Greatest War Movies (1925-2020)

by cesser00 | created - 13 Aug 2020 | updated - 1 week ago | Public

I've watched well over a thousand movies the last five years, ranging from the silent era to today, and these are what I consider the best War films, and ones that I would watch again

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1. Battleship Potemkin (1925)

Not Rated | 66 min | Drama, History, Thriller

97 Metascore

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

Director: Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barskiy, Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Ivan Bobrov

Votes: 61,478 | Gross: $0.05M

2. The General (1926)

Passed | 78 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

After being rejected by the Confederate military, not realizing it was due to his crucial civilian role, an engineer must single-handedly recapture his beloved locomotive after it is seized by Union spies and return it through enemy lines.

Directors: Clyde Bruckman, Buster Keaton | Stars: Buster Keaton, Marion Mack, Glen Cavender, Jim Farley

Votes: 98,216 | Gross: $1.03M

3. The Battles of Coronel and Falkland Islands (1927)

107 min | Drama, War

Dramatic reconstruction of two 1914 naval battles off Coronel and the Falkland Islands.The first a defeat of the British by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee, the second a retaliation by the British under vice Admiral Sturdee.

Director: Walter Summers | Stars: Craighall Sherry, Hans von Slock, Roger Maxwell

Votes: 101

4. Napoleon (1927)

330 min | Biography, Drama, History

A film about the French general's youth and early military career.

Director: Abel Gance | Stars: Albert Dieudonné, Vladimir Roudenko, Edmond Van Daële, Alexandre Koubitzky

Votes: 8,800

5. Wings (1927)

PG-13 | 144 min | Drama, Romance, War

78 Metascore

Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.

Directors: William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast | Stars: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston

Votes: 14,549 | Gross: $6.59M

6. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)

Passed | 152 min | Drama, War

91 Metascore

A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.

Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy

Votes: 67,722 | Gross: $3.27M

7. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)

Approved | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War

A Chinese warlord and an engaged Christian missionary fall in love.

Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Nils Asther, Toshia Mori, Walter Connolly

Votes: 4,303

8. The Eagle and the Hawk (1933)

TV-PG | 73 min | Action, Drama, War

The pilots of a Royal Air Force squadron in World War I face not only physical but mental dangers in their struggle to survive while fighting the enemy.

Directors: Stuart Walker, Mitchell Leisen | Stars: Fredric March, Cary Grant, Jack Oakie, Carole Lombard

Votes: 1,353

9. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Passed | 238 min | Drama, Romance, War

97 Metascore

A sheltered and manipulative Southern belle and a roguish profiteer face off in a turbulent romance as the society around them crumbles with the end of slavery and is rebuilt during the Civil War and Reconstruction periods.

Directors: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood | Stars: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil

Votes: 334,499 | Gross: $198.68M

10. The Great Dictator (1940)

G | 125 min | Comedy, Drama, War

Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.

Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Jack Oakie, Reginald Gardiner

Votes: 237,499 | Gross: $0.29M

11. Waterloo Bridge (1940)

Passed | 108 min | Drama, Romance, War

73 Metascore

Myra and Roy meet and fall in love on Waterloo Bridge during an air raid. Their love will be one of the war's unspoken casualties.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson, Virginia Field

Votes: 10,936

12. That Hamilton Woman (1941)

Passed | 125 min | Drama, History, Romance

The story of courtesan and dance-hall girl Emma Hamilton, including her relationships with Sir William Hamilton and Admiral Horatio Nelson and her rise and fall, set during the Napoleonic Wars.

Director: Alexander Korda | Stars: Vivien Leigh, Laurence Olivier, Alan Mowbray, Sara Allgood

Votes: 5,062

13. Casablanca (1942)

PG | 102 min | Drama, Romance, War

100 Metascore

A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

Director: Michael Curtiz | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains

Votes: 606,396 | Gross: $1.02M

14. In Which We Serve (1942)

Not Rated | 115 min | Drama, War

This "story of a ship", the British destroyer H.M.S. Torrin, is told in flashbacks by survivors as they cling to a life raft.

