# 100 greatest war movies (Military History Magazine) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968 "2008-01-02T04:44:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@Nuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuke)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/41 "2008-01-04T21:14:25Z")
Stalingrad Der Untergang Das Boat The Bridge On the River Kwai Patton Longest Day ---
**Author:** ![mabes10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@mabes10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mabes10)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/42 "2008-01-04T21:57:40Z")
If The Searchers is a war movie, so is My Left Foot. ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/43 "2008-01-04T22:28:18Z")
It almost goes without saying that these sorts of lists can be fun, and provoke a lot of enjoyable discussion, but in the end it’s all just a matter of opinion. I think both lists show an embarassing amount of Hollywood bias. One of the greatest war films ever made, by any criteria you care to name, is ‘Pretty Village, Pretty Flame’. Most of you will never have heard of it, let alone seen it, and yet it’s truly magnificent movie on every level. The original Serbian title was ‘Lepa sela lepo gore’, but you can get DVDs either dubbed or with English subtitles. > **[Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996) ⭐ 8.6 | Comedy, Drama, History](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116860/)** > > 1h 55m Seriously, a great movie. Brilliant script, very moving, strong characters, and still very relevant, since it deals with the war in Bosnia circa. 1994. Brief introduction: we see two boys who are childhood friends, living in a small and somewhat idyllic village. They come from different ethnic backgrounds, but it doesn’t seem to matter, and they play together all the time. We see one of the memorable incidents from their childhood days, when a new tunnel was built to provide a much-wanted road link from one village to another - a happy civic occasion marked with a formal ceremony, speeches, brass band etc. All this is flashback. We come back to the ‘present’ day (early 1990s) and the outbreak of war. The two boys, now grown men, find themselves on opposing sides in the conflict. The tunnel turns out to have great strategic importance. In one important plot strand, one of the childhood friends leads a group that ends up trapped inside the tunnel, surrounded by enemy forces. They have to work out how to survive, evade capture or death, and escape. The title comes from a very poignant comment made by one of the soldiers, who has had the job of launching incendiary attacks on what was once a peaceful, happy, village. ‘A pretty village makes a pretty flame’. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/44 "2008-01-05T01:20:57Z")
[QUOTE=mabes10] If The Searchers is a war movie, so is My Left Foot. [/QUOTE] OK, but what kind of movie is your right foot? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/45 "2008-01-05T02:40:48Z")
Three notes on _Memphis Belle_ (1990) on the Channel 4 list: [ul][li]There was a B-17 based in England that was the first U.S. heavy bomber to complete 25 missions. Aside from that, the film had nothing to do with the historical aircraft.[/li][li]The officers wore British-pattern hats. They spent all that money making this film, and they couldn’t buy American-style hats from Avirex/The Cockpit? They had do spend more money to make the wrong hats?[/li][li]The extra wearing the Ray Bans on the control tower bugs the hell out of me. His reactions were distracting, and he can’t act worth a damn.[/ul][/li]It’s an OK film, and I have it on DVD. But it was not worth the loss of a B-17. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/46 "2008-01-05T03:09:44Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] But it was not worth the loss of a B-17. [/QUOTE] They crashed a B-17 on purpose, or was it an accident like Paul Mantz and _Flight of the Phoenix?_ ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/47 "2008-01-05T03:55:54Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] They crashed a B-17 on purpose, or was it an accident like Paul Mantz and _Flight of the Phoenix?_ [/QUOTE] One of the French B-17s crashed. I don’t recall if it was airborne or taxiing, but I kind of think it was taxiing. I stand to be corrected. Everyone survived, but the aircraft was totally destroyed by fire. A B-17 was belly-landed by Paul Mantz in _Twelve O’Clock Hich_. (Incidentally, I have two of the Robin Hood tobies. One is numbered. Got them out of the first batch. 🆒 ) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/48 "2008-01-05T03:58:36Z")
