It does show a bit of combat, albeit more from a perspective of the typical German civilian conscripted into the Volksturm, or the few remaining SS troops in the Zitadelle district.
As a veteran myself, 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is my favorite war movie, but all adaptations get the ending wrong and miss the point of the book. The point of the book is that soldiers have to become one with war and lose themselves to live, and that is the sad irony of war. You either die yourself or you live but not yourself. The book ends when the war ends and the protagonist falls over dead from not just all his injuries but from not having the war anymore. The sequel to the book 'The Road Back' goes into this point more and I wish they would make a modern adaptation of it.
That's not how the book ends though? It ends in October of 1918 (One month before the war's end) when Paul is killed by a sniper, and due to the insignifance of his death upon everything else it's reported that day that it is "All Quiet on the Western Front."
The trilogy of James Jones told the same story and conclusion. From Here To Eternity of peace time soldiers, The Thin Red Line with the soldiers experiencing combat and all its terrors, and finally Whistle where the troops coming home can't find themselves in the life at home, being crippled either in flesh or mind and how they one by one succumb to their own demons.
@@bofoenss8393 A line in 'The Road Back' hit me like a ton of bricks, and when I shared it with other veterans, it hit home for them too: Every man has been tempered through countless, pitiless days; every man is a complete soldier, no more and no less. But for peace? Are we suitable? Are we fit now for anything but soldiering?
WOW!!! This list was NOT easy to create. A few war films were left out, such as “The Guns of Navarone” and “Patton”. Both excellent war films as well. Congratulations on a nice job for this compilation of war films 🎥 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Glad they subtitled the German dialogue! (Hollywood studios normally avoid subtitling foreign-language dialogue, on the assumption that the mass audience hates to read more than they hate confusion...)
Agreed. Stayed closely true to Ryan's book (which was based on direct interviews, war diaries and official documents) and told a compelling tale of what occurred on D-Day (not just Omaha Beach). An all-star international cast, and comes across as an almost-documentary in feel. Producer Darryl Zanuck would go on to green light "Tora Tora Tora" at FOX, which follows much the same style as "The Longest Day". While on this list, I feel "Tora Tora Tora" is a slightly inferior effort.
@@Travlr013 Reviewing TORA! TORA! TORA! in THE NEW YORKER, Pauline Kael wrote "It proves that even ships and planes can be pedestrian." (I'll bet one of the reasons for its commercial failure is that people thought it was about bullfighting...)
@@bloodymarvelous4790 nope. He has been accusing me with false claims on a public channel. He doesn't have anything to prove it because he doesn't understand how a public site like RUclips works.
Before watching the video, movies that SHOULD be on the list: Apocalypse Now Full Metal Jacket Come and See Schindler's List Saving Private Ryan Paths of Glory The Pianist Platoon Cross of Iron The Longest Day Dunkirk Born on 4th of July Casualties of War The Deer Hunter Das Boot A Hidden Life All Quiet on the Western Front Hacksaw Ridge edit: I forgot The Thin Red Line
They specifically said they would be movies focused on actual combat, so movies like Schindler's List would not be included. Born on the 4th of July also doesnt really fit their criteria. Excellent movie but 95% of the movie takes place back home, with about 2 minutes of the actual war in Vietnam being depicted. It surprises me that Deer Hunter is on the list. A great film but there is only one actual combat scene that lasts about 10 seconds in the entire movie. If we are counting the POW scenes, then you may as well add Schindler's, too. Bridge on the River Kwai and the Great Escape, not combat movies, again POW movies. WM didnt follow their own criteria. A Bridge Too Far could and should have easily made this list over many of these selections. Others: Cross of Iron, Hacksaw Ridge, Gettysburg, Black Hawk Down. Maybe.... Patton, Downfall. The Longest Day is great, but it's pretty cheesy when you watch it today. Lots of early 60s dialogue (daddio) and plenty of inaccuracies, but it's definitely a classic.
@@Heathcoatman I agreed because while I enjoy WatchMojo’s content, they’ve made a lot of questionable choices in their lists, especially when they bend genres to fit their narrative. “The Deer Hunter” is a great film, but “Hacksaw Ridge” definitely deserved a spot on the list. There are plenty of POW films, and “The Deer Hunter,” “Rescue Dawn,” and “Paradise Road” should be included among them.
Glory is fantastic. Definitely deserves to be on the list. If you want to check out another American Civil War film that’s not 4 hours long (Gettysburg) try Free State of Jones with Matthew McCognehy. Worth a watch.
I saw it at the Floyd Bennet Naval Air Station in Jan 1964 for $.15 yes fifteen cents & never again! Would like to, but only on a very big screen! Magnificent!
That movie was WAY too overdramatized. There's literally a scene where the hero is running away from explosions in slow motion while everyone gazes at him with tears in their eyes.
Hacksaw Ridge was a hack job. There was very little compelling about the movie. It was Forrest Gump running back to save one soldier after another, but spread out over an entire movie.
@@bloodymarvelous4790 it was based off of a real man who did manage to save a good amount of men while in active battle. I personally love the movie, but I can understand why some don’t like it.
@@miaya.micronis Everyone knows it's based on a real event but being based on a real event doesn't automatically make it a good movie. That doesn't mean anything.
Master and Commander was fantastic on any criteria you choose (cast, acting, script, cinematography...). At the University of Maryland I took a history of WWII class taught by Professor Gordon W. Prange. He wrote At Dawn We Slept, the book which begat Tora! Tora! Tora! He used to hold his weekly "open office hour" in an empty lecture hall. Over a hundred of us would be flabberghasted listening to storied such as " I was having a drink in the Kaiserkeller one night
@AshPrimeDCFC And Saving Private Ryan was a fictional story involving a fictional mission where the climax of the movie was in a fictional town during an actual war. Sounds like 300 to me.
1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front is definitely the best adaptation it really makes you get attached to the characters much more than the others which makes the end all the more difficult
In no particular order: 1) Flyboys-Actually tells a true story, but doesn't resort to Hollywood tricks, which crippled it's box office take. 1) The Battle of Britain-Tells a true story, if you're into authenticity. 2) Sink the Bismarck-Tells a true story, but there is a fictional office romance injected in the story to make the protagonist more relatable. 3) Tora Tora Tora-10 out of ten, great in every category. 4) Thirty Seconds over Tokyo-Ted Lawson wrote the (true story) book from which the movie was written, but take out the 30 minutes where Ted tells his wife, over and over, that he loves her and you are left with a good movie. 5) Midway (1976)-there is an unnecessary subplot about a Japanese family, but otherwise a great movie. 6) Patton-Takes liberties with some details, but otherwise a great movie. 7) Shining Through-Fictional story, but does an excellent job of showing women's contribution from the war. 8) Stage Door Canteen-there was a time when actors were real patriots and helped our fighting boys. 9) The Longest Day-Does an excellent job of telling a true story and makes SPR look like the trash that it is. 10) Full Metal Jacket-Marines agree, the first half of the movie is 95% authentic. 11) Flight of the Intruder-Does an excellent job of showing a good portion of the Vietnam War. 12) How The West Was Won-covers the era of 1835 to 1905 rather excellently. 13) Gladiator-An excellent look into Roman life. 14) Excalibur-Shakespearean actors telling a great story. It hardly gets better than this.
