World's Best War Films

A scene from David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia, who used

guerrilla tactics with a small army to sever communications

and supply lines against the Ottoman Empire in WW1

Updated: 6.01.11 (* = new additions)

I’ve expanded this list to include civilian stories during wartime (A Canterbury Tale, Mrs. Miniver), to the “Indian Wars” (the U.S. vs Native Americans, ie Dances With Wolves, Into the West), Asian wars (Samurai I, The Emperor and the Assassin, Hero, Mongol), even small wars (Gangs of New York, The Wind That Shakes the Barley), and terrorism (The Kingdom, Rendition, United 93)

Check out our recent post "100 Great War Films for Memorial Day", sorted by wars

The Best 100
[AA] - Academy Award for Best picture

• 300 (2006) *
• A Very Long Engagement (2004) France *
• Aliens (1986)
• All Quiet On the Western Front (1930) bw [AA] *
• Apocalypse Now! (1979)
• Army of Shadows (France)
• Atonement (2007)
• Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) France, bw *
• Ballad of a Soldier (1959) Russia, bw
• Band of Brothers (2001) tv
• Battle of Algiers (1965) France, bw
• The Battleship Potemkin (1925) USSR, bw
• The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) bw [AA]
• Black Hawk Down (2001) *
• Bloody Sunday (2002)
• Breaker Morant (1979) Australia
• Brideshead Revisited (1981) tv
• The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) [AA]
• Casablanca (1942) bw [AA]
• Che (2008) *
• The Children of Huang Shi (2007) Australia *
• The Civil War (1990) tv
• Come and See (1985) Russia
• The Conformist (1970) Italy
• Control Room (2004, doc.) *
• The Cuckoo (2002) Russia
• Dances With Wolves (1990) [AA]
• Das Boot (The Boat) (1981) Germany
• Days of Glory (2006) Algeria *
• The Deer Hunter (1978) [AA]
• Devils On the Doorstep (2000), China, bw *
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• Downfall (2004) Germany *
• Dr. Strangelove (1964) bw
• El Alamein (2002) Italy *
• Enemy at the Gates (2001) *
• Farewell My Concubine (1993) China
• Fateless (2005) Hungary-France-UK, bw *
• Full Metal Jacket (1987)*
• Gallipoli (1981) Australia
• Gladiator (2000) [AA]
• Goodnight Mister Tom (1998) tv
• Grand Illusion (1937) France, bw
• Green Zone (2010) *
• Hero (2002) China
• Hope and Glory (1987)
• The Hurt Locker (2009) *
• I Am Cuba (1964) Cuba-Russia, bw *
• Into the West (2005) *
• Ivan's Childhood (1962) Russia, bw
• John Adams (2008)
• Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) bw
• The Kingdom of Heaven (2005) 
• The Last Emperor (1987) [AA]
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962) [AA]
• Lebanon (2009) Israel *
• Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2003) New Zealand [AA]
• Lord of War (2005)
• MASH (1970) *
• The Matrix Trilogy (1999-2004) *
• Mephisto (1981) Hungary
• Mister Roberts (1955)
• Mongol (2007) Russia *
• Mrs. Miniver (1942) bw [AA]
• Munich (2005)
• No Man’s Land (2001) Bosnia *
• The Pacific (2010) *
• Paths of Glory (1957) bw
• Patton (1970) [AA]
• Platoon (1986) [AA]
• Prisoner of the Mountains (1996) *
• The Red Badge of Courage (1951) bw *
• Red Cliff (2008) China *
• Reds (1981)
• Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) tv *
• The Road Warrior (1981) Australia
• Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto (1954) Japan *
• Saving Private Ryan (1998)
• Schindler's List (1993) bw [AA]
• Seven Days in May (1964) bw
• The Seven Samurai (1957) Japan, bw
• The Shop on Main St. (1965) Czechoslavakia, bw *
• Spartacus (1960) *
• Stalag 17 (1953)
• Star Wars Trilogy (1983)
• Sunshine (1999) *
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
• The Thin Red Line (1998) *
• To Live (1994) China *
• The Train (1964) bw
• Triumph of the Will (1935) Germany, bw *
• Turtles Can Fly (2004) Iran-Iraq *
• United 93 (2006) *
• V for Vendetta (2005) *
• Valkyrie (2008) *
• War and Peace (1968) Russia
• War Photographer (2001) Switzerland *
• Warriors (Guerreros, 2007) Spain *
• When Trumpets Fade (1998)
• The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) *
• Zelary (2003) Czech Republic