BTW, just noticed that there is an error in the list I linked to. The Web list shows _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_ at number 74, but the mag lists _The Man Who Would be King_ in that position. Some interesting choices by other posters here. I’ve somehow contrived to miss ever seeing _Gallipoli_ but will remedy that in the near future. Definitely going to check out _Bravo Two Zero_, _Sahara_ and _A Very Long Engagement_ as well. At this point, I guess I might as well list my top 15 personal favorites, in no particular order, of the war-related flicks I’ve seen; not claiming these are the really the best or necessarily most accurate militarily: Paths of Glory Das Boot Bridge on the River Kwai Black Hawk Down Apocalypse Now (original release version) Full Metal Jacket Zulu Der Untergang (Downfall) The Train Last of the Mohicans Cross of Iron A Bridge Too Far Three Kings The Beast Kelly’s Heroes I’d say _Saving Private Ryan_, _Empire of the Sun_, _Breaker Morant_, _From Here to Eternity_, _Twelve O’Clock High_, and _The Pianist_ just miss out. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/49 "2008-01-05T04:00:31Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] A B-17 was belly-landed by Paul Mantz in _Twelve O’Clock Hich_. [/QUOTE] Yes, but I was referring to the accident filming _Flight of the Phoenix_ where he was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/50 "2008-01-05T04:02:57Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Yes, but I was referring to the accident filming _Flight of the Phoenix_ where he was killed. [/QUOTE] He wasn’t killed in the _Twelve O’Clock High_ crash. 😃😛 (There should be a :total nutcake: smiley.) ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/51 "2008-01-05T04:19:56Z")
I don’t get The Third Man at number 80, because: a) it is not a war movie, and b) if it is a war movie, surely it should be a lot higher up the list. Do they really think Castle Keep is a better movie?? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/52 "2008-01-05T04:27:11Z")
Any list that includes _Saving Private Ryan_ and \*Platoon \*in the top ten is not worth reading the remaining 90. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/53 "2008-01-05T04:33:30Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] Any list that includes _Saving Private Ryan_ and \*Platoon \*in the top ten is not worth reading the remaining 90. [/QUOTE] Well, got any favorites in the genre? I wouldn’t mind hearing 'em. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/54 "2008-01-05T04:36:08Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] He wasn’t killed in the _Twelve O’Clock High_ crash. 😃😛 (There should be a :total nutcake: smiley.) [/QUOTE] No, he was killed in the _Phoenix_ crash, nutcake. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/55 "2008-01-05T04:43:08Z")
_Battle Of Britain_ made both lists. I’ve got it in the DVD player now. 🙂 (Picking out my next Irvin jacket. 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/56 "2008-01-05T05:44:16Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] Well, got any favorites in the genre? I wouldn’t mind hearing 'em. [/QUOTE] You ast ferit. 😉 1: Titles I wouldn’t include on my own list 2: Titles I’ve never seen 3: Titles I can’t really think of as war movies 4: Titles I’d rank very high on my own list No number: no personal objection to on such a list AFRICAN QUEEN (1951): 1 ALAMO, THE (1960): 1 ALEXANDER NEVSKY (1938): 4 ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930): 4 APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) BALLAD OF A SOLDIER (1959) BATTLE OF ALGIERS, THE (1965): 4 BATTLE OF BRITAIN (1969) BATTLEGROUND (1949) BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925): 4 BEAU GESTE (1939) BEN-HUR (1959): 1, 3 BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, THE (1946): 4 BIG PARADE (1925): 4 BIG RED ONE, THE (1980) BLACK HAWK DOWN (2001): 1 BRAVEHEART (1995): 1 BREAKER MORANT (1980) BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI (1957) BRIDGE