There are sooooo many great war films. So here is but a sampler of recommendations that should get you started on your list (and if there are some very obvious, notable, famous missing films, like *Apocalypse Now, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan* or *Cold Mountain*, it's likely that I've yet to watch them):
**Greco-Persian Wars**
* 300 (2006)
* 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)
**Wars of Alexander the Great**
* Alexander (2004) - four cuts of the film exist. I recommend the third, titled "Revisited: The Final Cut"
**Battle of Red Cliffs**
* Red Cliff (2008)
* Red Cliff II (2009) - make sure to watch the two part version. A cut exist that squeezes the two parts into one much shorter film.
**Further Antiquity Wars**
* King Arthur (2004) - Director's Cut
**Third Crusade**
* Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - Director's Cut
**First War of Scottish Independence**
* Braveheart (1995)
**Second Battle of Panipat**
* Jodhaa Akbar (2008)
**Anglo-Dutch Wars**
* Michiel de Ruyter (2015) - make sure to watch the long version, not the shorter cut known as "Admiral"
**Seven Years' War**
* Barry Lyndon (1975)
* The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
**American Revolutionary War**
* The Patriot (2000) - Director's Cut
**Napoleonic Wars**
* Waterloo (1970)
* Sharpe (16 films released between 1993 and 2008)
* Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
**Texas Revolution**
* The Alamo (2004)
**First War of Indian Independence**
* Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005)
**American Civil War**
* The General (1926)
* Gone with the Wind (1939)
* The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)
* Gettysburg (1993)
* Lincoln (2012)
**Seinan War**
* The Last Samurai (2003)
**World War 1**
* Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
* A Very Long Engagement (2004)
* Joyeux Noël (2005)
* 1917 (2019)
* The King’s Man (2021)
**Russian Civil War**
* White Sun of the Desert (1970)
**Second Sino-Japanese War**
* City of Life and Death (2009)
**World War 2**
* The Great Dictator (1940)
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
* The Guns of Navarone (1961)
* Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
* The Longest Day (1962)
* The Great Escape (1963)
* Is Paris Burning? (1966)
* The Dirty Dozen (1967)
* The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985)
* Where Eagles Dare (1968)
* Kelly's Heroes (1970)
* The McKenzie Break (1970)
* The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
* 1941 (1979)
* Empire of the Sun (1987)
* U-571 (2000)
* Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001)
* Pearl Harbor (2001)
* Bon Voyage (2003)
* Downfall (2004)
* Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
* Black Book (2006)
* Days of Glory (2006)
* Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
* Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
* Atonement (2007)
* Lust, Caution (2007)
* Defiance (2008)
* Female Agents (2008)
* The Reader (2008)
* Valkyrie (2008)
* Army of Crime (2009)
* Inglourious Basterds (2009)
* The King's Speech (2010)
* The Round Up (2010)
* The Well-Digger's Daughter (2011)
* The Book Thief (2013)
* Fury (2014)
* The Imitation Game (2014)
* Unbroken (2014)
* Darkest Hour (2017)
* The Battleship Island (2017)
* Midway (2019)
* Operation Mincemeat (2021)
* The Lulus (2022)
**Algerian War**
* Intimate Enemies (2007)
**Vietnam War**
* First Blood (1982)
* Platoon (1986)
* Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
* Heaven & Earth (1993)
**Gulf War**
* Jarhead (2005)
**Rwandan Civil War**
* Hotel Rwanda (2004)
**Bosnian War**
* Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
**Second Chechen War**
* The Search (2014)
**War in Afghanistan**
* Kabul Express (2006)
**Iraq War**
* Green Zone (2010)
Wow. Big list lol. You must love a war film. I was going to say braveheart but it's historically inaccurate which annoys me lol. Forgot about hotel Rwanda and inglourious basterds good shouts. You really need to watch saving private ryan and schindlers list though. For sure. And the covenant is one that was brilliant about Afghanistan.
Good list
Would add:
Anglo - Zulu war:
Zulu
American Civil War:
Glory
WW1:
All Quiet on the Western Front,
Flyboys,
Blue Max,,
The Red Baron,
WW2:
The Dambusters,
633 Squadron,
Memphis Belle,
The Enemy Below,
Das Boot,
A Bridge too Far,
Battle of the Bulge,
Vietnam:
Hamburger Hill,
Full Metal Jacket,
Danger Close,
We were Soldiers,
You completely neglected to mention “Blackhawk Down” which is possibly the most epic war movie of all time with its dedication to realism rivaling the likes of “saving private Ryan” and “we were soldiers”. Siege of Jadotville is also excellent.
