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?

[rlmorel]

I agree with others on Apocalypse Now...I “enjoyed” it as I would enjoy a sci-fi movie. But the picture it paints is quite disrespectful of our men who served.

[dfwgator]

[Sans-Culotte]

On Netflix they have “The Longest Day”, but what I didn’t know was that they filmed the scenes with the foreign actors speaking English instead of in their native language, I couldn’t watch it. I’d much rather have the Germans speaking Germ

There are two versions of The Longest Day. One has everybody speaking English, one has everybody speaking their own language. Obviously Netflix has the version that was meant for those living in Rio Linda.

[wbill]

Fury? Maybe. But the audience sure looked pretty miserable by the time the movie was over.... ;-)

I paid money to go see Fury in the theater. Wasn't the wisest investment I've made, of late.

I'd put Band of Brothers at the top of the list, I think. There are a right fair number of other decent ones listed in the thread.

[catnipman]

and “Midway”

[catnipman]

“I liked Zulu.”

me too

[Phlap]

From Here to Eternity.

[catnipman]

“Das Boot”

indeed, an awesome movie.

and another great German WWII movie is “Downfall”.

[itsahoot]

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

Can't be all that good, not a single fBomb in any of then.

[BlueLancer]

Oh, I wouldn't consider "Fury" as even one of the top 100 war movies. I just meant as far as mud and dirt and misery ...

My favorite military-themed movies would be "In Harm's Way" and "Kelly's Heroes".

My favorite action/war movies would be "Cross of Iron", "Zulu", and "We Were Soldiers".

[morphing libertarian]

Then the film was unrealistic

[beergarden]

I agree. Underrated film from Mel Gibson.

[Radagast the Fool]

Red Dawn
On the Beach
Day One ( a very good TV movie about the Manhattan Project)

[Jim Noble]

I really take issue with the top four, and I’m surprised more here don’t.

Let me deal with #1 first. The first 24 minutes of SPR are great. No question. And the plot twist at the end is very well done. But what’s in between is escapist garbage.

#s 2-4 are anti-American antiwar propaganda. R. Lee Ermey’s caricature of a DI is funny, but that’s about it.

So, what four belong that aren’t there?

Twelve O’Clock High
Enemy at the Gates
Patton
Run Silent, Run Deep

JMO. YMMV.

[sparklite2]

Patton
In Harm’s Way
Apocalypse Now
Catch-22
Biloxi Blues
Full Metal Jacket
Saving Private Ryan
The Hunt for Red October
Black Hawk Down
Failsafe

[princeofdarkness]

Battleground(1949) starring James Whitmore and Van Johnson.

[ifinnegan]

“Apocalypse Now was basically “Heart of Darkness” in Vietnam.”

Yes. I’ve always heard that.

[rlmorel]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That’s great!

[mcshot]

Plus: The Bridges of Toko-Ri

[rlmorel]

Forgot one that I liked, just saw recently:

“Silent Night”, based on a true story about a Belgian woman who had an American patrol and German patrol stay in her house on Christmas Eve.

True story, and very interesting, too. All the parties somehow kept in touch after the war.