TOO FAR, A (1977) BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI, THE (1954): 4 CASABLANCA (1942) CASTLE KEEP (1969): 2 CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1936) COLONEL REDL (1984): 2 CROSS OF IRON (1977) DAS BOOT (1981) DAWN PATROL, THE (1938) DEER HUNTER, THE (1978) DESERT FOX, THE (1951) DESERT RATS, THE (1953) DIRTY DOZEN, THE (1967) DOWNFALL (2006) DR. STRANGELOVE (1963): 4 DUCK SOUP (1933): 1 DUNKIRK (1958): 2 EL CID (1961): 2 FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS (2006): 4 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940): 4 FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953): 1 FULL METAL JACKET (1987): 4 GENERAL, THE (1926): 4 GETTYSBURG (1993): 1 GLORY (1989): 1 GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, THE (1966) GRAND ILLUSION (1937): 4 GREAT ESCAPE, THE (1963) GUADALCANAL DIARY (1943): 4 GUNS OF NAVARONE, THE (1961) HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO (1944): 4 HELL’S ANGELS (1930): 1 HENRY V (1944) INFORMER, THE (1935): 4 KAGEMUSHA (1980): 1 LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992): 1 LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) LETTERS FROM IWO (2006): 4 LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP (1943): 4 LONGEST DAY, THE (1962) MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, THE (1962): 1 MASH (1970) MIDWAY (1976) MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944) NAPOLEON (1927) NORTHWEST PASSAGE (1940) NOTORIOUS (1946) OPEN CITY (1945): 4 PATHS OF GLORY (1957): 4 PATTON (1970) PLATOON (1986): 1 PORK CHOP HILL (1959) RAN (1985): 1 RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP (1958) SAHARA (1943) SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998): 1 SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993): 1 SCIPIO AFRICANUS (1937): 2 SEA HAWK, THE (1940): 3 SEARCHERS, THE (1956): 3, 4 SERGEANT YORK (1941) SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON (1949): 3 SOLDIER OF ORANGE (1977) SPARTACUS (1960): 3 STALAG 17 (1953): 1 STALINGRAD (1992) STORY OF G.I. JOE, THE (1945): 4 THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941) THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945): 4 THIN RED LINE, THE (1988) THIRD MAN (1949): 3 THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO (1944): 4 TIN DRUM, THE (1979) TO HELL AND BACK (1955) TRAIN, THE (1965): 4 TWELVE O’CLOCK HIGH (1949): 4 ULZANA’S RAID (1972) WALK IN THE SUN, A (1946) WAR AND PEACE (1968): 4 WINGS (1927): 4 ZULU (1964) Titles I’d add, off the top of my head BEACH RED DECISION BEFORE DAWN FIXED BAYONETS FOUR SONS HELL AND HIGH WATER HELL TO ETERNITY IS PARIS BURNING? NO MAN’S LAND OVERLORD STEEL HELMET, THE THIS LAND IS MINE WENT THE DAY WELL? WHAT PRICE GLORY? WOODEN CROSSES ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/57 "2008-01-05T21:21:12Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] …I’d say … _Breaker Morant_…just miss[es] out. [/QUOTE] ::slapping **El\_Kabong** lightly across the cheeks with my gloves:: Pistols at dawn, sir. Name your second. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/58 "2008-01-06T23:05:23Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Miskatonic] Now on the other side of the fence. Some of the WORST war movies ever made: 1. Pearl Harbor - GAH! Just proves that tons of CGI can’t make up for shitty writing and dreary plotlines. [/QUOTE] A friend said she’d just watched it again. I said it’s crap. She’s like ‘Why? I liked it!’ She generally has little tolerance for bad films, especially when the historical aspects are bad. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/59 "2008-01-06T23:39:45Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] You ast ferit. 😉 . . . Titles I’d add, off the top of my head . . . BLACK BOOK MY SON JOHN RESCUE DAWN TIME TO LOVE AND A TIME TO DIE, A ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968/60 "2008-01-07T00:15:07Z")
I’ve seen 84 out of the hundred movies on the list, and while most of my favorites are on it, the rankings are poor. And like several others including the OP have said, quite a few of them shouldn’t even be considered war movies. This is more like a list of “pretty good movies with military battle scenes”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-greatest-war-movies-military-history-magazine/431968.md?page=4)