Top 100 Best War Movies Of All Time (2022 List)

Wars often have sad,sorrowful tales with them and Hollywood have always loved true and real subjects as much as we do. May be that's the reason that among the highest rated movies on various sites we often see war movies on top places. Even Academy awards love them and movies about war often win.

Personally I canât handle war movies. Its too hard for me to see the bloodshed of innocent people. I am a native of Panipat district of Haryana state in India. The place has a long history on war. 3 of the greatest historical wars in India were fought in this district during the 16th and 17th century. People often find skeletons when they dig deep. The epic Mahabharta battle (fought 5000 years ago) in which more than 10 million people participated was fought in Kurukchetra which is just 50 miles away from Panipat.

I have seen several war movies. Here on this page i have compiled a list of 100 best war movies.I have given preference to anti war movies. The terror of war, sorrow of getting separated from loved ones and the tales of bravery in battlefield are among the main sub plots of these films.

At the end of the list i have made a list of "Top 10 war films" which are my personal favorites. If you find any of your favorite war movie missing then do let me know in comments at the end of this page.

Photo Credit : lreed76

The very first war movie I saw was Roman Polanski’s The Pianist. The film was based on a real life Jewish musician who was forced to go underground during world war II. I was depressed to see how his family was separated from him and how he suffered physically during the war. The brutality of Nazi army on the Jewish is very well picturized in this film.

Which War movie had long lasting impact on you? Which film do you think is the greatest war film ever made?

1. Malena
2. Fail-Safe
3. Gettysburg
4. Tora! Tora! Tora!
5. To be or Not to be
6. Rome, Open City
7. Stalingrad
8. The Messenger
9. Zulu
10. Seven Years in Tibet
11. The Counterfeiters
12. To have and Have not
13. Gallipolli
14. Come and See
15. Causalities of War
16. The Wind that Shakes the Barley
17. Stripes
18. Brothers
19. Conquest 1453
20. Kagemusha
21. The Flowers of War
22. Incendies
23. Defiance
24. Red Cliff
25. Kelly’ Heroes
26. Tigerland
27. No Man’s Land
28. We Were Soldiers
29. A Very Long Engagement
30. The Patriot
31. Rambo
32. Kingdom of Heaven
33. All Quiet on the Western Front
34. Black Book
35. The Killing Fields
36. Glory
37. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
38. Where Eagles Dare
39. Good Morning, Vietnam
40. The Battle of Algiers
41. Cold Mountain
42. The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas
43. Underground
44. War Horse
45. Rescue Down
46. Legends of the Fall
47. Atonement
48. The Guns of Navarone
49. Empire of the Sun
50. Flags of Our Fathers
51. The Dirty Dozen
52. Judgment at Nuremberg
53. Patton
54. Born on the Fourth of July
55. The General
56. The last of the Mohicans
57. From Here to Eternity
58. MASH
59. JarHead
60. Valkyrie
61. Three Kings
62. The Longest Day
63. A Bridge too Far
64. Hotel Rwanda
65. Downfall
66. Ran
67. The Thin Red Line
68. Pan’s Labyrinth
69. The Best Years of Our Lives
70. Black Hawk Down
71. The Great Dictator
72. Barry Lyndon
73. The African Queen
74. The English Patient
75. Letters from Iwo Jimma
76. Enemy at the Gates
77. Lincoln
78. The Last Samurai
79. Stalag 17
80. The Hurt Locker
81. Life is beautiful
82. Doctor Zhivago
83. Paths of Glory
84. The Bridge on the River Kwai
85. The Deer Hunter
86. Casablanca
87. Platoon
88. Inglorious B@sterds
89. 300
90. The Great Escape
91. Das Boot
92. Lawrence of Arabia
93. Dr. Strangelove Or How I Learned to stop worrying and love the bomb
94. Braveheart
95. The Pianist
96. Full Metal Jacket
97. Apocalypse Now
98. Saving Private Ryan
99. Gone With the Wind
100. Schindler’s List

Description :-
Apocalypse now is more of human study rather than simply being a war movie.The movie has Vietnam war as its sub-plot but primarily "Apocalypse now" focuses on human emotions and beliefs.Marlon brando stars as ruthless colonel Kurtz.He was the top billed actor for the movies just for 15 minute of his onscreen appearance.Francis Ford Coppola Who previously worked with Brando in one of the greatest Hollywood movie The Godfather even said that the presence of Marlon is enough to ensure the success of film.Martin sheen plays captain Willard,who is sent to kill colonel kurtz.The film was inspired from Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness. Though it differs from the novel at many points.

Director :- Francis Ford Coppola

Star-Cast :- Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall

Plot :- Captain Willard is sent on a mission to kill colonel Kurtz,who is using his power in his own way,during the vietnam war.

Description :-
There is no doubt that David lean was one of the greatest director of his time.Almost all his movies met critical acclaim and were nominated for various awards including the most prestigious,Oscars.He was master in making war movies and made war romance films like Doctor Zhivago.Lawrence of Arabia is one such classic by him.

Lawrence of Arabia accounts the life of British officer T.E. Lawrence and his involvement in Arab revolt during world war 1.Not only the direction,plot,score and acting in this movie is of topnotch but above all what makes this movie a legendary movie is the title character,T.E. Lawrence.This legendary movie character was played by Peter o Toole who received an academy award nomination for his brilliant acting.

Director :- David Lean

Star-Cast :- Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness and Anthony Quinn

Plot :- The epic story of British officer T.E. Lawrence and his role in Arab revolt during the world war i.

Description :-
Gone with the with is the most popular and greatest Hollywood movie of all time.The film is based on the best selling and Pulitzer award winning novel of same name.The film set many records at the time of its release.It was the longest running movie of its time and set a record for winning most academy awards (10). Gone with the wind view the civil war from the southern point and has main protagonist a spoiled brat scarlet o Hara. This war romance movie become one of the highest grossing film of American cinema.The acting of Clarke gable and Vivien Leigh was of top notch.The film set standard for other movies and every now and then great movies of various cinemas of world are compared with Gone with the wind.

Director :- Victor Fleming

Star-Cast :- Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Thomas Mitchell

Plot :- A Romance ensues between a spoiled girl and a roguish man during the civil war.

Description :-
Frankly speaking i had only read in Books and biographies that what Hitler had done but the true brutality of Hitler and World war II is shown as it is in this heart touching film.Hitler is not there as a character in the film but the whole movie revolves around him and World war 2. Aman goeth a sadistic German general is true follower of Hitler.He hates Jews and Kills them just to practice shots.

Spielberg's film is Based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally and probably is the best and the greatest war movie ever made.Both the novel and the film are based on real life events Oskar schindler,a german businessman.Oskar saved around 1200 jews during the holocaust in world war 2.The film stars some of the most talented actors in some of the most powerful roles.Liam nesson stars as Oskar schindler,a greedy businessman who later feels his duty towards humanity.Ralph fienes star as Amon goeth,a sadistic German general is true follower of Hitler(one of the best movie character,you will ever see on big screen).He hates Jews and Kills them just to practice shots.Like other war movies this film too won academy awards (7) including best picture and best director.

Director :- Steven Spielberg

Star-Cast :- Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley

Plot :- A German businessman named Oskar schindler saves the lives of 1200 jews during world war ii holocaust.