The Rest

• A Canterbury Tale (1944) bw *
• Ashes of Time Redux (1994) China
• Australia (2008) *
• Avatar (2009) *
• Ben-Hur (1959) [AA]
• The Big Red One (1980)
• The Book of Eli (2010) *
• Brothers (2004) Denmark *
• Carrie's War (2004) *
• Closely Watched Trains (1966) Czechoslovakia, bw
• The Counterfeiters (2007) Austria
• The Cranes Are Flying (1957) Russia *
• Defiance (2008) *
• Era Notte a Roma (1960) Italy, bw *
• Gangs of New York (2002) *
• The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970) Italy *
• Gettysburg (1993)
• Gloomy Sunday (1999) Germany *
• Glory (1989)
• Gone With the Wind (1939) [AA]
• Grave of the Fireflies (1988) Japan *
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Hara-Kiri (1962) Japan, bw *
• The Harmonists (1997) Germany *
• House of Flying Daggers (2004) China
• How the West Was Won (1962)
• The Hunt For Red October (1990)
• I Served the King of England (2006) Czech Rep. *
• In the Valley of Elah (2007) *
• The Informer (1935) bw *
• Inglourious Basterds (2009) *
• Iron Man (2008) *
• Kapó (1959) Italy, bw *
• The Kingdom (2007) *
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
• The Longest Day (1963)
• The Power of Nightmares (2007, doc.)
• Rendition (2007) *
• Sahara (1943) bw
• Stalingrad (Russia)
• She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)
• Star Trek (2008)
• Throne of Blood (2008) Japan, bw
• Troy (2004)
• The Tunnel (2001) Germany

Band of Brothers is probably the best war on film, so it had to be included; Hanks and Spielberg reportedly spent over $100 million to film the 12-hr series. The Pacific is their followup, the counterpoint that follows the stories of several marines in the war against Japan.

I include Best Years of Our Lives here because it's about the effect of war on its participants and their families for the rest of their lives. Many films on this list won Best Picture oscars: Best Years, Bridge on Kwai, Deer Hunter, Lawrence, Patton, Platoon, Schindler's, All Quiet on the Western Front. Many others were nominated.

Sergei Bondarchuk's War and Peace still has the soapy parts of the novel but also has 250,000 extras from the Red Army, in costume and at the time was the most expensive movie ever made (est. 100m in 1968)

Even though Seven Samurai is a small skirmish, not a war, it still looks like a war film, and as such is one of the best ever.

Apocalypse Now! I like the longer, director's cut version, called "Redux" - it seems to flow more leisurely like a relaxed boat ride up the Mekong (!) Not at good artistically, just more interesting and at nearly an hour longer, if you like something you don't want it to end, right? "One day this war film's gonna end." (Robert Duvall)

I added Breaker Morant (thanks for the commentarian), though not technically a war film, it's a court martial, so really a "legal film", similar to Paths of Glory, but based on a true event of the Boer War. An early Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy) masterpiece.

I also added La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir's anti-war masterpiece, which also has no war scenes but is about Allied prisoners in a WW1 German prison castle. It's a beautifully shot b&w film, the first foreign film nominated for the best picture Oscar®

Seven Beauties garnered Lina Wertmuller the first Oscar® nomination for directing for a woman. Kathryn Bigelow became the first female Oscar® winner for director for The Hurt Locker.

Update - just added these: Lebanon (Israel), Days of Glory (Algeria), El Alamein (Italy), Green Zone, Red Cliff (China), War Photographer (Switzerland), I Am Cuba (USSR-Cuba), Prisoner of the Mountains (Russia), Samurai 1 (Japan), United 93, Black Hawk Down