Revealed: Best War Movies of All Time (Ranked By Experts)

Academy Award-winning war movies are motion picture projects that typically show a particular battle’s horrendous events unsparingly. These films also emphasize anti-war themes. Audiences who watch critically acclaimed movies about the world’s important armed conflicts, like the Second World War and the Iraq War, would feel enlightened about the nature of the battles. They would also understand the soldiers and civilians’ traumatic experiences.

In this latest report, CEOWorld Magazine informs readers about Hollywood’s 50 best war films of all time. This publication’s researchers developed an index utilizing the average audience ratings on film database IMDb.  They also used the information from TV and movie review portal Rotten Tomatoes. CEOWorld Magazine’s researchers included details about Tomatometer scores and audience marks. Readers will discover more about the motion picture projects that took home accolades from the Academy Award ceremonies. Additionally, they will find out more about the war films that accurately depict the important battles in history.

Here are Best War Movies of All Time (Ranked By Experts): 

1. Schindler’s List (1993)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.9/10 (1,266,841 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (411,879 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (128 reviews)
   Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg helmed the completion of “Schindler’s List.” This war movie is about how an Austrian entrepreneur saved Jewish people during the Second World War.   In 1994, “Schindler’s List” dominated the Academy Awards. This motion picture project took home seven accolades, including Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg.   Longtime Detroit Free Press movie critic Susan Stark described “Schindler’s List” as a “monumental” and “heartfelt” film.
2. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.5/10 (252,801 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (69,069 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (40 reviews)
   “Grave of the Fireflies” is an animated motion picture Japanese director Isao Takahata completed. This acutely distressing drama war film is about two siblings in Japan during the Second World War’s final days.   Movie critic Ernest Rister cited that “Grave of the Fireflies” is the most deeply human animated motion picture he had ever watched.
3. Casablanca (1942)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.5/10 (542,975 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (357,759 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 99% (124 reviews)
   “Casablanca” is considered among the best movies of all time. Director Michael Curtiz helmed this film project, featuring Hollywood acting luminaries Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart.   These movie stars portrayed past lovers who reunite in Nazi-occupied French Morocco. Bergman’s character tells Bogart’s that, when they were together in Paris, her husband is a resistance leader who she believed the Nazis had murdered.   The husband of Bergman’s character then materializes in Morocco with her. Bogart’s character has one of the crucial moral problems in US movie history. The audience of “Casablanca” has been left to determine whether or not Bogart’s character made the right decision.
4. The Pianist (2002)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.5/10 (770,832 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (253,429 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (184 reviews)
   “The Pianist” is included in CEOWorld Magazine’s list of the greatest war films of all time. This motion picture project enables the audiences to learn about the Jewish people’s harrowing encounters during the Second World War.   “The Pianist” is based on Władysław Szpilman’s life. This pianist is a Polish-Jewish Holocaust survivor. The war film is about Szpilman’s experiences during the Nazi occupation of his Motherland.   The main character in “The Pianist” aids in smuggling armaments to resistance fighters after his clan gets transported to a death camp. He also sees the failed Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.   “The Pianist” features the main character being taken by a compassionate Nazi officer and eventually surviving the battle.
5. Apocalypse Now (1979)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.4/10 (629,925 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (286,235 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (96 reviews)
   Marlon Brando is among Hollywood’s most bankable movie stars of his time. In “Apocalypse Now,” which director Francis Ford Coppola completed, he played the character of Colonel Walter Kurtz who is assigned to the forest during the Vietnam War.   As an American military officer, Colonel Kurtz is characterized by his psychosis, and causing profound trepidation to his subordinates. Hollywood actor Martin Sheen’s character in “Apocalypse Now” is tasked to murder him. The 1899 novel “Heart of Darkness” by Polish-English novelist Joseph Conrad is an inspiration for “Apocalypse Now.”
6. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.4/10 (467,737 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (209,644 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (92 reviews)
   Prolific Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick directed “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” This war film is a black comedy showing audiences a nuclear Armageddon.   Actor Peter Sellers played many roles in “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” They consisted of a presidential adviser with a German accent.
7. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.6/10 (1,292,307 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (993,591 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (143 reviews)
   CEOWorld Magazine’s researchers included “Saving Private Ryan” in this list of the 50 best war films of all time. They believe readers will discover more about Steven Spielberg’s exceptional directing work in his battle motion picture projects after watching his war movies, which consist of “Saving Private Ryan.”   Audiences will admire the realistic setting, armaments, and costumes used in this movie. “Saving Private Ryan” also features Academy Award-winning Hollywood movie star Tom Hanks in his very best performance.
8. Paths of Glory (1957)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.4/10 (187,198 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (35,412 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (62 reviews)
   Kirk Douglas garnered tremendous commendation in the 1957 war film “Paths of Glory.” This motion picture project Stanley Kubrick directed is set in 1916 France when it was ravaged by the Second World War.   In “Paths of Glory,” Douglas played the character of Colonel Dax getting orders from the general staff to take a strong German position. The initiative does not succeed and many French infantry members perish.   The French military members do not want to renew the attack and get their day in the court martial. Colonel Dax defends these soldiers.
9. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
   Audience rating on IMDb: 8.1/10 (60,985 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (10,855 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (91 reviews)
   “The Best Years of Our Lives” is a war film William Wyler helmed. It dramatized the Second World War veterans’ challenges. These soldiers had to adjust to civilian living which they found difficult.   Wyler took home his second Oscar accolade for “The Best Years of Our Lives,” which featured movie stars Dana Andrews and Fredric March.   This impressive motion picture project bagged seven Academy Awards. These prizes include Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, a disabled Second World War veteran.
10. The Great Escape (1963)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.2/10 (233,835 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (103,579 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (49 reviews)
    Allied inmates’ mass escape is told in “The Great Escape.” This 1963 war film directed by John Sturges is based on the real-life tale of a prison breakout from Stalag Luft III, a prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War.   In “The Great Escape,” the prisoners band together in tiny hordes and spread far and wide as they avoid the German jail guards. This war movie features Hollywood actor Steve McQueen’s character trying to outrun the captors aboard a motorcycle, leaping over barbed wire barriers separating Germany from Switzerland.
11. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.2/10 (33,747 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (6,029 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (47 reviews)
    Readers will be enlightened more about the Second World War and the Nazi invasion of Poland in the 1942 war movie “To Be or Not to Be.” In 1996, the United States Library of Congress chose this movie project for preservation in the National Film Registry.   Ernst Lubitsch is the director and producer of “To Be or Not to Be.” He also co-wrote this satirical presentation of a theatrical group’s effort to assist the Polish resistance. Lubitsch’s “To Be or Not to Be” was the last for Hollywood actress Carole Lombard who passed away in a plane crash.
12. Stalag 17 (1953)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.0/10 (54,031 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (13,214 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (37 reviews)
    “Stalag 17” is a drama film by celebrated Hollywood film director Billy Wilder. It is set during the Second World War, specifically on Christmas 1944.   Actor William Holden bagged an Academy Award for his performance as a pessimistic prisoner of war unjustly accused of undertaking espionage activities for the Germans.
13. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.3/10 (701,608 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (324,778 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (83 reviews)
    “Full Metal Jacket” is among the greatest battle films of all time. It is based on “The Short-Timers,” a 1979 novel by US Marine Corps veteran Gustav Hasford.   Director Stanley Kubrick depicted the Vietnam War in “Full Metal Jacket.” This all-time best war movie presents how dehumanizing the armed conflict was.   Additionally, the audience is enlightened about the boot camp and the disgrace caused by the combat. During the Tet Offensive, they learn about the brutality inflicted upon the Vietnamese in “Full Metal Jacket.”
14. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.1/10 (211,273 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (54,763 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 95% (61 reviews)
    French writer Pierre Boulle’s 1952 novel “Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï” or “The Bridge over the River Kwai” is the inspiration for the war film, “The Bridge on the River Kwai.”   This 1957 motion picture project director David Lean completed is about the British prisoners of war the Japanese captured in Burma. They faced forced labor in constructing a bridge over the River Kwai in 1942.   At first, the British soldiers resisted. These captives were spearheaded by a lieutenant colonel played by Hollywood actor Alec Guinness. Nonetheless, his character believes he can put his captors in disgrace with a bridge that is much better than what they might erect on their own.   William Holden’s character and a group of combatants travel through the forest to knock down the bridge. “The Bridge on the River Kwai” bagged seven Academy Awards for Best Actor, Best Picture, and Best Director for Lean.
15. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.1/10 (59,343 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (18,059 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 98% (81 reviews)
    “All Quiet on the Western Front” is a 1930 movie directed by Lewis Milestone. CEOWorld Magazine included it in this list of the greatest war films of all time because it is also ranked at or almost at the top of every roster of critically acclaimed war movies.   “All Quiet on the Western Front” features the character named Paul Bäumer, who is a young German student. This motion picture project concentrates on the German youth’s nationalistic enthusiasm.   These young people’s teacher asks them to defend Germany. Audiences see students in the film die and they understand the horrendous repercussions of armed conflicts and patriotism.
16. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.0/10 (56,633 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (43,991 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (153 reviews)
    Ari Folman is the director of the animated motion picture “Waltz with Bashir.” This war film explores his and those of his old friends’ memories of the 1982 Lebanon War.   CEOWorld Magazine’s researchers consider “Waltz with Bashir” among the best war films of all time for it is original and distinctly powerful.
17. Patton (1970)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.9/10 (98,585 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (43,344 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 94% (49 reviews)
    In “Patton,” Hollywood actor George C. Scott breathed life into the character of George Patton, a Second World War general characterized by narcissism and controversy.   Scott’s performance in the 1970 war movie directed by Franklin J. Schaffner represented his career’s summit. “Patton” took home seven Academy Awards. They comprise the Best Actor accolade for Scott, Best Picture, and Best Director for Schaffner.   Scott remarked that he would not take the Academy Award if he succeeded. This movie star was true to his word and he described the recognition he received as pointless before the Academy Awards ceremony.
18. The Deer Hunter (1978)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.1/10 (324,627 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (103,588 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (78 reviews)
    Michael Cimino directed “The Deer Hunter.” This epic war drama motion picture project released in 1978 took home five Academy Awards a year later, which consisted of Best Picture.    “The Deer Hunter” received critical acclaim for being among the most stirring movies presenting the Vietnam War’s repercussions on American military service members.   It is relentlessly realistic, presenting a group of friends from a middle-class Pennsylvania town before, during, and after the time they spent in combat.
19. Glory (1989)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.8/10 (129,766 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (60,300 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (44 reviews)
    As a Civil War drama film, “Glory” is about the first-ever all-African-American volunteer regiment that served in the Union Army. Director Edward Zwick’s motion picture project is partly based on Colonel Robert Gould Shaw’s letters.   Colonel Shaw is the regiment’s actual commander and was played by Hollywood actor Matthew Broderick in “Glory.” This movie took home three Academy Awards. These accolades consist of Best Supporting Actor for Hollywood movie star Denzel Washington.
20. The Killing Fields (1984)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.8/10 (55,512 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (10,000 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (43 reviews)
    The audiences gave high ratings to director Roland Joffé’s “The Killing Fields” because of its vivid presentation of the brutality in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge takeover.   The 1984 biographical drama movie is based on two journalists’ experiences. They directly saw the genocide’s atrocities. “The Killing Fields” won three Academy Awards.   The Best Supporting Actor recognition for Haing S. Ngor is the most notable for this historical drama because he did not have previous acting experience.
21. Platoon (1986)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.1/10 (395,356 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (240,012 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (69 reviews)
    Oliver Stone is a Hollywood movie director who served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He directed and wrote “Platoon” which is about a newly recruited soldier, played by actor Charlie Sheen.   This war drama movie examines a battle’s effect on military service members who question what they are actually taking up arms for.   “Platoon” features a star-studded cast, comprising Sheen, Johnny Depp, Tom Berenger, Forest Whitaker, and Willem Dafoe. It took home four Academy Awards, including Best Director for Stone and Best Picture.
22. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.3/10 (1,333,240 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (776,325 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (332 reviews)
    “Inglourious Basterds” is a war film directed by Quentin Tarantino. Hollywood movie star Brad Pitt played as a lieutenant of the US Army who assembles a group of Jewish soldiers. These military service members parachute behind German lines to assault and murder the Nazi forces.
23. Beasts of No Nation (2015)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.7/10 (77,493 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (8,145 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (143 reviews)   Hollywood actor Idris Elba portrays a warlord in “Beasts of No Nation,” a 2015 film directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga. His character hires an orphan boy to go to battle for him in an African country’s civil war.   New York Magazine film critic David Edelstein praised “Beasts of No Nation,” saying Elba’s performance made the film “a near-mythic level.” He also lauded Fukunaga’s taut or orderly cutting and forcefully moving camera, keeping the “Beasts of No Nation” merely this part “hallucinatory.”
24. The Imitation Game (2014)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.0/10 (717,585 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (104,116 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (285 reviews)   Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed Alan Turing in Morten Tyldum’s “The Imitation Game.” In this 2014 period biographical thriller movie, the computing pioneer is assigned to decipher challenging Nazi codes during the Second World War.   Moreover, “The Imitation Game” is about how Turing is forced to hide his homosexuality, which was unlawful at the time in the United Kingdom. This war film received eight Academy Award nominations and took home one for Best Adapted Screenplay.
25. The Train (1964)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.8/10 (15,508 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (4,310 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (15 reviews)   In “The Train,” Burt Lancaster’s character is a French Resistance combatant. He attempts to halt the Nazis from taking artworks out of Paris ahead of the Allied forces’ advance.   John Frankenheimer directed “The Train,” which features a robust cast of international artists. These actors include Paul Scofield, Wolfgang Preiss, and Jeanne Moreau.
26. Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.7/10 (14,043 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (6,031 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (25 reviews)   Readers will discover more about the harrowing experiences of soldiers going to battle in Henry King’s “Twelve O’Clock High.” This 1949 war movie is about the Allied forces’ flyers and the damage the Second World War takes on them.   Gregory Peck played as a practical and serious commander assigned to boost his airmen’s morale. Film critic Emanuel Levy lauded “Twelve O’Clock High.”   He remarked that King’s Second World War drama is among Hollywood’s pioneering and most forthright accounts of the emotional stress and psychological unease that high-command military positions cause.
27. Spartacus (1960)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.9/10 (129,890 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (78,142 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (61 reviews)   Stanley Kubrick is similar to Steven Spielberg since both Hollywood movie directors are instrumental in the completion of numerous critically acclaimed war movies.   “Spartacus” is a 1960 motion picture project directed by Kubrick that depicts the slave uprising in ancient Rome. It features a star-studded cast comprising Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, and Jean Simmons.   Four Academy Award accolades were bagged by “Spartacus.” Dalton Trumbo is to who the screenplay was credited, which marks the first-ever instance a banned writer had been publicly identified on screen following the blacklist.
28. The Steel Helmet (1951)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.4/10 (4,088 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 85% (808 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (16 reviews)   Samuel Fuller is the writer and director of “The Steel Helmet.” He based this war film on his personal experiences in combat to share tales about military troops.   Fuller was a part of the US Army’s 1st Infantry Division in Italy and North Africa. During the D-Day invasion of Normandy, he landed with the third wave on Omaha Beach in France.   Furthermore, “The Steel Helmet” director bagged the Purple Heart, the Silver Star, and the Bronze Star for his military service. Fuller’s 1951 motion picture project is about a gang of US soldiers in a Buddhist temple who are fighting a huge battalion of Communist combatants during the Korean War.
29. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.7/10 (158,947 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (207,514 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 93% (43 reviews)   “The Last of the Mohicans” is an epic historical action-drama movie. Its director is Michael Mann and this motion picture project is recognized as among the famous romantic war films.    “The Last of the Mohicans” stars Daniel Day-Lewis. This Academy Award-winning actor played Hawkeye in the film, who is a white man the Mohican tribe adopted.   He finds himself in a passionate affair with a British soldier’s daughter named Cora Munro. Audiences witness well-mounted war scenes during the French and Indian War in “The Last of the Mohicans.”
30. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.1/10 (467,761 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (55,854 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 84% (280 reviews)   Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge” is a 2016 war film based on Desmond T. Doss’s life. In the Second World War, the latter was a pacifist US Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry firm.   At the Battle of Okinawa, Doss rescued the injured American service members. He became the only American soldier to take home the Medal of Honor for not using a gun and firing a shot.   “Hacksaw Ridge” is included in CEOWorld Magazine’s list of the best war movies of all time because it consisted of riveting war scenes. It is famous for depicting Doss’s one-of-a-kind courage. Hollywood actor Andrew Garfield portrayed him in “Hacksaw Ridge.”
31. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.9/10 (158,118 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (341,132 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (204 reviews)   World-renowned Hollywood movie star and director Clint Eastwood helmed “Letters from Iwo Jima.” This war film expresses the Japanese perspective on the Battle of Iwo Jima.   “Letters from Iwo Jima” features a Japanese combatant’s letters to home that were discovered in Iwo Jima’s caves decades after the war.
32. The Hurt Locker (2008)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.5/10 (434,495 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 84% (96,200 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 97% (289 reviews)   “The Hurt Locker” is a war film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It tells the story of three American military service members who are components of a bomb disposal team in Baghdad, Iraq. These soldiers are at the end of their tours of duty.   The New York Times film critic Anthony Oliver Scott described “The Hurt Locker” as “ferociously suspenseful.” In 2010, Bigelow became the first-ever female director to bag the Best Director accolade in the Academy Awards.   Meanwhile, her apolitical and low-budget Iraq war movie project “The Hurt Locker” took home a total of six awards, including Best Picture.
33. The Longest Day (1962)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.8/10 (53,890 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (42,945 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (23 reviews)   War movie fans will find the film “The Longest Day” interesting and worth their time. After all, this motion picture production is about the D-Day invasion of Normandy from German and Allied forces’ viewpoints.   Bernhard Wicki, Andrew Marton, and Ken Annakin directed “The Longest Day.” Additionally, this 1962 movie includes Hollywood acting luminaries as cast. They are Sean Connery, John Wayne, Richard Burton, Henry Fonda, and Robert Ryan.   Richard Todd was a British actor who appeared in “The Longest Day.” During the D-Day operation, he was a component of the British airborne invasion of France.
34. Doctor Zhivago (1965)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.0/10 (72,795 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (45,815 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 84% (50 reviews)   “Doctor Zhivago” is about the life of a Russian physician and poet during and after the Russian Revolution. David Lean directed this war movie which stars Julie Christie and Omar Sharif.   As an epic romance motion picture, “Doctor Zhivago” received 10 Academy Award nominations. It took home five accolades, which consist of Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, and Best Cinematography.
35. The Guns of Navarone (1961)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.5/10 (47,868 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (20,768 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (24 reviews)   Scottish writer Alistair MacLean wrote the 1957 novel, “The Guns of Navarone,” which became a film in 1961. J. Lee Thompson directed this war movie about the Second World War.   “The Guns of Navarone” features Hollywood actors Anthony Quinn, Gregory Peck, and David Niven as Allied forces saboteurs.   Their characters are tasked to knock down a huge German gun emplacement on a Greek island, which is preventing the Royal Navy from saving the Allied troops stuck on another island.
36. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.6/10 (55,522 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (27,681 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (23 reviews)   “Where Eagles Dare” is a moving thriller about the Second World War. Similar to “The Guns of Navarone,” this war film directed by Brian G. Hutton is based on a novel by Alistair MacLean which is also titled “Where Eagles Dare.”   Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton played as Allied forces agents dropped behind adversary lines in the mountains to conduct a raid on a secured castle.   “Where Eagles Dare” features these Hollywood acting luminaries attempting to liberate an American brigadier-general inmate. However, the tale goes in a totally different direction.
37. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.5/10 (50,362 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 87% (25,000 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (117 reviews)   Irish actors Pádraic Delaney and Cillian Murphy played as two brothers in Ken Loach’s “The Wind That Shakes the Barley.” Together they fight for freedom from British imperial rule.   However, in “The Wind That Shakes the Barley,” Delaney and Murphy’s characters end up in different groups during the Irish War of Independence. One of the factions want a free republic, while the other back the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
38. Dunkirk (2017)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.8/10 (595,440 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 81% (69,228 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 92% (461 reviews)   Christopher Nolan is the producer, director, and writer of “Dunkirk.” This historical war thriller movie is about the Dunkirk evacuation of the Second World War from the viewpoints of the air, land, and sea.   “Dunkirk” includes minimal conversations among the characters. Audiences learn about the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk, though the film does not explicitly identify the enemy in the movie.
39. The Wind Rises (2013)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.8/10 (79,035 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 85% (23,004 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (178 reviews)   In “The Wind Rises,” the audience will be taken into Jiro Horikoshi’s life. During the Second World War, he designed fighter airplanes for the Japanese military forces.   Hayao Miyazaki is an Academy Award-winning director instrumental in the completion of “The Wind Rises.” This animated war movie is among the few Japanese motion picture projects that depict important figures from imperial times.   Film.com critic David Ehrlich praised “The Wind Rises” as the greatest animated movie the film industry has ever witnessed.
40. Sergeant York (1941)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.7/10 (17,457 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (5,683 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 88% (24 reviews)   The life of Alvin Cullum York is featured in “Sergeant York,” a 1941 biographical war film Howard Hawks directed. York was a US Army serviceman who was among the most decorated World War I soldiers.   Actor Gary Cooper bagged the first of his two Academy Awards for his exemplary portrayal of the pacifist Tennessee backwoodsman and America’s greatest war hero.   Hawks used his personal experiences in completing “Sergeant York.” This director served as a US Army Signal Corps lieutenant and later became a part of the Army Air Corps during the First World War.
41. From Here to Eternity (1953)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.6/10 (45,202 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 84% (14,909 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (62 reviews)   Fred Zinnemann took the audiences to the Second World War in his 1953 motion picture project “From Here to Eternity.” This war film is set at a Hawaiian airbase, just before the Pearl Harbor raid by the Japanese forces.   “From Here to Eternity” features Hollywood acting luminaries Ernest Borgnine, Frank Sinatra, Donna Reed, Montgomery Clift, Deborah Kerr, and Burt Lancaster.   This movie bagged eight Academy Awards, including accolades for Reed and Sinatra. “From Here to Eternity” also rejuvenated the latter’s showbiz career.
42. Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.1/10 (10,106 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (9,816 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (10 reviews)   The Battle of Iwo Jima is depicted in Allan Dwan’s “Sands of Iwo Jima.” This 1949 blockbuster war movie features the character of John Stryker portrayed by Hollywood movie icon John Wayne.   Stryker is an obnoxious US Marine sergeant who his troops resent. However, they start to comprehend his techniques and learn to be respectful towards him during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
43. Braveheart (1995)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 8.3/10 (988,748 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 85% (32,708,456 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 79% (84 reviews)   CEOWorld Magazine’s researchers deem it appropriate to include Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” in this list of the 50 greatest war films of all time. After all, this motion picture bagged five Academy Awards, including Best Director for Gibson and Best Picture.   Additionally, “Braveheart” presented a battle in the Middle Ages in spine-chilling detail.  Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace is the subject of “Braveheart.” In the First War of Scottish Independence that happened in the late 1200s and early 1300s, he spearheaded the families against the English invaders.   Audiences witness actual happenings in “Braveheart.” These events comprise the battles of Falkirk and Stirling Bridge.
