Best War Movies

A topic of conversation that comes up quite frequently at the local is the best war movies of all time.  It’s a guy thing, I guess.  It goes along with the scene from Cheers when they debated the sweatiest movie of all time (Cool Hand Luke).  So with the help of the guys at the bar, IMDB and AFI, here’s the unofficial list of the best war movies of all time, broken down by war:

War                        Titles

100 Years             Henry V (the Kenneth Branagh version)
Civil War               Glory ; Gone With the Wind
World War I       Lawrence of Arabia; Paths of Glory
World War II       Casablanca; Stalag 17; Bridge on the River Kwai
Korea                    Mash; The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Vietnam               The Deer Hunter; Apocalypse Now
Cold War              Fail Safe; Dr. Strangelove
Iraq                        The Hurt Locker

Most of these movies should be familiar to moviegoers.  They are award-winning movies that appear on many Top 100 lists by AFI and IMDB.  I guess it helps to have William Holden star in your movie – three of his films appear on this list, Stalag 17, Bridge on the River Kwai, and The Bridges at Toko-Ri.  There was about two dozen movies that did not make this cut, the most memorable being Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. 

I don’t know if any of these movies glorify war, most of them depict war at its worst - death, mayhem, brutality.  If anything, these are anti-war movies, because after you view them you wonder why anyone could ever go to war.  What most of them do is depict the courage, honor and sacrifice that men display when they go off to war. 

One guy made an argument that Jaws should be on this list.  Huh?  When did we declare war against sharks?  He explained that the most dramatic scene in the movie is when Quint describes his experiences aboard the USS Indianapolis after it was sunk by a Japanese submarine.  Call this an honorable mention.

So if you’re ever at a loss of things to do, pop one of these films in your player and enjoy the show.