PODCAST · tv
Danger Close
by A War Film Podcast
Join a Marine Veteran, a film critic, and a theater director as they laugh, argue, and explore the history of humanity's triumphs and tragedies through war films old and new. War is Hell. People make films about it. And we love to talk about them.
Episodes
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Gladiator (2000)
This episode was supposed to be...checks notes...The Manchurian Candidate! But since we have been on hiatus for a while, we decided to change it up and pick a film that we know the audience has been waiting for, and that at least one of us would have some hot takes about. Don't worry, we will…
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Paths of Glory (1957)
Half stoic war epic and half frustrating courtroom melodrama, this early Kubrick film proved unassumingly controversial upon its release in comparison with the auteur’s later works. Banned at one time or another in France, Switzerland, Fascist Spain, and US Military bases, and mostly overshadowed...
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Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Well, this one hardly needs an introduction and is as epic and sweeping as it gets. This is a film we have been wanting to cover for over two years, and finally the stars aligned. It is on just about every cinephile and film industry professional’s top ten greatest films of all time, often…
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Platoon (1986)
A lot can (and has) been said about this film. It's one of the very few that might actually achieve the status of "anti-war" film, or at least refrains from glamorizing it. It can't be accused of inaccuracy or overt messaging, because it is admittedly a picture of writer-director Oliver Stone's…
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Mulan (1998)
Buckle up, Danger Close fans! We went way off the usual list this time and chose a Disney renaissance film that is also decidedly a war film. From the training scenes, to the battles, to a glorious last minute rescue of the emperor, Mulan fits most of the tropes for a war film. It's also for kids...
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BONUS INTERVIEW - Pulled the Handle! Just Not Very Hard. Part 2 of 2
Here’s part two of Dan’s interview with Fig and RePete from the podcast So There I Was! This half we talk movies a little, with some cool details about the harrier jets in True Lies, and get some personal “oh shit!”flying stories from the guys. If you want to hear more from Fig and RePete, here…
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BONUS INTERVIEW - We're Not Ready, You Idiot! Part 1 of 2
This week on Danger Close, a Veteran interview with yours truly, Dan! I sat down with two former Marine aviators and we talked about our experiences in the Corps, traded aviation stories, and I even played them a special recording that has not gone public until now! This is part One where Dan...
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FRIGHT PUB / DANGER CLOSE CROSSOVER: Overlord (2018)
For the first time ever, the Fright Pub crew and the Danger Close team get together in person to record a podcast. In Pittsburgh!! If this film is where the Venn diagram of horror films and war films meet, then I guess Liam is where the Venn diagram of our two shows come together! He's...the…
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BONUS EPISODE: Inception (2010)
We’re back! The show returns with a brand new DCE episode that we decided to release free to everyone. We want to thank our generous Patrons for sticking with us during our much needed break as we caught up with our schedule and got a bunch of recordings done. We have six episodes in the bag that...
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Black Hawk Down (2001)
Another good example of a modern war film produced before September 11th, this one puts us in the helicopters and humvees of Task Force Ranger during the humanitarian crisis in Somalia in 1993. Dispensing with most of the geo-political complexities that led to US forces deploying to East Africa,...
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Reports from the Front: Fourteen Hours in Husaybah
Dan sits down with former Marine infantry Sergeant Rich Cervantes. Rich enlisted in the USMC in 2001, and trained as a TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided) anti-tank gunner. In this exclusive interview, he tells the story of why he joined, his training, and his experience in Iraq...
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To Be or Not to Be (1942)
This isn’t the first WWII film we have covered to be filmed and released while the war was still ongoing, but it is our first comedy that fits those parameters. It often pops up on lists of best comedies ever, and for good reason. The Nazis have invaded Warsaw and a German spy has just landed…
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Oppenheimer (2023)
If you only saw one movie in the summer of 2023… statistically speaking it was probably Barbie. But if you saw two movies in the summer of 2023… okay, statistically it's fairly likely they were both Barbie. But if you saw two movies on the same day in the summer of 2023, there is technically a...
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Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
We've talked Nazis before. And we have covered WWII in several films which varied in style and subject manner, but this is our first time dealing with the Holocaust, so we figured we should start with an old classic that is famous for the way it handled its difficult subject matter. Premiering in...
