Best Real-Life Medal of Honor Movies or Mini-Series
Which movie or mini-series depicting a courageous action that led to the awarding of an U.S.A. Medal of Honor or a similar congressional award is most heroic story?
Medal of Honor Day is celebrated each year on March 25th. For the purpose of this poll, the Medal of Honor for Space, the Gold Lifesaving Medal and the Four Chaplains' Medal are similar awards. Sources: cmohs.org and Wikipedia
Discuss the topic here.
Medal of Honor Day is celebrated each year on March 25th. For the purpose of this poll, the Medal of Honor for Space, the Gold Lifesaving Medal and the Four Chaplains' Medal are similar awards. Sources: cmohs.org and Wikipedia
Discuss the topic here.
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- DirectorMel GibsonStarsAndrew GarfieldSam WorthingtonLuke BraceyWorld War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
- DirectorHoward HawksStarsGary CooperWalter BrennanJoan LeslieA Tennessee farmer and marksman is drafted in World War I, and struggles with his pacifist inclinations before becoming one of the most celebrated war heroes.
- DirectorRidley ScottStarsJosh HartnettEwan McGregorTom SizemoreThe story of 160 elite U.S. soldiers who dropped into Mogadishu in October 1993 to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord, but found themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily armed Somalis.Real-Life MoH recipients: Master Sgt Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart as played by Johnny Strong and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in Black Hawk Down (2001)
- DirectorRandall WallaceStarsMel GibsonMadeleine StoweGreg KinnearThe story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.Real-Life MoH recipient: Maj. Bruce 'Snake' Crandall as played by Greg Kinnear in We Were Soldiers (2002)
- DirectorPeter BergStarsMark WahlbergTaylor KitschEmile HirschMarcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
- DirectorJesse HibbsStarsAudie MurphyMarshall ThompsonCharles DrakeThe true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. Based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.
- StarsJames Badge DaleJoseph MazzelloJon SedaThe Pacific Theatre of World War II, as seen through the eyes of several young Marines.
- StarsTom BerengerSam ElliottGary BuseyUndersecretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt resigns to form a volunteer militia unit called "The Rough Riders" to fight in the Spanish-American War.
- DirectorRussell MulcahyStarsRicky SchroderPhil McKeeJamie HarrisFact-based war drama about an American battalion of over 500 men which gets trapped behind enemy lines in the Argonne Forest in October 1918 France during the closing weeks of World War I.Real-Life MoH recipient: Maj. Charles White Whittlesey as played by Ricky Schroder in The Lost Battalion (2001)
- DirectorRon MaxwellStarsTom BerengerMartin SheenStephen LangIn 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.Real-Life MoH recipient: Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain as played by Jeff Daniels in Gettysburg (1993)
- DirectorKen AnnakinAndrew MartonGerd OswaldStarsJohn WayneRobert RyanRichard BurtonThe events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.Real-Life MoH recipient: Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. as played by Henry Fonda in The Longest Day (1962)
- DirectorEdward ZwickStarsMatthew BroderickDenzel WashingtonCary ElwesRobert Gould Shaw leads the U.S. Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices from both his own Union Army, and the Confederates.Real-Life MoH recipient: William Carney as played by loosely-based, composite characters in Glory (1989)
He received the Medal for his courage in saving the 54th Massachusetts American flag from falling and planting it on the fort's parapet during the Second Battle of Fort Wagner. When the troops fell back, Carney retrieved the flag under fierce fire, despite being severely wounded. *Carney's Medal of Honor act is depicted in film's final scene by two actors and some artistic license is taken with the facts. - DirectorLloyd BaconStarsFred MacMurrayLynn BariCharles BickfordWWI flyer Eddie Rickenbaker remembers his life which brought him from a car salesman, race driver and pilot in WWI, to an important person in the early years of civil airline service, after his plane crashed in the South Pacific in late 1942.Real-Life MoH recipient: Capt. Edward Rickenbacker as played by Fred MacMurray in Captain Eddie (1945)
- DirectorPaul AaronStarsJane AlexanderJames WoodsConcetta TomeiAn account of US Navy Commander James Stockdale's 8 year imprisonment in North Vietnam.
