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100 Greatest War Movies

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Criteria: These are the Greatest War Movies - 20th Century Conflicts, chosen for their quality direction, script, cinematography, acting, storyline, originality, and success. This list DOES NOT INCLUDE wars before 1900. (Civil War, Napoleons Wars, Ancient wars etc.)

Last Updated: 2022-03-05
Newly added names are in  Red 
Greatest War Movies
  Title - (Year, Director, War) (Main Actors)   K=Korean War, V=Vietnam War
  1. Apocalypse Now - (1979, Francis Ford Coppola, V) (Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall, M. Brando)
  2. All Quiet on the Western Front - (1930, Lewis Milestone, WWI) (Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim)
  3. Saving Private Ryan - (1998, Steven Spielberg, WWII) (Tom Hanks, Edward Burns)
  4. Schindler's List - (1993, Steven Spielberg, WWII) (Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley)
  5. Platoon - (1986, Oliver Stone, V) (Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen)
  6. The Bridge on the River Kwai - (1957, David Lean, WWII) (Alec Guinness, William Holden)
  7. Patton - (1970, Franklin J. Schaffner, WWII) (George C. Scott, Karl Malden)
  8. The Dirty Dozen - (1967, Robert Aldrich, WWII) (Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Telly Savalas)
  9. The Longest Day - (1962,Ken Annakin, WWII) (John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum)
10. From Here to Eternity - (1953, Fred Zinnemann, WWII) (Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift)
11. Sergeant York - (1941, Howard Hawks, WWI) (Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan)
12. The Great Escape - (1963, John Sturges, WWII) (Steve McQueen, James Garner)
13. Battleship Potemkin (1925, Sergei Eisenstein, Odessa revolt-1905) (Alexander Antonov)
14. Das Boot - (1981, W. Ger. Wolfgang Peterson, WWII) (Jurgen Procnow)
15. The Deer Hunter - (1978, Michael Cimino, V) (Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep)
16. Full Metal Jacket - (1987, Stanley Kubrick, V) (Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin)
17. Letters From Iwo Jima - (2006, Clint Eastwood, WWII) (Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya)
18. A Bridge Too Far - (1977, Richard Attenborough, WWII) (Dirk Bogarde, Michael Caine)
19. The Guns of Navarone - (1961, J. Lee Thompson, WWII) (Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn)
20. Dunkirk - (2017, Christopher Nolan, WWII) (Fionn Whitehead, Damien Bonnard)
21. Midway - (1976, Jack Smight, WWII) (Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Toshiro Mifune)
22. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo - (1944, Mervyn LeRoy, WWII) (Van Johnson, Robert Walker)
23. Open City - (1945, Roberto Rossellini, WWII) (Vito Annicchiarico, Nando Bruno)
24. Tora! Tora! Tora! - (1970, Richard Fleischer, WWII) (Martin Balsam, Joseph Cotten)
25. Black Hawk Down - (2001, Ridley Scott, Somalia) (Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett)
26. The Thin Red Line - (1998, Terrence Malick, WWII) (Sean Penn, Nick Nolte)
27. Stalag 17 - (1953, Billy Wilder, WWII) (William Holden, Otto Preminger)
28. Battle of Britain - (1969, Guy Hamilton, WWII) (Michael Caine, R. Shaw, Laurence Olivier)
29. The Desert Fox - (1951, Henry Hathaway, WWII) (James Mason, Richard Boone)
30. The Story of G.I. Joe - (1945, William Wellman, WWII) (Robert Mitchum, Burgess Meredith)
31. Paths Of Glory - (1957, Stanley Kubrick, WWI) (Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker)
32. Wings - (1927, William Wellman, WWI) (Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Gary Cooper)
33. Battleground - (1949, William Wellman, WWII) (Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban)
34. In Harm's Way - (1965, Otto Preminger, WWII) (John Wayne, Kirk Douglas)
35. MacArthur - (1977, Joseph Sargent, WWII, K) (Gregory Peck, Ed Flanders)
36. Pork Chop Hill - (1959, Lewis Milestone, Korea) (Gregory Peck, George Peppard)
37. The Big Parade - (1925, King Vidor, WWI) (John Gilbert, Renée Adorée)
38. Where Eagles Dare - (1969, Brian G. Hutton, WWII) (Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood)
39. 1917 - (2019, Sam Mendes, WWI) (Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays)
40. The Desert Rats - (1953, Robert Wise, WWII) (Richard Burton, James Mason)
41. Battle of the Bulge - (1965, Ken Annakin, WWII) (Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw)
42. Hacksaw Ridge - (2016, Mel Gibson, WWII) (Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington)
43. The Blue Max - (1966, John Guillermin, WWI) (George Peppard, James Mason)
44. The Caine Mutiny - (1954, Edward Dmytryk, WWII) (Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer)
45. The Train - (1965, John Frankenheimer, WWII) (Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield)
