Great war movies.

[scUM Buster]

IMO, Stripes is not a war movie...but, on a side note, most of the movie was filmed at Ft Knox, KY. I ran that same obstacle course that was in the movie. Best War Movies:
To Hell and Back (Audie Murphy)
We Were Soldiers
Glory
Gettysburg
Tuskegee Airmen
Platoon

 

[strohs]

I absolutely love war movies.
Im sure most of my all time favs have been listed, but I will throw this one out there since I didn't see it.

Von Ryan's Express.

Stars Frank Sinatra, and is an absolute classic.
If you have not seen this movie, I implore you to go rent it, now.
Its on DVD too.

 

[LoKyBuckeye]

Tuskegee Airmen

good call... that one made me think of another one I really like: Memphis Belle.

 

[Hodge]

If you agree with Mili then you can't count Black Hawk Down since it occurred in Somalia and did not occur during any US-Somalian "War."

You bring up a very good point Thump...I didn't even think of it at the time. However, if we pull that card, then nothing past World War II is a war. The United States has not been in a war since WWII. Point being that there were actually military personell in action--not just governments playing a big game of chess.

 

[Saw31]

The Killing Fields....

 

[Wingate1217]

In Harm's Way with John Wayne and Kirk Douglas

Has anyone nominated "Midway" yet?

 

[Zeta16]

Midway
Tora Tora Tora
Kelly's Hero's
Red Dawn
Band of Brothers
The Longest Day

 

[JohnnyCockfight]

Glory
Red Dawn
Braveheart

and last but not least

South Park: The Movie, which adeptly chronicled the great war between the U.S. and its neighbor Canada. Shit, throw Canadian Bacon in there too.

Oh, and War Games.

 

[HabaneroBuck]

Not great, but Heartbreak Ridge had military action in Grenada. Entertaining. Just thought it deserved a mention.

Here's the IMDB top 50 "war" movies if anyone wants to investigate some that they might not have seen. Half of these are not really war movies (African Queen?), but oh well:

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">1</TD><TD>Schindler's List (1993) 8.8/10 (94756 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">2</TD><TD>Lawrence of Arabia (1962) 8.6/10 (30859 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">3</TD><TD>Paths of Glory (1957) 8.5/10 (13714 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">4</TD><TD>Apocalypse Now (1979) 8.5/10 (62107 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">5</TD><TD>Boot, Das (1981) 8.4/10 (27810 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">6</TD><TD>Pianist, The (2002) 8.4/10 (29101 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">7</TD><TD>Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957) 8.4/10 (21478 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">8</TD><TD>Battaglia di Algeri, La (1965) 8.4/10 (1696 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">9</TD><TD>Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo (2004) 8.4/10 (1159 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">10</TD><TD>Hotel Rwanda (2004) 8.4/10 (3570 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">11</TD><TD>General, The (1927) 8.4/10 (6870 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">12</TD><TD>Great Escape, The (1963) 8.3/10 (19150 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">13</TD><TD>Saving Private Ryan (1998) 8.3/10 (96547 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">14</TD><TD>To Be or Not to Be (1942) 8.3/10 (3361 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">15</TD><TD>Vita è bella, La (1997) 8.3/10 (36426 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">16</TD><TD>Grande illusion, La (1937) 8.2/10 (4775 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">17</TD><TD>Bronenosets Potyomkin (1925) 8.2/10 (5709 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">18</TD><TD>All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 8.2/10 (6480 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">19</TD><TD>Braveheart (1995) 8.2/10 (88778 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">20</TD><TD>Kumonosu jô (1957) 8.2/10 (2961 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">21</TD><TD>Stalag 17 (1953) 8.2/10 (7318 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">22</TD><TD>Patton (1970) 8.1/10 (14185 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">23</TD><TD>Untergang, Der (2004) 8.1/10 (3542 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">24</TD><TD>Hotaru no haka (1988) 8.1/10 (6324 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">25</TD><TD>Full Metal Jacket (1987) 8.1/10 (46132 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">26</TD><TD>Deer Hunter, The (1978) 8.1/10 (27457 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">27</TD><TD>African Queen, The (1951) 8.1/10 (13801 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">28</TD><TD>Glory (1989) 8.1/10 (21533 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">29</TD><TD>Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The (1943) 8.0/10 (1008 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">30</TD><TD>Platoon (1986) 8.0/10 (33584 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">31</TD><TD>Gone with the Wind (1939) 8.0/10 (28230 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">32</TD><TD>Andrei Rublyov (1969) 8.0/10 (3024 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">33</TD><TD>Spartacus (1960) 8.0/10 (16261 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">34</TD><TD>Napoléon (1927) 7.9/10 (834 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">35</TD><TD>Mister Roberts (1955) 7.9/10 (3743 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">36</TD><TD>From Here to Eternity (1953) 7.9/10 (5763 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">37</TD><TD>To Have and Have Not (1944) 7.9/10 (3823 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">38</TD><TD>Barry Lyndon (1975) 7.9/10 (11571 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">39</TD><TD>Caine Mutiny, The (1954) 7.9/10 (4177 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">40</TD><TD>Henry V (1989) 7.9/10 (8036 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">41</TD><TD>'Breaker' Morant (1980) 7.9/10 (2597 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">42</TD><TD>Killing Fields, The (1984) 7.9/10 (9161 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">43</TD><TD>No Man's Land (2001) 7.8/10 (6833 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">44</TD><TD>Roma, città aperta (1945) 7.8/10 (1739 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">45</TD><TD>Aleksandr Nevsky (1938) 7.8/10 (1661 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">46</TD><TD>Sergeant York (1941) 7.8/10 (2169 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">47</TD><TD>Last Samurai, The (2003) 7.8/10 (29455 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">48</TD><TD>Letyat zhuravli (1957) 7.8/10 (666 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">49</TD><TD>Kagemusha (1980) 7.8/10 (3272 votes)</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle width="10%">50</TD><TD>MASH (1970) 7.8/10 (14400 votes)</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

