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Top War Films

Rank Title Year Director(s) War Overall
Rank
1 Casablanca 1942 Michael Curtiz World War II 5
2 Apocalypse Now 1979 Francis Ford Coppola Vietnam War 8
3 Lawrence of Arabia 1962 David Lean World War I 19
4 Gone with the Wind 1939 Victor Fleming American Civil War 32
5 The General 1926 Clyde Bruckman and Buster Keaton American Civil War 49
6 Saving Private Ryan 1998 Steven Spielberg World War II 77
7 Duck Soup 1933 Leo McCarey Fictitious war 85
8 The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 David Lean World War II 94
9 The Deer Hunter 1978 Michael Cimino Vietnam War 110
10 Paths of Glory 1957 Stanley Kubrick World War I 114
11 The Grand Illusion 1937 Jean Renoir World War I 122
12 The Battle of Algiers 1966 Gillo Pontecorvo Algerian War of Independence 145
13 Pan's Labyrinth 2006 Guillermo del Toro Spanish Civil War 146
14 The Great Dictator 1940 Charles Chaplin World War I 183
15 The Best Years of Our Lives 1946 William Wyler World War II 184
16 Braveheart 1995 Mel Gibson Wars of Scottish Independence 185
17 Platoon 1986 Oliver Stone Vietnam War 200
18 All Quiet on the Western Front 1930 Lewis Milestone World War I 225
19 Full Metal Jacket 1987 Stanley Kubrick Vietnam War 226
20 Barry Lyndon 1975 Stanley Kubrick Seven Years' War 231
21 The Great Escape 1963 John Sturges World War II 234
22 Rome, Open City 1945 Roberto Rossellini World War II 239
23 Stairway to Heaven 1946 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger World War II 240
24 Ugetsu 1953 Kenji Mizoguchi Japanese civil war 241
25 Shoah 1985 Claude Lanzmann World War II 243
26 Das Boot 1981 Wolfgang Petersen World War II 247
27 M*A*S*H 1970 Robert Altman Korean War 248
28 Life Is Beautiful 1997 Roberto Benigni World War II 250
29 Spartacus 1960 Stanley Kubrick Third Servile War 254
30 The Pianist 2002 Roman Polanski World War II 269
31 Inglourious Basterds 2009 Quentin Tarantino World War II 272
32 Come and See 1985 Elem Klimov World War II 277
33 To Be or Not to Be 1942 Ernst Lubitsch World War II 280
34 The African Queen 1951 John Huston World War I 286
35 Patton 1970 Franklin J. Schaffner World War II 291
36 The Birth of a Nation 1915 D.W. Griffith American Civil War 312
37 The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 1943 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Boer War, World War I, and World War II 327
38 Grave of the Fireflies 1988 Isao Takahata World War II 329
39 From Here to Eternity 1953 Fred Zinnemann World War II 372
40 The Thin Red Line 1998 Terrence Malick World War II 378
41 Army in the Shadows 1969 Jean-Pierre Melville World War II 388
42 Night and Fog 1956 Alain Resnais World War II 390
43 The Hurt Locker 2008 Kathryn Bigelow Iraq War 399
44 Waltz with Bashir 2008 Ari Folman 1982 Lebanon War 400
45 Downfall 2004 Oliver Hirschbiegel World War II 424
46 Doctor Zhivago 1965 David Lean Russian Civil War 425
47 The Last of the Mohicans 1992 Michael Mann French and Indian War 463
48 Persepolis 2007 Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi Iranian Revolution 472
49 Napoléon 1927 Abel Gance Napoleonic Wars 500
50 The English Patient 1996 Anthony Minghella World War II 510
51 Ashes and Diamonds 1958 Andrzej Wajda World War II 547
52 The Dirty Dozen 1967 Robert Aldrich World War II 566
53 Triumph of the Will 1935 Leni Riefenstahl 590
54 Glory 1989 Edward Zwick American Civil War 625
55 Stalag 17 1953 Billy Wilder World War II 633
56 Beau travail 1999 Claire Denis 646
57 Closely Watched Trains 1966 Jirí Menzel World War II 680