44. Salvador (1986)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.4/10 (20,466 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 86% (8,547 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (27 reviews)   “Salvador” is a historical drama movie about Richard Boyle. He was an American photojournalist who was assigned to cover the Salvadoran Civil War.   In “Salvador,” which Oliver Stone directed, Hollywood actor James Woods played as Boyle who tries to aid his ex-girlfriend and her children in fleeing El Salvador.   This main character performs this undertaking while rebels fight military authoritarianism and innocent civilians suffer.
45. The Dirty Dozen (1967)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.7/10 (69,957 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (41,423 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (49 reviews)   “The Dirty Dozen” is a 1967 war film Robert Aldrich directed. It is about a US Army team of former death-row prisoners. They are dispatched on a suicide mission to go behind adversary lines and murder dozens of German military officers.   “The Dirty Dozen” features topflight cast Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Telly Savalas, and Charles Bronson. This film helped launch Jim Brown’s film career. He was a Cleveland Browns star running back.   Movie critics condemned “The Dirty Dozen” for its barbaric savagery. Meanwhile, fans describe this war film as a unique motion picture production for exploring an armed conflict’s sadism instead of the bravery of the combatants.
46. Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.3/10 (5,652 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 75% (732 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 100% (5 reviews)   Mervyn LeRoy’s “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” is based on US Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle and his aviators’ escapades. They bombed Tokyo approximately five months following the Pearl Harbor attack.   “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” stars Van Johnson and Spencer Tracy. It also features Hollywood movie star Robert Mitchum making an early movie career appearance.
47. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.4/10 (285,070 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 80% (197,285 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (302 reviews)   “Zero Dark Thirty” is about the pursuit of Osama bin Laden. This war film is set after the 9/11 terrorist attacks through the al-Qaeda terrorist group chief’s demise at the hands of the US Navy SEAL Team 6 in May 2011.   Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” received five Academy Award nominations. This movie took home the Best Achievement in Sound Editing accolade.
48. Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.3/10 (132,985 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 82% (131,515 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (42 reviews)   In “Good Morning, Vietnam,” Robin Williams played the main character Adrian Cronauer, an impudent disc jockey.   This American war comedy movie directed by Barry Levinson features Cronauer getting dispatched to Vietnam to uplift the morale of the military service members with his broadcasts on the American Armed Services radio station.   However, the military does not appreciate the DJ’s brand of comedy. Williams got the first of his four Academy Award nominations for his performance in “Good Morning, Vietnam.”
49. Red Cliff (2008)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.4/10 (45,071 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 78% (22,595 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 91% (117 reviews)   John Woo directed and co-wrote “Red Cliff.” This war movie is about an armed conflict fought towards the Han Dynasty’s culmination in the 3rd century.   In Asia, “Red Cliff” was released in two portions. Meanwhile, outside Asia, this war film’s running time was decreased to 148 minutes, with its parts combined into one movie.
50. Lincoln (2012)
    Audience rating on IMDb: 7.3/10 (252,083 votes) Audience mark on Rotten Tomatoes: 81% (245,942 votes) Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes: 89% (285 reviews)   Hollywood’s biggest names – Daniel Day-Lewis, Steven Spielberg, and Sally Field – gathered in “Lincoln.” In this 2012 biographical historical drama movie, Day-Lewis bagged an Academy Award for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln.   Moreover, Hollywood actress Sally Field received the Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination for playing US First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln.   “Lincoln” is about the final months in office of the United States’ 16th president. This Spielberg-directed biopic also features Lincoln’s struggles in unifying the divided country and putting an end to slavery.

In this list of Hollywood’s 50 Greatest War Films, CEOWorld Magazine’s researchers provided information about the best movies focusing on the different armed conflicts that happened in history. These battles include the First World War, the Second World War, and the Vietnam War, among many others.   CEOWorld Magazine’s researchers consider these films as the greatest for their directors strived to truthfully and graphically present the immense havoc and disorder that the various battles caused.   Watching the entries in this list of Hollywood’s 50 Greatest War Films enables the readers to be enlightened about the events that happened in the historical armed conflicts that these war-themed movies depict.

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