The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown

I have a feeling my number 1 pick will also be movieforum's top pick.

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Top 100 Films, clicky below

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JWC's B-Sides

#22 Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom

Not really sure what I can say about this that one doesn't already think about it, probably a movie a person should see once in their lives and destroy the evidence.

#21 A Hidden Life

I feel like Malick had a few misfires (for me at least) after arguably his greatest achievement, but this one, though not his best by any standard, seemed like the return of an old friend doing things he does best.

The Bridge on the River Kwai was #4 on my ballot. I didn't expect for it to be higher than Lawrence of Arabia, but I'm glad it made it high as it did on the list. Since time is somewhat short for me, I don't feel like writing much on it, but I might do it later tonight if I get the urge.

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My updated ballot:

1. The Travelling Players (N/A)
2.
3. Paths of Glory (#4)
4. The Bridge on the River Kwai (#3)
5. To Be or Not to Be (#41)
6. The Battle of Algiers (#24)
7.
8. The Best Years of Our Lives (#21)
9. From Here to Eternity (#30)
10. The Ascent (#33)
11. The Thin Red Line (#17)
12. Pan's Labyrinth (#54)
13. The General (#64)
14. Kanal (#61)
15. Red Angel (#100)
16. Underground (#43)
17. The Shop on Main Street (N/A)
18. This Land is Mine (N/A)
19. Barry Lyndon (#50)
20. Full Metal Jacket (#7)
21. The Fifth Seal (N/A)
22. Lawrence of Arabia (#5)
23. Johnny Got His Gun (#97)
24. Night and Fog (#48)
25. The Deer Hunter (#25)

Oops, meant to say "goes against" instead of "support".

This definitely deserved to appear.


Not sure what reason is worse, if it's simply underseen, or people just don't like it.

Bridge on the River Kwai made my list. Not much more to say about it as it’s excellent.

Well, the die has been cast. I will reveal the two from my ballot that didn't make it in a while.

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I just watched Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence three nights ago. It was an interesting film and Bowie was magnetic on screen. The actor who played the Japanese Captain was real good too. But the film felt incomplete. It's like it had some things going on that never really were fleshed out enough to make it stick. I didn't care for the actor who played Mr Lawrence, I don't think he was particularly good and seemed more self aware of his own acting than being 'in' the role. Still worth checking out and I wouldn't have mind it making the countdown towards the bottom part.

The debut film of French director Yann Demange follows Gary Hook (Jack O'Connell), a British soldier who is left behind in a volatile area during a riot in Belfast in 1971 (a period referred to as The Troubles). Hook has to play a cat-and-mouse game to protect himself from different factions of the IRA while trying to return to safety.

The film is very intense and well done. It doesn't rely on big action scenes and explosions, but rather on the tension of whether they will catch Hook or not. Demange, who became popular as a TV director, shows a lot of skill both in handling as well as building the tension. But kudos go to O'Connell as well who is very good in the lead role, conveying the desperation and emotion in a subtle way.

The plot gets a little convoluted in the last half with different double-crossings and backstabbings between the different factions of the IRA, but it doesn't hinder the effect too much. As it is, '71 is a taut, intense, and tight thriller.

Grade:

'71 was my #22, while Duck Soup was my #18.

Here is my updated ballot...


Seen: 50/98
Ballot: 20/25

Kwai is my #4. My writeup from a few years ago:

Set in a Burmese POW camp in 1943, The Bridge on the River Kwai follows a squad of British prisoners, led by unflappable Col. Nicholson (Alec Guinness), whose Japanese captors force to build a bridge in a strategic location. Instead of refusing their demands or exploiting the incompetence of the project's manager, Nicholson's pride and desire to make his squad feel useful result in the construction of a masterpiece of engineering. Naturally, the Allies target the bridge for destruction, and as luck would have it, there's a recent escapee from the same camp - hedonistic American Cmdr. Shears (William Holden) - who has insider knowledge about it. Watching this affair play out is as involving as I've described, but the real fun comes from ruminating on the moral dilemma it presents: if you were in Nicholson's shoes, would you do the same thing? Ultimately, however, the movie's focus is war and how it blurs traditional notions of morality. For instance, much has been said about the relationship between Nicholson and Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), the POW camp's tyrannical director. However, I found the dichotomy between Nicholson and Shears more fascinating. At first, Shears' hedonism and desire to save his own skin seems repugnant when compared to Nicholson's professionalism, but as their paths converge, Shears' position ends up looking more honorable. All in all, this movie is as engaging, satisfying and very much deserving of its classic status.

