The Movieforums Top 100 War Movies Countdown

All Quiet On the Western Front was #6 on the MoFo Top 100 of the 1930s.

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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

Of course, this was my #1. Its right there on my profile page.

All Quiet on the Western Front was my #8. Nazis hated this film; hard to think of a stronger endorsement.

1. Downfall (#13)
2. Ballad of a Soldier (#68)
5. All Quiet on the Western Front (#10)
7. Grave of the Fireflies (#12)
8. From Here to Eternity (#30)
9. The Deer Hunter (#25)
14. Red Angel (#100)
15. Platoon (#16)
16. Waltz with Bashir (#45)
17. Underground (#43)
19. Schindler's List (#11)
20. Johnny Got His Gun (#97)
22. The Best Years of Our Lives (#21)
24. Wings (#79)
25. The Cranes are Flying (#20)

I wonder how low in the countdown All Quiet on the Western Front would've been if Keyser and Yoda hadn't took the time to sort that out and fix it?I for one am glad they did!

All Quiet on the Western Front didn't make my ballot, but I'm a huge fan of the film and I think it's a super rare case of an anti‐war film. Admittedly, I don't remember a lot about the film, but I remember a few scenes being standouts, like the crater scene, in particular. Given how much I enjoyed the 2022 film, I wouldn't mind rewatching the original one of these days.

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I've seen All Quiet on the Western Front and liked it, but it didn't make my ballot.

Seen: 68/91

Another twofer with Grave of the Fireflies and Schindler's List, which I had at numbers 8 and 16, respectively. What do I really need to say about these films. They're very, very, very good. But also tough viewings.

Meh All Quiet on the Western Front...it's alright but I'm not a big fan of any version. Oh well, Mofo loves it.

I also had Beau Travail that was #102 on the countdown list at #13. We almost made it, guys.
1. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
4. The Thin Red Line (1998)
5. The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
8. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
9. Shoah (1985)
10. The General (1926)
12. Ran (1985)
15. Army of Shadows (1969)
16. Schindler's List (1993)
18. Waltz with Bashir (2007)
19. Rome, Open City (1945)
20. The Great Escape (1963)
21. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
23. Three Kings (1999)
24. Underground (1995)
25. La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2003)

I'll have 22 from my list make it when all is done. Plus a one pointer. Plus one that came in at #102. That leaves only Potemkin from my list. Wow I'm a really Mofo Mainstream!

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

I've not seen any version of All Quiet on the Western Front but this is one I really wanted to see before the countdown but didn't get the chance. Countdown or not, I will see this one day. No vote.

#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
#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
#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
#12 Dunkirk "Seeing home doesn't help us get there, Captain." #47
#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
#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

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My guess for the last nine are:
9. Come and See
8. Saving Private Ryan
7. Paths of Glory
6. Full Metal Jacket
5. Apocalypse Now
4. Dr. Strangelove...
3. Das Boot
2. The Bridge on the River Kwai
1. Lawrence of Arabia

Didn't Make the List (1/4)

21. The Fifth Seal (1976)

This is the central question which hangs over the film. I've asked it to a handful of people over the years and have gotten pretty mixed responses across the board. While the question is unsubtlety a holocaust metaphor, the film doesn't opt for easy answers to the question, presents both sides to it, yet allows for the viewer to make up their own mind on which side to go with. While siding with the slave would be viewed as the "correct" answer by most, the film has enough courage to challenge the sense of comfort found in the "correct" option, while never giving the impression that it's trying to push you one way or another. It's aware that most people will try to avoid choosing the leader and gives them an extra degree of insight to ponder over long after the credits roll. While the ideas of the rhetorical question are impressive, the cast of characters, their roles in the war, and the way they're affected throughout the span of the day sticks with you as well. After all, it's hard not to watch the ending without feeling that the events of the past day have changed their entire outlook on what's right and wrong. Topped with some great hallucinatory moments, this is the kind of film which you don't forget about anytime soon.

Most likely to enjoy this: @PHOENIX74

My updated ballot:

1.
2.
3.
4.
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.
18.
19. Barry Lyndon (#50)
20.
21. The Fifth Seal (N/A)
22.
23. Johnny Got His Gun (#97)
24. Night and Fog (#48)
25. The Deer Hunter (#25)

I went to put this on my watchlist and found out it's already there! It's been double-watchlisted, and one for me to hunt down.

