The war movie genre has made for some of the best, most influential movies of all time. Ever since Georges Méliès made what is widely regarded as one of the first ever war films, Sea Fighting in Greece in 1897, the genre has evolved and produced a lot of iconic films. While cinema evolves, the quality of films from a certain era doesn’t change, and some are still regarded as hugely important works of art that have stood the test of time.
Naturally, many war movies haven’t aged well, but in some cases, impactful war movies can emotionally stick with you forever. Like any film genre, the war movie can take on many guises. Some may depict the brutality of combat with hard-hitting battle scenes regardless of their accuracy, while others may delve deeper into the psyches of the people involved in the conflict. However, for a war movie to be considered a classic, and to impress modern audiences, there are certain attributes they must have.
10 Paths Of Glory
Directed By Stanley Kubrick (1957)
One of the older examples of a war movie that still holds up today, is Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 anti-war epic, Paths of Glory. The legendary filmmaker brings all of his trademark filmmaking skills to the film, along with a great cast, who bring its tale of three soldiers on trial for cowardice to life superbly. The movie, which features some fascinating behind-the-scenes facts, is rightly considered a timeless classic of the genre.
Paths of Glory, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is a war film set during World War I. The movie stars Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, a French officer who defends three soldiers accused of cowardice in a court-martial. The film explores themes of military hierarchy, the futility of war, and the moral dilemmas faced by soldiers and their leaders. Paths of Glory is notable for its critical portrayal of military bureaucracy.
- Release Date
- December 25, 1957
- Cast
- Kirk Douglas , Ralph Meeker , Adolphe Menjou , George Macready , Wayne Morris , Richard Anderson , Joe Turkel , Christiane Kubrick
- Runtime
- 88 Minutes
More recently, fans of the war genre have witnessed sublime camerawork in movies such as 1917 from 2019, with its one-take shots proving to be an immersive experience of life in the trenches. However, it’s Kubrick’s camerawork that’s even more impressive given that he had the limitations of the era to work with, in terms of the camera technology that was available to him.Paths of Glory holds up because of its ability to not only shock but also offer an unbiased depiction of war.
9 Gettysburg
Directed By Ron Maxwell (1993)
Some of the best war movies often have one thing in common; they are incredibly long. While this isn’t a criticism of the genre, it’s indicative of the fact that war movies generally need to be a factual reenactment of events from the past. Naturally, this isn’t always the case, but one movie with a runtime that would have had cinema-goers craving an interval was 1993’s Gettysburg.
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Focusing on the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, the movie has a runtime of over four hours, but the need to accurately depict the key moments of the battle, alongside several character arcs, warrants its length.
Released in 1993, Gettysburg is a historical war drama film that adapts the novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, written and directed by Ronald F. Maxwell. The film chronicles the titular battle during the Civil War, exploring both sides’ strategies and intimate character stories as soldiers prepare for one of the bloodiest battles in American history.
- Director
- Ronald F. Maxwell
- Release Date
- October 8, 1993
- Distributor(s)
- New Line Cinema
- Writers
- Ronald F. Maxwell
- Cast
- Tom Berenger , Jeff Daniels , Martin Sheen , Kevin Conway , C. Thomas Howell , Richard Jordan , James Lancaster , Stephen Lang , Sam Elliott , Maxwell Caulfield
- Runtime
- 254 Minutes
Filmed on a real battlefield, Gettysburg still offers an impressive depiction of the war over its three-day skirmish.Gettysburg is an epic must-watch civil war film that successfully manages to uphold historical accuracy with a stellar cast.
8 The Last Of The Mohicans
Directed By Michael Mann (1992)
Watch any movie by the great Michael Mann, and one thing becomes apparent very quickly; he has a fastidious attention to detail. Set at the height of the French and Indian War, The Last of the Mohicans tells a sweeping tale of Hawkeye, played by Daniel Day-Lewis, the son of Mohican chief Chingachgook. The movie is regarded as one of Daniel Day Lewis’ best, and it still holds up wonderfully.
The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 historical drama directed by Michael Mann. Set during the French and Indian War, the film follows Hawkeye, a European-raised adoptive son of a Mohican man, as he navigates the complexities of colonial conflicts and personal relationships. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, the movie intertwines themes of love, loyalty, and survival against the backdrop of early American frontier life.
- Director
- Michael Mann
- Release Date
- September 25, 1992
- Writers
- James Fenimore Cooper , John L. Balderston , Paul Perez
- Cast
- Daniel Day-Lewis , Madeleine Stowe , Russel Means , Eric Schweig , Jodhi May , Steven Waddington , Wes Studi , Maurice Roëves
- Runtime
- 112 Minutes
Mann has previously admitted that the 1936 adaptation of the movie had been in his head since the age of three, and you can see the love and attention to detail in his finished work. The Last of the Mohicans still holds up today thanks to Mann utilizing the scope and beautiful setting of the movie to enhance its main characters’ journey, while also uncharacteristically adding more than just a touch of emotion to the narrative.