The Train, Midway, Hacksaw Ridge, Sink the Bismarck, The Odessa File, American Sniper, The Dam Busters, The Devils Brigade, Battle of the Bulge, The Enemy Below, Kelly’s Hero’s, Battle of Britain, The First of the Few, Stalag 17 just to name a few.
I dunno about Saving Private Ryan's being the greatest war movie. I do know it's deservedly well known for its unrelenting realism -- the D-Day sequence sent strong men fleeing from the theater. And it was after seeing this movie that I finally asked my father what he did in World War II. (He was a guerrilla, and as his unit's comm officer helped guide American airstrikes during the liberation of the Philippines.)
Zulu, The Railway Man, Battle of Britain, The Cruel Sea, In which They Serve, Ice Cold In Alex, A Town Like Alice, The Cockleshell Heroes, For Whom The Bell Tolls.
While it didn’t make the list, a film I recommend is Michael Collins from 1996, it’s a biographical film about Michael Collins from the Easter Rising to his death (for those who don’t know, Michael Collins was a prominent leader in Ireland’s bid for independence).
“The Battle of Britain”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “We Were Soldiers”, and “Black Hawk Down” should definitely be on this list. Horrible mentions: The Longest Day”, “The Enemy Below”, “Run Silent, Run Deep”, “Midway” (1976), and “Hell is for Hero’s”
One of my favorite - not really known about ones is called "30 Seconds over Tokyo". Great flick, even better book! About the Doolittle raids during WWII. I'm surprised a few flicks didn't make it on here, or get an honorable mention. U571 was a good one, Hamburger Hill, Hawksaw Ridge, Red Tails, and The Red Baron really deserve a spot on this list. And I'd even throw Into the White on there as well.
You Must include 1963's "THE TRAIN" with Burt Lancaster. Based on a true story of SNCF French Railaymen saving the greatest art collection in the world from falling into the hands of the Nazis by trickery.
also the excellent - and quite accurate - WW2 film about how the Nazis saved all the art treasures at Monte Cassino from destroyed by American bombers. Oh, wait.....apparently that film has never been made.
I agree with the number 1. But I would definitely include : Hacksaw Ridge, Black Hawk Dawn, Lone Survivor, Fury and 13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
What about Stalingrad (1993)? That was a epic yet gut-wrenching war film from both the German and Russian (Soviet, at the time of the war) perspectives.
The Great Escape's theme was iconic enough that in 1991, Thomas the Tank Engine composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell used it as a basis for the character theme of the engine Oliver in the Season 3 episode Escape, adapted from the Wilbert Awdry story of the same name. Theodore Tugboat had one episode titled "All Quiet in the Big Harbour", which I think drew inspiration from All Quiet on the Western Front. And Full Metal Jacket could be split into two smaller films (the first taking place at boot camp, ending with Hartman and Pyle's deaths while Joker and the others are left to process the aftermath. The second starts after a time skip as the cadets are now soldiers preparing for Vietnam, with Joker on occasion recounting events from boot camp based on encounters with other soldiers, like how that one girl soldier made him think back to Pyle and how some people may be pushed to their limits from not being made for combat yet having to fight on the front lines).
Tora! Tora! Tora! is also responsible for one of he most historically accurate statements that was never said -- when, at the end, Admiral Yamamoto sadly tells his officers, "I fear all we have done is to wake a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." So far as is known, Yamamoto never actually said it ... but he thought it very loudly. Having seen for himself the latent power of American industry, he very much did not look forward to having it fall like an avalanche upon his country.
What he DID say at one point, though, was to the tune "Japan will run wild for 12-18 months, then America will start crushing us". He was off a few months - the "run wild" period ended (with some US luck) at Midway about 7 months after Pearl.
This is both true and not true. Did Yamamoto actually say those exact words? Probably not. But as you point out, the quote encapsulates what he already knew…Japan was screwed, and had already lost the war.
I was SLIGHTLY misremembering the quote. Per multiple sources, it was "If ordered to fight, I shall run wild considerably for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second and third years." Which makes him more accurate than I was remembering, as the battle of Midway was about 7 months after the Pearl attack (and the other same day or next day attacks on US and Allied Power forces/locations all over the Pacific) while the Guadalcanal campaign started 9 months later (to the day).
Zulu, Blackhawk Down, The Longest Day, The Battle of Britain (widely regarded as being the most accurate war movie ever made..) Oh dear.... it was going so well too
All Quiet on the Western Front, in German with English subtitles, is one of the most horrific movies I've ever seen. Made WWI feel so real. The tank scene made my skin crawl.
The Thin Red Line was perfect with it's quiet moments of philosophical contemplation tapered by intense distant combat with unseen opposition until the end. Glory was a fitting tribute to the 54th Massachusetts and their gallant storming of Fort Wagner.
It's one of those movies that gets half of it perfect, and the other half absolutely wrong. People who have actually been in combat know that 'quiet moments of philosophical contemplation' are something that happen after you get out of a combat zone, not while the battle is raging. Yes,.......I have.
@@michaelmonthey5974 Saving private ryan is overrated. Even the Omaha Beach scene is full of inaccuracies and the rest of the movie is just mediocre war movie with stereotypical bad guy syndrome.
@@joelm5509 Well, tell me exactly what parts of the Omaha Beach were inaccurate? Soldiers literally losing their limbs and guts? That actually did happen. Every veteran who was on the beach that day said that scene was exactly how it played out. As for the rest of the movie? It’s anything but mediocre. It’s powerful and moving. The story and characters are fictional, but the places they were at, the units they served in, and the experiences they endured were real. Stereotypical bad guy syndrome? What does that even mean? Did it bother you that the Germans were the opposing force? Well, in history they actually were.
Here's a couple of older films from the fringes. Have you seen them? Waterloo (1970) . The literal 'cast of thousands' - the charge of the French cavalry against the impregnable British squares is an astounding cinema classic. Fort Apache (1948). Conflict between the experienced subordinate soldier and the by-the-book West Point graduate commander who leads his troops to disaster. The Red Badge of Courage (1951). Deeply compelling psychological examination of the nature of fear and courage in combat. It's too bad the compliers of these sorts of lists focus so much on recent motion pictures to the disregard of classic older films.
Company Of Heroes (2013) Based On The RTS video game from 2005 and directed by the late great Paul DeMeo creator of DC Comics TV Shows The Flash (1990), Human Target (1992) and Swamp Thing (1990-1994) It's one of my favorite Video Game based movies next to It Came From The Desert (2017) a Straight To DVD classic that everyone should watch It's good
I'm glad "Das Boot" is high on your list, as it deserves to be. Those boats don't have much room inside, and showing that, especially in combat, gave me claustrophobia! It's a great film. When asked what I thought of "Master and Commander" some years back, I replied, "That's why we go to the movies". What's not perfect about it? I really like your choices, good list.