58 To Have and Have Not 1944 Howard Hawks World War II 683
59 The Big Red One 1980 Samuel Fuller World War II 697
60 The Sorrow and the Pity 1969 Marcel Ophüls World War II 709
61 Letters from Iwo Jima 2006 Clint Eastwood World War II 748
62 Alexander Nevsky 1938 Sergei M. Eisenstein and Dmitriy Vasilyev Northern Crusades 760
63 The Man Who Would be King 1975 John Huston Fictitious war 764
64 Atonement 2007 Joe Wright World War II 771
65 Hotel Rwanda 2004 Terry George Rwandan Genocide 789
66 Au Revoir, les Enfants 1987 Louis Malle World War II 792
67 Empire of the Sun 1987 Steven Spielberg World War II 812
68 Ivan's Childhood 1962 Andrei Tarkovsky World War II 818
69 Zulu 1964 Cy Endfield Anglo-Zulu War 825
70 Chimes at Midnight 1965 Orson Welles Hundred Years' War 858
71 The Miracle of Morgan's Creek 1943 Preston Sturges World War II 884
72 The Longest Day 1962 Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, and Bernhard Wicki World War II 923
73 Salò 1975 Pier Paolo Pasolini World War II 928
74 The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara 2003 Errol Morris World War II and Vietnam War 929
75 The Cranes are Flying 1957 Mikheil Kalatozishvili World War II 931
76 Black Hawk Down 2001 Ridley Scott Somali Civil War 947
77 Henry V 1944 Laurence Olivier Hundred Years' War 960
78 I Am Cuba 1964 Mikheil Kalatozishvili Cuban Revolution 965
79 Three Kings 1999 David O. Russell Operation Desert Storm 967
80 The Tin Drum 1979 Volker Schlöndorff World War II 980
81 Underground 1995 Emir Kusturica World War II and Yugoslav Wars 1010
82 Paisan 1946 Roberto Rossellini World War II 1018
83 Things to Come 1936 William Cameron Menzies Anticipated world war 1022
84 The Travelling Players 1975 Theodoros Angelopoulos World War II 1024
85 Where Eagles Dare 1968 Brian G. Hutton World War II 1033
86 Judgment at Nuremberg 1961 Stanley Kramer World War II 1055
87 The Train 1964 John Frankenheimer World War II 1064
88 The Big Parade 1925 King Vidor World War I 1076
89 The Killing Fields 1984 Roland Joffé Cambodian Civil War 1085
90 Love and Death 1975 Woody Allen Napoleonic Wars 1088
91 Forbidden Games 1952 René Clément World War II 1089
92 The Shop on Main Street 1965 Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos World War II 1121
93 Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World 2003 Peter Weir Napoleonic Wars 1130
94 Sergeant York 1941 Howard Hawks World War I 1133
95 Gallipoli 1981 Peter Weir World War I 1135
96 Kanal 1957 Andrzej Wajda World War II 1148
97 Twelve O'Clock High 1949 Henry King World War II 1185
98 Mulan 1998 Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook Han–Xiongnu War 1190
99 Gunga Din 1939 George Stevens Thuggee Uprising 1213
100 Wings 1927 William A. Wellman World War I 1283
101 The Guns of Navarone 1961 J. Lee Thompson World War II 1303
102 Hearts and Minds 1974 Peter Davis Vietnam War 1346
103 Senso 1954 Luchino Visconti Italian Unification 1364
104 The War Game 1966 Peter Watkins Fictitious nuclear war 1369
105 Ballad of a Soldier 1959 Grigoriy Chukhray World War II 1371
106 Henry V 1989 Kenneth Branagh Hundred Years' War 1397
107 Kagemusha 1980 Akira Kurosawa Fictitious Japanese civil war 1416
108 Dunkirk 2017 Christopher Nolan World War II 1439
109 Wonder Woman 2017 Patty Jenkins World War I 1453
110 Born on the Fourth of July 1989 Oliver Stone Vietnam War 1467
111 Black Book 2006 Paul Verhoeven World War II 1473
112 Legends of the Fall 1994 Edward Zwick World War I 1478
113 Mrs. Miniver 1942 William Wyler World War II 1496
