridge at Arnhem, the key to the whole operation. Sporting an all-star cast, the movie plays like a who's who, with then-big actors like Elliott Gould, James Caan and others popping in and out of the narrative with cameo roles. Bridge cost United Artists a ton of money, and you can see where it all went with the required battle scenes, and excellent sets. The biggest problem with the movie is it doesn't hammer home what a catastrophic failure Market Garden actually was--especially for the troops at Arnhem who didn't stand a chance against the tank-supported Panzer troops. Author Ryan did one more book on World War II (his best): The Last Battle (which was at one point in pre-production by MGM, but never made into a movie).

Dark of the Sun (1968): Buried in the film vaults of MGM (now owned by Time Warner) is this B-movie gem about mercenaries in the Congo sent to retrieve valuable diamonds in the war ravaged land. Starring Rod Taylor (The Time Machine) and Jim Brown (The Dirty Dozen), the film is riveting and suspenseful in ways you wouldn't expect. There's plenty of character development, as various members of the team confront their own personal demons, and openly clash with each other. Things reach a fever pitch as the team reaches their destination via train and are forced to wait for a vault's time lock to release the diamonds--all the while, rebels close in. Made in 1968, Dark of the Sun was one of those films to push the rating board with its graphic violence. Shamefully unavailable on DVD, Dark of the Sun is said to be a personal favorite of Quentin Tarantino. The director, Jack Cardiff, was a former cinematographer (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes) and is considered one of the pioneers of the craft. For a film with a similar theme and location, check out Tears of the Sun.

The Dirty Dozen (1967): For an ass-kicking tough guy, there was usually one guy for the role: Lee Marvin. As an insubordinate major during World War II, Marvin's mission is to take 12 prisoners (some of which are psychotic savages) from death row and train them for a near-impossible mission in occupied France. Director Robert Aldrich supplied the usual fireworks for the climax, but the remarkable thing about the Dirty Dozen is a majority of the time is spent showing how Marvin is actually able to train the 12 malcontents to work as a team and be effective in combat. Also starring Jim Brown, Charles Bronson, Donald Sutherland, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, and Telly Savallas. Dozen earned an Oscar for Best Sound Effects (John Poyner).

From Here to Eternity (1953): Author James Jones ( The Thin Red Line, Whistle) had a knack for writing novels about World War II that were able to get to the meat and motives of his characters, and this filmed adaptation of his best seller is no exception. Fred Zinnemann directed this Columbia Pictures release about a combat unit in Hawaii days before Pearl Harbor, and how the lives of fighting men and women collide. This was a big Oscar winner (Best Picture) and it put Frank Sinatra back on the comeback trail (and he earned a Best Supporting Actor nod for his performance). However, don't expect a lot of action (the famous attack comes at the end of the movie), or feel-good experience. Eternity won six additional Oscars: Supporting Actress (Donna Reed), Black-and-White Cinematography (Burnett Guffey), Director, Film Editing (William A. Lyon), Sound Recording (John P. Livadary), and Adapted Screenplay (Daniel Taradash).

Gallipoli (1981): 1981 was Mel Gibson's breakout year, as The Road Warrior put him on the map in America. However, many overlooked Peter Weir's Gallipoli, one of the most eloquent war films ever made. Set during the Boer War of World War I, Gibson plays a runner on the front lines as the Austrailian and Turkish armies engage in horrible trench war of attrition. The climax of the film is a stunning knockout example of how egos and arrogance cloud common sense, and almost want to make you scream at the screen.

Kelly's Heroes (1970): Keep two words in mind for this one: light hearted. Set during World War II, Clint Eastwood takes a group of men behind enemy lines to steal gold from the Germans. Kelly's Heroes is a lengthy movie laced with humor and irreverence for the horrors of war (almost no one in Clint's squad gets killed), and check out Donald Sutherland as the hippy tank commander who plays music going into battle (as Kilgore did in Apocalypse Now). The climax is exciting, though, and damn if those German Tiger tanks don't look authentic.

The Longest Day (1962): Before Spielberg blew everyone's mind with Saving Private Ryan, Twentieth Century-Fox produced this expensive black-and-white chronicle of the D-Day landings with an all-star cast under the guise of three international directors (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, and Bernhard Wicki). Watch as casts of thousands re-enact the turning point of World War II with some of the most sanitized carnage ever filmed (remember, this was before Bonnie and Clyde and The Wild Bunch changed all the rules). Day netted two Academy Awards: Best Black-and-White Cinematography (Jean Bourgoin and Walter Wottitz) and Special Effects (Robert MacDonald and Jacques Maumont). The movie is based on Cornelius Ryan's excellent novel of the same name.

The Sand Pebbles (1966): Steve McQueen received his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for this drama set during the Boxer Rebellion in 1926. McQueen plays his loner trademark to form; here, as an engineer on an American gunboat who wants nothing to do with war, but is drawn in anyway. Made in 1966, The Sand Pebbles is a reflection of the then-raging Vietnam War, with soldiers and civilians alike dying for no apparent reason or purpose. The DVD runs 185 minutes, but versions that run as long as 243 minutes are rumored to exist. The movie earned six additional Oscar nominations (including Best Picture), but didn't win in any of the categories.

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