Director: Noël Coward | Stars: Noël Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson

Votes: 6,454 | Gross: $0.45M

15. Went the Day Well? (1942)

Approved | 92 min | Thriller, War

An English village is occupied by disguised German paratroopers as an advance post for a planned invasion.

Director: Alberto Cavalcanti | Stars: Leslie Banks, C.V. France, Valerie Taylor, Marie Lohr

Votes: 4,343 | Gross: $0.02M

16. Lifeboat (1944)

Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, War

78 Metascore

Several survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in World War II find themselves in the same lifeboat with one of the crew members of the U-boat that sank their ship.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, William Bendix

Votes: 31,193

17. To Have and Have Not (1944)

Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Comedy, Film-Noir

90 Metascore

During World War II, American expatriate Harry Morgan helps transport a French Resistance leader and his beautiful wife to Martinique while romancing a sensuous lounge singer.

Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran

Votes: 38,018

18. Story of G.I. Joe (1945)

Approved | 108 min | Biography, Drama, War

At the close of WWII, Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle travels with the U.S. Army's Company C Division during their liberation of Italy.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Burgess Meredith, Robert Mitchum, Freddie Steele, Wally Cassell

Votes: 3,730

19. Johnny in the Clouds (1945)

87 min | Drama, Romance, War

The wartime daily routine on a British bomber base in southeastern England is revealed through the eyes of newly arrived Flying Officer Peter Penrose (Sir John Mills).

Director: Anthony Asquith | Stars: Michael Redgrave, John Mills, Rosamund John, Douglass Montgomery

Votes: 1,647

20. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

Approved | 170 min | Drama, Romance, War

93 Metascore

Three World War II veterans, two of them traumatized or disabled, return home to the American midwest to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Teresa Wright

Votes: 70,600 | Gross: $23.65M

21. I See a Dark Stranger (1946)

Approved | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller

A young Irish woman hates England so much she becomes a spy for Germany.

Director: Frank Launder | Stars: Deborah Kerr, Trevor Howard, Raymond Huntley, Michael Howard

Votes: 1,761

22. 13 Rue Madeleine (1947)

Approved | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

When spy chief Bob Sharkey finds out one of his agents-in-training is actually a Nazi double agent, his strategic decision not to arrest him results in tragedy.

Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: James Cagney, Annabella, Richard Conte, Frank Latimore

Votes: 3,068

23. Battleground (1949)

Approved | 118 min | Action, Drama, History

True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy

Votes: 7,865 | Gross: $10.29M

24. Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

Not Rated | 132 min | Drama, War

A tough-as-nails general (Gregory Peck as General Savage) takes over a B-17 bomber unit suffering from low morale and whips them into fighting shape.

Director: Henry King | Stars: Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell

Votes: 15,809

25. Operation Disaster (1950)

Approved | 102 min | Drama, History, War

The crew of a submarine is trapped on the sea floor when it sinks. How can they be rescued before they run out of air?

Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: John Mills, Nigel Patrick, Peter Hammond, Andrew Crawford

Votes: 849

26. The Wooden Horse (1950)

101 min | Drama, History, War

True story of three British POWs and their attempt to escape from Nazi Germany.

Directors: Jack Lee, Ian Dalrymple | Stars: Leo Genn, David Tomlinson, Anthony Steel, David Greene

Votes: 1,595

27. Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)

Not Rated | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

During the Napoleonic wars, a British Navy Captain has adventures in Central American waters.

Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo, Robert Beatty, Moultrie Kelsall

Votes: 7,517

28. Fixed Bayonets! (1951)

Not Rated | 92 min | Action, Drama, War

The story of a platoon during the Korean War. One by one Corporal Denno's superiors are killed until it comes to the point where he must try to take command responsibility.

