Top 10 War Movies of all Time

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 10/31/2017 | J Hines

[w1n1]

What’s your top 10 war movies that would make you binge watch all day? This list ranks the best movies about war, battles, and military conflicts. These films recreate some of the most significant events in world history from a variety of perspectives and with a variety of purposes and intentions. Some top war films attempt to recreate as realistically as possible the events that they depict, either from an omniscient perspective permitted by historical study or from the point of view of the soldiers and civilians involved in the conflict itself. Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down, for example, was both praised in its time and heavily criticized for bringing a “you are there” sense of realism – and little outside or cultural perspective – to a recreation of the Battle of Mogadishu. The best war movies of all time differ widely in their handling of the subject matter, but they all strike a chord with viewers now and in the time when they came out.

Some of the greatest war films use war as a backdrop to look at larger issues – such as man’s inhumanity to man or the crippling impact of post-traumatic stress – or just as a meditation on war itself. Still other films like Glory and Band of Brothers examine the personal drama of a few individuals, and mine it for larger insights about the meaning of war and the impact that violence has on individual human lives.

Finally, some war films – particularly those made during the classic Hollywood era – are simply adventure films with war providing a compelling setting and situation. The Great Escape, for example, remains a classic not because of its grand ideas about the nature of war, but because it is a ceaselessly entertaining spectacle. No matter what type of film, there’s no denying that these are certainly the best war movies ever.

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic drama war film set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II. Directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat, the film is notable for its graphic and realistic portrayal of war, and for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which depict the Omaha Beach assault of June 6, 1944. It follows United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller and a squad as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Cl…

Full Metal Jacket

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick. The screenplay by Kubrick, Michael Herr, and Gustav Hasford was based on Hasford’s novel The Short-Timers. The film stars Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D’Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Dorian Harewood, Arliss Howard, Kevyn Major Howard, and Ed O’Ross, and its storyline follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their training and the experiences of two of the platoon’s Marines..

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic adventure war film set during the Vietnam War. Produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, and Robert Duvall. The film follows the central character, U.S. Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard, of MACV-SOG, on a mission to kill the renegade and presumed insane U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz. The screenplay by John Milius and Coppola..

Platoon

Platoon is a 1986 American war film written and directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen. It is the first film of a trilogy of Vietnam War films by Stone. Stone wrote the story based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne’s The Green Berets. It was the first Hollywood film to be written and directed by a veteran of the Vietnam War. See the rest of the top 10 war movies of all time list here. What's your favorite?

[grobdriver]

633 squadron.
Dam Busters

[dfwgator]

Brest Fortress.

[Bull Snipe]

Would have liked to have seen, Tora,Tora,Tora, Glory, and Cross of Iron on the list. Didn’t like 300.

[Mouton]

We were Soldiers tops my list.

[MPJackal]

Sgt York
A Bridge too Far
To Hell and Back
The longest Day

[trebb]

I wonder why “We Were Soldiers” didn’t make the list....

[MPJackal]

Yup, that’s a great one.

[marktwain]

I liked Zulu.

[circlecity]

“The Boys of Company C” was a very underrated war flick.

[freedumb2003]

Das Boot

War of the Worlds (1953 version)

[Avalon Memories]

A list decidedly biased toward recent movies, thereby ignoring Gone With the Wind, Sgt. York, All Quiet On The Western Front, The Longest Day, The Great Escape, Stalag 17, Casablanca, and several others that should be on a “greatest” list.

[MPJackal]

“I wonder why “We Were Soldiers” didn’t make the list....”

That's easy, Mel Gibson.

The Patriot is a great one as well. And Gettysburg.

[circlecity]

“Breaker Morant” would definitely be in my top five.

[dfwgator]

“Breaker Morant” would definitely be in my top five.

Mine too.

[BeadCounter]

I don’t see any of these I enjoy:

Dirty Dozen, yes, it’s very fictional but still worthy.

I’ll keep it short, obviously, there are many films that could be on there.... some foreign like Das Boot. I do agree with ‘Saving Private Ryan’ in being number one but after that, I think the list gets weak. “Great Escape”, etc. should be considered. Everyone will have their own different list. I don’t think their list is very thoughtful.

[bruoz]

84 Charlie Mopic, The Beast (of War), Enemy at the Gates.

[red-dawg]

In Harms Way.

[Red Badger]

[trebb]

Yep - some don't care for Mel Gibson but he has put out some of the most defining movies ever to hit the screen.

Forgot about Gettysburg but it was also great.