Patton, Tora Tora Tora, Platoon, Das Boot, Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, Iron Cross, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Bridge on River Kwai, Hacksaw Ridge, ....
A list like this isn’t complete without Joseph Vilsmaier‘s Stalingrad from 1993. A group of German soldiers who fought in North Africa before, got their new orders during furlough in Italy: Fight to take Stalingrad by storm. But what sounds like an easy task, turned into a nightmare of dirt, blood and snow. The end of the movie left the viewer with the fact that war knows no winners, even the Soviets are disappeared into the whiteness of a snow storm. The 1993 Stalingrad is by far the best war movie made yet. Sad for non German speaking viewers, unluckily there is no known English or other dubbed version available.
I thought that Paul Gross' Passchendaele, and Hyena Road were great, as well. Another Canadian film, Storming Juno, shouldn't be ignored. Japan have made some great films too, such as the film made in 2011, about Vice Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, and the 2005 feature, Otoko Tachi No Yamato, and as well as, the 2007 film For Those We Love, about the Kamikaze. The British feature, Kilo Two Bravo, was also a great feature. Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, was also a great film, too. I also thought that, Flight Of The Intruder, was a well done film. Not to forget, Shake Hand With The Devil, about the Rwandan Genocide. The Outpost was Jake Tappers, great story, too. There are tons of great war films, but than, I don't want anyone to stay up all night reading my comment. Take care, and all the best.
We Were Soldiers should make any top list of war movies as it depicts the horrors of war, the personal turmoil and a leader in the field that actually cares about his troops. It also dictates the bravery of the First Cav chopper pilots that kept many of those troops on the ground alive along with showing also just how powerful the American militaries called in artillery and air support really were that could so change the outcome of a battle where the enemy had such overwhelming forces. That movie and Hacksaw Ridge both are two of the best war films ever made.
Very much a popularists list. The Sand Pebbles, Zulu, Breaker Morant, Spartacus, Waterloo, Ice Station Zebra, The Enemy Below, The Dam Busters, Casablanca, Stalag Luft 17, The Train, Ice Cold In Alex, Attack. From Here To Eternity, Cross Of Iron, Come And See, Stalingrad, Sophies Choice, Tunes Of Glory and Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb - my 20 - all not even quoted. Ah well eh!
Those are great movies. You mention "Zulu", a great movie. I would throw in "Zulu Dawn". I think "Zulu" was Michael Caine's first movie, or at least first credited performance. Can you imagine that? To me Colour-Sergeant Bourne is the body and soul of empire. Nothing can rattle him.
@@frankshannon3235 Yes, indeed. In actual fact, the real Colour Sergeant Bourne was a fresh faced youngster in comparison to Nigel Green. He was known as "The Kid" in the Regiment - although you wouldn't have said that to his face.
All of those mentioned deserve special mention and praise and I've seen most of these movies. But I realized that there were a lot more classic war movies that should also have been in that list especially from the comments made by so many here about movies I've seen but almost forgot about. Just seeing the comments about movies like A Bridge Too Far, The Devil's Brigade and so many others makes me want to revisit all of these movies again. Thanks to everyone who commented here and reminded me of so many good movies that I haven't seen in a long while.
I see you have included Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket". The thing about Kubrick is that he really made genre movies: such as war (Full Metal Jacket), horror (The Shining), science fiction (2001, a Space Odyssey), and such. But he makes them upside-down, in a way that turns familiar genres on their head and causes them seem unfamiliar. "Full Metal Jacket", for example, is a Vietnam war movie, that changes up all the familiar tropes of a Vietnam war movie. They usually involve jungle combat...but this this one involves urban combat (at the Battle of Hue). They always feature the iconic Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters...but this one features Sikorsky HUS helicopters (which is what the Marines used in 'Nam as opposed to the Army) They always feature the iconic M-16 assault rifle (and this one does, too)...but it more prominently features its predecessor, the M-14 (which was retained by the Marines long after the Army adopted the M-16. This is historically accurate, since the Marines generally use older equipment than the Army - but I don't think that's why Kubrick did it. That's just what Kubrick does. He tries to throw you off balance by changing up the expected tropes of any genre he works in.
Seriously??? He's dragging his Sgt. at blanket and he is killing Japs like in video game. If you think that's realistic, don't ever go to war, you will be dead after first step at battelfield.
Are you serious??? He was dragging his Sgt at blanket and he was killing Japanese soldiers like they are in video game. If you think that's realistic, than never go the war, you wouldn't survive 1 minute.
Due credit to Das Boot, but the earlier The Enemy Below is a fine submarine movie that, like Tora Tora Tora, tells a war story from the point of view of both a U.S. destroyer and a German U-Boat. A great WW2 naval movie that deserves mention is the 1953 The Cruel Sea, based on a novel by Nicholas Monsarat and starring Jack Hawkins, s superbly realistic take on duty on a destroyer escort in the Battle of the North Atlantic, all the more powerful for being told with wonderful British understatement.
@@tylergoodman3560 Honest? Even the omaha beach scene is full of historical inaccuracies and rest of the movie is your standard war movie, nothing special.
The Director's Cut of The Big Red One competes with anything on this list. The theatrical cut is good. The DC is full of idiosyncratic moments, brilliant oddness and a lot more emotion.
Saving private ryan deserves to be in number 1 caz it was so realistic that vets who was there on that day believed it to be so real there ptsds kicked in and alot had to leave the screening thats how powerful the movie was no other war movie has done that to any vets
Steve McQueen isn't the leader in The Great Escape.. The 'leader' of the Escape is Roger Bartlett (Big X). He's based on Squadron Leader Roger Bushell.
Steven McQueen was fluff. Dazzlingly entertaining fluff and really very meaningful and I'm glad it's in there but fluff nonetheless. The last scene always gets me, the guard locks him up in the cooler and pauses and turns and listens.... and hears the ball bouncing against the concrete. Sturges knew his stuff didn't he?
I've only seen Glory, Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 1917, The Deer Hunter, The Thin Red Line, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Hurt Locker, Dunkirk, Full Metal Jacket, The Bridge On The River Kwai, The Great Escape, Platoon, Paths Of Glory, Lawrence Of Arabia, Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan.
@@jimbo9208 Wow! You, Sir, are incredibly observant. You know when drax said "Nothing goes over my head. I'm too quick and I'd catch it"? That's who your remind me of. I also find it funny that you left the part about the op throwing his cat out the window like it was ok. Like, I don't care, throw the cat but you called a marvel movie a war movie? I must correct that now. I guess I should only say thank you for the laughs.