Director: Samuel Fuller | Stars: Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O'Shea, Richard Hylton

Votes: 2,113

29. The Red Badge of Courage (1951)

Passed | 69 min | Drama, War

Truncated adaptation of Stephen Crane's novel about a Civil War Union soldier who stuggles to find the courage to fight in the heat of battle.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, Douglas Dick, Royal Dano

Votes: 4,840

30. The Cruel Sea (1953)

Approved | 126 min | Drama, War

The World War II adventures of a British convoy escort ship and its officers.

Director: Charles Frend | Stars: Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, John Stratton, Denholm Elliott

Votes: 5,413

31. Stalag 17 (1953)

Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, War

84 Metascore

After two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.

Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss

Votes: 58,832

32. The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Not Rated | 124 min | Drama, War

63 Metascore

When a U.S. Naval captain shows signs of mental instability that jeopardises the ship, the first officer is urged to consider relieving him of command.

Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, Fred MacMurray

Votes: 29,917 | Gross: $21.75M

33. The Raid (1954)

Approved | 83 min | War, Western

A group of Confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans, Vermont. To get the lay of the land, their leader spends a few ... See full summary »

Director: Hugo Fregonese | Stars: Van Heflin, Anne Bancroft, Richard Boone, Lee Marvin

Votes: 1,031

34. The Dam Busters (1955)

Approved | 105 min | Drama, History, War

Drama based on the attempt by the RAF to destroy six dams in Germany during World War II.

Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Richard Todd, Michael Redgrave, Ursula Jeans, Basil Sydney

Votes: 11,378

35. The Devil's General (1955)

117 min | Drama, War

During WW2, German general Harry Harras is a test pilot and chief engineer for the Luftwaffe but his contempt for the Nazis and sabotage at the aircraft plant land him in hot water with the Gestapo.

Director: Helmut Käutner | Stars: Curd Jürgens, Viktor de Kowa, Karl John, Marianne Koch

Votes: 1,329

36. The Unknown Soldier (1955)

177 min | Drama, War

The tale of a platoon of soldiers during the Continuation War. Based on Väinö Linna's book of the same name.

Director: Edvin Laine | Stars: Kosti Klemelä, Heikki Savolainen, Reino Tolvanen, Veikko Sinisalo

Votes: 7,818

37. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War

88 Metascore

British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.

Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa

Votes: 233,444 | Gross: $44.91M

38. The Cranes Are Flying (1957)

Not Rated | 95 min | Drama, Romance, War

Veronica plans a rendezvous with her lover, Boris, at the bank of river, only for him to be drafted into World War II shortly thereafter.

Director: Mikhail Kalatozov | Stars: Tatyana Samoylova, Aleksey Batalov, Vasiliy Merkurev, Aleksandr Shvorin

Votes: 19,791 | Gross: $0.02M

39. The Enemy Below (1957)

Approved | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

During WWII an American destroyer discovers a German U-boat, and in the ensuing duel the American captain must draw upon all his experience to defeat the equally experienced German commander.

Director: Dick Powell | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Curd Jürgens, David Hedison, Theodore Bikel

Votes: 12,262

40. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Approved | 107 min | Adventure, Drama, War

During World War II, an American marine and an Irish nun form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific island. They find comfort in one another while hoping for a rescue, as they try to avoid capture by the Japanese.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr

Votes: 9,626

41. The One That Got Away (1957)

Not Rated | 111 min | Adventure, Drama, War

69 Metascore

A cocky German fighter pilot is shot down over England in 1940 and makes numerous attempts to escape to fight again.

Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: Hardy Krüger, Colin Gordon, Michael Goodliffe, Terence Alexander

Votes: 2,485

42. Paths of Glory (1957)

Approved | 88 min | Drama, War

90 Metascore

After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready

Votes: 212,450

43. Time Limit (1957)

Approved | 96 min | Drama, War

76 Metascore

During the Korean War former prisoner of war, Major Harry Cargill admits to having collaborated with the enemy but military investigator Colonel William Edwards wants the details.