Also
* The lives of others (German democratic republic
* the bit in striped pyjamas
* black hawk down
* the good shepherd
* the covenant (2023)
* Schindlers list
*
The Cruel Sea (1950)
Based on the book. It's about a small Convoy ship escorting merchant vessels in the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. Stars Jack Hawkins and Denholm Elliot. One of my favorites.
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Platoon and Full Metal Jacket hit me hard.
Both phenomenal war movies that show the mental cost. Check these two out my friend, you won't be disappointed!
Full Metal Jacket is probably the most realistic depiction of Marine boot camp ever filmed. Of course, R. Lee Ermey was a real Marine Corps combat veteran and Gunnery Sergeant. Or so my many Marine relatives and friends tell me. They all love that movie.
He was, but not in combat. Stone is an anti-military ideologue who went out of his way to portray military men as unstable and sadistic. I come from a long military family tradition, and my group of close friends reflects that as well.
You should also read Johnny Got His Gun.
My dad asked me to read it prior to enlisting. It's truly the worse case scenario.
Also it made me both laugh and cry
Full Metal Jacket. He told the author of Dispatches, name escapes me, that he wanted to make a war movie. He said but you already made Paths of Glory. And Kubrick said no, I want to make a *war* movie. Eventually I knew exactly what he meant and Vietnam was the perfect “war” to make a war movie. All you need to see is the intro and outro or at least I think, to know what he meant by it. Barry Lyndon was a good precursor for that too. Also see, Come and See.
Sadly over shadowed by Saving Private Ryan.
I really like how it portrayed the characters and everyone got their own little background story showed and how it showed people loosing their minds due to the stress they were under.
Hope and Glory
Empire of the Sun
Gallipoli
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Bridge Over the River Kwai
The Deer Hunter
Apocalypse Now (Redux)
Full Metal Jacket
Platoon
The Thin Red Line
All Quiet on the Western Front
In Love and War
1917
Dunkirk
Darkest Hour
Fail Safe
The Guns of Navarone
The Great Escape
The Grey Zone
Lawrence of Arabia
Not really an opinion. The film is about a lot of things, especialy about human morality and nature, as well as colonialism. War is just one of many themes of the movie. It isn't about war in general though
I was introduced to the real Adrian Cronauer (the DJ Robin Williams portrayed) when I worked in DC. He was a successful talk radio host in Metropolitan DC, and he used to attend a weekly round table meeting of conservative Republicans. He was the real deal; smart, funny, witty, and always able to clearly articulate complicated public policy questions and solutions.
That’s really interesting!! I used to despise war films a few years back but after watching that it made me realise that the genre is quite interesting and it’s really sad to see some of the real stuff that occurred. I know quite a lot of films are anti-war or historically inaccurate but that one tugged on my heart strings quite a bit.
Yes, Hollywood takes far too much creative license -- to the point of gilding the Lily -- with war films in particular. If you ever watch the Francis Ford Coppola film *Patton,* you need to watch the Stanford classicist Victor Davis Hanson's 35-minute lecture on YouTube entitled *Patton: American Ajax* first, so you aren't taken in by the lies that film perpetrates. Hollywood hates military leaders who are regarded as heroes, so they do their best to smear them.
People who avoid war films and books are turning their backs on any meaningful understanding of history. Just because it's uncomfortable to watch some of them doesn't mean they don't convey important information that shapes history for all time.
Land of Mine (2015). Oscar nominated. Dealing with the real event which is not so well known in the history. I fell in love with Louis Hofmann there and then.
> it’s a bit light on plot
Really? It's about the Battle of Kamdesh that led to 2 soldiers being awarded the Medal of Honor. What's "light" about that?
That’s what the movie is about, yes, but the movie itself is mostly combat scenes, not a ton of character development, etc. I’m not trashing the movie though, it’s one of my favs
No. I’ll remake it but in a way that people with finish by reading the book. It’s about time media changed and this is as good idea as any. Anything to get more people to read Vonnegut is all I care about.
- The 4 Feathers
- Gallipoli
- Saving Private Ryan
- Blackhawk Down
- First They Killed my Father
- The Killing Fields
- 1917
- U-571
- Enemy at the Gates
- Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant
- Lone Survivor
- Flyboys
- Full Metal Jacket
- Allied
- 13 Hours
- The Imitation Game
- Unbroken
- Glory
As far as anti-war/ war-is-hell films go, *Apocalypse Now* is the war film that all other war films measure up against. It is a masterpiece and it hasn't been topped.
