The 50 greatest war films of all time

Fall in for TONY's list of mighty military movies.

By David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich Thu May 26 2011

War films: Duck, You Sucker! (1971)
War films: The Big Red One (1980)
War films: Men in War (1957)
War films: Saving Private Ryan (1998)
War films: Casualties of War (1989)
War films: Das Boot (1981)
War films: The Thin Red Line (1998)
War films: The Steel Helmet (1951)
War films: The Hurt Locker (2008)
War films: Empire of the Sun (1987)

War films: Duck, You Sucker! (1971)

Duck, You Sucker! (1971)

Scuzzy outlaw Rod Steiger and mysterious explosives expert James Coburn reluctantly team up to rob a bank, only to be drawn into the bloody Mexican Revolution. This lesser-known gem from Fistful of Dollars–trilogy auteur Sergio Leone brilliantly shifts between broad comedy and sobering tragedy, and you'll be humming Ennio Morricone's incredible score for days.—Keith Uhlich

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The Big Red One (1980)

Director Sam Fuller's earthy WWII picture, starring Lee Marvin at the end of his likable career, might have lost the battle at the box office, but it's won the war of reputation: A 2004 reconstruction added nearly 50 minutes of excised material, including many off-kilter yet vivid scenes from veteran Fuller's own recollections of the battlefield.—Joshua Rothkopf

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Men in War (1957)

The director, Anthony Mann, was best known for his Westerns that pinned heroes in uncomfortable, craggy environments. When he tried his hand at a combat film (this was his first), he set the action in a Korean no-man's land where an American platoon led by Robert Ryan finds itself stranded. The result was an uncommonly tough movie for the Ike era.—Joshua Rothkopf

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Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Steven Spielberg's WWII drama weds an intimate story to the sweep of history—and even if you didn't care for the fortunes of one lucky soldier, you couldn't avoid being floored by the movie's epic mounting of the 1944 Omaha Beach landing. Spattered with gore and mud (and running a harrowing 27 minutes), the sequence has no equal on this list, or anywhere else—Joshua Rothkopf

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Casualties of War (1989)

No stranger to confrontational cinema, Brian De Palma takes a lurid premise—American soldiers kidnap a Vietnamese village girl to use as a sex slave—and makes a harrowing statement about how easily integrity is discarded in battle. A mortified Michael J. Fox, beautifully cast against type, plays the squad's lone dissenter.—Keith Uhlich

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Das Boot (1981)

If, as many have said, warfare is a state of mind (as well as a geostrategic one), no film captures that interiority with such pressure-filled flair as this one. Set hundreds of feet below the ocean in a seeping, clanking U-boat, Wolfgang Peterson's international smash almost made you forget its heroes were German.—Joshua Rothkopf

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The Thin Red Line (1998)

After a 20-year absence from filmmaking, the reclusive Terrence Malick returned with this astounding adaptation of James Jones's novel about the Battle of Guadalcanal in WWII's Pacific theater. The overall tone is philosophical and introspective (as is the director's latest, The Tree of Life), though Malick proves himself a confident director of action sequences, too.—Keith Uhlich

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The Steel Helmet (1951)

Ex-GI Samuel Fuller brings his rough-and-rugged perspective to this Korean War classic. A ragtag group of soldiers takes refuge from snipers in a Buddhist temple. The longer this respite lasts, the greater the racial and ideological tensions grow. The writer-director's tabloid-headline style gives the proceedings a charged immediacy that lands with a gut punch.—Keith Uhlich

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The Hurt Locker (2008)

All eyes should be on director Kathryn Bigelow's next film, the uniquely well-positioned Kill Bin Laden (now, presumably, with a different coda). But it's worth recalling that her Oscar winner relied less on happy endings as much as an acute portrayal of the daily pressures of Iraq-based bomb defusers.—Joshua Rothkopf

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Empire of the Sun (1987)

Steven Spielberg directed this stirring coming-of-age tale, in which a fantasy-prone English boy (Christian Bale, in his film debut) is sent to live in a Japanese internment camp after the Allied abandonment of Shanghai in 1941. Twelve-year-old Bale makes an indelible impression in the lead role, all juvenile swagger until the terrible realities of his situation wear down his resolve.—Keith Uhlich

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50–41
40–31
30–21
20–11
10–1

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Comments & ratings

(25 ratings)

It is easy to condemn “fascist impulses”, but it isn’t so easy to portray war as it is really is--a natural development of human behavior that has been with us since we displaced the Neaderthals. I find such critiques of war like “Troopers” to be simple regurgitations of beliefs that are ignorant of history. They also are hypocritical. Th director would not have been able to make such a film if not for the sacrifices men willing to fight and die so we may have the freedom to make films like “Starship Troopers”. While I do agree that glorifying war and its accoutrements is repugnant we also must be aware that our freedoms and rights were earned on the field of strife, not in the peaceful fields of Elysium. Give me nuanced depictions of war like “Letters from Iwo Jima” any day over pseudo-intellectual bilge like “Starship Troopers”.

ryan About 21 hours ago
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The Longest Day, Breaker Morant, In Harm's Way, The Battle of Britain Red Badge of Courage. All better than Starship Troopers Also Enemy at the Gates,

Joe O'Donnell About 4 days ago
Rated as: 3/5
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I Think Saving Privet Ryan Should be in the top 10 if not #1

Dylan About 7 days ago
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I agree w/ several of the comments below. To put Starship Trooper even on this list over the Victors, They Came To Cordura, For Whom the Bells Toll, Sand Pebbles, 55 Days in Peking, Seven Samari, the Big Parade, Gettysburg, and probably at least 50 more.

Gunnar W About 8 days ago
Rated as: 2/5
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This list is bonkers. Hurt Locker and Star Ship Trooper in the Top 10 but no Lawrence of Arabia, Schindlers List, Bridge Too Far, We Were Soldiers, Full Matal Jacket, Letters from Iwo Jima, Downfall? Had the author been drinking or is this meant to be controversial? And I think Twelve O'cloch High Warrants a place in the top 10.

Jonathan Bywater Wed May 1
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Is Schindler's list not considered a war film? Along that same line, how bout The Counterfeiters?

Ronnie D. Mon Apr 29
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Most of the list was accurate but alot of listed "greatest movies" were not so great. Starship troopers? Seriously? Why happened to wind talkers, we were soldiers, the patriot, brave heart ?

Sean Army Veteran Sun Apr 28
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A decent list, but "Starship Troopers"????? Uh-uh, too self-serving

Anthony Forsman Thu Apr 25
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"Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War" is a very very good movie

Evan Sun Apr 21
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Memphis belle was better than starship troopers

Evan Sun Apr 21
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