46. Back to Bataan - (1944, Edward Dmytryk, WWII) (John Wayne, Anthony Quinn)
47. Many Wars Ago (aka Uomini Contro) - (1970, Francesco Rosi, WWI) (Mark Frechette)
48. Guadalcanal Diary - (1943, Lewis Seiler, WWII) (Preston Foster, Anthony Quinn)
49. The Big Red One - (1980, Samuel Fuller, WWII) (Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine)
50. Sink the Bismarck - (1960, Lewis Gilbert,WWII) (Kenneth More, Dana Wynter)
51. They Were Expendable - (1945, John Ford, WWII) (Robert Montgomery, John Wayne)
52. Closely Watched Trains - (1966, Czech., Jirí Menzel, WWII) (Vaclav Neckar, Jitka Bendova)
53. The Dawn Patrol - (1938, Edmund Goulding, WWI) (Errol Flynn, David Niven)
54. The Dam Busters (1955, Michael Anderson, WWII) (Michael Redgrave, Richard Todd)
55. American Sniper (2014, Clint Eastwood, Iraq) (Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller)
56. Sahara (1943, Zoltan Korda, WWII) (Humphrey Bogart, Lloyd Bridges)
57. Flags of Our Fathers (2006, Clint Eastwood, WWII) (Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford)
58. In Which We Serve (1942, Noel Coward, David Lean, WWII) (Noel Coward, John Mills)
59. The Young Lions (1958, Edward Dmytryk, WWII) (Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift)
60. Battle Cry (1955, Raoul Walsh, WWII) (Van Heflin, James Whitmore, Anne Francis)
61. Soldier of Orange (1978, Netherlands, Paul Verhoeven, WWII) (Rutger Hauer)
62. Halls of Montezuma (1950, Lewis Milestone, WWII) (Richard Widmark, Karl Malden)
63. The Fighting Sullivans (1944, Lloyd Bacon, WWII) (Thomas Mitchell, Ward Bond)
64. The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954, Mark Robson, K) (William Holden, Mickey Rooney)
65. Destination Tokyo (1943, Delmer Daves, WWII) (Cary Grant, John Forsythe)
66. Kelly's Heroes (1970, Brian G. Hutton, WWII) (Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland)
67. The Bridge at Remagen (1969, John Guillermin, WWII) (George Segal, Robert Vaughn)
68. Fury (2014, David Ayer, WWII) (Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman)
69. Sands of Iwo Jima (1949, Allan Dwan, WWII) (John Wayne, John Agar)
70. To Hell and Back (1955, Jesse Hibbs, WWII) (Audie Murphy, David Janssen)
71. Von Ryan's Express (1965, Mark Robson, WWII) (Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard)
72. The Lost Patrol (1943, John Ford, WWI) (Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff)
73. Wake Island (1942, John Farrow, WWII) (Robert Preston, Macdonald Carey)
74. The Boys in Company C (1977, Sidney J. Furie, V) (Stan Shaw, Andrew Stevens)
75. Objective, Burma! (1945, Raoul Walsh, WWII) (Errol Flynn, Henry Hull)
76. Twelve O'Clock High (1949, Henry King, WWII) (Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe)
77. Operation Pacific (1951, George Waggner, WWII) (John Wayne, Patricia Neal)
78. Gallipoli (1981, Australia, Peter Weir, WWI) (Mel Gibson, Mark Lee)
79. Flying Leathernecks (1951, Nicholas Ray, WWII) (John Wayne, Robert Ryan)
80. Memphis Belle (1990, Michael Caton-Jones, WWII) (Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz)
81. Run Silent, Run Deep (1958, Robert Wise, WWII) (Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster)
82. The Tuskegee Airmen (1995, Robert Markowitz, WWII) (Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne)
83. Kanal (1957, Andrzej Wajda, WWII) (Wienczyslaw Glinski)
84. Courage Under Fire (1996, Edward Zwick, Iraq'91) (Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan)
85. The Sand Pebbles (1966, Robert Wise, China uprising 1926) (Steve McQueen)
86. 633 Squadron (1964, Walter Grauman, WWII) (Cliff Robertson, Harry Andrews)
87. Casualties of War (1989, Brian De Palma, V) (Sean Penn, Michael J. Fox)
88. War Horse (2011, Steven Spielberg, WWI) (Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson)
89. Cross of Iron (1977, Sam Peckinpah, WWII) (James Coburn, James Mason)
90. Force 10 From Navarone (1978, Guy Hamilton, WWII) (Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford)
91. Hell Is For Heroes (1962, Don Siegel WWII) (Steve McQueen, James Coburn)
92. Too Late the Hero (1969, Robert Aldrich, WWII) (Michael Caine, Denholm Elliott)
93. Merrill's Marauders (1962, Samuel Fuller, WWII) (Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Claude Akins)
94. Enemy at the Gates (2001, Jean-Jacques Annaud WWII) (Joseph Fiennes, Ed Harris)
95. A Midnight Clear (1992, Keith Gordon, WWII) (Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise)
96. Dunkirk (1958, Leslie Norman, WWII) (John Mills, Richard Attenborough)
97. The Monuments Men (2014, George Clooney, WWII) (George Clooney, Matt Damon)
98. The Green Berets (1968, Ray Kellogg, V) (John Wayne, David Janssen)
99. Heartbreak Ridge (1986, Clint Eastwood, Grenada) (Clint Eastwood, Mario Van Peebles)
100. The Story of Dr. Wassell (1944, Cecil B. DeMille, WWII) (Gary Cooper, Laraine Day)

