# Favorite/Best War/Military Movies -- Quarter Finals 1 of 4 -- Thru 1940's + Overflow **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 27, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-best-war-military-movies-quarter-finals-1-of-4-thru-1940s-overflow/723618 "2015-06-27T12:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2015, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-best-war-military-movies-quarter-finals-1-of-4-thru-1940s-overflow/723618/1 "2015-06-27T12:14:31Z")
See for background > **[Best All-Time Military Movies -- Discussion Thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=758205)** > > As of a few minutes ago, these are the high points of the threads relating to War Movies that I have started recently. I’ll update these statistics from time to time and will try to respond to any criticisms or suggestions you may have for how to... Best All-Time Military Movies – Discussion Thread ```auto All Quiet on the Western Front 30 50.85% The Battleship Potemkin 14 23.73% The General 13 22.03% La Grande Illusion 12 20.34% Wings (1927) 10 16.95% Alexander Nevsky 10 16.95% Beau Geste 10 16.95% For Whom the Bell Tolls 8 13.56% The Four Feathers (1939 version) 7 11.86% The Charge of the Light Brigade 13 50.00% The Dawn Patrol (1938) 8 30.77% Drums along the Mohawk 8 30.77% Gone with the Wind 8 30.77% The Dawn Patrol (1930) 6 23.08% Casablanca 20 66.67% Sergeant York 9 30.00% Sahara 8 26.67% Guadalcanal Diary 7 23.33% Mrs Miniver 6 20.00% Destination: Tokyo 6 20.00% The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 5 16.67% Bataan 4 13.33% The Sea Hawk 3 10.00% The Best Years of Our Lives 16 50.00% Thirty Seconds over Tokyo 13 40.63% The Third Man 11 34.38% They Were Expendable 10 31.25% Sands of Iwo Jima 10 31.25% Henry V (Laurence Olivier) 6 18.75% Fort Apache 6 18.75% Battleground 6 18.75% The Fighting Seabees 4 12.50% I Was a Male War Bride 4 12.50% Twelve O'Clock High 14 51.85% First Blood aka "Rambo" 6 22.22% Hope and Glory 5 18.52% Yankee Doodle Dandy 4 14.81% Ride with the Devil 4 14.81% Bombardier 3 11.11% Story of G.I. Joe 3 11.11% Rambo: First Blood Part II 3 11.11% Heaven & Earth 3 11.11% Thirteen Days 3 11.11% Rambo 3 11.11% ``` ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-best-war-military-movies-quarter-finals-1-of-4-thru-1940s-overflow/723618/2 "2015-06-28T13:45:20Z")
Please note that there are FOUR of these **Quarter Finals** polls! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2015, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-best-war-military-movies-quarter-finals-1-of-4-thru-1940s-overflow/723618/3 "2015-07-10T22:07:03Z")
As great a film as it is, I honestly don’t understand what THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES is doing on this list. It deals with veterans and issues on the homefront, but all after the war is over. It is a post-war film dealing exclusively with post-war issues. A film doesn’t have to have combat to be a war film (witness CASABLANCA), and I’ll even make concessions for the murkiness of the Cold War (as addressed in THE THIRD MAN, for instance). But the Wyler doesn’t apply there, either. Heck, none of the characters are even in the military anymore, so even citing that is a stretch. Just my $0.02. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-best-war-military-movies-quarter-finals-1-of-4-thru-1940s-overflow/723618/4 "2015-07-13T04:58:06Z")
I admit the only reason I watched _Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo_ is because [Pere Ubu turned it into a song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs3kKHhG4m0), which is probably the best song they ever did (it was also their debut single). _Ahead the dim glare of an alien land And time to give ourselves to strange gods’ hands … Thirty seconds on a one-way ride Thirty seconds and no place to hide_ Seeing the movie lent more appreciation to the song which already kicked crazy butt on its own.