Director: Karl Malden | Stars: Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Dolores Michaels, June Lockhart

Votes: 1,255

44. Until They Sail (1957)

Approved | 94 min | Drama, Romance, War

During WWII, unmarried New Zealand women meet and marry American soldiers who are fighting in the Pacific theater.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Jean Simmons, Paul Newman, Joan Fontaine, Piper Laurie

Votes: 1,547

45. Dunkirk (1958)

Approved | 135 min | Action, Drama, History

A dramatization of the British Expeditionary Force's 1940 retreat to the beaches of France and the extraordinary seaborne evacuation that saved it from utter destruction by Nazi Germany.

Director: Leslie Norman | Stars: John Mills, Richard Attenborough, Bernard Lee, Robert Urquhart

Votes: 3,526

46. Ice Cold in Alex (1958)

Approved | 130 min | Adventure, Drama, War

During World War II in North Africa, a medical field unit must cross the desert in their ambulance in order to reach the British lines in Alexandria.

Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: John Mills, Anthony Quayle, Sylvia Syms, Harry Andrews

Votes: 6,628

47. Run Silent Run Deep (1958)

Approved | 93 min | Action, Drama, War

62 Metascore

A U.S. sub commander, obsessed with sinking a certain Japanese ship, butts heads with his first officer and crew.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Jack Warden, Brad Dexter

Votes: 13,126

48. A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)

Approved | 132 min | Drama, Romance, War

On the Russian front in 1944, German private Ernst Graeber receives a leave and visits his family in Germany but Germany isn't the same country he left behind.

Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: John Gavin, Liselotte Pulver, Jock Mahoney, Don DeFore

Votes: 3,719

49. Ballad of a Soldier (1959)

Not Rated | 88 min | Drama, Romance, War

Young Russian soldier Alyosha earns a medal, but asks to visit his mother instead. His journey recounts various kinds of love during wartime.

Director: Grigoriy Chukhray | Stars: Vladimir Ivashov, Zhanna Prokhorenko, Antonina Maksimova, Nikolay Kryuchkov

Votes: 11,294

50. The Bridge (1959)

Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, History, War

In 1945, Germany is being overrun, and nobody is left to fight but teenagers.

Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Volker Bohnet, Fritz Wepper, Michael Hinz, Frank Glaubrecht

Votes: 8,661

51. Fires on the Plain (1959)

Not Rated | 108 min | Drama, War

In the closing days of WWII, remnants of the Japanese army in Leyte are abandoned by their command and face certain death by starvation.

Director: Kon Ichikawa | Stars: Eiji Funakoshi, Mantarô Ushio, Yoshihiro Hamaguchi, Osamu Takizawa

Votes: 5,323

52. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (I) (1959)

Not Rated | 208 min | Drama, History, War

A Japanese pacifist, unable to face the dire consequences of conscientious objection, is transformed by his attempts to compromise with the demands of war-time Japan.

Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Chikage Awashima, Ineko Arima

Votes: 9,366

53. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (II) (1959)

Not Rated | 181 min | Drama, History, War

As a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist struggles to maintain his determination to keep his ideals.

Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Kokinji Katsura, Jun Tatara

Votes: 7,510

54. Yesterday's Enemy (1959)

Approved | 95 min | Drama, War

In World War II, during the Japanese invasion of Burma, the lost remnant of a British Army Brigade HQ, led by the ruthless Captain Alan Langford, escapes through the jungle toward the British lines.

Director: Val Guest | Stars: Stanley Baker, Guy Rolfe, Leo McKern, Gordon Jackson

Votes: 1,310

55. Sink the Bismarck! (1960)

Approved | 97 min | Action, Drama, History

The World War II story of the Royal Navy's effort to defeat Nazi Germany's most powerful warship.

Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Kenneth More, Dana Wynter, Carl Möhner, Laurence Naismith

Votes: 8,316 | Gross: $6.54M

56. Spartacus (1960)

PG-13 | 197 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

87 Metascore

The slave Spartacus survives brutal training as a gladiator and leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic, as the ambitious Crassus seeks to gain power by crushing the uprising.