What about “Overlord”? It’s like a great war movie. It takes place during WWII and it’s got everything, including zombies. A group of American soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines only to find a secret lab where Nazi’s do these experiments on people that turn them into zombies. There’s a scene with a guy without a body but he’s alive and there’s all sorts of mutants and disfigured people. It could happen…
"Gone With the Wind" is the greatest movie ever made and made in the greatest year of moviemaking, 1939, but it didn't have any combat. If you're talking about the Henry Fonda "War and Peace" it a good movie. But everything else pales in comparison to the 1967 Russian production. The Battle of Borodino sequence has about a billion extras is completely over the top. I don't think anything else does a better job of depicting Napoleonic era warfare.
The list needs to be WAAAY longer....We were Soldiers, Blackhawk, American Sniper, Fury, Band of Brothers/ Pacific, Patton ...WHAT??? How are these not here?
Black Hawk Down & We Were Soldiers should have been on this list as well
100 percent. We were soldiers being the more underrated and under appreciated of the two.
That’s what I’m saying!!
Both show the futility and brutality of war
I agree. I didn’t like the order either
Fr they're some movies they added on the list that aren't even appealing enough
No mention of "Downfall" really disappoints me. Although no battle is shown, it is very much a war move - and one of the best there is
A bridge to far is missing too
@@ImBack2HauntU it's a brilliant film
It does show a bit of combat, albeit more from a perspective of the typical German civilian conscripted into the Volksturm, or the few remaining SS troops in the Zitadelle district.
"Downfall" also spawned the notorious Hitler's rant meme.
Stalingrad from 1993 is an underrated masterpiece
@@jonesinator47 Sure I seen that in my teens. Is that the one from the German perspective?
Thank you for mentioning that movie. 👍
It's one of my absolute fav war movies! 🙂
@@lukeharrop4620 yes it is
There's one scene in that movie that still haunts me. When the soldier gets blown in half and doesn't die right away.
@@corgi_dad was there a bit where it shows a leg amputation via hacksaw or am I thinking of something else?
As a veteran myself, 'All Quiet on the Western Front' is my favorite war movie, but all adaptations get the ending wrong and miss the point of the book. The point of the book is that soldiers have to become one with war and lose themselves to live, and that is the sad irony of war. You either die yourself or you live but not yourself. The book ends when the war ends and the protagonist falls over dead from not just all his injuries but from not having the war anymore. The sequel to the book 'The Road Back' goes into this point more and I wish they would make a modern adaptation of it.
That's not how the book ends though? It ends in October of 1918 (One month before the war's end) when Paul is killed by a sniper, and due to the insignifance of his death upon everything else it's reported that day that it is "All Quiet on the Western Front."
The trilogy of James Jones told the same story and conclusion. From Here To Eternity of peace time soldiers, The Thin Red Line with the soldiers experiencing combat and all its terrors, and finally Whistle where the troops coming home can't find themselves in the life at home, being crippled either in flesh or mind and how they one by one succumb to their own demons.
@@bofoenss8393 A line in 'The Road Back' hit me like a ton of bricks, and when I shared it with other veterans, it hit home for them too:
Every man has been tempered through countless, pitiless days; every man is a complete soldier, no more and no less. But for peace? Are we suitable? Are we fit now for anything but soldiering?
WOW!!! This list was NOT easy to create. A few war films were left out, such as “The Guns of Navarone” and “Patton”. Both excellent war films as well. Congratulations on a nice job for this compilation of war films 🎥 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Oh yes, I forgot Patton. I used to know his big speech by heart.
A shout out to Australian film Gallipoli (1981).
I wrote same thing, obviously Ryan never saw that movie. Or Dirty Dozen.
I came to the comments to mention it.
The light Horseman.
That movie is very underrated.
Very good movie. I learned the history of that campaign, from the movie. Well, the start of my learning the history.
Missing classic "The Longest Day"!
Glad they subtitled the German dialogue! (Hollywood studios normally avoid subtitling foreign-language dialogue, on the assumption that the mass audience hates to read more than they hate confusion...)
Agreed. Stayed closely true to Ryan's book (which was based on direct interviews, war diaries and official documents) and told a compelling tale of what occurred on D-Day (not just Omaha Beach). An all-star international cast, and comes across as an almost-documentary in feel. Producer Darryl Zanuck would go on to green light "Tora Tora Tora" at FOX, which follows much the same style as "The Longest Day". While on this list, I feel "Tora Tora Tora" is a slightly inferior effort.
@@deHakkelaar1 They know nothing about films.
John Wayne ruins that film.
@@Travlr013 Reviewing TORA! TORA! TORA! in THE NEW YORKER, Pauline Kael wrote "It proves that even ships and planes can be pedestrian." (I'll bet one of the reasons for its commercial failure is that people thought it was about bullfighting...)
Would have liked to have seen “Gettysburg” on this list. One of my favorite war films.
I argree, that place is also really cool to visit as well. They have a hotel down there that has bullet holes from the Gettysburg war.
@Lucas-Grimmyou have no proof kid
@@Reaperguy67 Well, that's an admission of guilt.
@@bloodymarvelous4790 nope. He has been accusing me with false claims on a public channel. He doesn't have anything to prove it because he doesn't understand how a public site like RUclips works.
There have been quite a few great movies about the Civil War. One underrated one is RIDE WITH THE DEVIL.
Master and Commander is such an underrated film.
It was better in the original novels. But a fairly good adaptation, despite the Politically Correct changes made for the movie.
Agreed
Haha,and it isnt an American tale,and is also pretty "authentic"
Yes it is
I really wish it did better so we could have gotten more movies about that conflict.
A bridge too far, the longest day and the original midway film should all be here
Yes, Yes, but the second "Midway" was better!
One of my own favorites is Enemy at the Gates, a haunting and brutal anti-war movie about two snipers battling it out in Stalingrad.
Of course they should be.
Sorry, the old Midway movie was subpar.
@@Robb-n1t Absolutely not, a far closer to reality telling of the history than the modern action version. I love the original Midway movie
Before watching the video, movies that SHOULD be on the list:
Apocalypse Now
Full Metal Jacket
Come and See
Schindler's List
Saving Private Ryan
Paths of Glory
The Pianist
Platoon
Cross of Iron
The Longest Day
Dunkirk
Born on 4th of July
Casualties of War
The Deer Hunter
Das Boot
A Hidden Life
All Quiet on the Western Front
Hacksaw Ridge
edit: I forgot The Thin Red Line
They specifically said they would be movies focused on actual combat, so movies like Schindler's List would not be included. Born on the 4th of July also doesnt really fit their criteria. Excellent movie but 95% of the movie takes place back home, with about 2 minutes of the actual war in Vietnam being depicted. It surprises me that Deer Hunter is on the list. A great film but there is only one actual combat scene that lasts about 10 seconds in the entire movie. If we are counting the POW scenes, then you may as well add Schindler's, too. Bridge on the River Kwai and the Great Escape, not combat movies, again POW movies. WM didnt follow their own criteria. A Bridge Too Far could and should have easily made this list over many of these selections. Others: Cross of Iron, Hacksaw Ridge, Gettysburg, Black Hawk Down. Maybe.... Patton, Downfall. The Longest Day is great, but it's pretty cheesy when you watch it today. Lots of early 60s dialogue (daddio) and plenty of inaccuracies, but it's definitely a classic.
you missed Gettysburg.