114 Hail the Conquering Hero 1944 Preston Sturges World War II 1497
115 The Caine Mutiny 1954 Edward Dmytryk World War II 1508
116 Germany, Year Zero 1948 Roberto Rossellini World War II 1517
117 The Ascent 1977 Larisa Shepitko World War II 1531
118 Went the Day Well? 1942 Alberto Cavalcanti World War II 1551
119 A Canterbury Tale 1944 Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger World War II 1559
120 Cross of Iron 1977 Sam Peckinpah World War II 1606
121 Fahrenheit 9/11 2004 Michael Moore Iraq War 1615
122 To Live 1994 Yimou Zhang Chinese Civil War 1616
123 Mister Roberts 1955 John Ford and Mervyn LeRoy World War II 1627
124 Good Morning, Vietnam 1987 Barry Levinson Vietnam War 1629
125 In Which We Serve 1942 Noel Coward and David Lean World War II 1653
126 The Puppet Master 1993 Hsiao-hsien Hou World War II 1665
127 The Imitation Game 2014 Morten Tyldum World War II 1668
128 The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer 1961 Masaki Kobayashi World War II 1669
129 Duck, You Sucker 1971 Sergio Leone Mexican Revolution 1676
130 Europa Europa 1990 Agnieszka Holland World War II 1708
131 Seven Beauties 1975 Lina Wertmüller World War II 1721
132 Hacksaw Ridge 2016 Mel Gibson World War II 1727
133 The Burmese Harp 1956 Kon Ichikawa World War II 1732
134 The Dam Busters 1955 Michael Anderson World War II 1736
135 Burnt by the Sun 1994 Nikita Mikhalkov Nikita Mikhalkov 1743
136 Hair 1979 Milos Forman Vietnam War 1746
137 War and Peace 1966 Sergey Bondarchuk Napoleonic Wars 1776
138 Catch-22 1970 Mike Nichols World War II 1796
139 Victory 1981 John Huston World War II 1809
140 Lincoln 2012 Steven Spielberg American Civil War 1814
141 The Steel Helmet 1951 Samuel Fuller Korean War 1819
142 Salvador 1986 Oliver Stone Salvadoran Civil War 1820
143 Incendies 2010 Denis Villeneuve Lebanese Civil War 1829
144 A Very Long Engagement 2004 Jean-Pierre Jeunet World War I 1885
145 The Cruel Sea 1953 Charles Frend World War II 1887
146 Heimat 1984 Edgar Reitz World War II 1895
147 The Last Metro 1980 François Truffaut World War II 1896
148 Ice-Cold in Alex 1958 J. Lee Thompson World War II 1904
149 They Were Expendable 1945 John Ford World War II 1911
150 The Last Samurai 2003 Edward Zwick Satsuma Rebellion 1922
151 The Red and the White 1967 Miklós Jancsó Russian Civil War 1939
152 Hellboy II: The Golden Army 2008 Guillermo del Toro 1966
153 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 2008 Mark Herman World War II 1971
154 Cabiria 1914 Giovanni Pastrone Second Punic War 1974
155 The Damned 1969 Luchino Visconti World War II 1976
156 Two Women 1960 Vittorio De Sica World War II 1986
157 Stripes 1981 Ivan Reitman Fictitious war 2003
158 The Human Condition I: No Greater Love 1959 Masaki Kobayashi World War II 2032
159 Gettysburg 1993 Ronald F. Maxwell American Civil War 2033
160 The Last Command 1928 Josef von Sternberg Russian Civil War 2036
161 'Breaker' Morant 1980 Bruce Beresford Boer War 2038
162 The Garden of the Finzi-Continis 1970 Vittorio De Sica World War II 2042
163 The Year of Living Dangerously 1982 Peter Weir Indonesian Civil War 2045
164 Taxi to the Dark Side 2007 Alex Gibney Afghanistan War 2063
165 Les Misérables 2012 Tom Hooper June Rebellion 2067
166 The Emperor's Naked Army Marches on 1987 Kazuo Hara World War II 2085
167 A Bridge Too Far 1977 Richard Attenborough World War II 2099
168 Lacombe Lucien 1974 Louis Malle World War II 2116
169 Kelly's Heroes 1970 Brian G. Hutton World War II 2135
170 Battleground 1949 William A. Wellman World War II 2137
171 South Pacific 1958 Joshua Logan World War II 2143