The Bridge on the River Kwai was twelfth on my ballot. Because Lean's followup was an even bigger epic triumph it is sometimes easy to forget how impactful Kwai was, especially at the time. Nominated for eight Academy Awards it won seven: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Alec Guinness), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Original Score. The only one it didn't win was Best Supporting Actor when Sessue Hayakawa lost out to Red Buttons in Sayonara.

A terrific, thrilling, engrossing tale, but I am still shocked it finished ahead of Casablanca, Strangelove, Paths of Glory, Saving Private Ryan, and Lawrence of Arabia.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
1. The Thin Red Line (#17)
2. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to
2. Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (#6)
3. Lawrence of Arabia (#5)
4. Casablanca (#14)
5. Paths of Glory (#4)
7. Fires on the Plain (#59)
9. Army of Shadows (#29)
10. Waltz with Bashir (#45)
11. The Pianist (#23)
12. The Bridge on the River Kwai (#3)
13. Full Metal Jacket (#7)
14. MASH (#39)
15. Rome, Open City (#37)
16. Letters from Iwo Jima (#60)
17. The Battle of Algiers (#24)
18. The Great Escape (#19)
19. The Ascent (#33)
20. The Big Red One (DNP)
21. The Killing Fields (#69)
22. Catch-22 (DNP)
23. Joyeux Noël (DNP)
24. Coming Home (DNP)
25. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (DNP)

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Like @Thief and @Harry Lime, The Bridge on the River Kwai was my #14. I love this movie. Great as a whole, and a ton of great moments. One of my favorites is when Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa) is so beaten down by the stiff upper lip stubborn Britishness of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness), that he's seen crying when he's alone! A classic by any stretch of the imagination.


#2 Platoon "Barnes been shot seven times and he ain't dead. Does that mean anything to you, huh? Barnes ain't meant to die. The only thing that can kill Barnes is Barnes." #16
#3 Paths of Glory "I can't believe that the noblest impulse for man - his compassion for another - can be completely dead here. Therefore, I humbly beg you... show mercy to these men." #4
#4 1917 "Look, its just a bit of bloody tin. It doesn't make you special. It doesn't make any difference to anyone." #31
#5 Saving Private Ryan "I just know that every man I kill the farther away from home I feel." #8
#6 Das Boot "They're drinking at the bar, celebrating our sinking! Not yet, my friends. Not yet!" #9
#7 The Longest Day "In this darkest hour, in the gloom of night, we must not despair. For each of us, deliverance is coming!" #36
#8 Hacksaw Ridge "Please Lord, help me get one more. Help me get one more." #67
#9 We Were Soliders "If any of you sons of bitches calls me grandpa, I'll kill you." #104 DNP
#10 The Hurt Locker "The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug."#58
#11 Full Metal Jacket "You best unf*** yourself or I will unscrew your head and s### down your NECK!" #7
#12 Dunkirk "Seeing home doesn't help us get there, Captain." #47
#14 The Bridge on the River Kwai "Madness! Madness!" #3
#15 Patton "Rommel, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!" #28
#17 The Best Years of Our Lives “I had a dream. I dreamt I was home. I've had that same dream hundreds of times before. This time, I wanted to find out if it's really true. Am I really home?” #21
#18 The Dirty Dozen "Killin' generals could get to be a habit with me." #32
#20 The Steel Helmet "First we'll eat; then we'll bury 'em," DNP
#21 Tora! Tora! Tora! "It looks good on paper, but for God's sake... that's not a paper fleet sitting out there." #63
#23 The Deer Hunter "Stanley, see this? This is this. This ain't something else. This is this. From now on, you're on your own." #25
#25 The Dawn Patrol "Man is a savage animal, who, periodically to relieve his nervous tension, tries to destroy himself."