@@Heathcoatman I agreed because while I enjoy WatchMojo’s content, they’ve made a lot of questionable choices in their lists, especially when they bend genres to fit their narrative. “The Deer Hunter” is a great film, but “Hacksaw Ridge” definitely deserved a spot on the list. There are plenty of POW films, and “The Deer Hunter,” “Rescue Dawn,” and “Paradise Road” should be included among them.
The downfall
Valkyrie
Schindler’s List is a great film, but they specifically said that it’s excluded from this list because it is not a combat film.
Glory has one of the best musical scores ever!
That lone trumpet in Charging Fort Wagner.
One of James Horner's best scores. (with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Field of Dreams).
@@bloodymarvelous4790 The Harlam Choir Shines in that movie!
That’s the thing I love about Glory along with loving the movie as a whole.
As European I really do appreciate that you included Glory here, in many ways it's really great movie.
Glory is fantastic. Definitely deserves to be on the list. If you want to check out another American Civil War film that’s not 4 hours long (Gettysburg) try Free State of Jones with Matthew McCognehy. Worth a watch.
the hunley isanother good civil war movie about the souths first submarine if i remember
I want add 'The Red Badge of Courage" to this fine list. 🫡
Lawrence of Arabia doesn't feel three and a half hours long. It's so gripping and well made it's awesome. I need to watch it again.
I saw it at the Floyd Bennet Naval Air Station in Jan 1964 for $.15 yes fifteen
cents & never again! Would like to, but only on a very big screen! Magnificent!
Once in an era movie
To this day I will never understand how Saving Private Ryan didn’t win Best Picture
Whats hard to understand?
@@coletrainhetrick Shakespeare In Love beat it, Saving Private Ryan is pretty much perfect
Easy. Harvey Weinstein made sure that his movie won. That’s why Gwenyth Paltrow stayed quiet.
@@Grandizer8989 doesn’t surprise me really
Harvey Pervo Weinstein is why it didn't win. Can't believe "Shakespeare in Love." SMH...No one bought it and never will.
Blackhawk Down, both Midway Movies, Kelly’s Heroes, and Mosul (great movie if you haven’t seen it).
Mosul is a brilliant, authentic, gut wrenching Movie. Rare to see things from the Middle Eastern perspective.
I am not a fan of the new Midway. It looks like it was filmed I the game War Thunder too much CGI
Hacksaw Ridge should be on the list, it's an incredible movie!
That movie was WAY too overdramatized. There's literally a scene where the hero is running away from explosions in slow motion while everyone gazes at him with tears in their eyes.
Hacksaw Ridge was a hack job. There was very little compelling about the movie. It was Forrest Gump running back to save one soldier after another, but spread out over an entire movie.
@@bloodymarvelous4790 it was based off of a real man who did manage to save a good amount of men while in active battle. I personally love the movie, but I can understand why some don’t like it.
@@miaya.micronis Everyone knows it's based on a real event but being based on a real event doesn't automatically make it a good movie. That doesn't mean anything.
It was massively overdramatized and americanised. The moral being shoved down our throats was yuck
Master and Commander was fantastic on any criteria you choose (cast, acting, script, cinematography...). At the University of Maryland I took a history of WWII class taught by Professor Gordon W. Prange. He wrote At Dawn We Slept, the book which begat Tora! Tora! Tora! He used to hold his weekly "open office hour" in an empty lecture hall. Over a hundred of us would be flabberghasted listening to storied such as " I was having a drink in the Kaiserkeller one night
Incredibly underrated film
The Dirty Dozen and Kelly's Heroes
"Miracle at Midway" as great as his Pearl Harbor treatise.
Black Hawk Down, 300, American Sniper, The Longest Day, Patton, A Bridge Too Far are all missing.
300 should not be anywhere near here. It's an adaptation of a comic, which is a fantastical interpretation of a historical battle.
@AshPrimeDCFC And Saving Private Ryan was a fictional story involving a fictional mission where the climax of the movie was in a fictional town during an actual war. Sounds like 300 to me.
@@andrewmerks1322 all whilst being praised for its historical accuracy and showing a faithful representation of WWII. Laughable to compare them.
Patton too yes
Seargent York, I forget the title of the movie about Audie Murphy, and Midway!
1979 version of All Quiet on the Western Front is definitely the best adaptation it really makes you get attached to the characters much more than the others which makes the end all the more difficult
In no particular order:
1) Flyboys-Actually tells a true story, but doesn't resort to Hollywood tricks, which crippled it's box office take.
1) The Battle of Britain-Tells a true story, if you're into authenticity.
2) Sink the Bismarck-Tells a true story, but there is a fictional office romance injected in the story to make the protagonist more relatable.
3) Tora Tora Tora-10 out of ten, great in every category.
4) Thirty Seconds over Tokyo-Ted Lawson wrote the (true story) book from which the movie was written, but take out the 30 minutes where Ted tells his wife, over and over, that he loves her and you are left with a good movie.
5) Midway (1976)-there is an unnecessary subplot about a Japanese family, but otherwise a great movie.
6) Patton-Takes liberties with some details, but otherwise a great movie.
7) Shining Through-Fictional story, but does an excellent job of showing women's contribution from the war.
8) Stage Door Canteen-there was a time when actors were real patriots and helped our fighting boys.
9) The Longest Day-Does an excellent job of telling a true story and makes SPR look like the trash that it is.
10) Full Metal Jacket-Marines agree, the first half of the movie is 95% authentic.
11) Flight of the Intruder-Does an excellent job of showing a good portion of the Vietnam War.
12) How The West Was Won-covers the era of 1835 to 1905 rather excellently.
13) Gladiator-An excellent look into Roman life.
14) Excalibur-Shakespearean actors telling a great story. It hardly gets better than this.
Agreed. The Longest Day is much better than Saving Private Ryan. My father's cousin took part in D Day, and knew the author of The Longest Day.
Thank you for mentioning Sink The Bismarck! My favorite battle of WW2. The miniature work is just incredible!
@@jameslucas2498 Agreed
The Train, Midway, Hacksaw Ridge, Sink the Bismarck, The Odessa File, American Sniper, The Dam Busters, The Devils Brigade, Battle of the Bulge, The Enemy Below, Kelly’s Hero’s, Battle of Britain, The First of the Few, Stalag 17 just to name a few.
Some yes, some no!
Ummmm, *The Odessa File* is set in the early 1960s, it doesn't involve any wartime combat at all.
I really wish "Come and See" were given more credit than it gets. Not a bad list, but rather predictable.
That was a great movie
@@rmarieshen862 brilliant film and disturbing
Did I miss it, or is it not on this list? That should be #1
1. Saving Private Ryan
2. Schinder's list
3. Apocalypse Now
4. Full Metal Jacket
This is one of my favs
Glad to see “Glory” and “Master and Commander” here. Two of the best IMO.