Directors: Stanley Kubrick, Anthony Mann | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton

Votes: 143,296 | Gross: $30.00M

57. The Guns of Navarone (1961)

Not Rated | 158 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

72 Metascore

A team of Allied saboteurs is assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: David Niven, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle

Votes: 55,440 | Gross: $28.90M

58. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)

Not Rated | 190 min | Drama, History, War

His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.

Director: Masaki Kobayashi | Stars: Tatsuya Nakadai, Michiyo Aratama, Tamao Nakamura, Yûsuke Kawazu

Votes: 7,337

59. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Approved | 179 min | Drama, War

60 Metascore

In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.

Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich

Votes: 85,589

60. Taxi for Tobruk (1961)

95 min | Drama, War

During World War II, French commandos join forces with a German officer in order to survive the African desert.

Director: Denys de La Patellière | Stars: Hardy Krüger, Lino Ventura, Maurice Biraud, Charles Aznavour

Votes: 2,088

61. Billy Budd (1962)

Approved | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, War

When a kind-hearted sailor is made to join an English vessel at war in 1797, he finds himself caught between devotion to his crewmates and obedience to their hated, cruel master-at-arms.

Director: Peter Ustinov | Stars: Robert Ryan, Peter Ustinov, Melvyn Douglas, Paul Rogers

Votes: 4,913

62. The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)

Not Rated | 140 min | Drama, History, Thriller

Blacklisted in modern day WW2, a Swedish oil trader opts to assist British Allies, by means of infiltrating and surveying Nazi Germany.

Director: George Seaton | Stars: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith, Carl Raddatz

Votes: 2,996

63. Hell Is for Heroes (1962)

Approved | 90 min | Drama, War

76 Metascore

Small squad must hold off German attack.

Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Steve McQueen, Bobby Darin, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino

Votes: 7,463 | Gross: $2.42M

64. Damn the Defiant! (1962)

Approved | 101 min | Action, Drama, History

On the H.M.S. Defiant, during the French Revolutionary War, fair Captain Crawford is locked in a battle of wills against his cruel second-in-command Lieutenant Scott-Padget, whose heavy-handed command style pushes the crew to mutiny.

Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde, Maurice Denham, Nigel Stock

Votes: 3,034

65. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama

100 Metascore

The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.

Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins

Votes: 314,580 | Gross: $44.82M

66. The Longest Day (1962)

G | 178 min | Action, Drama, History

75 Metascore

The events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.

Directors: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck | Stars: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Richard Burton, Henry Fonda

Votes: 59,090 | Gross: $39.10M

67. The Great Escape (1963)

Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller

86 Metascore

Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.

Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson

Votes: 259,090 | Gross: $12.10M

68. Guns at Batasi (1964)

Approved | 103 min | Drama, History, War

Anachronistic strict Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale (Sir Richard Attenborough), on a remote colonial African army caught in a local coup d'etat, must use his experience to defend those in his care.

Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, John Leyton

Votes: 1,959

69. The Train (1964)

Not Rated | 133 min | Action, Thriller, War

80 Metascore

In 1944, a German colonel loads a train with French art treasures to send to Germany. The Resistance must stop it without damaging the cargo.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau, Suzanne Flon

Votes: 18,913 | Gross: $7.41M

70. Zulu (1964)

Not Rated | 138 min | Drama, History, War

77 Metascore

Outnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.

Director: Cy Endfield | Stars: Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth

Votes: 42,768

71. The 317th Platoon (1965)

100 min | War

In Vietnam, 1954, a French platoon isolated behind enemy lines tries to come back. It is led by the inexperienced, idealistic sous-lieutenant Torrens, and by adjutant Willsdorf, a WWII veteran of the Wehrmacht.

Director: Pierre Schoendoerffer | Stars: Jacques Perrin, Bruno Cremer, Pierre Fabre, Manuel Zarzo

Votes: 1,659

72. The Hill (1965)

Approved | 123 min | Drama, War

81 Metascore

In a North African military prison during World War II, five new prisoners struggle to survive in the face of brutal punishment and sadistic guards.