- DirectorWilliam A. WellmanStarsJoel McCreaMaureen O'HaraLinda DarnellThe story of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, legendary westerner, from his days as an army scout to his later activities as owner of a Wild West show.
- DirectorFrancis D. LyonStarsFess ParkerJeffrey HunterJeff YorkDuring the Civil War Union spy Andrews and his men volunteer to steal a Confederate train and drive it to Union territory while destroying the Confederate railway system along the way.
- DirectorClyde BruckmanBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonMarion MackGlen CavenderAfter being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.Real-Life MoH recipients: Andrews' Raiders*
Union version: Walt Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) - DirectorMervyn LeRoyStarsSpencer TracyVan JohnsonRobert WalkerIn the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.Real-Life MoH recipient: Lt. Col. James Doolittle as played by Spencer Tracy in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
- DirectorMichael BayStarsBen AffleckKate BeckinsaleJosh HartnettA tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.
- DirectorBilly WilderStarsJames StewartMurray HamiltonPatricia SmithCharles 'Slim' Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.Real-Life MoH recipient: Charles Lindbergh as played by James Stewart in The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsGregory PeckDan O'HerlihyEd FlandersBiopic of General Douglas MacArthur covering his war exploits during WW2 and the Korean War.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsGary CooperCharles BickfordRalph BellamyA dramatization of the American general and his court martial for publically complaining about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces.Real-Life MoH* recipient: Col. Billy Mitchell as played by Gary Cooper in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955).
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsSam ShepardScott GlennEd HarrisThe U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.Real-Life MoH* recipients: Chuck Yeager, Alan Shepard, John Glenn and Gus Grissom as played by Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris and Fred Ward in The Right Stuff (1983) * Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- DirectorRon HowardStarsTom HanksBill PaxtonKevin BaconNASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.Real-Life MoH* recipient: Jim Lovell as played by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13 (1995) * Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- DirectorDamien ChazelleStarsRyan GoslingClaire FoyJason ClarkeA look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.Real-Life MoH* recipients: Neil Armstrong as played by Ryan Gosling * Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- StarsTom HanksNick SearcyLane SmithDramatized portrayal of the Apollo manned space program.Real-Life MoH* recipients: Neil Armstrong as played by Tony Goldwyn, Frank Borman as played by David Andrews in From the Earth to the Moon (1998), Jim Lovell as played by Tim Daly, Roger B.Chaffe as played by Ben Marley, John Young as played by John Posey, Gus Grissom as played by Mark Rolston, Ed White as played Chris Isaak and Alan Shepard as played by Ted Levine in From the Earth to the Moon (1998) * Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- DirectorJames HawesStarsJoanne WhalleyEve BestBruce GreenwoodFactual drama exploring the truth behind the space shuttle Challenger's 1986 disintegration.Real-Life MoH* recipients: Challenger Space Shuttle crew recipients: Francis R. Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe * Congressional Space Medal of Honor
- DirectorCraig GillespieStarsChris PineCasey AffleckBen FosterThe Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.Real-Life MoH* recipients: Coast Guard motor lifeboat CG 36500 crew recipients: Bernard C. Webber, Andrew Fitzgerald, Richard Livesey, and Ervin Maske as played by Chris Pine, Kyle Gallner, Ben Foster and John Magaro * Congressional Coast Guard Gold Lifesaving Medal
- DirectorJames MollFour new Army Chaplains aboard the USAT Dorchester is torpedoed by a German sub on Feb. 3, 1943. A Priest, a Rabbi, and two protestant Ministers join together to save a few more souls in exchange for their lives.Real-Life MoH* recipients: Dorchester Troop transport chaplain recipients: George L. Fox, Alexander D. Goode, Clark V. Poling, and John P. Washington * Congressional Four Chaplains' Medal
- DirectorTodd RobinsonStarsSebastian StanAlison SudolAsher Miles FallicaThirty-four years after his death, Airman William H. "Pits" Pitsenbarger is awarded the nation's highest military honor for his actions on the battlefield.Real-Life MoH recipient: Air Force Staff Sergeant William Pitsenbarger as played by Jeremy Irvine
- DirectorWilliam KeighleyStarsJames CagneyPat O'BrienGeorge BrentAlthough loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove himself in the end.