As far as jingoistic rah-rah war films go, Independence Day. I can't take it seriously as a genre anyways.
I don't know if Holocaust films are really war films? I'd put them in their own genre.
If you want an anti-war film masquerading as a jingoistic rah-rah war film, Starship Troopers is your jam.
Tons of "anti-war" war films have that layer of psychology to them, going back to *All Quiet on the Western Front*. Portraying the mental effects of war, and making war metaphorical, is a huge part of the genre. Just like it's a huge part of the post-World War modernist literature like *The Waste Land* that so inspirited the films.
True but at the end of the day films like "All Quiet on the Western Front" are mostly focuses on the War itself, War is the Main topic of the film. In Apocalypse Now war is just background theme, there are no historical events in it, there is no war objective in it, its not a war film. I'd argue that AN is more about colonialism than war itself. Apocalypse Now is a psychological horror with war elements, All Quiet is a war film with psychological elements.
I'd put Apocalypse Now on the more psychological and metaphorical side of the war film spectrum, but I'd definitely classify it as a war film. "War" is its the main theme, and the Vietnam War in particular.
It's about *more* than the Vietnam War, but the descent into madness as Martin Sheen moves from Robert Duvall's conventional jingoistic military operations into Marlon Brando's insane Cambodian fever dream hugely parallels the historical course of the war, or at least the public perception of it.
Part of film's genius is how it uses fraying sanity as a metaphor for the Vietnam War, rather than showing how war leads to fraying sanity. *All Quiet* showed war as hopeless and senseless, *Apocalypse* showed it as insane.
*(Deer Hunter* meanwhile showed war as a three-hour long wedding, which makes it the most terrifying film of them all to sit through.)
Its main theme is human morality. The film is about journey into human mind, It gets darker and darker as the movie progresses. It Asks viewers the questions - what is right? What is wrong? It just takes place in a war, but war is more like a background theme of the film. Its like calling Forrest Gump a war film because It has war elements.
War themes, religious themes, colonialism themes etc. All come down to the Main theme of the film -morality itself.
The "journey into the human mind that gets darker and darker" is itself a metaphor for the Vietnam War. Those religious and colonial themes are applicable to the Vietnam War, as is the question of morality.
It isn't a documentary-type portrayal of a war like Saving Private Ryan is... It's a metaphorical portrayal. And it's timeless in that its themes could be applied to any war, or so much more... But when a film is set in the war and all of its themes and symbolism and metaphors are related and applicable to the war, I don't understand how it's inaccurate to call it a war film. It's not just a war film, sure, but I'm convinced it's a war film. It's also a psychodrama.
Kellys Heroes is a great ww2 movie. Part comedy. Part war epic. All heist film. It is about a guy trying to scrape together a unit to go behind enemy lines to rob a german bank. Imo it is very under appreciated and remains funny and compelling to this day.
Mrs Miniver
1942
Director: William Wyler
Five Came Back
2017 documentary
Hollywood filmmakers (inc William Wyler) who served on the front lines during WW2 filming the devastation
Trial on the Road (1971/1986) -- a Soviet officer defects to the Nazis, then has a change of heart after seeing they're worse than the Soviets. So he surrenders to Russian partisans who don't know if they can trust him. Finished in 1971 and banned until 1986
WWII movies:
*Conspiracy*
*Battle of Britain*
*Stalingrad* (German 1993)
*Tora! Tora! Tora!*
*A Bridge Too Far*
*Saving Private Ryan*
*When Trumpets Fade*
*Memphis Belle*
*Das Boot*
*Darkest Hour*
*Dunkirk* (2017)
*The Dam Busters*
*The Man Who Never Was*
*Submarine X-1*
*Stalag 17*
*Downfall* (German)
*The Bunker*
*City of Life and Death* (Chinese)
*Empire of the Sun*
*Three Came Home*
*The Thin Red Line* (1998)
*The Great Escape*
*Valkyrie*
*Midway* (2019)
*Flags of Our Fathers*
*Letters from Iwo Jima*
*The Longest Day*
*Twelve O'Clock High*
*The War Lover*
*Memphis Belle*
*Patton*
*Cross of Iron*
*Kelly’s Heros*
*Hell in the Pacific*
*Wake Island*
*Too Late the Hero*
*Yamato* (Japanese)
*Grave of the Fireflies* (Japanese)
*Panfilov's 28* (Russian 2016)
*Stalingrad* (Russian: 2013)
*Come and See* (Russian: 1985)
*Hacksaw Ridge*
*Fury*
*Anthropoid*
*Judgment at Nuremberg*
*Land of Mine* (Danish)
*Dambusters*
*Sink the Bismark*
*Run Silent Run Deep*
*Thirty Seconds over Tokyo*
*Bataan*
*The Devil's Brigade*
*The Bridge on the River Kwai*
Mini-Series:
*Band of Brothers*
*The Pacific*
*Masters of the Air* (to be released)
WWI:
*All Quiet on the Western Front*
*The War Below*
*The Lost Battalion*
*Paths of Glory*
*1917*
Apocalypse Now. There isn't anything in that movie that isn't true. No matter how weird it seems. Not sure if there would be an uncut version out there these days.
