The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown

Guns of Navarone was a lock on my ballot as soon as the countdown was announced. I mean it's got Gregory Peck and a great cast and those cool looking twin canons in the cliff side. Last time I seen it was a decade ago so I re watched it and realized just how insipid the script. There's this set up that Anthony Quinn is going to kill Gregory Peck at the end of the mission, but the only 'payoff' is a few lazy words about the situation, nothing happens. I'm not a big action guy but if I was I'd say the action was lacking: There was some contrived problems like a typhoon that sinks their ship but then when the team gets to the top of the cliff it's a cheesy studio set that looks bad even for back in the day... and there the team remains clocking film time while becoming talking heads and not much else. The only two good things was the end scene with the German canons and how they handled the spy in their team. I think Guns of Navarone rest on it's laurels.

Barry Lyndon, excellent film making, superb craftsmanship. To bad Stanley Kubrick didn't direct Guns of Navarone.

Guns of Navarone was my 14. One of my old neighbours, who passed away few years ago, loved this movie a lot. He had a VHS cassette & would watch it once every month.

Guns of Navarone was also one of the many movies shamelessly plagarised by Bollywood.


Let's also take a moment to remember Gia Scala. What a beauty.


I like Barry Lyndon but never considered it for the list.

Here they come - the films on my list are starting to trickle through.

50. Barry Lyndon - I really, really have to watch Barry Lyndon again - once is nowhere near enough, and I have it on DVD. Is there much war in it? There's some, I know - but it would never have occurred to me to include this in my pile of possibilities. In this case it doesn't matter so much, because I only remember it in a general sort of way and thus it wasn't going to make my list. I thought it was fantastic at the time, but there aren't many movies that go for over three hours that I've seen many times - except for Lawrence of Arabia, there's not one single film I can think of that goes over three hours that I've seen at least three or four times. The one thing I remember most clearly about this is that Barry Lyndon (Ryan O'Neal) often behaves in a foolish manner, and that his fortunes often seem to be turning against him. Oh, that and it's a visually beautiful work of art - with set decoration, art design and cinematography that looks gorgeous.

49. The Guns of Navarone - If a war film is going to ditch the whole anti-war contrivance, then do what The Guns of Navarone does, and make it look tough and stack the odds against your heroes. Filled with many fantastic set-pieces, this adaptation of Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel is stirring stuff and was the apex of workman J. Lee Thompson's directorial career. When a film from this era features Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, you know it means business, and the talent on hand wasn't wasted on frivolous action - this war film really gets down deep into it's characters' minds, and often stirs emotional sentiment relating to the absurdity war is - having to kill for what are often arbitrary reasons. But aside from that it's simply so damned exciting and backed by a pounding Dimitri Tiomkin score. Every aspect of this film is truly great - and while there's not much pure adrenaline-fueled fun amongst the war films I really admire, this is one of the exceptions. I had The Guns of Navarone on my list, at #24.

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Seen : 34/52
I'd never even heard of :11/52
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 7/52
Films from my list : 4

#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

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48:





47: You don't talk very much, do you? You've only said like a couple things.

Barry Lyndon - one of my top 10 movies of all time? Yeah. The movie is filled with pathos and dry comedy undercutting that pathos.


Great war-battle scene? I'd at least consider it if we were doing scenes.


War movie? No. That battle was scene. Counting the time he spent in the army was maybe one quarter of the movie (remember the first starts with Nora and with being in the secret police, then galavanting around Europe as a gambler).

Guns of Navorone - a movie whose title I've heard over the years, but if asked what it's about or anything about it at all, I couldn't tell you.

I just seen her two nights ago in the war comedy Don't Go Near the Water (1957). If you're a fan of hers you might check it out, it was fun. I also just now noticed she was in another war film Battle of the Coral Sea (1959), I've never seen that one so I think I'll watch it tomorrow. Thanks for mentioning Gia!

48: Saving Private Ryan
47: All Quiet on the Western Front 1930

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47. The Great Dictator

48. Born on the 4th of July

I like most Kubrick films but somehow I've always forgotten that Barry Lyndon is one of his. And I didn't know that it was a war film at all.

I love The Guns of Navarone but it's been a good while since I've seen it. I used to watch it as a kid every time it showed up on television. I loved the chemistry between Peck and David Niven. And yes! Gia Scala. What a vision. And what a tragic life. I ended up deciding to go with only one Gregory Peck film and I hope it makes it. I think it will but you never know.

#8Hacksaw Ridge On point #67
#10The Hurt Locker Bombs away! #58
#21Tora! Tora! Tora! In the vanguard #63

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48. From Here to Eternity
47. American Sniper

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Sounds like Kubrick to me.

You and me both, MV.

Lyndon is one of those Kubrick films I've not seen yet, but it looks like, pretty much, all his other films. A string of gorgeous pictures strung together and played at 24fps for a very long time. I do love a period drama, so it is possible I could like it. Even his cold soullessness could work in its favour depending on the story/character(s) but even then, my history with his films keeps me from really taking the plunge

The Guns of Navarone is exactly the kind of film which springs to mind when someone says "war film". This is one of those late 60's/early 70's war films which were on tv a lot in my childhood. It's stereotypical weekend/bank holiday Monday afternoon, BBC fare which my dad would've sat and thoroughly enjoyed. Possibly with a sandwich and a packet of Walkers (think Lays in N.America) Cheese & Onion crisps at some point. It's a nice memory for me, but not a film I have any interest in seeing again. That said, I'm bound to see at least some of it again in my lifetime, so often is it on tv at weekends/holidays.

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47. Dunkirk

"Fire In The Plains" and "The Human Condition 2" didn't make my list, but a 7/10. I either haven't seen/liked the others. "Barry Lyndon" did make my #7. I hope it's not nostalgia, because Kubrick was my favorite at 17, and by 18, I'd seen all his movies. I haven't seen "Barry Lyndon" in years and don't fancy the idea of seeing movies I've already seen anymore.


It's too bad I can't see the number of reps on the movie posting itself, which I used to be able to do, which I can't, even on a different browser.

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One vote.

Barry Lyndon was my #3. I remember Harry Lime said something about deliberately putting off watching it in order to have one Kubrick to watch in his 20s (presumably after having gone through the bulk of the man's films during the early days of becoming a cinephile) and this made enough sense to me that I also held off on watching it until my 20s. As other Kubricks have fallen ever so slightly in my estimation over the years, this one has slowly but surely started to take hold as one of my favourites (it's definitely top 3 along with 2001 and The Shining). Anyway, its status as a war film is largely relegated to its front half and the eponymous scoundrel's misadventures as he bounces from one army to another during the Napoleonic Wars - that being said, Kubrick is still able to find room for a variety of tones and approaches during that time as he chronicles the absurdity of infantry battles, the comical ways in which Barry attempts to get ahead in (and eventually desert) the service, and even the ways in which it does actually have a deleterious effect on him. You can definitely argue that Kubrick's handled war as a singular subject better in other films, but I'd still contend this is his best film that happens to have war in it.

I've seen The Guns of Navarone once and remember thinking it was fine.

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Barry Lyndon & Lolita are the two Kubrick films I haven't seen yet. I should change that soon

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That said, I have two other Kubrick films on my list

I'm pretty sure Lolita will be in the top 25 for this list.

And the hint for it will be an AMV (anime music video) set to Never Gonna Give You Up, because that was the song for Rickrolling people back in the day. And since R and L are the same letter in Japanese (making the anime aspect relevant), it could be written as "Licklolling". And the word Lolling looks a lot like "Lolita" and lick, because Sue Lyon is licking a lollipop on the poster for the movie.