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?

[Sloane_Ranger]

Where Eagles Dare.

[daler]

The Enemy Below

[Skooz]

Great flick.

[oldplayer]

12 O’clock High and Das Boot are both great in that they show the emotional toll and stress of combat. (Says one who never was in combat.)

[<1/1,000,000th%]

“The Enemy Below”
“Destination Tokyo”

[castlegreyskull]

No Pearl Harbor? /Sarcasm

[Disambiguator]

The 1997 mini-series “Rough Riders” was good. Directed by John Milius, it had both Tom Berenger and Brad Johnson (who look very similar to each other).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118453/?ref_=nv_sr_3

[pabianice]

The Sand Pebbles. Also best movie from the 1960s.

[Ouderkirk]

Tora. Tora, Tora...

Patton.

[MomwithHope]

Gee my Dad talked about that movie, said it was his favorite. He passed in 1995. Guess I’d better watch it sometime.

[exit82]

#3 is 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, just for accuracy.

Here is the sole remaining survivor of the Doolittle Raid, Doolittle’s co-pilot, Dick Cole:

http://www.historynet.com/dick-cole-last-of-the-doolittle-raiders.htm

He is 102.

[IronJack]

Too Vietnam-heavy. And Spielberg-centric. In Harm’s Way. The Longest Day. A Bridge Too Far. Patton. There are scores of great WWII movies. And that doesn’t even touch the Civil War (Journey to Shiloh, Shenandoah, Gone with the Wind) or the Revolution (The Patriot).

Not a very thorough list.

[ifinnegan]

First four here are all garbage.

[marktwain]

“Stop with the negative vibes, man.”

---

Love that movie. Classic American film. WWII was just a backdrop...

[cincinnati65]

I'm not the biggest war movie fan, but I have to admit, I'm fully 'roped in' after watching 5 minutes of.....

1. Patton
2. Tora, Tora, Tora
3. We Were Soldiers

Once I start, I can't STOP watching those.

[Rik0Shay]

Apocalypse Now is a joke as far as realism goes. Only scene with any credibility is helicopter insertion and then its only realistic feature is the total chaos of an airmobile insertion. Music and surfing is stupid. VietNam Vet 69-70. I’ve done several insertions and except for confusion and resistance the scene was a joke.

[Husker8877]

Bridges at Toko Ri. William Holden, Grace Kelly, Mickey Rooney, and other great actors.

“Where do we get such men?” is the quote from the commander on board ship, when he learns of the fate of Harry Brubaker.

[Skooz]

“Come and See.”

Yes, it’s blatant Soviet propaganda. But, it’s well made and will make you dislike Nazis even more than you do now.

[ifinnegan]

Such an execrable movie that.

[oh8eleven]

• The Deer Hunter
• From Here To Eternity
• Pork Chop Hill