7 Lawrence Of Arabia
Directed By David Lean (1962)
When you consider what makes a war movie still impressive in modern times, one must take into account some of the reasons why some war movies, especially from the 1950s and 1960s, don’t work so well now. Perhaps they have an outdated quality and their pacing is too slow. These are not attributes you could throw in the direction of David Lean’s epic 1962 movie Lawrence of Arabia.
The 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia is a historical movie based on the life of a real-life British officer who played a key role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Starring Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, and Anthony Quinn, the Oscar-winning film displays the man’s disillusionment with war and its politics.
- Director
- David Lean
- Release Date
- December 11, 1962
- Cast
- Alec Guinness , Omar Sharif , Peter O’Toole , Jack Hawkins , Anthony Quinn
- Runtime
- 228 minutes
To begin with, the scope of the movie and its beautiful visuals are still mightily impressive. It’s another sweeping, graceful, classic war movie that manages to keep an engaging narrative in its timeless production design. Peter O’Toole’s Lawrence is one of cinema’s great characters, and his conflicted, violent journey with his allegiances between the Arabian and British sides, is just as captivating today as it was in 1962.
6 A Bridge Too Far
Directed By Richard Attenborough (1977)
Much like the doomed wartime operation it was based on, Richard Attenborough’s A Bridge Too Far had a chaotic production but has since become one of the best war movies of the 1970s regardless. The movie tells the story of Britain’s heaviest defeat in the wake of D-Day during the Second World War, and in particular, the fateful Operation Market-Garden. It was also filmed before the invention of CGI, so everything you see on the screen is real.
A Bridge Too Far is a 1977 war film directed by Richard Attenborough that chronicles the failed World War II operation, Market Garden, a massive Allied attempt to capture key bridges in the Netherlands. Featuring an ensemble cast including Sean Connery, Michael Caine, and Anthony Hopkins, the film explores the intense battles and strategic mishaps that resulted in one of the war’s most significant setbacks.
- Director
- Richard Attenborough
- Release Date
- June 15, 1977
- Cast
- Dirk Bogarde , James Caan , Michael Caine , Sean Connery , Edward Fox , Elliott Gould , Anthony Hopkins , Gene Hackman , Hardy Krüger , Laurence Olivier , Ryan O’Neal , Robert Redford , Maximilian Schell , Liv Ullmann , Siem Vroom , Marlies van Alcmaer , Erik van ‘t Wout , Wolfgang Preiss , Hans von Borsody , Josephine Peeper , Paul Maxwell , Walter Kohut
- Runtime
- 175 Minutes
Boasting a stellar cast, including Sean Connery, Lawrence Olivier, Michael Caine, and Ryan O’Neal, the film has become a classic staple of television programming during most holidays. The fact that the movie focuses on a failed mission, makes the success of the film a marked achievement. It could easily have become bogged down in the failures of Operation Market-Garden, but instead, it offers a wildly ambitious take on the failed mission and is an emotional, and poignant reminder of a conflicted time.
5 Spartacus
Directed By Stanley Kubrick (1960)
Another example of a war movie that has not only stood the test of time but has also inspired countless imitations and subsequent war movies, is Spartacus. The film had its battles to fight when star Kirk Douglas had a major falling out with original director Anthony Mann, so Stanley Kubrick was hired to complete the movie audiences still love. It’s an endlessly watchable, and quotable war movie.
Spartacus is a historical drama directed by Stanley Kubrick, starring Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, a slave-turned-rebel leading an uprising against the Roman Empire. Released in 1960, the film features Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, and Tony Curtis in supporting roles. It portrays Spartacus’s journey from enslavement to becoming a symbol of resistance.
- Release Date
- November 17, 1960
- Cast
- Kirk Douglas , Laurence Olivier , Jean Simmons , Charles Laughton , Peter Ustinov , John Gavin , Nina Foch , John Ireland
- Runtime
- 197 Minutes
Despite experts claiming that the Oscar-winning Spartacus is historically inaccurate, the movie is one of the most influential epics of its time. Without the film, the likes of Gladiator and its sequel Gladiator II, which has also been bashed by historians, wouldn’t exist in the same way. Kubrick’s masterpiece revels in its grandiose set pieces, and the perfectly executed battle between Kirk Douglas and Woody Strode’s characters matches anything from more recent times alone.
4 Saving Private Ryan
Directed By Steven Speilberg (1998)
Speilberg’s excellent depiction of the D-Day landings during World War II, plus the attempts to bring home a paratrooper, is now old enough to be considered a classic. Yet, that is exactly what Saving Private Ryan has become; a classic war movie with one of the best, and most disturbing, opening battle scenes of all time.
