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?

[oldvirginian]

I really tried to pare it down but couldn’t.

1. Patton-George C Scott NAILED IT.

Gone With The Wind-death, devastation, end of an era.

2. Enemy at the Gates-dirty and gritty from beginning to end.

Das Boot-SUBMARINES! Jurgen Prochnow! They were called pig boats for a reason.

3. Great Escape-stealth, deception, derring do, STEVE MCQUEEN!

Bridge on the River Kwai-awesome movie, beautiful ending.

4. Enemy Below-beautiful cat and mouse game, both captains felt real.

We Were Soldiers-Mel Gibson AND Sam Elliott.
“Good morning SGT Major”
“What’s so f###ing good about it”

“Nice weather Sgt Major”
“What are you, a f###ing weatherman”

Is Drang
“Sgt, This is a good morning”.

5. The Patriot-Mel Gibson the reluctant warrior.

Braveheart-again Gibson the reluctant warrior.

6. Hamburger Hill-seemed like a nice cross section of America thrown into a meat grinder.
“Just what the world needs, another niggah with a limp”.

Blue Max-loved it then, love it now.

7. 12 O’clock High-first time I watched I was exhausted by the end.

The DI-I had nightmares that Jack Webb was my dad.

8. The Sullivans-Family and country. It’s who we are.

Hacksaw Ridge-A man goes to war with nothing but his faith and medical supplies.

9. Raid at Cabanatuan-US POW’s slated for death. Daring raid by US troops and Philippine guerrillas.

The Longest Day-Ike and the guys on the beaches thought so. So much riding on one day.

10. Band of Brothers-#10 because it was a mini-series and not a movie.

[morphing libertarian]

I conclude by coming full circle. If there was NO cussing in the film it was unrealistic.

[Calvin Locke]

I thought "The Beast" was a decent sleeper.

I liked the Napoleonic battle scene in the Soviet production of "War & Peace".

[dsc]

Sorry. A lot of people don’t post a quote that they’re replying to.

[Mr Radical]

worth a look, imho:

Ice Cold in Alex

The Cruel Sea

Memphis Belle (the original, of course)

A Town Like Alice (ditto)

[drjimmy]

Speaking of Burt Lancaster, I forgot about Castle Keep, a surreal WWII movie in which he plays a one-eyed Army major trying to slow down the German approach on Bastogne with a ragtag squad (one of whom falls in love with a Volkswagon Beetle). The NY Times called it “firmly pro and anti war,” and it most definitely is.

[mfish13]

The GreAT Escape is not there.

[mfish13]

Hogans Heroes (I know..........

[OldMissileer]

Battleground
A Gathering of Eagles
Strategic Air Command
In Harm’s Way
Twelve O’Clock High
The Longest Day
Fail Safe

For Comedy: Dr. Strangelove

Series: Band of Brothers

[itsahoot]

I was in the Navy 61-65 and foul-mouthed was the order of the day.

Didn't happen on my ship. Different commands I guess. No queers either.

[OldMissileer]

Wait a minute, I thought Germans spoke with an English accent, like Richard Burton. No wonder I couldn't understand anyone when I visited Stuttgart!

I had to take many trips to Patch Barracks and not a single German had an English accent. It confused me. :-)

[Enlightened1]

We Were Soldiers

The Patriot

Hacksaw Ridge

Downfall

Enemy At the Gates

American Sniper

Fury

Glory

The Dirty Dozen

Saving Private Ryan

[OldMissileer]

damn, completely missed Blackhawk down.. another great movie!

It is a great movie but I can't watch it as I get so angry at Bill Clinton and what he did to force those events that killed our fine soldiers.

[Seaplaner]

Voops! You are both correct! I missed it by 10 seconds.

Thanks for the correction!

[Seaplaner]

OMGosh!

I completely forgot the Caine Mutiny! Yes, it's one of Bogie's finest performances, and it's a rare movie that is completely entertaining, even after reading the excellent, Pulitzer-winning novel by Herman Wouk.

And, I'm on board with the others you describe (although, technically, the superb Band of Brothers was a television special, and just about the best thing that hbo ever produced.)

My only quibble, and it's okay to have one, it about the Deer Hunter. I thought it was diffuse, scattered, sophomoric, beyond unbelievable, and had a sick subplot of head wounds (including a crude foreshadowing with the Lettermen's "Going out of my head").

Other than that, we're on the same frequency.

[ex91B10]

God...they never heard of “The Longest Day”?

[Albion Wilde]

A Town Like Alice

So memorable. Devastating.

[Elderberry]

King Rat

Sahara(1943)

[Albion Wilde]

How about the party in The Great Santini? The scene with the mushroom soup... awesome! Loved that movie.

[wyowolf]

It ain’t the first or last time the military paid for politicians mistakes