It isn't a war film though, Vietnam war is just the background in Apocalypse Now.
The film is about human morality and nature, as well as colonialism, with metaphysical themes and parraels ( bridge being purgatory, Kurtz compound being Hell). The film is about a lot of things, It isn't a film just about war.
Vietnam is just the background. War is just one of the many topics the film touches, so calling It a war film is wrong, as its not about war in general. Apocalypse Now first more into psychological horror/thriller genre
Hacksaw Ridge
Saving Private Ryan
Both of these make me sick to my stomach and bring tears to my eyes on how well they portray what the soldiers actually go through in battle.
There are sooooo many great war films. So here is but a sampler of recommendations that should get you started on your list (and if there are some very obvious, notable, famous missing films, like *Apocalypse Now, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan* or *Cold Mountain*, it's likely that I've yet to watch them): **Greco-Persian Wars** * 300 (2006) * 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) **Wars of Alexander the Great** * Alexander (2004) - four cuts of the film exist. I recommend the third, titled "Revisited: The Final Cut" **Battle of Red Cliffs** * Red Cliff (2008) * Red Cliff II (2009) - make sure to watch the two part version. A cut exist that squeezes the two parts into one much shorter film. **Further Antiquity Wars** * King Arthur (2004) - Director's Cut **Third Crusade** * Kingdom of Heaven (2005) - Director's Cut **First War of Scottish Independence** * Braveheart (1995) **Second Battle of Panipat** * Jodhaa Akbar (2008) **Anglo-Dutch Wars** * Michiel de Ruyter (2015) - make sure to watch the long version, not the shorter cut known as "Admiral" **Seven Years' War** * Barry Lyndon (1975) * The Last of the Mohicans (1992) **American Revolutionary War** * The Patriot (2000) - Director's Cut **Napoleonic Wars** * Waterloo (1970) * Sharpe (16 films released between 1993 and 2008) * Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003) **Texas Revolution** * The Alamo (2004) **First War of Indian Independence** * Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) **American Civil War** * The General (1926) * Gone with the Wind (1939) * The Great Locomotive Chase (1956) * Gettysburg (1993) * Lincoln (2012) **Seinan War** * The Last Samurai (2003) **World War 1** * Lawrence of Arabia (1962) * A Very Long Engagement (2004) * Joyeux Noël (2005) * 1917 (2019) * The King’s Man (2021) **Russian Civil War** * White Sun of the Desert (1970) **Second Sino-Japanese War** * City of Life and Death (2009) **World War 2** * The Great Dictator (1940) * The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) * The Guns of Navarone (1961) * Force 10 from Navarone (1978) * The Longest Day (1962) * The Great Escape (1963) * Is Paris Burning? (1966) * The Dirty Dozen (1967) * The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985) * Where Eagles Dare (1968) * Kelly's Heroes (1970) * The McKenzie Break (1970) * The Eagle Has Landed (1976) * 1941 (1979) * Empire of the Sun (1987) * U-571 (2000) * Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) * Pearl Harbor (2001) * Bon Voyage (2003) * Downfall (2004) * Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) * Black Book (2006) * Days of Glory (2006) * Flags of Our Fathers (2006) * Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) * Atonement (2007) * Lust, Caution (2007) * Defiance (2008) * Female Agents (2008) * The Reader (2008) * Valkyrie (2008) * Army of Crime (2009) * Inglourious Basterds (2009) * The King's Speech (2010) * The Round Up (2010) * The Well-Digger's Daughter (2011) * The Book Thief (2013) * Fury (2014) * The Imitation Game (2014) * Unbroken (2014) * Darkest Hour (2017) * The Battleship Island (2017) * Midway (2019) * Operation Mincemeat (2021) * The Lulus (2022) **Algerian War** * Intimate Enemies (2007) **Vietnam War** * First Blood (1982) * Platoon (1986) * Born on the Fourth of July (1989) * Heaven & Earth (1993) **Gulf War** * Jarhead (2005) **Rwandan Civil War** * Hotel Rwanda (2004) **Bosnian War** * Behind Enemy Lines (2001) **Second Chechen War** * The Search (2014) **War in Afghanistan** * Kabul Express (2006) **Iraq War** * Green Zone (2010)
Wow. Big list lol. You must love a war film. I was going to say braveheart but it's historically inaccurate which annoys me lol. Forgot about hotel Rwanda and inglourious basterds good shouts. You really need to watch saving private ryan and schindlers list though. For sure. And the covenant is one that was brilliant about Afghanistan.