I dunno about Saving Private Ryan's being the greatest war movie. I do know it's deservedly well known for its unrelenting realism -- the D-Day sequence sent strong men fleeing from the theater. And it was after seeing this movie that I finally asked my father what he did in World War II. (He was a guerrilla, and as his unit's comm officer helped guide American airstrikes during the liberation of the Philippines.)
Black hawk down should be on this list. Great movie
fr
It is an incredible film. I cried so hard.
That's what I said
I believe it takes place during desert storm which was a police action not a war
@@jackbruce6464 no, Desert Storm was the Gulf War back in '91. Black Hawk Down takes place in Mogadishu in '93.
Was hoping for The Patriot and Johnny Got His Gun. But i approve of number 1. Such an amazingly emotion-filled movie!
Zulu, The Railway Man, Battle of Britain, The Cruel Sea, In which They Serve, Ice Cold In Alex, A Town Like Alice, The Cockleshell Heroes, For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Zulu definitely top 20.
Zulu is in my top 5!!
While it didn’t make the list, a film I recommend is Michael Collins from 1996, it’s a biographical film about Michael Collins from the Easter Rising to his death (for those who don’t know, Michael Collins was a prominent leader in Ireland’s bid for independence).
“The Battle of Britain”, “A Bridge Too Far”, “We Were Soldiers”, and “Black Hawk Down” should definitely be on this list. Horrible mentions: The Longest Day”, “The Enemy Below”, “Run Silent, Run Deep”, “Midway” (1976), and “Hell is for Hero’s”
One of my favorite - not really known about ones is called "30 Seconds over Tokyo". Great flick, even better book! About the Doolittle raids during WWII. I'm surprised a few flicks didn't make it on here, or get an honorable mention. U571 was a good one, Hamburger Hill, Hawksaw Ridge, Red Tails, and The Red Baron really deserve a spot on this list. And I'd even throw Into the White on there as well.
My dad and I would watch Tora Tora Tora every December 7th until I moved out. It is a cinematic masterpiece.
An absolutely amazing movie!
I always feel like Memphis Belle and When Trumpets Fade are often overlooked for lists like these.
You Must include 1963's "THE TRAIN" with Burt Lancaster. Based on a true story of SNCF French Railaymen saving the greatest art collection in the world from falling into the hands of the Nazis by trickery.
"The Battle Of Britain" as Well is Missing!
Outstanding film.
also the excellent - and quite accurate - WW2 film about how the Nazis saved all the art treasures at Monte Cassino from destroyed by American bombers. Oh, wait.....apparently that film has never been made.
I agree with the number 1. But I would definitely include : Hacksaw Ridge, Black Hawk Dawn, Lone Survivor, Fury and 13 Hours: Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
What about Stalingrad (1993)? That was a epic yet gut-wrenching war film from both the German and Russian (Soviet, at the time of the war) perspectives.
The Great Escape's theme was iconic enough that in 1991, Thomas the Tank Engine composers Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell used it as a basis for the character theme of the engine Oliver in the Season 3 episode Escape, adapted from the Wilbert Awdry story of the same name. Theodore Tugboat had one episode titled "All Quiet in the Big Harbour", which I think drew inspiration from All Quiet on the Western Front. And Full Metal Jacket could be split into two smaller films (the first taking place at boot camp, ending with Hartman and Pyle's deaths while Joker and the others are left to process the aftermath. The second starts after a time skip as the cadets are now soldiers preparing for Vietnam, with Joker on occasion recounting events from boot camp based on encounters with other soldiers, like how that one girl soldier made him think back to Pyle and how some people may be pushed to their limits from not being made for combat yet having to fight on the front lines).
Casualties of War and Hamburger Hill are underrated war movies
My picks as well from films left off.
Especially 'Hamburger Hill'
Tora! Tora! Tora! is also responsible for one of he most historically accurate statements that was never said -- when, at the end, Admiral Yamamoto sadly tells his officers, "I fear all we have done is to wake a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." So far as is known, Yamamoto never actually said it ... but he thought it very loudly. Having seen for himself the latent power of American industry, he very much did not look forward to having it fall like an avalanche upon his country.
What he DID say at one point, though, was to the tune "Japan will run wild for 12-18 months, then America will start crushing us".
He was off a few months - the "run wild" period ended (with some US luck) at Midway about 7 months after Pearl.
Remember that Yamamoto knew the United States well and studied at Harvard. He had traveled widely in the US.
@@dr.johnwhalen9348 He was also part of their Embassy for a while, 2 postings as Naval Attache to Washington.
This is both true and not true. Did Yamamoto actually say those exact words? Probably not. But as you point out, the quote encapsulates what he already knew…Japan was screwed, and had already lost the war.
I was SLIGHTLY misremembering the quote.
Per multiple sources, it was "If ordered to fight, I shall run wild considerably for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second and third years."
Which makes him more accurate than I was remembering, as the battle of Midway was about 7 months after the Pearl attack (and the other same day or next day attacks on US and Allied Power forces/locations all over the Pacific) while the Guadalcanal campaign started 9 months later (to the day).
Zulu, Blackhawk Down, The Longest Day, The Battle of Britain (widely regarded as being the most accurate war movie ever made..)
Oh dear.... it was going so well too
The Battle of Britain film was so pretty, a real sound and light show.
Empire of the Sun never gets a mention in these things, underrated spielberg film
No Battle of Britain? or a Bridge Too Far?
All Quiet on the Western Front, in German with English subtitles, is one of the most horrific movies I've ever seen. Made WWI feel so real. The tank scene made my skin crawl.
Considering that there's so many war movies, it's hard to pick the best ones.
The Thin Red Line was perfect with it's quiet moments of philosophical contemplation tapered by intense distant combat with unseen opposition until the end. Glory was a fitting tribute to the 54th Massachusetts and their gallant storming of Fort Wagner.
The Thin Red Line is an overrated movie and it shouldn’t be on this list.
It's one of those movies that gets half of it perfect, and the other half absolutely wrong. People who have actually been in combat know that 'quiet moments of philosophical contemplation' are something that happen after you get out of a combat zone, not while the battle is raging. Yes,.......I have.
@@michaelmonthey5974 Saving private ryan is overrated. Even the Omaha Beach scene is full of inaccuracies and the rest of the movie is just mediocre war movie with stereotypical bad guy syndrome.
@@joelm5509 Well, tell me exactly what parts of the Omaha Beach were inaccurate? Soldiers literally losing their limbs and guts? That actually did happen. Every veteran who was on the beach that day said that scene was exactly how it played out. As for the rest of the movie? It’s anything but mediocre. It’s powerful and moving. The story and characters are fictional, but the places they were at, the units they served in, and the experiences they endured were real. Stereotypical bad guy syndrome? What does that even mean? Did it bother you that the Germans were the opposing force? Well, in history they actually were.
I wish there could have been some honorable mentions because Blackhawk down and come and see are pretty good movies too
“The Longest Day”(1962) needs to be on this list !