Apocalypse Now war movie poster art
All Quiet on the Western Front DVD cover
Saving Private Ryan movie DVD cover
Patton war movie poster
The Dirty Dozen war movie poster
The Longest Day war movie poster
10 More Worth Mentioning
101. Three Kings (1999, David O. Russell, Iraq'91) (George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg)
102. Jarhead (2005, Sam Mendes, Desert Storm) (Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal)
103. The Naked and the Dead (1958, Raoul Walsh, WWII) (Aldo Ray, Cliff Robertson)
104. Operation Crossbow (1965, Michael Anderson, WWII) (George Peppard, Sophia Loren)
105. King Rat (1965, Bryan Forbes, WWII) (George Segal, Denholm Elliott)
106. Stalingrad (1992, Joseph Vilsmaier, WWII) (Dominique Horwitz)
107. Torpedo Run (1958, Joseph Pevney, WWII) (Glenn Ford, Ernest Borgnine)
108. A Walk in the Sun (1945, Lewis Milestone, WWII) (Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges)
109. Hell Hath No Fury (2021, Jesse V. Johnson, WWII) (Nina Bergman, Daniel Bernhardt)
110. The War Below (2021, J. P. Watts, WWI) (Sam Hazeldine, Tom Goodman-Hill)
10 Greatest Civil War Movies
  1. Glory - (1989, Edward Zwick) (Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington)
  2. Gettysburg - (1993, Ronald F. Maxwell) (Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger)
  3. North and South - (1985, Richard T. Heffron, TV) (Patrick Swayze, James Read)
  4. The Red Badge of Courage - (1951, John Huston) (Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin)
  5. Shenandoah - (1965, Andrew V. McLaglen) (James Stewart, Doug McClure)
  6. Gone With the Wind - (1939, Victor Fleming) (Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh)
  7. Andersonville - (1996, John Frankenheimer, TV) (Frederic Forrest, William H. Macy)
  8. Ride With The Devil - (1999, Ang Lee) (Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich)
  9. Gods and Generals - (2003, Ronald F. Maxwell) (Jeff Daniels, Robert Duvall)
10. The Horse Soldiers - (1959, John Ford) (John Wayne, William Holden)


Glory - Civil War movie DVD cover
18 Greatest Comedy/Satire War Movies
  1. M*A*S*H - (1970, Robert Altman, K) (Elliott Gould, Donald Sutherland)
  2. Dr. Strangelove - (1964, Stanley Kubrick, Cold War) (Peter Sellers, George C. Scott)
  3. Mister Roberts - (1955, John Ford, WWII) (Henry Fonda, James Cagney)
  4. Catch-22 - (1970, Mike Nichols, WWII) (Alan Arkin, Richard Benjamin)
  5. Operation Petticoat - (1959, Blake Edwards, WWII) (Cary Grant, Tony Curtis)
  6. Good Morning, Vietnam - (1987, Barry Levinson, V) (Robin Williams, Forest Whitaker)
  7. Stripes - (1981, Ivan Reitman, Cold War) (Bill Murray, Harold Ramis)
  8. Private Benjamin - (1980, Howard Zieff) (Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan)
  9. Tropic Thunder - (2008, Ben Stiller) (Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr.)
10. The Secret War of Harry Frigg - (1968, Jack Smight, WWII) (Paul Newman, Sylva Koscina)
11. Operation Petticoat - (1959) (Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Gavin MacLeod)
12. Top Secret! - (1984, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, WWII) (Val Kilmer)
13. How I Won the War - (1967, Richard Lester, WWII) (Michael Crawford, John Lennon)
14. What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? - (1966, Blake Edwards, WWII) (James Coburn)
15. McHale's Navy - (1964, Edward J. Montagne Jr., WWII) (Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway)
16. Wake Me When It's Over - (1960, Mervyn LeRoy, WWII) (Ernie Kovacs, Dick Shawn)
17. Sailor Beware - (1951, Hal Walker, WWII) (Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis)
18. Operation Snatch - (1962, Robert Day, WWII) (Terry-Thomas, Lionel Jeffries)


MASH Korean War movie DVD cover



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