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Kwai was my #15. As with the previous film on the countdown, it's one I've watched once and thought was amazing but have never gotten around to revisiting, but I think war is definitely one of those genres where you're more than okay not rewatching films over and over again. Still, if I can find time to watch Lawrence more than once then it shouldn't be too hard to do it with this.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

3. The Bridge on the River Kwai - Two knockout performances cement The Bridge on the River Kwai as one of my favourite movies. Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa, who play two dueling officers, Colonel Nicholson and Colonel Saito, in a brutal Prisoner of War camp in Siam, are both captivating. An English gentleman who wouldn't argue so much with carrying out what he's tasked with, if it wasn't for the fact that it conflicts with the rulebook, and a Japanese officer who manages the tricky double of winning and disgracing himself in the face of his own strict codes of honor. The utter madness plays out as escaped prisoner and hustler Shears (William Holden) is forced into being something he's not - the hero and man of the hour. A very character-driven war film, which shows quite clearly that matters of law, rules, dignity, honor and heroism are hard to apply correctly when you consider what war really is - a state-driven enterprise which goes against the very principles of law, rules, dignity, honor and heroism. Every main character has their specific moment to suddenly realise just this, and every time I watch it I admire the genius behind it and invariably start muttering "This is so good" - even if I'm alone. It is so good. It's so good that it made #13 on my list, and probably should have been higher.

Oh - and something I realised just today - I forgot all about Threads, and that would almost certainly have been on my list if I hadn't. I don't know what I would have parted with to allow it's inclusion, but it seems it still wouldn't have made an appearance, surprisingly.

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Seen : 76/98
I'd never even heard of :12/98
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 10/98
Films from my list : 21

#3 - My #13 - The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
#4 - My #5 - Paths of Glory (1957)
#7 - My #18 - Full Metal Jacket (1987)
#8 - My #10 - Saving Private Ryan (1998)
#9 - My #6 - Das Boot (1981)
#10 - My #8 - All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
#11 - My #3 - Schindler's List (1993)
#12 - My #9 - Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
#13 - My #12 - Downfall (2004)
#15 - My #21 - Inglourious Basterds (2009)
#17 - My #11 - The Thin Red Line (1998)
#20 - My #17 - The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
#27 - My #15 - The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
#31 - My #20 - 1917 (2019)
#33 - My #2 - The Ascent (1977)
#34 - My #4 - The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
#38 - My #23 - Glory (1989)
#49 - My #24 - The Guns of Navarone (1961)
#51 - My #7 - The Human Condition II : Road to Eternity (1959)
#70 - My #14 - The Caine Mutiny (1954)
#74 - My #16 - Shoah (1985)

Overlooked films : Breaker Morant, Fail-Safe, Night and Fog, Casablanca, The Travelling Players, Threads

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Threads was a contender for my ballot and I'm surprised it didn't make it.

Last few:

7. Full Metal Jacket (1987, Stanley Kubrick)
I love this film. Own it on 4K UHD. It's very rewatchable considering it's a violent war drama. But it just missed out on my list. Probably bias for me knowing it would make the top 10 anyway, so I gave other films I love a chance.


6. Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964, Stanley Kubrick)
I like this film, I don't love it. Beyond a few memorable scenes and witty jokes it's not a masterpiece. I feel this film wouldn't be anywhere near as popular if it was not directed by Kubrick.


5. Lawrence of Arabia (1962, David Lean)
An all time classic which I need to rewatch. Didn't make my list though.


4. Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)
Among Kubrick's best. My number 9. One of the best endings to any war film.


3. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1954, David Lean)
Shamefully I don't think I've seen it.

Here's my ballot. Just 3 misses, and one still to show!

1. Schindler's List (1993)
2. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
3. Braveheart (1995)
4. The Cranes are Flying (1957)
5. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
6. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
7. 1917 (2019)
8. Fires on the Plain (1959)
9. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
10. The Pianist (2002)
11. Ran (1985)
12.
13. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
14. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
15. The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)
16. Stalag 17 (1953)
17. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
18. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
19. Glory (1989)
20. Shame (1968)
21. Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
22. Darkest Hour (2017) MISS
23. A Hidden Life (2019) MISS
24. From Here to Eternity (1953)
25. The Lucky Ones (2008)