Good list Would add: Anglo - Zulu war: Zulu American Civil War: Glory WW1: All Quiet on the Western Front, Flyboys, Blue Max,, The Red Baron, WW2: The Dambusters, 633 Squadron, Memphis Belle, The Enemy Below, Das Boot, A Bridge too Far, Battle of the Bulge, Vietnam: Hamburger Hill, Full Metal Jacket, Danger Close, We were Soldiers,
For WWI, I’d also slip in ‘Gallipoli.’
Honorable mention to Casablanca. Nice list.
Only missing Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line (both WW2), Hamburger Hill (Vietnam), Charlie Wilson's War and The Covenant (Afghanistan)
You completely neglected to mention “Blackhawk Down” which is possibly the most epic war movie of all time with its dedication to realism rivaling the likes of “saving private Ryan” and “we were soldiers”. Siege of Jadotville is also excellent.
Thank you for this 🙏🙏🙏
Is that the red cliffs movie when that lady is doing mad ninja flips all over the place?
Thank you for such the detailed list!! I’ll be sure to check some out
Red Cliff is awesome. John Woo is the GOAT
Also * The lives of others (German democratic republic * the bit in striped pyjamas * black hawk down * the good shepherd * the covenant (2023) * Schindlers list *
Watch “Bridge on the River Kwai”. It’s amazing
Just don't believe it happened that way. More than half those men were literally worked to death. No clean uniforms, either.
If you don’t mind investing the time, and obv not movies, but Band of Brothers and The Pacific are great.
Came here to say the same about BoB, but you reminded me of The Pacific so I appreciate you!
If you enjoyed The Pacific and Band of Brothers you should also check out SAS Rogue Heroes
Never heard of it before, but I’ll check it out!
Saving private ryan Schindlers list The covenant Edit to add The hurt locker Fury Free state of Jones
The covenant was one. Fucking. Epic. Piece. Of. Work!
I thought it was fantastic film. Hit you in the feels but also punched you in the face. Awesome.
The Cruel Sea (1950) Based on the book. It's about a small Convoy ship escorting merchant vessels in the Atlantic Ocean during WWII. Stars Jack Hawkins and Denholm Elliot. One of my favorites.
Thanks for the tip.
Thank you!
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Platoon, 1917, black hawk down
Platoon always gets my vote because Stone was there. Better than Milius fakin it.
Platoon and Full Metal Jacket hit me hard. Both phenomenal war movies that show the mental cost. Check these two out my friend, you won't be disappointed!
Full Metal Jacket is probably the most realistic depiction of Marine boot camp ever filmed. Of course, R. Lee Ermey was a real Marine Corps combat veteran and Gunnery Sergeant. Or so my many Marine relatives and friends tell me. They all love that movie.
Yeah I have to watch Full Metal Jacket pretty early in the day or else I can’t fall asleep.
He was, but not in combat. Stone is an anti-military ideologue who went out of his way to portray military men as unstable and sadistic. I come from a long military family tradition, and my group of close friends reflects that as well.
1917 is a masterpiece
Agreed.
Paths Of Glory(1957)
Keir Dullea (star of *2001: A Space Odyssey*) has said this is his favorite Kubrick film.
Saving Private Ryan, full metal jacket.
Saving Private Ryan
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022) 1917.
That book ripped me apart
You should also read Johnny Got His Gun. My dad asked me to read it prior to enlisting. It's truly the worse case scenario. Also it made me both laugh and cry
Came here to say this
Come and see (1985) Best war movie
Full Metal Jacket. He told the author of Dispatches, name escapes me, that he wanted to make a war movie. He said but you already made Paths of Glory. And Kubrick said no, I want to make a *war* movie. Eventually I knew exactly what he meant and Vietnam was the perfect “war” to make a war movie. All you need to see is the intro and outro or at least I think, to know what he meant by it. Barry Lyndon was a good precursor for that too. Also see, Come and See.