17th for TORA TORA TORA is insulting.
Here's a couple of older films from the fringes. Have you seen them?
Waterloo (1970) . The literal 'cast of thousands' - the charge of the French cavalry against the impregnable British squares is an astounding cinema classic.
Fort Apache (1948). Conflict between the experienced subordinate soldier and the by-the-book West Point graduate commander who leads his troops to disaster.
The Red Badge of Courage (1951). Deeply compelling psychological examination of the nature of fear and courage in combat.
It's too bad the compliers of these sorts of lists focus so much on recent motion pictures to the disregard of classic older films.
Waterloo is also way up there in my top 20 👍
Company Of Heroes (2013) Based On The RTS video game from 2005 and directed by the late great Paul DeMeo creator of DC Comics TV Shows The Flash (1990), Human Target (1992) and Swamp Thing (1990-1994) It's one of my favorite Video Game based movies next to It Came From The Desert (2017) a Straight To DVD classic that everyone should watch It's good
I'm glad "Das Boot" is high on your list, as it deserves to be. Those boats don't have much room inside, and showing that, especially in combat, gave me claustrophobia! It's a great film.
When asked what I thought of "Master and Commander" some years back, I replied, "That's why we go to the movies". What's not perfect about it?
I really like your choices, good list.
Behind Enemy Lines needs to get more love from these types of list.
Patton, Tora Tora Tora, Platoon, Das Boot, Thin Red Line, Saving Private Ryan, Iron Cross, Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, Bridge on River Kwai, Hacksaw Ridge, ....
My personal favorite is black hawk down
A Bridge Too Far. This is a movie I like, and I saw it when I was in high school and also read the original book by Cornelius Ryan.
Missing Gallipoli by Peter Weir
also missing was The Light horsemen and beneath hill 60.
Black Hawk Down, Lone Survivor, We Were Soldiers, American Soldier and Heartbreak Ridge are all amazing war films as well.
Wow, no come and see anywhere in the list.... no words
Definitely should be on the list…Top 3 even, possibly
The Battle of Britian, MASH, Catch-22, Gallipoli, Breaker Morant.
Blackhawk Down, We Were Soldiers, and The Outpost should have been included.
I have a few favorites outside of Glory that I consider to be my favorite war films. Enemy at the gates, courage under fire, and Windtalkers.
If Tropic Thunder isn’t at 1 im unsubscribing
Are u mentally insane??? Tropic thunder of all war movies, i don’t even think it depicts war in anything at all
not a war movie
I concur.
What do you mean "where he at"??? He's all over the place!🤣🤣🤣
@Lucas-Grimm troll bot
A list like this isn’t complete without Joseph Vilsmaier‘s Stalingrad from 1993.
A group of German soldiers who fought in North Africa before, got their new orders during furlough in Italy: Fight to take Stalingrad by storm.
But what sounds like an easy task, turned into a nightmare of dirt, blood and snow.
The end of the movie left the viewer with the fact that war knows no winners, even the Soviets are disappeared into the whiteness of a snow storm.
The 1993 Stalingrad is by far the best war movie made yet.
Sad for non German speaking viewers, unluckily there is no known English or other dubbed version available.
I thought that Paul Gross' Passchendaele, and Hyena Road were great, as well.
Another Canadian film, Storming Juno, shouldn't be ignored.
Japan have made some great films too, such as the film made in 2011, about Vice Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku, and the 2005 feature, Otoko Tachi No Yamato, and as well as, the 2007 film For Those We Love, about the Kamikaze.
The British feature, Kilo Two Bravo, was also a great feature.
Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty, was also a great film, too.
I also thought that, Flight Of The Intruder, was a well done film.
Not to forget, Shake Hand With The Devil, about the Rwandan Genocide.
The Outpost was Jake Tappers, great story, too.
There are tons of great war films, but than, I don't want anyone to stay up all night reading my comment.
Take care, and all the best.
Two more great Japanese war movies are Kon Ichikawa's FIRE ON THE PLAINS and HARP OF BURMA.
We Were Soldiers should make any top list of war movies as it depicts the horrors of war, the personal turmoil and a leader in the field that actually cares about his troops.
It also dictates the bravery of the First Cav chopper pilots that kept many of those troops on the ground alive along with showing also just how powerful the American militaries called in artillery and air support really were that could so change the outcome of a battle where the enemy had such overwhelming forces.
That movie and Hacksaw Ridge both are two of the best war films ever made.
Tora tora tora was very well dome for its time!
Very much a popularists list.
The Sand Pebbles, Zulu, Breaker Morant, Spartacus, Waterloo, Ice Station Zebra, The Enemy Below, The Dam Busters, Casablanca, Stalag Luft 17, The Train, Ice Cold In Alex, Attack. From Here To Eternity, Cross Of Iron, Come And See, Stalingrad, Sophies Choice, Tunes Of Glory and Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb - my 20 - all not even quoted.
Ah well eh!
Those are great movies. You mention "Zulu", a great movie. I would throw in "Zulu Dawn". I think "Zulu" was Michael Caine's first movie, or at least first credited performance. Can you imagine that? To me Colour-Sergeant Bourne is the body and soul of empire. Nothing can rattle him.
@@frankshannon3235 Yes, indeed. In actual fact, the real Colour Sergeant Bourne was a fresh faced youngster in comparison to Nigel Green. He was known as "The Kid" in the Regiment - although you wouldn't have said that to his face.
Saving Private Ryan is #1
Full Metal Jacket is
@@wisefulldid u watch the vid
Saving Ryan's Private. Oh wait, that's a different movie. 😂
Schindler's list should've been #1
Overrated. It's a good movie, but Band of Brothers as a series covers far more than the Spielberg flick - and the budget wasn't nearly as large.
Waltz with Bashir is a great war movie that I didn't know about until I saw it.
The Patriot with Mel Gibson is a great, often overlooked war flick
One of my favorites, but Watchmojo isn’t a big fan of it.
@@michaelmonthey5974i think watchmojo is trying to die. A lot of their lists lately have been shit.
Because as with Braveheart it is historically AWFUL. Specialists on history and on the War of Independence have troubles with it.
Not even a mention of Greyhound, one of the few WW2 naval battle films out there that did a pretty good job representing Battle of the Atlantic
Full Metal Jacket is the best one
All of those mentioned deserve special mention and praise and I've seen most of these movies. But I realized that there were a lot more classic war movies that should also have been in that list especially from the comments made by so many here about movies I've seen but almost forgot about. Just seeing the comments about movies like A Bridge Too Far, The Devil's Brigade and so many others makes me want to revisit all of these movies again. Thanks to everyone who commented here and reminded me of so many good movies that I haven't seen in a long while.
Hello good afternoon ❤❤❤
🥈
Go Tell the Spartans is a movie made in 1978 about early in the Vietnam War which already hinted at the folly of that War.
Umm mojo WTF?! No mention even on Hamburger Hill?!? Get with it!!
