VIDEO : DVDS ARE GOING TO WAR THIS WEEK.

Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor

``Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.'' The late George C. Scott said those words in his Oscar-winning performance as Gen. George Patton in ``Patton,'' a film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and written by Francis Ford Coppola.

In Coppola's portrait, Patton clearly relishes his role on the historical stage, but he is not a bloodthirsty man. What makes this larger-than-life character so fascinating is that while he never wavers in purpose, he - like the vast majority of men in combat - is conflicted in his feelings toward war.

This week, five major war films, including the 1970 ``Patton,'' were released on DVD for the first time. Leading the list is the best war film of all time, Steven Spielberg's ``Saving Private Ryan'' (1998). The others are Terrence Malick's ``Thin Red Line'' (1998); an earlier D-Day epic, ``The Longest Day'' (1962); and ``Tora, Tora, Tora'' (1970), which tells of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

All of these films can be taken to task in varying degrees for historical inaccuracies. The most real of these, ``Ryan,'' is a fictional story (a platoon is sent out to find a Private Ryan at the front and bring him back safely because all of Ryan's brothers have been killed in combat). Its depiction of the landing at Omaha beach on D-Day is so harrowing that the viewer can't help but be moved by the sacrifices these soldiers made. But the film is more than horrific visions - it shows what it took for the individual soldiers to put themselves on the line.

``You want to explain the math of this to me? I mean, where's the sense in risking the lives of the eight of us to save one guy?'' asks Pvt. Reiben (Ed Burns). The answer medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi) offers is: ``Hey, think about the poor bastard's mother.''

Even in conflict that is considered as clearly defined as World War II - where ``evil was loose in the world,'' as author/historian Stephen Ambrose says on a featurette on the DVD - there is no simple way to explain a man's decision to fight or put himself in a position from which he may never return.

This is a question that is behind much of the literature about war. Ambrose has written about it extensively. James Jones used his own experiences as the basis for ``Thin Red Line'' and Cornelius Ryan's book, in which he used interviews with D-Day survivors, was the source material for ``The Longest Day.'' But the visceral cinematic experience can be profound in ways that the page can't.

Whether for good or bad is the question.

A number of John Wayne movies, for instance, are clearly jingoist and propagandistic. Ron Kovic, whose story was told in Oliver Stone's ``Born on the Fourth of July,'' says his patriotic fervor to join the Marines was fueled by watching Wayne movies. Kovic came back from Vietnam in a wheelchair and became an antiwar activist.

Wayne appears, along with a host of leading men, in ``The Longest Day,'' the most Hollywood of these five films, but even here can be found some ambivalence that men in combat feel.

``He's dead. I'm crippled. You're lost. Do you suppose it's always like that... in a war?'' asks a British soldier played by Richard Burton. ``Day'' doesn't measure up to ``Ryan,'' of course, but there are some moments, probably thanks to the fact that Jones co-wrote the script. As with ``Tora,'' there are too many big-star cameos that distract the story, but both films try to give these crucial battles some perspective.

Malick's film is brilliant and frustrating at times - an almost impressionistic picture of war - but ultimately has so much to recommend it, including a volatile performance by Nick Nolte, that it can't be overlooked. But none of these films should be. While ``Ryan'' is the one to get, the others are among the best war films ever made.

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Photo

Photo: George C. Scott in the title role of ``Patton,'' which, along with four other acclaimed war films, are now available this week on DVD.