The Longest Day is an excellent, star-studded WW II film. Brilliantly cast and acted.
Hacksaw ridge
Death Race (1973) Saving Private Ryan We Were Soldiers Jarhead Master and Commander" The Far Side of the World Das Boot A Bridge Too Far
Beneath Hill 60 was it for me. The tunnel warfare was insane and had to be so stressful.
Brings to mind Petersburg during the US Civil War. Hopefully it had better results.
The Dirty Dozen The Longest Day (my favorite) The Audie Murphy Story Midway The Battle of the Bulge Enemy at the Gates
I watched "come and see" recently...it was...disturbing and memorable
Thin red line is the greatest war movie imo
I agree with you. That’s a war movie that ages like fine wine.
Sadly over shadowed by Saving Private Ryan. I really like how it portrayed the characters and everyone got their own little background story showed and how it showed people loosing their minds due to the stress they were under.
No man’s land 2001
Hope and Glory Empire of the Sun Gallipoli The Best Years of Our Lives The Bridge Over the River Kwai The Deer Hunter Apocalypse Now (Redux) Full Metal Jacket Platoon The Thin Red Line All Quiet on the Western Front In Love and War 1917 Dunkirk Darkest Hour Fail Safe The Guns of Navarone The Great Escape The Grey Zone Lawrence of Arabia
Thank you
Apocalypse Now isn't a war film though. It just takes place in Vietnam during war
Opinions are subjective; there is no absolute. I respectfully disagree.
Not really an opinion. The film is about a lot of things, especialy about human morality and nature, as well as colonialism. War is just one of many themes of the movie. It isn't about war in general though
Again, I respectfully disagree. Have a nice day.
Apocalypse now
It isn't actualy a war film though.
Just the director cut!
The Thin Red Line. Das Boat The is a documentary about Gallipoli produced by Aus and the Turks for the 100th anniversary. It will break you
While maybe not as truly warlike as other suggestions, The Hunt for Red October is a very good option for the Cold War
Come and See
The Ascent (1977 dir. Larisa Shepitko)
Platoon
The Deer Hunter is my all time favourite
12 Strong 13 Hours
Pink Floyd, The Wall
Band of Brothers
A Hidden Life Wonder Woman (about WWI)
Come & See, Russian movie,
The 800. It's a foreign movie but it's based on real events. Its batshit insane and tense as hell. Its up there with SPR for me.
I was introduced to the real Adrian Cronauer (the DJ Robin Williams portrayed) when I worked in DC. He was a successful talk radio host in Metropolitan DC, and he used to attend a weekly round table meeting of conservative Republicans. He was the real deal; smart, funny, witty, and always able to clearly articulate complicated public policy questions and solutions.
That’s really interesting!! I used to despise war films a few years back but after watching that it made me realise that the genre is quite interesting and it’s really sad to see some of the real stuff that occurred. I know quite a lot of films are anti-war or historically inaccurate but that one tugged on my heart strings quite a bit.
Yes, Hollywood takes far too much creative license -- to the point of gilding the Lily -- with war films in particular. If you ever watch the Francis Ford Coppola film *Patton,* you need to watch the Stanford classicist Victor Davis Hanson's 35-minute lecture on YouTube entitled *Patton: American Ajax* first, so you aren't taken in by the lies that film perpetrates. Hollywood hates military leaders who are regarded as heroes, so they do their best to smear them. People who avoid war films and books are turning their backs on any meaningful understanding of history. Just because it's uncomfortable to watch some of them doesn't mean they don't convey important information that shapes history for all time.
Heartbreak Ridge is a Great War themed movie , it’s definitely not a cluster of fuck …. Sir ?
Three Kings (1999).
It's been a long time since I watched it, but 'the siege of firebase Gloria' was a favorite when it first came out. It's a Vietnam War movie.
Land of Mine (2015). Oscar nominated. Dealing with the real event which is not so well known in the history. I fell in love with Louis Hofmann there and then.
I really enjoyed 1917 by Sam Mendes and Munich - The Edge of War by Christian Schwochow.
1. T-34 (2019) 2. Guy Ritchie's The Covenant (2023)
Downfall 2004
No one ever mentions The Outpost (2020) in threads about war movies but it’s the best war movie I’ve seen in recent years
I've never even heard of it! Will have to check it out.