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch

Votes: 15,179

73. In Harm's Way (1965)

Approved | 165 min | Drama, Romance, War

A Naval officer, reprimanded after Pearl Harbor, is later promoted to Rear Admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Tom Tryon

Votes: 10,331 | Gross: $4.20M

74. King Rat (1965)

Approved | 134 min | Drama, War

Fast-talking wheeler-dealer Corporal King is stuck in a Malaysian P.O.W. camp during World War II and uses bribery and larceny to take de-facto control of the camp.

Director: Bryan Forbes | Stars: George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox, Patrick O'Neal

Votes: 5,086

75. Morituri (1965)

Approved | 123 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A war pacifist is blackmailed to pose as an SS officer and to disable the scuttling explosives on a freighter carrying rubber cargo to be captured by the Allies.

Director: Bernhard Wicki | Stars: Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Janet Margolin, Trevor Howard

Votes: 4,500

76. Von Ryan's Express (1965)

Approved | 117 min | Action, Adventure, War

An American POW leads a group of mainly British prisoners to escape from the Germans in WWII.

Director: Mark Robson | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrà, Brad Dexter

Votes: 15,149 | Gross: $17.11M

77. The Blue Max (1966)

Approved | 156 min | Action, Drama, Romance

A young pilot in the German air force of 1918, disliked as lower-class and unchivalrous, tries ambitiously to earn the medal offered for 20 kills.

Director: John Guillermin | Stars: George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress, Jeremy Kemp

Votes: 7,635

78. The Sand Pebbles (1966)

PG-13 | 182 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

In 1926, a U.S. Naval engineer gets assigned to a gunboat on a rescue mission in war-torn China.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen

Votes: 16,440

79. War and Peace, Part I: Andrei Bolkonsky (1965)

Not Rated | 147 min | Drama, War

Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia including his disastrous 1812 invasion serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of five aristocratic Russian families.

Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Lyudmila Saveleva, Sergey Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Viktor Stanitsyn

Votes: 2,118

80. The Dirty Dozen (1967)

Approved | 150 min | Action, Adventure, War

73 Metascore

During World War II, a rebellious U.S. Army Major is assigned a dozen convicted murderers to train and lead them into a mass assassination mission of German officers.

Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes

Votes: 79,134 | Gross: $45.30M

81. The Night of the Generals (1967)

Not Rated | 148 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

In 1942, a Polish prostitute and German Agent is murdered in Warsaw. Suspicion falls on three Generals, and Major Grau of German Intelligence seeks justice which ends up taking decades.

Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence

Votes: 8,793

82. War and Peace, Part III: The Year 1812 (1967)

Not Rated | 81 min | Drama, History, War

It explores The Battle of Borodino through the eyes of Pierre.

Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Sergey Bondarchuk, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Lyudmila Saveleva, Boris Zakhava

Votes: 1,799

83. The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)

PG-13 | 139 min | Drama, History, War

In 1854, during the Crimean War, poor planning leads to the British Light Brigade openly charging a Russian artillery position with tragic consequences.

Director: Tony Richardson | Stars: Trevor Howard, Vanessa Redgrave, John Gielgud, Harry Andrews

Votes: 3,881

84. Dark of the Sun (1968)

Approved | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

A band of mercenaries led by Captain Curry travel through war-torn Congo across deadly terrain, battling rival armies, to steal $50 million in uncut diamonds. But infighting, sadistic rebels and a time lock jeopardize everything.

Director: Jack Cardiff | Stars: Rod Taylor, Yvette Mimieux, Peter Carsten, Jim Brown

Votes: 3,541

85. Hell in the Pacific (1968)

G | 103 min | Adventure, War

During World War II, an American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain are deserted on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. There, they must cease their hostility and cooperate if they want to survive, but will they?

Director: John Boorman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Toshirô Mifune

Votes: 9,073

86. Army of Shadows (1969)

Not Rated | 145 min | Drama, War

99 Metascore

An account of underground resistance fighters in Nazi-occupied France.

