Genre Films: War Movies Ranked and Reviewed
Submitted by grandpa_chum on Wed, 05/03/2006 - 05:35
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13. Lawrence Of Arabia
- David Lean, 1962:
12. Patton
- Franklin Schaffner, 1970:
11. Red Dawn
- John Milius, 1984:
10. The Great Escape
- John Sturges, 1963:
9. Platoon
- Oliver Stone, 1986:
8. The Big Red One
- Samuel Fuller, 1980:
7. Dr. Strangelove
- Stanley Kubrick, 1964:
6. Hell Is For Heroes
- Don Siegel, 1962: Steve McQueen is the f***ing man... Bob Newhart is hilarious, Don Siegel's direction is fantastic, Steve McQueen is rough and tough and as cool as ever, the featured weapon is a flame thrower, the war story is interesting enough but not too sappy or patriotic, the ending is perfect, and james coburn has a small role to boot, how can a war movie get much better, I don't know.
5. Apocalypse Now
- Francis Ford Coppola, 1979: coming sooon
4. Paths Of Glory
- Stanley Kubrick, 1957: coming sooon
3. Casualties Of War
- Brian De Palma, 1989: coming sooon
2. Duck, You Sucker
- Sergio Leone, 1971: The least known of Leone's masterpieces. Probably because Leone was only supposed to produce it and Peter Bogdanovich was supposed to direct it, that came to a halt when Bogdanovich realized that when leone produced a film he was all but credited as director. Eventually when Peter quit, the two stars insisted that Leone Direct it. Speaking of stars, this is by far James Coburns best and most involved performance, not to mention he is one of my favorite actors, although underused. Stieger is okay but nothing special, even annoying at times, but that doesn't ruin this wonderful movie. A very underrated, always great, Morricone score, at top form blaring during the best flashback sequences in movie history... the flashback is perfected as only Leone can do, if you get lucky enough to see a full version of this movie that is(should have a special edition dvd soon, it's in the works). A very fun, somewhat political, and moving film about a poor bandit stuck in the middle of the mexican revolution and an IRA fugitive there to help out, they meet, realize they need each other and the rest is history. Quite a grand glorious ending, for two grand glorious heros of the revolution... you wanna see top notch war battle scenes and some great morricone scoring... here it is at it's best... Probably the most underrated film of all time... but then again it is the only leone movie not to get a respectable US release, and it's the only leone movie not to be realized as a masterpiece... you do the math.
1. Cross Of Iron
- Sam Peckinpah, 1977: This film is basically a 70's version of Paths Of Glory. The story is similar yet different, the setting is similar yet different, the feel is similar yet different, and the overall message is basically the same. There are 4 reasons I rank this ahead of the aforementioned Paths Of Glory, James Coburn(who else could out do Kirk Douglas?), Peckinpah's style(finally get to see the slow-mo master work on a war film), and the climactic 'killing of thine own' finale, it's Paths of Glory counterpart is almost surreal, slow paced, and has a very meloncholy feel to it. Here Peckinpah puts together a moving, climactic, operatic, bang of a finale. It's probably one of the most moving scenes I've ever witnessed in a war movie, which is really saying something. It is made with basically everything I love about Paths Of Glory, but because I'm partial to the way Peckinpah goes about things, for me he one-ups Kubrick, which is hard to do.
Cloned From:
To clarify, if it fits into the 'western' genre then I don't consider it a war movie, so the good the bad and the ugly, or the wild bunch or all those spaghetti westerns set in the mexican revolution are out... except Duck You Sucker, because that is more war and less western, But i really can't choose between the two, so it's on both.
these rankings, like all other genre list rankings, are independent of other rankings... for example lawrence of arabia may be a better movie than red dawn, but red dawn is a better war movie.