Tom Hanks stars as Captain John Miller in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 WWII film. Saving Private Ryan tells the story of Miller’s command of a company of soldiers who risk their lives in an attempt to extricate Private James Ryan from the fighting in Europe, in order to spare his family from losing all of their sons after Ryan’s brothers are killed in the war. Matt Damon, Edward Burns, and Tom Sizemore also star.
- Release Date
- July 24, 1998
- Runtime
- 169 minutes
Saving Private Ryan has many other harrowing scenes, and it holds up incredibly well, 26 years later. The opening battle scene on Omaha Beach remains a hugely impressive technical achievement, and it is still a difficult sequence to sit through due to scenes of massacred bodies, and death.
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It is a chilling re-enactment of the real skirmish. Ultimately, though, the film has lasting appeal thanks to the story at the heart of the narrative, which focuses on the mission to find Private Ryan and inform him of his siblings’ deaths. It’s a brothers-in-arms tale, punctuated by hardcore violence, and great performances.
3 Platoon
Directed By Oliver Stone (1986)
The image of Willem Dafoe’s Sgt. Elias, with his arms held aloft after being gunned down in Platoon, has become one of the most iconic in war movie history. It helped sell the film via its marketing campaign and ensured that the movie was firmly ingrained in pop culture. Director Stone has overseen many films that have stood the test of time, and Platoon is one of his best movies and an icon of the 1980s.
Platoon is a war drama directed by Oliver Stone, featuring Charlie Sheen as a young soldier experiencing the harrowing realities of Vietnam. Released in 1986, the film chronicles his moral struggle within a divided platoon, led by the contrasting characters of Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger. Platoon offers a raw depiction of the harsh conditions and ethical dilemmas faced by soldiers, contributing to its critical acclaim and multiple Academy Awards.
- Director
- Oliver Stone
- Release Date
- February 6, 1987
- Runtime
- 120 Minutes
Platoon is one of the best Vietnam War movies, and the film holds up incredibly today for a multitude of reasons. It’s based upon Stone’s own experiences of war, and unlike other war movies from the era, it offers little in the way of heroism for its protagonists. Instead, it instills a sense of fear in the viewer, so they can somehow empathize with the plight of the soldiers. The battle scenes still pack a heavy punch, but it’s the depiction of war as entirely senseless that leaves a lasting impression.
Directed By Stanley Kubrick (1987)
1957’s Paths of Glory may have been Stanley Kubrick’s most interesting anti-war statement, but it’s his 1977 classic, Full Metal Jacket, that doesn’t just show the horrors of the battlefield, it also condemns the entire idea of war itself. It holds up well thanks in no small part to Kubrick’s predictably assured direction, but also in how it portrays the atrocities of war, even before the troops have set foot in battle.
Full Metal Jacket is a war movie directed by Stanley Kubrick where a group of young soldiers endure the brutal training regimen of U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey) and fight in the Vietnam War. The film was highly acclaimed for its crude portrayal of the dehumanizing effects of war and the psychological toll it takes on soldiers.
- Release Date
- July 10, 1987
- Runtime
- 116 minutes
- Budget
- $30 million
R. Lee Ermy’s portrayal of the bullying, confrontational Sergeant Hartmann is a key reason why the first third of the movie memorably depicts how the soldiers are left desensitized by their draft to the military, even before the conflict begins for real. It’s these moments of human despair, plus the excellent battle scenes, that make Full Metal Jacket a force to be reckoned with still. When you witness Vincent D’Onofrio’s Private Pyle reach his endgame, the movie lives long in the memory.
1 Apocalypse Now
Directed By Francis Ford Coppola (1979)
When looking at what goes into the making of a modern war movie such as 1917, or All Quiet on the Western Front, you’ll find that their DNA comes from one of the greatest, and most influential war movies of all time; 1979’s Apocalypse Now. Any war movie that was released after Coppola’s masterpiece would in some way be influenced by it. The film is so iconic, and it features countless moments that are ingrained in the consciousness of movie-goers everywhere.
In Francis Ford Coppola’s classic Vietnam War film, loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, an army Captain is tasked with assassinating a rogue Colonel who has created a cult-like compound in the Cambodian jungle and is currently waging his own war outside the army’s purview. Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando star as Captain Willard and Colonel Kurtz respectively, with an ensemble cast that includes Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, and Dennis Hopper.
- Release Date
- August 15, 1979
- Runtime
- 147 minutes
It therefore holds up today for a multitude of reasons. Marlon Brando’s performance has taken on legendary status, thanks to the reports of just how ‘method’ he ended up going in the role. The soundtrack features songs that are now associated with nothing else other than the scenes in which they appear in the movie, plus the dialogue is constantly referenced in pop culture. It is an operatic war movie that has lasted the test of time, with imagery that is now synonymous with the genre.
