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20. Three Kings
19. Flags of our Fathers
18. The Dirty Dozen
17. The Thin Red Line
16. Starship Troopers
15. MASH
14. Full Metal Jacket
13. The Hurt Locker
12. Inglorious Basterds
11. The Brotherhood of War
10. Platoon
Oliver Stone has always been a director who makes Americans question who they are, where their country is headed and how will they cope with the wrongs of the past. It's for that reason that I'm surprised his still worked in Hollywood for so long. Platoon is one of his best works, a stirring, emotional challenging tale of men at war in America's darkest hour.
9. Richard III
A truly underrated classic, adapting Shakespeare's play it transporting it to a warped, 1930s London is a stroke of genius. It seems to get lost amongst other, bigger, louder war movies but this is all about conflict. Physical conflict and the war of souls and consciences.
8. Ran
Yet another Shakespearean adaptation, this time set in 16th century Japan and directed by the great Kurosawa. It's a true epic with thousands of extras and it really shows. This is old fashioned film making before the advent of CGI and everything seems suitably physical. Kurosawa not only gives a lesson in how to control pace and story telling but also in how to direct action.
7. Gallipoli
This isn't loud and it isn't brash but rather a thoughtful introspective on war and the sacrifices it takes to succeed. This to me has always seemed a love letter to the young and the brave who give everything to protect the old men in power. Add to that one of Mel Gibson's best performances and you have a great movie which really should be spoken of a lot more.
6. The Deer Hunter
A difficult movie to get through, not because it's overly violent or sadistic but because the characters are not always relatable. Walken portrays a dark, somewhat unhinged character and even though he isn't the center piece of the movie, his persona dominates to such an extent that you can't understand if you like him or not. It's this psychological aspect that makes Cimino's classic so disturbing and great at the same time.
5. Duck, You Sucker
A typical Leone movie, set in the days of the Wild West, bandits, thiefs, immoral men and the Mexican Revolution all combine to create some thing that is funny and some how thought provoking. A highly entertaining and at times tongue in cheek adventure which will make you laugh, you can't say that often about war movies.
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
A companion piece to Eastwood's Flags, this is by far the superior of the two. Unlike most war movies set during WW2, it shows the story from the enemies perspective, young Japanese men trying to survive on an island ravaged by war. The subplot of one of the soldier's wives at home strikes an emotional chord and shows us that even the bad men facing us from the opposite side of the battlefield are human.
3. The Great Escape
The iconic motorcycle jump by Steve McQueen has lived long in the memory and will continue do to so. That one moment has defined the whole movie but this is so much more than that. It's an escape movie set in a POW camp which knows when to laugh and when to be carry a stiff upper lip. A very British quality for a very British movie. Excellent performances all round and instantly quotable, this is an instant classic.
2. Saving Private Ryan
The opening sequence is easily one of the best ever captured on film. It took a director as great as Spielberg to portray the D-Day landing in all it's brutal, gory glory. The movie seems to lose a bit of pace in the hour or so that follows but the finale is equally as epic and the emotional strings that Tom Hanks pulls provides us with one of cinema's best ever performances.This is how a big, battle fueled war movie should be made.
1. Apocalypse Now
Could there be any doubt as to what is the best war movie ever made? Coppola's classic is a subversive, deeply disturbing take on the psychosis of war. Every character seems unhinged and the journey undertaken by Martin Sheen's protagonist is almost fantasy, a surreal combination of what is and what may be. Marlon Brando, on screen for only a few minutes gives us a chilling performance. We never truly see the man in the shadows and we never know if he is good or evil...that's war right? Is it right, is it wrong? We may never know.
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19. Flags of our Fathers
18. The Dirty Dozen
17. The Thin Red Line
16. Starship Troopers
15. MASH
14. Full Metal Jacket
13. The Hurt Locker
12. Inglorious Basterds
11. The Brotherhood of War
10. Platoon
Oliver Stone has always been a director who makes Americans question who they are, where their country is headed and how will they cope with the wrongs of the past. It's for that reason that I'm surprised his still worked in Hollywood for so long. Platoon is one of his best works, a stirring, emotional challenging tale of men at war in America's darkest hour.
9. Richard III
A truly underrated classic, adapting Shakespeare's play it transporting it to a warped, 1930s London is a stroke of genius. It seems to get lost amongst other, bigger, louder war movies but this is all about conflict. Physical conflict and the war of souls and consciences.
8. Ran
Yet another Shakespearean adaptation, this time set in 16th century Japan and directed by the great Kurosawa. It's a true epic with thousands of extras and it really shows. This is old fashioned film making before the advent of CGI and everything seems suitably physical. Kurosawa not only gives a lesson in how to control pace and story telling but also in how to direct action.
7. Gallipoli
This isn't loud and it isn't brash but rather a thoughtful introspective on war and the sacrifices it takes to succeed. This to me has always seemed a love letter to the young and the brave who give everything to protect the old men in power. Add to that one of Mel Gibson's best performances and you have a great movie which really should be spoken of a lot more.
6. The Deer Hunter
A difficult movie to get through, not because it's overly violent or sadistic but because the characters are not always relatable. Walken portrays a dark, somewhat unhinged character and even though he isn't the center piece of the movie, his persona dominates to such an extent that you can't understand if you like him or not. It's this psychological aspect that makes Cimino's classic so disturbing and great at the same time.
5. Duck, You Sucker
A typical Leone movie, set in the days of the Wild West, bandits, thiefs, immoral men and the Mexican Revolution all combine to create some thing that is funny and some how thought provoking. A highly entertaining and at times tongue in cheek adventure which will make you laugh, you can't say that often about war movies.
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
A companion piece to Eastwood's Flags, this is by far the superior of the two. Unlike most war movies set during WW2, it shows the story from the enemies perspective, young Japanese men trying to survive on an island ravaged by war. The subplot of one of the soldier's wives at home strikes an emotional chord and shows us that even the bad men facing us from the opposite side of the battlefield are human.
3. The Great Escape
The iconic motorcycle jump by Steve McQueen has lived long in the memory and will continue do to so. That one moment has defined the whole movie but this is so much more than that. It's an escape movie set in a POW camp which knows when to laugh and when to be carry a stiff upper lip. A very British quality for a very British movie. Excellent performances all round and instantly quotable, this is an instant classic.
2. Saving Private Ryan
The opening sequence is easily one of the best ever captured on film. It took a director as great as Spielberg to portray the D-Day landing in all it's brutal, gory glory. The movie seems to lose a bit of pace in the hour or so that follows but the finale is equally as epic and the emotional strings that Tom Hanks pulls provides us with one of cinema's best ever performances.This is how a big, battle fueled war movie should be made.
1. Apocalypse Now
Could there be any doubt as to what is the best war movie ever made? Coppola's classic is a subversive, deeply disturbing take on the psychosis of war. Every character seems unhinged and the journey undertaken by Martin Sheen's protagonist is almost fantasy, a surreal combination of what is and what may be. Marlon Brando, on screen for only a few minutes gives us a chilling performance. We never truly see the man in the shadows and we never know if he is good or evil...that's war right? Is it right, is it wrong? We may never know.
