War Movie Mega Post

The Best of the Best:

In the Thick of It:

• All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) - WW1; perhaps the greatest war film of all time follows German soldiers into the trenches of the first World War.
  
• Band of Brothers (2001) - WW2 Europe; one of the finest (and most expensive) mini-series ever produced tracks a small unit through the war from start to finish.
  
• Gettysburg (1993) - Civil War; the best dramatic yet historically accurate depiction of specific battle ever.
  
• Glory (1989) - Civil War; a basic but excellent Civil War true story.
  
• Saving Private Ryan (1998) - WW2 Europe; perhaps the most visceral depiction of the infantry experience ever.
  
• Seven Samurai (1954) - Feudal Japan; More of an action movie than a true war movie, this film is one of the greatest films of all time, regardless of genre.
  
• Twelve O'Clock High (1949) - WW2 Europe; a compelling view of the psychological toll of bomber crews over Europe.
  
• Zulu (1964) - Victorian era South Africa; a compelling true story of being outnumbered and surrounded.
  

Back Home:

• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) - veterans return home and try to adjust to "normal."
  
• Captain Newman, M.D. (1963) - a doctor deals with the human toll of war.
  
• Gone With the Wind (1939) - a southern woman endures as war rages around her.
  
• Mrs. Miniver (1942) - a British woman endures as war rages around her.
  

Not Focused on Combat:

• The Bridge Over the River Kwai (1957) - WW2 Pacific; the British endure in a brutal Japanese prison camp.
  
• The Caine Mutiny (1954) - WW2 Pacific; an unstable captain leads junior officers to commit the unspeakable sin of mutiny.
  
• Casablanca (1942) - WW2; war is turning the world upside down, whether two former lovers like it or not.
  
• Empire of the Sun (1987) - WW2 Pacific; the Japanese take over Asia from the point of view of a young British boy.
  
• The Sand Pebbles (1966) - China; a sailor tries to keep a low profile in supposedly peacetime China.
  
• Sergeant York (1941) - WW1; Alvin York gets religion and wrestles his conscience about going to war.
  
• To End All Wars (2001) - WW2 Pacific; the human spirit reaches its breaking point in a brutal Japanese prison camp.
  

Honorable Mention:

• Biographical films of great people: like the fictional Maximus in Gladiator (2000), the historically-based fiction of William Wallace in Braveheart (1995), or Audie Murphy playing himself in To Hell and Back (1955). Patton (1970) is another iconic, can't-miss bio.
  
• Holocaust Films that occur during World War 2, e.g. Schindler's List (1993), The Pianist (2002), Life is Beautiful (1998), The Grey Zone (2001),and Sophie's Choice (1982).
• U-571 (2000). Not original but an excellent homage to all submarine movies from Das Boot (1981) to The Enemy Below (1957) and Run Silent, Run Deep (1958).
• Films that focus on the anguish of combat: When Trumpets Fade (1998), Platoon (1986), Flags of Our Fathers (2006) and Letters From Iwo Jima (2006), We Were Soldiers (2002), The Big Red One (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987), and the M*A*S*H television series (in contrast to the overrated 1970 Robert Altman movie).
  

Dishonorable Mentions:

War movies, in my opinion, are usually hurt by the unnecessary inclusion of a love story, especially if it's clumsily tacked on to give the female audience a reason to watch. From the melodrama of Pearl Harbor (2001) to the pseudo-historical relationship in Braveheart (same writer for both movies by the way), few war movies gain anything by dividing attention between the crisis at hand and the loved ones back home (I'd make an exception for a film like Michener's The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), which is primarily a drama about a man leaving his family to go back to war).

Of all the unnecessary love stories shoehorned into war movies, the listless, flowery, and nearly unintelligible daydreaming in Terrence Malick's Thin Red Line (1998) was singularly the most excruciating. As a man in the theater with me exclaimed as the end credits scrolled, "What [insert string of expletives here] was that?!"

So my hats off to films willing to risk an all-male cast, where women only appear briefly in photographs taped inside of cockpits and helmets (but not bizarre daydreams). We didn't come to this film for a Danielle Steele love story; war itself will supply all the drama we need.