The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown

22. The Great Dictator - Let's see what I can remember about The Great Dictator - probably number one is the faux, guttural patois that stands in for the language of whatever fictional country Charlie Chaplin's Adenoid Hynkel is in control of. That I found to be probably the funniest thing about the film. The dance with the globe is famous of course. I remember his other, downtrodden character has a barbers shop or something - and there's a very funny shaving scene. Also famous is that speech at the end. I liked The Great Dictator, and thought it was fine. While it doesn't immediately spring to mind when I think of war movies, I think it's inclusion here is fair enough. It wasn't going to have a chance of making my list.

21. The Best Years of Our Lives - Seems that a lot of my "sure things" are going to be squeezed into the top 20, making me very busy for the next 15 or so days. I've yet to see The Best Years of Our Lives - I look forward to getting around to it.

Seen : 58/80
I'd never even heard of :12/80
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 10/80

1. 99%
2. The Ascent (1977)
3. 100%
4. The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
5. 100%
6. 100%
7. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)
8. 100%
9. 100%
10. 100%
11. 100%
12. 50%
13. 100%
14. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
15. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
16. Shoah (1985)
17. 3%
18. 85%
19. 1%
20. 1917 (2019)
21. 80%
22. 99%
23. Glory (1989)
24. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
25. 0%

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Hints:


20: Still Petrie.


19:

1. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
2. Jojo Rabbit (2019)
4. To Be or Not To Be (1942)
5. Wings (1927)
9. The General (1926)
11. 1917 (2019)
13. The Killing Fields (1984)
14. Grand Illusion (1937)
16. Patton (1970)
19. The Caine Mutiny (1954)
21. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

19. The Great Escape

20. The Cranes Are Flying

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I watched the Great Dictator for a HoF countdown. I enjoyed it quite a bit but didn't consider it for this list.

I've not heard of 'The Best Years of Our Lives'.

No votes.

This surprised me. It’s usually regarded as among William Wyler’s best. Although I only think it’s ok. I prefer Dodsworth, Roman Holiday, Wuthering Heights and even The Children’s Hour over it, myself.

Shows my lack of knowledge of the Hollywood classics if anything.

Think we already have the answers though

20. The Thin Red Line
19. Ran

And the present, it would seem.

Really? It certainly did into mine.

The Pianist and the Battle of Algiers are, I'm sure, two great films I've not seen. Despite owning The Pianist for about 15 years I've still not seen it. The rest of these films since my last comment are either crap films I have seen (hello Braveheart) or films I have little interest in seeing (hello Patton).

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Too late to guess the hints once again.

Now I just want to play Excitebike

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Letterboxd

The Best Years of Our Lives was in contention for my ballot. It's pretty solid. Purely about the lives of soldiers coming from the war and the difficulties they face adjusting back.


I know when I tried to watch it not that many years back, it wasn't easily available (I think you could get physical media and non-legit streaming + someone posted it on YouTube, or something).
A smaller number of years ago (maybe as late as 2019), I saw it finally start to show up on streaming service. So, I think it's less surprising people have stumbled across this one.

It has left me with a desire to see more William Wyler (I think there was a western and one starring Bettie Davis that caught my eye), but I've never gotten around to it.

Oh, Patton - I saw five minutes of the ending on TV as a teen. It did not spark any interest at the time to go seek out the full movie, neither then, nor in my memory of it as an adult.

19. Paths of Glory

If you're talking about The Big Country and The Little Foxes-highly recommended!

The Big Country was #27 on the MoFo Top 100 Westerns. Great flick, even for those who don't generally care for Westerns.

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

The Big Country and (checking letterboxd) Jezebel were the two that got onto my radar. The movie that I still can't muster interest to watch - Ben-Hur.

The Best Years of Our Lives won the 9th Hall of Fame.

Jezebel is good, The Little Foxes is better.