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Military Comedy

Usually associated with satire and set during either war or within the military during peacetime, most military comedies have traditionally acted as anti-war statements, skewering the ridiculous, jingoistic mindset in which the rich and powerful send men off to die in battle. The other half of this brand of comedy uses the military as an oppressive structure where protagonists (usually low-ranking) lose their free will within a structure that demands compliance without question. This brand of film usually ridicules high-ranking officials as the enemy whose tight rules and regulations are presented absurdly to the point of surrealism. More often than not, rebellious soldiers pose a threat to such ideology and either win a small psychological battle against their superiors or are beaten down, demonstrating the inability to sustain individuality in such conditions. Such examples includes M*A*S*H, Mr. Roberts, Private Benjamin, Caught in the Draft, Stripes, Catch-22, Dr. Strangelove, Biloxi Blues and, to a much-darker extent, Full Metal Jacket.

Major Works
Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1970 MASH   Robert Altman
  9 Stars 1964 Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb   Stanley Kubrick
  8 Stars 1955 Mister Roberts   John Ford
  7 Stars 1981 Stripes   Ivan Reitman
  7 Stars 1959 The Mouse That Roared   Jack Arnold
    7 Stars 1938 Block-Heads   John G. Blystone
  6 Stars 1949 I Was a Male War Bride   Howard Hawks
  6 Stars 1980 Private Benjamin   Howard Zieff
  6 Stars 1959 Operation Petticoat   Blake Edwards
  6 Stars 1967 How I Won the War   Richard Lester
  6 Stars 1991 Hot Shots!   Jim Abrahams
  6 Stars 1987 Good Morning, Vietnam   Barry Levinson
  6 Stars 1970 Catch-22   Mike Nichols
    5 Stars 1994 The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin   JirĂ­ Menzel
    5 Stars 1960 Wake Me When It's Over   Mervyn LeRoy
  5 Stars 1951 Sailor Beware   Hal Walker
  5 Stars 1958 Rally 'round the Flag, Boys!   Leo McCarey
  5 Stars 1952 What Price Glory?   John Ford
  5 Stars 1941 In the Navy   Arthur Lubin
  5 Stars 1993 Hot Shots! Part Deux   Jim Abrahams
    5 Stars 1941 Caught in the Draft   David Butler
  4 Stars 1996 Sgt. Bilko   Jonathan Lynn
    4 Stars 1943 Salute to the Marines   S. Sylvan Simon
    4 Stars 1940 Sailors Three   Walter Forde
    4 Stars 1955 The Private War of Major Benson   Jerry Hopper
    4 Stars 1962 Operation Snatch   Robert Day
    4 Stars 1958 Me and the Colonel   Peter Glenville
    4 Stars 1964 McHale's Navy   Edward J. Montagne Jr.
    4 Stars 1956 The Lieutenant Wore Skirts   Frank Tashlin
    4 Stars 1958 Imitation General   George Marshall
  4 Stars 1971 Dad's Army   Norman Cohen
  4 Stars 1958 Carry on Sergeant   Gerald Thomas
  4 Stars 1968 The Secret War of Harry Frigg   Jack Smight
  4 Stars 1988 Biloxi Blues   Mike Nichols
  4 Stars 1979 1941   Steven Spielberg
  3 Stars 1994 Renaissance Man   Penny Marshall
  3 Stars 1966 What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?   Blake Edwards
 
 
 
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