Best movie that captures the FE spirit and why?

[Shane Limbeck]

Some films just get it right. The attitude, the grit, the humor, the sense that life’s better when it’s a little dangerous.

What movie nails that Field Ethos spirit for you?
Could be a classic, a war film, a western, or something nobody expects.

Name it and tell us why it belongs in the lineup.

 

[Chad Adams]

The greatest shoot-em-up flick ever made?!? "Heat," Michael Mann's ballistic opus, just turned 30. Dr. Dabbs talks about the guns that made it famous.

Bringing the Heat — Hardware From the Coolest Gun Movie Ever Made | Field Ethos

By Will Dabbs, MD Transcript of an actual conversation I overheard among some Army buddies whilst waiting in…

fieldethos.com

 

[Shart85]

As a family once a year we make a pot of campfire beans, and a couple skillets of cornbread. We then watch Lonesome Dove start to finish. Look forward to it every year, usually on a cold day in February.

 

[jeff]

The greatest shoot-em-up flick ever made?!? "Heat," Michael Mann's ballistic opus, just turned 30. Dr. Dabbs talks about the guns that made it famous.

Bringing the Heat — Hardware From the Coolest Gun Movie Ever Made | Field Ethos

By Will Dabbs, MD Transcript of an actual conversation I overheard among some Army buddies whilst waiting in…

fieldethos.com

This is the only acceptable answer.

 

[Ron Dan]

The greatest shoot-em-up flick ever made?!? "Heat," Michael Mann's ballistic opus, just turned 30. Dr. Dabbs talks about the guns that made it famous.

Bringing the Heat — Hardware From the Coolest Gun Movie Ever Made | Field Ethos

By Will Dabbs, MD Transcript of an actual conversation I overheard among some Army buddies whilst waiting in…

fieldethos.com

Easily the best gun fight scene in Hollywood

 

[Milo'sSyndicate]

"....captures the FE spirit and why?" Out of Africa, w/o a doubt. Robert Redford's character Dennis has a monologue in there about war, politics, and life in general; just be free and go fucking hunting and adventure. The rectangle screens of death are consuming 2-3 generations now, which is great for those of us out in the fields still...

 

[spalind]

Ooo…lots of good choices here. FE spirit could mean many things. You could take “Ghost and the Darkness” or the already mentioned “Out of Africa” or the like.

Like my book selections I’ll go off the board and kinda random:

South America focused—
Herzog’s “Aguirre, the Wrath of God”
Gray’s “Lost City of Z”
Joffe’s “The Mission”
Both “Wages of Fear” and “Sorcerer”

Sci-fi—
Carpenter’s “The Thing”
Scott and Villenuve’s “Blade Runner”s
Garland’s “28 Days Later”, “Sunshine”, “Annihilation”, and “Ex Machina” (throw in his grossly under seen “Devs” TV show as well)
Cuaron’s “Children of Men”

War or War adjacent—
Garland’s (again)—“Warfare”
Scott’s (again)—“Blackhawk Down”
“Breaker Morant”
“Zulu”
“Fires on the Plain”
“La Grande Illusion”

Others—
“The Conversation”
“Prisoners”
“The Northman”
“Macbeth” (Fassbender’s version)

 

[hbabin]

probably SAVAGES

 

[YETI]

Is there a movie about cunts?

 

[Steven Donovan]

Jeremiah Johnson - veteran turned mountain man seeking independence from civilization
Out of Africa (previous mention) - hunting in Africa and the natural independent nature of some men (and being annoyed by civilization)
Dances with Wolves - US Army officer finding the line between civilization and the wild and discovering himself
The Ghost and the Darkness (previous mention) - two veterans that hunt and find their true souls in danger
Indiana Jones (the original trilogy) - obvious
Quigley Down Under - custom 1874 Sharps x Tom Selleck. No question.
The Man Who Would Be King - Sean Connery and Michael Caine as ex British NCOs and Christopher Plummer as Kipling, adventuring in late 19th century India
Heat (previous mention) - but not the gunfights... the diner scene between De Niro and Pacino is much more important. Its two men coming to grips with their true nature.
Blood Diamond - honorable mention

 

[Jake V]

Braveheart. The wild Scott is Pete . Monty Python

 

[YETI]

Jeremiah Johnson - veteran turned mountain man seeking independence from civilization
Out of Africa (previous mention) - hunting in Africa and the natural independent nature of some men (and being annoyed by civilization)
Dances with Wolves - US Army officer finding the line between civilization and the wild and discovering himself
The Ghost and the Darkness (previous mention) - two veterans that hunt and find their true souls in danger
Indiana Jones (the original trilogy) - obvious
Quigley Down Under - custom 1874 Sharps x Tom Selleck. No question.
The Man Who Would Be King - Sean Connery and Michael Caine as ex British NCOs and Christopher Plummer as Kipling, adventuring in late 19th century India
Heat (previous mention) - but not the gunfights... the diner scene between De Niro and Pacino is much more important. Its two men coming to grips with their true nature.
Blood Diamond - honorable mention

Great choices all

 

[Pete Correale]

"Sperms of Endearment"

 

[Bakes]

Eiger Sanction

 

[Matthew Moore]

Some films just get it right. The attitude, the grit, the humor, the sense that life’s better when it’s a little dangerous.

What movie nails that Field Ethos spirit for you?
Could be a classic, a war film, a western, or something nobody expects.

Name it and tell us why it belongs in the lineup.

Great ones already mentioned with Heat, Lonesome Dove, Quigley Down Under, Jeremiah Johnson, The Northman,

I’ll add Secondhand Lions. Michael Caine & Robert Duvall. Teaching a lost kid on the ways of really living life. Dying with your boots on. Definitely some FE spirit in that one.

 

[Godfather]

Jeremiah Johnson was such a strong pull @Steven Donovan

Jeremiah Johnson - veteran turned mountain man seeking independence

 

[spalind]

Now I know some of the opinions and environmental efforts noted in the film would be defied and snickered at here (I did so myself) but after watching 180 Degrees South, I’ll put that film here—sailing, surfing, mountain climbing, remote places and people, solo travel, etc. And yes, Choinard and Thompkins ended up billionaires but they started as dirtbags hammering out steel in their own forge and have now given those billions away entirely. So yeah, critique some of the ends of those in the film but the “ethos” you want is there

 

[Charlie Benton]

Now I know some of the opinions and environmental efforts noted in the film would be defied and snickered at here (I did so myself) but after watching 180 Degrees South, I’ll put that film here—sailing, surfing, mountain climbing, remote places and people, solo travel, etc. And yes, Choinard and Thompkins ended up billionaires but they started as dirtbags hammering out steel in their own forge and have now given those billions away entirely. So yeah, critique some of the ends of those in the film but the “ethos” you want is there

If we ever offer a film class, you’re teaching it.

 

[spalind]

If we ever offer a film class, you’re teaching it.

Ha! Does that mean that after 30 years I could actually put that “film minor” of mine to some other use than just acting as a snob and looking down my nose at at people? Thank God I had other skills…

 

[Charlie Benton]

I agree with most of the movies mentioned already and will add Stand By Me as a solid representation of a pre-adolescent precursor to our most of our adult adventures. Hell, @Mike Z actually lived the movie's plot out in a way with a couple of other FE contributors. You can read about his quest to recover a missing hiker in 2026 Volume 1.