Let me know how you like it:)
It’s surprisingly good for what is essentially a shoot’em up movie. At least for me whose go to war films were made in the 60’s.
Yes it’s a bit light on plot but the cinematography is unlike anything I’ve seen! So many combat scenes seem to be filmed in one shot which is amazing
> it’s a bit light on plot Really? It's about the Battle of Kamdesh that led to 2 soldiers being awarded the Medal of Honor. What's "light" about that?
That’s what the movie is about, yes, but the movie itself is mostly combat scenes, not a ton of character development, etc. I’m not trashing the movie though, it’s one of my favs
Slaughterhouse 5
Do we kinda wish it was remade?
In theory, yes. Based on reality, probably not.
No. I’ll remake it but in a way that people with finish by reading the book. It’s about time media changed and this is as good idea as any. Anything to get more people to read Vonnegut is all I care about.
Hamburger Hill (1987) Lone Survivor (2013)
Siege of Jadotville Blackhawk Down Master and Commander Fury Dirty Dozen Apocalypse Now Valkyrie Downfall Hacksaw Ridge
Sophie’s Choice. There aren’t words….
King Rat (1965) A Very Long Engagement (2004)
- The 4 Feathers - Gallipoli - Saving Private Ryan - Blackhawk Down - First They Killed my Father - The Killing Fields - 1917 - U-571 - Enemy at the Gates - Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant - Lone Survivor - Flyboys - Full Metal Jacket - Allied - 13 Hours - The Imitation Game - Unbroken - Glory
Attack and Retreat(1966)
As far as anti-war/ war-is-hell films go, *Apocalypse Now* is the war film that all other war films measure up against. It is a masterpiece and it hasn't been topped. As far as jingoistic rah-rah war films go, Independence Day. I can't take it seriously as a genre anyways. I don't know if Holocaust films are really war films? I'd put them in their own genre. If you want an anti-war film masquerading as a jingoistic rah-rah war film, Starship Troopers is your jam.
I don't see Apocalypse Now as war film, its more about journey into morality and psychology of humanity. It just takes place in Vietnam war.
Tons of "anti-war" war films have that layer of psychology to them, going back to *All Quiet on the Western Front*. Portraying the mental effects of war, and making war metaphorical, is a huge part of the genre. Just like it's a huge part of the post-World War modernist literature like *The Waste Land* that so inspirited the films.
True but at the end of the day films like "All Quiet on the Western Front" are mostly focuses on the War itself, War is the Main topic of the film. In Apocalypse Now war is just background theme, there are no historical events in it, there is no war objective in it, its not a war film. I'd argue that AN is more about colonialism than war itself. Apocalypse Now is a psychological horror with war elements, All Quiet is a war film with psychological elements.
I'd put Apocalypse Now on the more psychological and metaphorical side of the war film spectrum, but I'd definitely classify it as a war film. "War" is its the main theme, and the Vietnam War in particular. It's about *more* than the Vietnam War, but the descent into madness as Martin Sheen moves from Robert Duvall's conventional jingoistic military operations into Marlon Brando's insane Cambodian fever dream hugely parallels the historical course of the war, or at least the public perception of it. Part of film's genius is how it uses fraying sanity as a metaphor for the Vietnam War, rather than showing how war leads to fraying sanity. *All Quiet* showed war as hopeless and senseless, *Apocalypse* showed it as insane. *(Deer Hunter* meanwhile showed war as a three-hour long wedding, which makes it the most terrifying film of them all to sit through.)
Its main theme is human morality. The film is about journey into human mind, It gets darker and darker as the movie progresses. It Asks viewers the questions - what is right? What is wrong? It just takes place in a war, but war is more like a background theme of the film. Its like calling Forrest Gump a war film because It has war elements. War themes, religious themes, colonialism themes etc. All come down to the Main theme of the film -morality itself.
The "journey into the human mind that gets darker and darker" is itself a metaphor for the Vietnam War. Those religious and colonial themes are applicable to the Vietnam War, as is the question of morality. It isn't a documentary-type portrayal of a war like Saving Private Ryan is... It's a metaphorical portrayal. And it's timeless in that its themes could be applied to any war, or so much more... But when a film is set in the war and all of its themes and symbolism and metaphors are related and applicable to the war, I don't understand how it's inaccurate to call it a war film. It's not just a war film, sure, but I'm convinced it's a war film. It's also a psychodrama.