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10. All Quiet on the Western Front - I last saw this film many years ago, but it's still stuck in my memory. I've been meaning to watch it again and review it, but just haven't got around to it. Regardless, this first adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's novel is cinema at it's best - managing to boil down the essence of what war is really all about for those who fight on the front line. Remarque was a veteran of the First World War himself, and saw the grotesque physical trauma when comrades were brutally killed as well as the permanent mental scars that would be carried back into civilian life once the shooting stopped. It made it's mark - and for sure not as many people would know about it if it wasn't for this film version that came out only a couple of years later. The recent remake was awfully good, but this original one felt more real and direct - less out there to impress and more considered. It had to be on my list, and it was at #8

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Seen : 69/91
I'd never even heard of :12/91
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 10/91
Films from my list : 16

#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

I believe all of those votes were correct. Anyone who voted for the 2022 version of AQOTWF did so knowingly. It was Grave of the Fireflies that would have been off, as nobody who voted for the live-action version intended to do so and all of those points were meant for the Studio Ghibli original.

I did not have the original All Quiet on the Western Front on my ballot. Not because I don't believe it is brilliant and important but simply because I knew it didn't need my help. I wanted to make room for some odder ducks. Like...



One of my no-shows was another film set in the trenches of the First World War, Joyeux Noël (2005). Based on the true story of one of the few hopeful moments of that conflict, in December of 1914 when the French, German, and British forces spontaneously agreed on a temporary ceasefire to celebrate Christmas together in No Man's Land. If it wasn't a true story nobody would believe it. The lead tenor of the Berlin Opera was sent to the front lines to inspire the troops. When he began to sing "Silent Night" one of the Scottish troops decided to accompany on his bagpipes. After that duet was complete, the singer picked up a small Christmas tree and while singing "Adeste Fideles" entered No Man's Land. Nobody shot him, all were moved by the sentiment and thinking of their homes. The three Lieutenants in charge of this section of the fighting, the German played by Daniel Brühl, the Frenchman by Guillaume Canet, and the Scot by Alex Ferns, meet and decide on an impromptu truce. Mass is given and the next day the ceasefire is extended so that all sides may retrieve and bury their dead. The troops intermingled, broke bread, even played football. Once their superiors learned of the incident they were furious and fighting resumed, but this odd, honest, unplanned moment of humanity in the middle of the most inhumane conflict shines as a beacon of what lies beneath the hatred and mechanism of warfare.

I had it in the twenty-third place on my ballot, only three points, but I essentially chose it over All Quiet on the Western Front.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
1. The Thin Red Line (#17)
4. Casablanca (#14)
7. Fires on the Plain (#59)
9. Army of Shadows (#29)
10. Waltz with Bashir (#45)
11. The Pianist (#23)
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)
21. The Killing Fields (#69)
22. Catch-22 (DNP)
23. Joyeux Noël (DNP)
25. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (DNP)

I think the situations were very different. All Quiet remake was very popular, I don’t think anyone even knew the Fireflies made for TV remake even existed. Plus the year range is very wide between the All Quiet movies.

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Speaking as one of those accidental votes, the "did not know any remake even existed," had to have played a large into making my mistake. I triple checked that ballot, but I suspect my eyes focused more on the years of movies where I thought there was a possibility for name overlaps (via remakes or otherwise).

All Quiet is the one movie I wanted to rewatch before doing my ballot, but consistently kept not doing so. w
While I'm pretty sure if I had rewatched it, it would have made my ballot, but perversely, since I didn't remember it well enough to have a sense where to place it, i ended up not placing it at all.


I remember enjoying the scene of the soldier coming back home to his classroom where his teacher had instilled in him his patriotic sense of duty, and basically telling everyone it was lies but no one would believe him.


Starship Troopers felt a bit in conversation with the schoolroom recruitment scene (earlier in the movie), but maybe that's just a generic, "school as recruitment socializing force," type of thing in movies. Hard to believe Verhoeven (which my phone's autocorrect keeps changing to "Beethoven"), wasn't thinking of it though.

from the near-miss list, i had where eagles dare at #5. caught it randomly on TCM one year on memorial day (back-to-back with the dirty dozen) and it was one of the most riveting things i had ever seen. one of my favorite pure genre films.

i nominated quo vadis, aida? for the group watch thread hoping i could push it on to the list, but glad to see it at least got close. for my part, i had it at #13. one of the most harrowing viewing experiences you can have, in some ways more devastating to me than come and see.

i also had all quiet on the western front at #12. you don't need me to tell you why it's great.

1.
2.
3. Casablanca (1942)
4. The Thin Red Line (1998)
5. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
6.
7. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
8.
9.
10. The Burmese Harp (1956)
11. The Great Dictator (1940)
12. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
13. Quo Vadis, Aida? (2021)
14.
15.
16. To Be or Not To Be (1942)
17.
18.
19.
20. War and Peace (1966)
21. 1917 (2019)
22.
23. Ivan's Childhood (1962)
24.
25. The Long Voyage Home (1940)

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