Director: Jean-Pierre Melville | Stars: Lino Ventura, Paul Meurisse, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Simone Signoret

Votes: 25,877 | Gross: $0.74M

87. Battle of Britain (1969)

G | 132 min | Action, Drama, History

In 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.

Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Harry Andrews, Curd Jürgens

Votes: 24,535 | Gross: $4.36M

88. Burn! (1969)

R | 112 min | Action, Drama, War

72 Metascore

In 1844, a British mercenary helps the revolting slaves of an Antilles island colony gain independence from Portugal, but later returns to hunt down a local rebel leader and former protégé.

Director: Gillo Pontecorvo | Stars: Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez, Renato Salvatori, Dana Ghia

Votes: 5,828 | Gross: $0.43M

89. Play Dirty (1969)

R | 118 min | Adventure, Drama, War

During World War II a group of British commandos in North Africa disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital German oil depot.

Director: André De Toth | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Davenport, Nigel Green, Harry Andrews

Votes: 3,778

90. Many Wars Ago (1970)

Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, War

On the Italian/Austrian front during World War I, a disastrous Italian attack upon the Austrian positions leads to a mutiny among the Italian troops.

Director: Francesco Rosi | Stars: Mark Frechette, Alain Cuny, Gian Maria Volontè, Giampiero Albertini

Votes: 1,925

91. Patton (1970)

GP | 172 min | Biography, Drama, War

86 Metascore

The World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton.

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong

Votes: 108,009 | Gross: $61.70M

92. Too Late the Hero (1970)

PG | 145 min | Action, Drama, War

A reluctant hero, American Lieutenant Sam Lawson, is seconded to a motley British unit tasked with destroying a Japanese radio on a Philippine island.

Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: Michael Caine, Cliff Robertson, Ian Bannen, Harry Andrews

Votes: 3,980 | Gross: $0.31M

93. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

G | 144 min | Action, Drama, History

46 Metascore

The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.

Directors: Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda, Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotten

Votes: 37,244 | Gross: $29.55M

94. Waterloo (I) (1970)

G | 123 min | Action, Biography, Drama

Facing the decline of everything he has worked to obtain, conqueror Napoleon Bonaparte and his army confront the British at the Battle of Waterloo.

Director: Sergey Bondarchuk | Stars: Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles, Jack Hawkins

Votes: 12,641 | Gross: $3.05M

95. Duck, You Sucker! (1971)

PG | 138 min | Drama, War, Western

77 Metascore

A low-life bandit and an I.R.A. explosives expert rebel against the government and become heroes of the Mexican Revolution.

Director: Sergio Leone | Stars: Rod Steiger, James Coburn, Romolo Valli, Maria Monti

Votes: 37,528 | Gross: $0.70M

96. Murphy's War (1971)

GP | 107 min | Drama, War

A lone survivor from a British naval ship is obsessed with getting revenge on a German U-boat crew that massacred his shipmates in the water.

Director: Peter Yates | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Siân Phillips, Philippe Noiret, Horst Janson

Votes: 3,953 | Gross: $0.21M

97. Young Winston (1972)

PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama, War

Complex family relationships, as well as a combat experience, form the personality of the future world-known politician.

Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Simon Ward, Robert Shaw, Peter Cellier, Ronald Hines

Votes: 2,982 | Gross: $4.69M

98. Barry Lyndon (1975)

PG | 185 min | Adventure, Drama, War

89 Metascore

An Irish rogue wins the heart of a rich widow and assumes her dead husband's aristocratic position in 18th-century England.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Hardy Krüger

Votes: 183,243

99. Love and Death (1975)

PG | 85 min | Comedy, War

89 Metascore

In czarist Russia, a neurotic soldier and his distant cousin formulate a plot to assassinate Napoleon.

Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Georges Adet, Frank Adu

Votes: 40,883

100. The Man Who Would Be King (1975)

PG | 129 min | Adventure, Drama, War

91 Metascore

In 1880s India, two former British soldiers decide to set themselves up as Kings in Kafiristan, a land where no white man has set foot since Alexander the Great.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer, Saeed Jaffrey

Votes: 52,066



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