172 Land and Freedom 1995 Ken Loach Spanish Civil War 2147
173 Flags of Our Fathers 2006 Clint Eastwood World War II 2149
174 Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence 1983 Nagisa Ôshima World War II 2162
175 Fires Were Started 1943 Humphrey Jennings World War II 2185
176 Coming Home 1978 Hal Ashby Vietnam War 2194
177 Lust, Caution 2007 Ang Lee World War II 2218
178 The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 1921 Rex Ingram World War I 2222
179 Foreign Correspondent 1940 Alfred Hitchcock World War II 2232
180 Fires on the Plain 1959 Kon Ichikawa World War II 2243
181 When the Wind Blows 1986 Jimmy T. Murakami Fictitious nuclear war 2261
182 Battle of Britain 1969 Guy Hamilton World War II 2262
183 American Sniper 2014 Clint Eastwood Iraq War 2281
184 Slaughterhouse-Five 1972 George Roy Hill World War II 2286
185 Lessons of Darkness 1992 Werner Herzog Operation Desert Storm 2287
186 No Man's Land 2001 Danis Tanovic Bosnian war 2304
187 Major Dundee 1965 Sam Peckinpah American Civil War 2311
188 Tropic Thunder 2008 Ben Stiller Fictitious drug war 2321
189 Red Sorghum 1988 Yimou Zhang World War II 2323
190 Hell in the Pacific 1968 John Boorman World War II 2338
191 Little Dieter Needs to Fly 1997 Werner Herzog Vietnam War 2340
192 The Quiet American 2002 Phillip Noyce First Indochina War 2360
193 The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity 1959 Masaki Kobayashi World War II 2367
194 Sands of Iwo Jima 1949 Allan Dwan World War II 2376
195 The Wind Rises 2013 Hayao Miyazaki World War II 2422
196 The Official Story 1985 Luis Puenzo Dirty War 2438
197 Before the Rain 1994 Milcho Manchevski Anticipated Macedonian civil war 2442
198 Enemy at the Gates 2001 Jean-Jacques Annaud World War II 2456
199 The Bridge 1959 Bernhard Wicki World War II 2478
200 They Died with Their Boots on 1941 Raoul Walsh Indian Wars 2487
201 Attack! 1956 Robert Aldrich World War II 2491
202 The Charge of the Light Brigade 1936 Michael Curtiz Crimean War 2493
203 Son of Saul 2015 László Nemes World War II 2498
204 Richard III 1995 Richard Loncraine War of the Roses 2503
205 Devils on the Doorstep 2000 Wen Jiang Second Sino-Japanese War 2534
206 El Cid 1961 Anthony Mann Spanish Reconquista 2544
207 In the Year of the Pig 1968 Emile de Antonio Vietnam War 2548
208 The Patriot 2000 Roland Emmerich American Revolutionary War 2557
209 Saboteur 1942 Alfred Hitchcock World War II 2562
210 Band of Brothers 2001 David Frankel, Mikael Salomon, Tom Hanks, David Leland, Richard Loncraine, David Nutter, Phil Alden Robinson, and Tony To World War II 2591
211 Restrepo 2010 Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger Afghanistan War 2594
212 Casualties of War 1989 Brian De Palma Vietnam War 2600
213 Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie 1988 Marcel Ophüls World War II 2610
214 Days of Glory 2006 Rachid Bouchareb World War II 2626
215 Green Street Hooligans 2005 Lexi Alexander 2642
216 Anchors Aweigh 1945 George Sidney World War II 2670
217 Stalingrad 1993 Joseph Vilsmaier World War II 2679
218 White Material 2009 Claire Denis Fictitious African civil war 2712
219 Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War 2004 Je-gyu Kang Korean War 2749
220 The Great War 1959 Mario Monicelli World War I 2752
221 Run Silent Run Deep 1958 Robert Wise World War II 2760
222 Ulysses' Gaze 1995 Theodoros Angelopoulos Bosnian war 2781
223 Bloody Sunday 2002 Paul Greengrass The Troubles 2784
224 Fury 2014 David Ayer World War II 2811
This page was last modified on March 23, 2020