Best War Movies of All Time

Last Updated on 12 June 2024

The following list is the Official Definitive List of the 400 best war movies of all time.

I found 51 different ranked lists online of “best war movies of all time” and pulled them all into Excel and merged them all to get this definitive compilation. See my Methodology page for the research process that was used, including links to all 51 lists that were averaged. Below is a checklist you can print to track which ones you’ve seen, followed by the ranked list with links to IMDb.

Greatest-War-Movies-of-All-Time-Checklist Download

Apocalypse Now (1979)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Platoon (1986)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
Paths of Glory (1957)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Das Boot (1981)
Ran (1985)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
1917 (2019)
Dunkirk (2017)
Patton (1970)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Grand Illusion (1937)
The Great Escape (1963)
Come and See (1985)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Casablanca (1942)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Army of Shadows (1969)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Braveheart (1995)
The Pianist (2002)
Glory (1989)
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Rome, Open City (1945)
Stalag 17 (1953)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Gallipoli (1981)
Downfall (2004)
The Longest Day (1962)
The Big Red One (1980)
M*A*S*H (1970)
From Here to Eternity (1953)
Life Is Beautiful (1997)
Waltz with Bashir (2008)
Sergeant York (1941)
Spartacus (1960)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Fury (2014)
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Three Kings (1999)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Killing Fields (1984)
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Starship Troopers‬ (1997)
Twelve O’Clock High (1949)
The Train (1964)
The Imitation Game (2014)
Incendies (2010)
To Be or Not to Be (1942)
Da 5 Bloods (2020)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
Midway (1976)
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Ivan’s Childhood (1962)
American Sniper (2014)
Casualties of War (1989)
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Lone Survivor (2013)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)
The Leopard (1963)
Who’s Singin’ Over There? (1980)
Enemy at the Gates (2001)
Rescue Dawn (2006)
The Ascent (1977)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Chimes at Midnight (1965)
Lincoln (2012)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
Kanal (1957)
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
A Man Escaped (1956)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Paisan (1946)
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Land of Mine (2015)
War Horse (2011)
They Were Expendable (1945)
No Man’s Land (2001)
Zulu (1964)
The Human Condition III: A Soldier’s Prayer (1961)
Jarhead (2005)
Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020)
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
The Burmese Harp (1956)
The Big Parade (1925)
Son of Saul (2015)
The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)
Wings (1927)
300 (2006)
Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
Black Book (2006)
Oppenheimer (2023)
Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
Napoleon (1927)
The Dam Busters (1955)
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
Che: Part Two (2008)
Gladiator (2000)
Air Force (1943)
The African Queen (1951)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
The Patriot (2000)
Forbidden Games (1952)
Troy (2004)
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
The Last Samurai (2003)
City of Life and Death (2009)
Courage Under Fire (1996)
Run Silent Run Deep (1958)
Persepolis (2007)
City of God (2002)
The Little Soldier (1963)
The Caine Mutiny (1954)
Che: Part One (2008)
The Hill (1965)
Stalingrad (1993)
Cross of Iron (1977)
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)
Gettysburg (1993)
Goodbye, Children (1987)
The Message (1976)
Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996)
The Lives of Others (2006)
Kagemusha (1980)
Lebanon (2009)
Overlord (1975)
To Have and Have Not (1944)
The General (1926)
Operation Mincemeat (2021)
Battleground (1949)
Salvador (1986)
Tangerines (2013)
Atonement (2007)
’71 (2014)
Men in War (1957)
Seven Days in May (1964)
The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
Germany Year Zero (1948)
The Cranes Are Flying (1957)
Eye in the Sky (2015)
Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
Catch-22 (1970)
Love and Death (1975)
Attack (1956)
Waterloo (1970)
Ride with the Devil (1999)
Andersonville (1996)
The Wind Rises (2013)
The Bridge (1959)
Memphis Belle (1990)
Bloody Sunday (2002)
A Very Long Engagement (2004)
The Blue Max (1966)
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Von Ryan’s Express (1965)
Darkest Hour (2017)
In Harm’s Way (1965)
Alone in Berlin (2016)
The Sand Pebbles (1966)
Ashes and Diamonds (1958)
The Battle of Britain (1969)
Hell in the Pacific (1968)
Cold Mountain (2003)
Richard III (1955)
Dances With Wolves (1990)
The Red and the White (1967)
Virunga (2014)
Pork Chop Hill (1959)
The English Patient (1996)
U-571 (2000)
Breaker Morant (1980)
Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Unbroken (2014)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Henry V (1944)
Joint Security Area (2000)
The Tin Drum (1979)
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
Wonder Woman (2017)
The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951)
Turtles Can Fly (2004)
Gunga Din (1939)
Closely Watched Trains (1966)
A Midnight Clear (1992)
War and Peace (1965)
Sink the Bismarck! (1960)
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Defiance (2008)
Days of Glory (2006)
Land and Freedom (1995)
Europa Europa (1990)
G.I. Jane (1997)
The Sun (2005)
Crimson Tide (1995)
To Hell and Back (1955)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
The Beast of War (1988)
The King (2019)
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
Red Cliff (2008)
Valkyrie (2008)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Young Lions (1958)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (1961)
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Brothers (2009)
Anthropoid (2016)
The Breadwinner (2017)
Joyeux Noel (2005)
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
Objective, Burma! (1945)
The Desert Rats (1953)
When the Wind Blows (1986)
The Bridge at Remagen (1969)
Force 10 from Navarone (1978)
I Am Cuba (1964)
Coming Home (1978)
The Forgotten Battle (2020)
Major Dundee (1965)
Greyhound (2020)
The Enemy Below (1957)
Henry V (1989)
Red Dawn (1984)
Guadalcanal Diary (1943)
Sahara (1943)
The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
Threads (1984)
Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Lifeboat (1944)
The Green Berets (1968)
The Horse Soldiers (1959)
A Walk in the Sun (1945)
Operation Petticoat (1959)
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Mister Roberts (1955)
Halls of Montezuma (1951)
A Hidden Life (2019)
Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Soldier of Orange (1977)
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Europa (1991)
Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
Shershaah (2021)
Merrill’s Marauders (1962)
12 Strong (2018)
Ayla: The Daughter of War (2017)
Ben-Hur (1959)
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
My Way (2011)
Hero (2002)
The ‪Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers‬ (2002)
To Live (1994)
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
The Flowers of War (2011)
The Monuments Men (2014)
La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000)
Band of Brothers (2001)
Last Flag Flying (2017)
War Witch (2012)
The Duellists (1977)
Beau travail (1999)
13 Hours (2016)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
Shame (1968)
No End in Sight (2007)
First They Killed My Father (2017)
The Siege of Jadotville (2016)
Two Women (1960)
Black Crab (2022)
Megan Leavey (2017)
Conspiracy (2001)
Bullet in the Head (1990)
Of Men and War (2014)
The Great War (1959)
Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)
The Counterfeiters (2007)
Level Five (1997)
The Lion of the Desert (1980)
Timbuktu (2014)
The Mountain II (2016)
For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
MacArthur (1977)
Transit (2018)
Ugetsu (1953)
Michael Collins (1996)
Savior (1998)
The Fog of War (2003)
The Last Metro (1980)
The Beguiled (1971)
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
Fail-Safe (1964)
Last Days in Vietnam (2014)
Play Dirty (1969)
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Allied (2016)
A Difficult Life (1961)
Children of Hiroshima (1952)
The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017)
City of Ghosts (2017)
The Messenger (2009)
Back to Bataan (1945)
Ghosts of War (2020)
Underground (1995)
Beau Geste (1939)
Many Wars Ago (1970)
Sand Castle (2017)
Kilo Two Bravo (Kajaki) (2014)
Went the Day Well? (1942)
Booby Traps (1944)
Jarhead: Law of Return (2019)
Dara of Jasenovac (2020)
The Command (2018)
The Dawn Patrol (1938)
Ip Man (2008)
Our Time Will Come (2017)
Aleksandra (2007)
Barefoot Gen (1983)
In Which We Serve (1942)
Zero Motivation (2014)
Stairway to Heaven (1946)
Battle Cry (1955)
The Fighting Sullivans (1944)
Destination Tokyo (1943)
They Died with Their Boots On (1941)
The Breath (2009)
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
The Wounds (1998)
Blood Diamond (2006)
Resistance (2020)
The Lost Patrol (1934)
Pasqualino: Seven Beauties (1975)
Wake Island (1942)
The Boys in Company C (1978)
Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005)
Devotion (2022)
Who Killed Captain Alex? (2015)
Border (1997)
Operation Pacific (1951)
Flying Leathernecks (1951)
La Grande Vadrouille (1966)
Avatar (2009)
Before the Rain (1994)
The Alamo (1960)
Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
Memories (1995)
Good Kill (2014)
The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979)
The Devils Brigade (1968)
633 Squadron (1964)
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1943)
War Machine (2017)
Windtalkers (2002)
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Too Young the Hero (1988)
Flying Tigers (1942)
Green Zone (2010)
Restrepo (2010)
Too Late the Hero (1970)
Midway (2019)
My Name Is Ivan (1962)
In This Corner (and Other Corners) of the World (2016)
Tears of the Sun (2003)
The Night of the Generals (1967)
Trial on the Road (1986)
Burnt by the Sun (1994)
Hitler: A Career (1977)
Narvik: Hitler’s First Defeat (2022)
The Lost Battalion (2001)
Fort Apache (1948)
The Outpost (2019)