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The Woman King (2022)
First conceived in 2015 and released in 2022, The Woman King had a long, turbulent road to the box office. An historical action epic starring and driven by a cast of black women, it was a tough sell to studios until the overwhelming success of Black Panther proved beyond a doubt that there was…
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Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Released in November of 2001, Behind Enemy Lines came out in a totally different time in history. 9/11 had just happened, and tensions were high all over the world, especially in the U.S. This movie is a little dose of “rah-rah NATO” rescuing an American navigator from…Yugoslavians? No, Serbs.…
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Reports from the Front: The End Goal Is to Make It Home Alive
Dan sits down with good friend and former Marine Sergeant Tyler Funk. Tyler enlisted in the USMC as an Air Traffic Controller in 2003. After some initial training, he volunteered for deployment, and later was selected for the MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit), and an MMT (Marine Air Traffic Control...
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Top Gun (1986)
Last episode, we talked about a military aviation film. It had some pretty great aerial scenes, the best Cessna vs motorcycle race we have ever seen, and a fun soundtrack! But not nearly as good as the one for the film we are covering today (although apparently some in the audience will debate…
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Iron Eagle (1986)
1986 was a landmark year for military aviation in cinema. Top Gun came out in May, the very start of the Summer blockbuster season, and immediately boosted Navy recruitment by 10 bajillion percent. That’s not an approximation, those are the official figures from the Navy. 10 bajillion percent....
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Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
One of the most famous and most successful retellings of one of the most infamous and highly mythologized incidents in the history of the British Navy, this 1935 adaptation of the novel by Charles Nordhoff and James Newton Hall might be a little old-fashioned for most modern audiences, both in…
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The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
One of Michael Mann’s most beloved films, this is the most recent and most enduring of ELEVEN screen adaptations of the historical fiction novel by James Fenimore Cooper, and it takes us to a war we seldom see depicted elsewhere in cinema: The French and Indian War in North America. It follows…
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Das Boot (1981)
For our first Wolfgang Peterson film, we decided to cover what is often touted as the best submarine film ever, and one that is on most people’s Top Ten War Film lists. Starring a young Jürgen Prochnow as the Captain of U-96 and a cast of mostly unknown actors as his crew, this is the thrilling...
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All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
With a screenplay based on Erich Maria Remarque’s immensely popular book, first published in 1929, director Edward Berger has taken on the daunting task of leading the first German team to take this story to the big screen. It is written, directed, and portrayed by Germans, and offers a unique...
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BONUS EPISODE: Fright Pub: Last Night in Soho (2021)
To give our fans some additional content while we are operating on a reduced release schedule - and in honor of Halloween - we are dropping an episode of our sister Horror Movie podcast, Fright Pub, into the main feed. Listen as Liam, Shaggy, and Lauren drink adult beverages and discuss a…
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The Hunt for Red October (1990)
The year is 1990. The Cold War is in full swing, and the threat of thermonuclear world war is ever present. The Soviet Union is…wait…what? Oh the Berlin Wall came down last year? And the Soviet Union is rapidly dissolving? The Iron Curtain is being lifted? Ok then… Checks production notes… The…
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Mister Roberts (1955)
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...
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Apocalypse Now (1979)
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...
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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
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...
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Beau Geste (1939)
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...
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Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019)
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…
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BONUS EPISODE: Independence Day (1996)
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...
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The Northman (2022)
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…
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A Bridge Too Far (1977)
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....
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Outlaw King (2018)
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...
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The Longest Day (1962)
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…
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Tumbledown (1988)
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....
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Charlotte Gray (2001)
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…
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1917 (2019)
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...
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The War Below (2021)
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...
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The Imitation Game (2014)
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…
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Saving Private Ryan (1998)
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…
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The Vikings (1958)
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...
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Patton (1970)
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…
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BONUS EPISODE: The Terminator (1984)
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...
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Doctor Zhivago (1965)
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…
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CHE (2008)
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…
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The Battle of Algiers (1966)
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...
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Hamilton (2015/2020)
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...
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The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
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...
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Gettysburg (1993)
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…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Join a Marine Veteran, a film critic, and a theater director as they laugh, argue, and explore the history of humanity's triumphs and tragedies through war films old and new. War is Hell. People make films about it. And we love to talk about them.
HOSTED BY
A War Film Podcast
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Danger Close currently has 70 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Danger Close about?
Join a Marine Veteran, a film critic, and a theater director as they laugh, argue, and explore the history of humanity's triumphs and tragedies through war films old and new. War is Hell. People make films about it. And we love to talk about them.
How often does Danger Close release new episodes?
Danger Close has 70 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Danger Close is created and hosted by A War Film Podcast.
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