JimRochester

According to MSN Entertainment

Being a lover of the war film genre it is still one genre I love to collect. I've seen and own most of the films on this list. My only exception; The Thin Red Line. I actually tried watching it twice and fell asleep both times. Very artsy. Long periods with no dialog just haunting music.

Others I love;

Memphis Belle
Tora, Tora, Tora

And no WWII list is complete without Band Of Brothers even though it is a mini-series.

Mabuse

Saving Private Ryan #1

They’ll let anyone write a list these days.

Can you post the list of titles here? I don’t do click through articles.

Daytripper

Yeah, I fucking hate those slide polls. And this one was messed up. You hit the arrow and it takes you to another poll. You have to select the pictures at the bottom of the screen. Couldn't figure out how to find the list to post here. But agree with you about #1. Ridiculous.

GoldenJCJ

Didn’t read the list but Band of Brothers is top of the list regardless of whether it’s a movie or miniseries. It’s the best WWII film ever made.

inri222

JimRochester

1 Saving Private Ryan
2 The Thin Red Line
3 Schindler's list
4 Casablanca
5 Downfall
6 Best Years of Our Lives
7 Das Boot
8 Bridge on The River Kwai
9 Letters From Iwo Jima
10 Where Eagles Dare
11 Conspiracy
12 Patton
13 Kelly's Heroes
14 Inglorious Basterds
15 Empire Of The Sun
16 From Here to Eternity
17 Dirty Dozen
18 Longest Day
19 Great Escape
20 Big Red One
21 Von Ryan's Express
22 Guns Of Navarone
23 Sink The Bismark
24 Stalag 17
25 A Bridge Too Far


Going to not really go too far out on a limb and agree with GoldenJCJ for BoB. My favorite piece of film of any genre. For two films with tanks, I just remembered FURY and although not historically accurate Battle Of The Bulge was still an entertaining movie.

dhmac

They're playing loose with the label "WWII Film" with The Best Years Of Our Lives in the rankings. Although it's a great movie, it's a Post-War Drama about men returning and adjusting to life again, but I wouldn't call it a "War Film" even with its connections to WWII. It could've been just as easily set after WWI or any war because which war it's set after didn't matter, just the drama of adjusting back to civilian life.

JimRochester

I barely remembered it and had the same thought when I read the description. Kind of like calling Die Hard a Christmas movie.

DthRdrX

Some of those just feature war in the background to the actual plot. They might as well have thrown The Good, The Bad and The Ugly on the list then.

I will agree with many others and say BoB probably is the greatest war "feature" I have ever seen. From the list above: The Thin Red Line, Downfall, Das Boot, and Letters from Iwo Jima are some of my favorites.

Nick Danger

I haven't seen all of those movie, but it looks like the Russians got left out again.

I vote for Ballad of a Soldier.

McHawkson

I don't agree with the list. I don't think Saving Private Ryan deserved #1 spot, so either The Thin Red Line on #2.

GoldenJCJ

I’m surprised Grave of the Fireflies isn’t on the list. Though after looking at that vanilla ass list I guess I’m not surprised.

stvn1974

I am surprised Dunkirk or at least The Dark Knight didn't make the list.

TomOpus

Never ends...

rw2516

Don't understand Kelly's Heroes being on any best list.

Others I feel are as good as some on the list, even better than some on the list.

The Eagle Has Landed
Eye of The Needle
Air Force
Five Graves To Cairo
Never So Few
No Man Is An Island
To Hell And Back
Play Dirty
PT109
The Train
Sahara
Passage To Marseille
Objective Burma

Jaymole

A Walk in the Sun & Attack! are 2 of my favorites that did not make the list.

And Come and See should be at or near the top of the list.

Mabuse

Coming home is also a big part of the war guys. The Best Years of Our Lives doesn’t just honor veterans, it takes a moment to recognize the costs of America’s victory, how the war changed the world, and changed America’s role in the world.

It’s also a masterpiece by a filmmaker who went to Europe and made front line documentary films about the war.

And keep in mind, it wasn't made ten years after the war was over and everything had been digested. It was made in 1946.

Other Great War movies that aren't about the combat:

All the Powell & Presburger films:
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (This is the actual best war movie ever, made in England DURING the war)
A Canterbury Tale
A Matter of Life and Death

Also, Mrs. Miniver

These days everybody's all, "Yeah, hooray, for women," but most of y'alls picks are a bunch of sausage fests. There are great war films about, and staring women.

Mabuse

my list of best war films, roughly in order of preference:

Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
Bridge on the River Kwai
The Best Years of Our Lives
Fort Apache
Grande Illusion
Dr. Strangelove
Thin Red Line
Come and See
Lawrence of Arabia
Drums Along the Mohawk

Norm de Plume

Thanks for posting the full list. The omission of Come and See is just criminal. Offhand, I would also add two other Soviet films: The Ascent (1977), by Larisa Shepitko (wife of Elem Klimov, director of Come and See), and Trial on the Road (1971), by Aleksey German.

Also, there are a number of documentaries that would put virtually all of these films to shame, but I guess this is a fiction list.

JimRochester

I forgot Hacksaw Ridge. Although graphic it was the best story about war about a guy that never picked up a rifle.

dom56

I thought three of my favorite should have been on list.

Twelve O'Clock High
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Train

Hazel Motes

Dunkirk should be on the list.

OldBoy

The Pianist should be on list and although not directly related to the war, the animated The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe (1979), should be there...

dom56

What up with all the hate on Saving Private Ryan? I thought that last battle was pretty awesome. I thought The Thin Red Line was pretty boring and never bother on watching it again. John Travolta was miscast and bad acting, thank god he was only in briefly.

GoldenJCJ

I enjoy Saving Private Ryan too. It’s a Great War movie.

Of course, I also enjoy The Thin Red Line. It’s just a completely different kind of WWII movie.

I still need to see #21-24 on that list.