Hamburger Hill was a dime a dozen Vietnam war movie.
The only memorable thing about it was the "pass the **** potatoes" line.
Disagree. Not a great movie. Born on the Fourth of July is better. Second best Tom Cruise acting performance only to Collateral.
I see you have included Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket". The thing about Kubrick is that he really made genre movies: such as war (Full Metal Jacket), horror (The Shining), science fiction (2001, a Space Odyssey), and such. But he makes them upside-down, in a way that turns familiar genres on their head and causes them seem unfamiliar. "Full Metal Jacket", for example, is a Vietnam war movie, that changes up all the familiar tropes of a Vietnam war movie. They usually involve jungle combat...but this this one involves urban combat (at the Battle of Hue). They always feature the iconic Bell UH-1 Huey helicopters...but this one features Sikorsky HUS helicopters (which is what the Marines used in 'Nam as opposed to the Army) They always feature the iconic M-16 assault rifle (and this one does, too)...but it more prominently features its predecessor, the M-14 (which was retained by the Marines long after the Army adopted the M-16. This is historically accurate, since the Marines generally use older equipment than the Army - but I don't think that's why Kubrick did it. That's just what Kubrick does. He tries to throw you off balance by changing up the expected tropes of any genre he works in.
How was Hacksaw Ridge not on this list?
Because it's not that good.
Seriously??? He's dragging his Sgt. at blanket and he is killing Japs like in video game. If you think that's realistic, don't ever go to war, you will be dead after first step at battelfield.
Or a bridge to far
@@fesco4752 I admit I need to see more of the classics. Have you seen the Tuskegee Airmen, When the Trumpets Fade and Enemy at the Gates?
Are you serious??? He was dragging his Sgt at blanket and he was killing Japanese soldiers like they are in video game. If you think that's realistic, than never go the war, you wouldn't survive 1 minute.
Nothing was better than Band Of Brothers!
das boot being mentioned makes me happy😀😇
Due credit to Das Boot, but the earlier The Enemy Below is a fine submarine movie that, like Tora Tora Tora, tells a war story from the point of view of both a U.S. destroyer and a German U-Boat.
A great WW2 naval movie that deserves mention is the 1953 The Cruel Sea, based on a novel by Nicholas Monsarat and starring Jack Hawkins, s superbly realistic take on duty on a destroyer escort in the Battle of the North Atlantic, all the more powerful for being told with wonderful British understatement.
yes your right a good film and a great book to read
Saving Private Ryan.
These are some good choices. I'm happy that The Hurt Locker made the list.
Saving Private Ryan is an honest depiction of WWII. Such a great movie. 🎉
Unemployed bot
@@StanHalen1936 You sound like a parrot. Come back when you have something worthwhile to say, Stannyboy. 🦜🎉
@@tylergoodman3560and you aren't a parrot? Hmmm
@@JJ.-BB Nope, but here you are. 🎉
@@tylergoodman3560 Honest? Even the omaha beach scene is full of historical inaccuracies and rest of the movie is your standard war movie, nothing special.
The Director's Cut of The Big Red One competes with anything on this list. The theatrical cut is good. The DC is full of idiosyncratic moments, brilliant oddness and a lot more emotion.
Saving private ryan deserves to be in number 1 caz it was so realistic that vets who was there on that day believed it to be so real there ptsds kicked in and alot had to leave the screening thats how powerful the movie was no other war movie has done that to any vets
Steve McQueen isn't the leader in The Great Escape.. The 'leader' of the Escape is Roger Bartlett (Big X). He's based on Squadron Leader Roger Bushell.
Steven McQueen was fluff. Dazzlingly entertaining fluff and really very meaningful and I'm glad it's in there but fluff nonetheless. The last scene always gets me, the guard locks him up in the cooler and pauses and turns and listens.... and hears the ball bouncing against the concrete. Sturges knew his stuff didn't he?
If 13 Hours Secret Soliders of Benghazi was not ruined by the decision to have Michael Bay direct, then it would have had a chance to be on this list.
I've only seen Glory, Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World, 1917, The Deer Hunter, The Thin Red Line, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Hurt Locker, Dunkirk, Full Metal Jacket, The Bridge On The River Kwai, The Great Escape, Platoon, Paths Of Glory, Lawrence Of Arabia, Apocalypse Now and Saving Private Ryan.
If Captain America civil war ain’t on this list I’ma throw my cat out the window
not a war movie
@TrollHunterDestroyReaperAlts how so
@@jimbo9208 Wow! You, Sir, are incredibly observant. You know when drax said "Nothing goes over my head. I'm too quick and I'd catch it"? That's who your remind me of. I also find it funny that you left the part about the op throwing his cat out the window like it was ok. Like, I don't care, throw the cat but you called a marvel movie a war movie? I must correct that now. I guess I should only say thank you for the laughs.
Is that an UHF reference?
@Lucas-GrimmLol, I'm not mad that he did. Some great laughs behind his thinking for sure. I'm impressed if anything.
What about “Overlord”? It’s like a great war movie. It takes place during WWII and it’s got everything, including zombies. A group of American soldiers are dropped behind enemy lines only to find a secret lab where Nazi’s do these experiments on people that turn them into zombies.
There’s a scene with a guy without a body but he’s alive and there’s all sorts of mutants and disfigured people.
It could happen…
@michaelcarter8120
You’re joking, right? I sincerely hope you are.
@@cameronkedas3375 uh, yes
Glory should be so much higher on this list.
There’s gotta be 100 Great War movies by now that they should have 100 on a list.
Early
Edit: Lmao I could delete this comment and all of you lot's arguments would be gone 😂
no one cares
@TrollHunterDestroyReaperAlts yes i care to tell the truth
@@jimbo9208 I just comment it to compare how early I was with others. That being said the other guy is right, you clearly cared enough to reply 😂
@@thatbritishgamer_ yes but no one cares just talk about the video or dont comment at all
Virgin nonsense
Waterloo, Gettysburg, A Bridge Too Far, Hacksaw Ridge and Ran would be on my list. Zulu gets honorable mention.
When I was a young man, I spent a day walking all over the site of the battle of Waterloo. It is definitely the greatest and most accurate war movie.
Surely Gone With the Wind and War and Peace should be in the Top 20.
"Gone With the Wind" is the greatest movie ever made and made in the greatest year of moviemaking, 1939, but it didn't have any combat.
If you're talking about the Henry Fonda "War and Peace" it a good movie. But everything else pales in comparison to the 1967 Russian production. The Battle of Borodino sequence has about a billion extras is completely over the top. I don't think anything else does a better job of depicting Napoleonic era warfare.
"The Bridge (Die Brücke)" deserves an honorable mention. "Stalingrad (1993)" as well. But then again... I really liked Hamburger Hill as well.
Love a good war movie good list WatchMojo 👏
The list needs to be WAAAY longer....We were Soldiers, Blackhawk, American Sniper, Fury, Band of Brothers/ Pacific, Patton ...WHAT??? How are these not here?