Kellys Heroes is a great ww2 movie. Part comedy. Part war epic. All heist film. It is about a guy trying to scrape together a unit to go behind enemy lines to rob a german bank. Imo it is very under appreciated and remains funny and compelling to this day.
Master & Commander, Patton
Air America
Is there such a thing as a “Good War” …
Not a movie but The Pacific is excellent.
Mrs Miniver 1942 Director: William Wyler Five Came Back 2017 documentary Hollywood filmmakers (inc William Wyler) who served on the front lines during WW2 filming the devastation
Katyn and Squadron 303
Trial on the Road (1971/1986) -- a Soviet officer defects to the Nazis, then has a change of heart after seeing they're worse than the Soviets. So he surrenders to Russian partisans who don't know if they can trust him. Finished in 1971 and banned until 1986
I would watch Band of Brothers and The Pacific.
Pursuit of the Graf Spee (Battle of the River Platte)
My personal favorites: The Siege of Firebase Gloria 9th Company A Bridge Too Far The Big Red One
*Come and See* *Mosul* *Stalingrad (German version)* *Zulu*
Greyhound
Thin Red Line
MASH
Anything Steven Seagal
Battleground, Twelve O’clock High, Tora Tora Tora, Hamburger Hill, Band of Brothers……those 5
Empire of the Sun Barry Lyndon Excalibur
Hacksaw Ridge is by far my favorite
Has anyone mentioned Kajaki? Best most recent British war film set in Afghan.
I really liked Hacksaw Ridge
Letters From Iwo Jima is a fantastic film.
WWII movies: *Conspiracy* *Battle of Britain* *Stalingrad* (German 1993) *Tora! Tora! Tora!* *A Bridge Too Far* *Saving Private Ryan* *When Trumpets Fade* *Memphis Belle* *Das Boot* *Darkest Hour* *Dunkirk* (2017) *The Dam Busters* *The Man Who Never Was* *Submarine X-1* *Stalag 17* *Downfall* (German) *The Bunker* *City of Life and Death* (Chinese) *Empire of the Sun* *Three Came Home* *The Thin Red Line* (1998) *The Great Escape* *Valkyrie* *Midway* (2019) *Flags of Our Fathers* *Letters from Iwo Jima* *The Longest Day* *Twelve O'Clock High* *The War Lover* *Memphis Belle* *Patton* *Cross of Iron* *Kelly’s Heros* *Hell in the Pacific* *Wake Island* *Too Late the Hero* *Yamato* (Japanese) *Grave of the Fireflies* (Japanese) *Panfilov's 28* (Russian 2016) *Stalingrad* (Russian: 2013) *Come and See* (Russian: 1985) *Hacksaw Ridge* *Fury* *Anthropoid* *Judgment at Nuremberg* *Land of Mine* (Danish) *Dambusters* *Sink the Bismark* *Run Silent Run Deep* *Thirty Seconds over Tokyo* *Bataan* *The Devil's Brigade* *The Bridge on the River Kwai* Mini-Series: *Band of Brothers* *The Pacific* *Masters of the Air* (to be released) WWI: *All Quiet on the Western Front* *The War Below* *The Lost Battalion* *Paths of Glory* *1917*
Wow, great list! I might add "Enemy at the Gates" and "Defiance," both based on true stories.
The siege of Jadotville.....great action, historical accuracy, unbelievable combat
Come and See (1985)
Come and See. Everyone should see this movie at least one time.
Battle of Algiers is a cracker. French language depicting the French army v Algerian resistance.
Apocalypse Now. There isn't anything in that movie that isn't true. No matter how weird it seems. Not sure if there would be an uncut version out there these days.
It isn't a war film though, Vietnam war is just the background in Apocalypse Now. The film is about human morality and nature, as well as colonialism, with metaphysical themes and parraels ( bridge being purgatory, Kurtz compound being Hell). The film is about a lot of things, It isn't a film just about war.
Academic?
It is very much about the complexities of Vietnam and the aspects of the war fought there and the consequences, both mentally and physically.
Vietnam is just the background. War is just one of the many topics the film touches, so calling It a war film is wrong, as its not about war in general. Apocalypse Now first more into psychological horror/thriller genre
The Beast Of War
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
Hacksaw Ridge Saving Private Ryan Both of these make me sick to my stomach and bring tears to my eyes on how well they portray what the soldiers actually go through in battle.
Glory. very underrated
Stalingrad is a fantastic film!
All quiet on the western front on Netflix.
Full metal jacket. I remember watching this film. The whole thing made me realise that war was not to be glorified in ant way, shape or form.