[jlb1705]

my top 5 (in no particular order)...

Patton
Band of Brothers
Hamburger Hill
Full Metal Jacket
Catch-22

 

[ArtilleryBuck]

The Patriot
Gettysburg
Glory
Tuskegee Airmen
Saving Private Ryan
Enemy at the Gates
Das Boot
Platoon
Casualties of War
Black Hawk Down
Rules of Engagement

 

[osugrad21]

Not great, but Heartbreak Ridge had military action in Grenada. Entertaining. Just thought it deserved a mention.

Stitch Jones...the Ayatollah of RocknRolla

 

[Gobucki]

Not great, but Heartbreak Ridge had military action in Grenada. Entertaining. Just thought it deserved a mention.

Here's the IMDB top 50 "war" movies if anyone wants to investigate some that they might not have seen. Half of these are not really war movies (African Queen?), but oh well:
50 MASH (1970) 7.8/10 (14400 votes)

How is MASH all the way down at 50? It’s one of the best movies ever! I guess thats what happens when it's based on people who use the Internet.

 

[RugbyBuck]

I'm with you, Stroh's. Von Ryan's was the first movie I got to officially stay up to watch when I was a kid. Now, whenever it happens to be on, I watch it.

 

[Dryden]

How is MASH all the way down at 50? It’s one of the best movies ever! I guess thats what happens when it's based on people who use the Internet.

I know ... stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote at IMDB; I mean, seriously, has anyone looked at IMDB's Top-250 lately? All three Lord of the Rings films are in the Top-15?

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

A bigger problem I have than MASH being 50 is that Kagemusha is 49, meanwhile Ran isn't on the list. For some reason, IMDB has Ran classified as an action film instead of a war movie. With an 8.4 rating and 11,000 votes, if it were classified correctly it'd be in the Top-10. Kagemusha is far to low too, I'd have it in the Top-20.

I'm very impressed that Paths of Glory is 3rd though. I wouldn't have guessed Joe Average movie go'er would have ever heard of it since it was released in '57. Bridge on The River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia being rated so highly is also surprising, especially considering a good number or people consider viewing a David Lean film a test of will (or torture).