The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown

Master of None

10-04-23

Originally Posted by SpelingError

What do you guys think will be in 0th place though?

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MovieFan1988

Msg

Registered User

10-04-23

Originally Posted by SpelingError

What do you guys think will be in 0th place though?

Pearl Harbor

lol

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John-Connor

Registered User

10-04-23

Originally Posted by SpelingError

What do you guys think will be in 0th place though?

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crumbsroom

Registered User

10-04-23

Come and See would have definitely been my number one. But as much as I love it, I'm surprised at how its greatness has become so widely accepted. It's not a likeable film. It isn't any fun. It's a misery slog. Which is why it speaks the same language as me. But all these years since I've seen it, I always just assumed it would remain a curiosity on the sidelines of cinema history.

But good job, world. One of the rare instances where the general public impresses me. It will probably never happen again.

Apocalypse Now is going to win though. But that's okay. It and Come and See are a kinda perfect number one and two. They are kind of similar in their structures, both a descent into hell...but Apocalypse Now's popularity at least makes sense. It's inevitable victory should be expected. It has surfing. And Dennis Hopper looking smelly on cocaine. And Marlon Brando probably eating donuts every time he ducks down into all those shadows. Great American things. The kind of things that get general audiences jumping to their feet and applauding.

What Come and See gives them, other than a nightmare world where there are definitely no donuts, and where you can't possibly surf in fields of rotten potatoes, and everything smells like Dennis Hopper, is beyond me.

Thief

Master of None

10-04-23

Holden Pike

One Ornery Sumbitch

10-04-23

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10-04-23

#2 #2

533 points, 29 lists

Come and See

Director

Elem Klimov, 1985

Starring

Aleksei Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas

10-04-23

#1 #1

733 points, 45 lists

Apocalypse Now

Director

Francis Ford Coppola, 1979

Starring

Martin Sheen, Frederic Forrest, Albert Hall, Laurence Fishburne

KeyserCorleone

Registered User

10-04-23

I didn't vote for Come and See, but I gave it a 95. This is one of the most horrific takes on war ever filmed.

Apocalypse Now was my number 1. I didn't change anything, I swear!

On my list: A "watch more than once" movie with a lot of beautifully surreal shots and a psychological bases that keeps you guessing about the villain.

KeyserCorleone

Registered User

10-04-23

To everyone who risked their lives and souls for this ballot, and especially to everyone who was willing to pitch in and help with layout, tips, stats, corrections, etc., I thank you.

Thief

Master of None

10-04-23

Wow, Keyser just dropped that bomb on all of us. No warning, no nothing

Holden Pike

One Ornery Sumbitch

10-04-23

Come & See was #32 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1980s, #54 on the MoFo Top 100 Refresh, and #8 on the MoFo Top 100 Foreign Films. Apocalypse Now was #9 on both the MoFo Top 100 of the 1970s and the MoFo Top 100 Refresh. It was #14 on the original MoFo Top 100.

Holden Pike

One Ornery Sumbitch

10-04-23

Apocalypse Now was on 45 of the 57 ballots. 79%! Unbeatable. Not even close. Similar thing happened with Coppola's The Godfather on the 1970s List. Almost everybody included it somewhere on their ballot, most high up. Very quickly becomes a landslide.

Thief

Master of None

10-04-23

Come and See was my #4. Just an incredibly powerful and harrowing film. Here is my review from Letterboxd, which I might put up here in a while.

Apocalypse Now was my #2. Like someone else said, it is a descent into Hell as we see this character go deeper and deeper into the war zone. I've always been amazed by films where things don't work out the way they are supposed to, and yet they end up probably better than they would've. That is the case here because the way Coppola is forced to handle Brando ends up giving the last act an otherworldly and nightmarish vibe that I just love. Amazing film.

Seen: 52/100
Ballot: 22/25

My ballot:

Harry Lime

BANNED FROM VIENNA

10-04-23

Dang Apocalypse Now really killed it. I wonder biggest #1 gap ever? I had both on my list at #2 and #3. Here's my full list:

1. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
2. Apocalypse Now (1979)
3. Come and See (1985)
4. The Thin Red Line (1998)
5. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
6. Paths of Glory (1957)
7. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
8. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
9. Shoah (1985)
10. The General (1926)
11. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
12. Ran (1985)
13. Beau Travail (1999)
14. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
15. Army of Shadows (1969)
16. Schindler's List (1993)
17. Das Boot (1981)
18. Waltz with Bashir (2007)
19. Rome, Open City (1945)
20. The Great Escape (1963)
21. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
22. Battleship Potemkin (1925)
23. Three Kings (1999)
24. Underground (1995)
25. La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2003)

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Thief

Master of None

10-04-23

Stats: Finish Line

Decade Breakdown

2020s = 1
2010s = 5
2000s = 13
1990s = 7
1980s = 13
1970s = 9
1960s = 20
1950s = 16
1940s = 10
1930s = 3
1920s = 3

As predicted, the 1960s end up with the biggest representation, with the 1950s being the second closest. It's nice, though, to see that "every decade" was represented somehow.

Repeating Directors

Stanley Kubrick = 4
Sergei Bondarchuk = 3
Masaki Kobayashi = 3
Steven Spielberg = 3
Emeric Pressburger & Michael Powell = 2
Andrzej Wadja = 2
Sidney Lumet = 2
Kon Ichikawa = 2
Kathryn Bigelow = 2
Ridley Scott = 2
Mel Gibson = 2
William Wyler = 2
David Lean = 2

David Lean was the latest addition to the list with his almost back-to-back entries, but Stanley Kubrick comes out victorious with four (4) entries in the whole countdown.

War Breakdown

World War II = 56*
World War I = 9
Vietnam War = 7*
Napoleonic Wars = 5
American Civil War = 3
Cold War = 2
Rwandan Civil War = 1
War on Terror (Afghanistan) = 1
Unnamed civil war = 1
Crusades = 1
Second Boer War = 1
Gulf War = 1
Cambodian Civil War = 1
Somali Civil War = 1
Spanish Civil War = 1
Iraq War = 1
Lebanon War = 1
French and Indian War = 1
Seven Years War = 1
Somalian Civil War = 1
Korean War = 1
First War of Scottish Independence = 1
Algerian War = 1
Fictional Japanese war = 1

Nothing new to see here; just that Hollywood is obsessed with World War II. World War I and Vietnam in the next spots with a decent showing. It's worth mentioning that some liberties were taken in counting, for example, Vietnam War for Tropic Thunder (since it's the clear inspiration) or World War II for The Great Dictator, for the same reason.

Citizen Rules

Trouble with a capitial 'T'

10-04-23

So glad Come and See didn't win!

Not a big fan of Apocalypse Now, it really didn't need to have a water buffalo chopped in half live. The opening scenes are some of the best put on film and the middle of the film is good but the end felt like a let down and Brando by this time in his career was phoning in his performances. It'd rather have seen Rod Steiger play that role.

Harry Lime