Top Ten War films on the top 1000 films of all time

 "When the rich wage war, it's the poor who die" - 

Jean-Paul Sarte said those immortal words that are as relevant now as they ever were. War has been a fixture of cinema stretching from All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) to the 2022 remake. No doubt it will continue to feature heavily.

This is my arbitrary list of war films that also feature on the top 1000 films of all time. For a film to qualify, it just needs to have war as its central subject. This list is in no order but chronology.

Stalag-17 (1953)

This is the oldest film on this list. William Holden plays J.J Sefton - a roguish Sergeant in a POW camp on the Danube. After a failed escape that sees many of his compatriots killed, he is suspected of being a mole.

Holden won the Best Acting Oscar for this role. It is certainly well-earned. He is definitely one reason why this film succeeds. He gave a multi-layered performance that covered both emotional and humourous notes. Plus, it is a great story of paranoia and subterfuge. There is a reason it is 202nd on the top 1000 films of all time.

Paths of Glory (1957)

I put Paths of Glory as one of my top ten Golden Oldies. It is also one of my top ten best war films, plus one of the best films by Stanley Kubrick - second only to another film that I will mention later on this list.

Coming in at number 56 on the top 1000 films of all time, Paths of Glory stars Kirk Douglas as WW1 Colonel Dax. After an assault goes wrong, three of his men are sentenced to be shot for cowardice. He fights tooth and nail to save their lives.

Kirk Douglas is absolutely terrific in this devastating morality tale. In many ways, it can be considered an anti-war film due to its damning condemnation of the poorly-misunderstood PTSD and shellshock. Explosive at times, quietly powerful at others, this was a great watch.

The Deer Hunter (1978)

If you're going to watch this film, I would recommend only watching it once. It's too heart-breaking to watch again. The Deer Hunter put Michael Cimino on the map as one of Hollywood's freshest talents. Having earned the 165th spot on the top 1000 films of all time, it is easy to see why. We witness Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage changed by the horrors they have witnessed in the Vietnam war.

Christopher Walken won an Oscar for his most human performance ever. And before you think this film is all doom and glory, the scene where the group of friends are singing Can't Take my Eyes off you is one of the most heart-warming in cinema history.

Das Boot (1981)

Das Boot is a terrific German film about a submarine crew under attack in WW2. Intensely claustrophobic, it displays the suffocating pressure of war.

It ranks as number 70 on the top 1000 films of all time. I've watched a few German films on this list, including a couple by Fritz Lang, but Das Boot blows them all out the water. Pun very much intended. There is a reason it features on my top ten list of World Cinema films.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

We're going back to the Vietnam war for Stanley Kubrick's best film. You heard it here first. Full Metal jacket is not only the best film about the Vietnam War, but it is also Stanley Kubrick's best film ever. It is better than A Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It features on my top ten films of all time. It is also number 106 on the top 1000 films of all time. There are some who would argue it is disjointed, but I think it is a darkly-comical look of how men are brainwashed into being killers. At times it is funny, at others, it is tragic, but it is always powerful. Great performances by Matthew Modine, Vincent D'onorio and the incredible R. Lee Ermey, only helped to solidify its success.

Grave of the Fireflies (1988)

This is a film I've only been brave enough to watch once. I've not been strong enough to rewatch it, so I can write a review. It is a Japanese film made by the brilliant Studio Ghibli.

What do you think when I say Studio Ghibli? Racoons? Radish spirits? Dragons? Shape-shifting racoons? Family-fun entertainment? You probably wouldn't think of this harrowing tale of a brother and sister in the twilights years of World War Two Japan.

Featuring at number 68 on the top 1000 films of all time, it contains a gorgeous original score and beautiful animation. Not only it is one of the best war films, but one of the best films ever made.

Glory (1989)

Glory is an outlier on this list, as it is one of the few that doesn't engage with neither the Vietnam War or WW1/WW2. Instead it takes place during the American Civil War, following the first black regiment in the United States Army.

Edward Zwick crafts a good film that honours a group of people who have been horrifically discriminated against. Not without its flaws, it features a talented cast including the likes of Morgan Freeman, Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington. Washington won his first acting Oscar for his role - I would argue he was even better here than Training Day.

Where Glory shines the most is its quieter moments, such as when the black soldiers are singing together on the eve of battle. It features at number 353 on the top 1000 films of all time, but I think it should be even higher.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

This is a film that needs no introduction. It ranks at number 42 on the top 1000 films of all time - the highest of all the films mentioned on this list. It won Stephen Spielberg his Best Directing Oscar, although there are some who should say it should have won best film too.

Known best for its opening sequence depicting the storming of the beach of Normandy, so realistic it made veterans leave the cinema in shock, it also has its list of quieter, but no less powerful moments. Featuring a top cast including Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Vin Diesel, I would argue this is one of Spielberg's best films.

Tae Guk Gi - The Brotherhood of War (2004)

Featuring at number 185 on the top 1000 films of all time, the Korean film, Tae Guk Gi does not shy away from the horrors of war. It follows two brothers during the Korean war. When the older brother goes missing, the younger one swears to bring him back home.

This is a powerful story about family. But it also shows you how much war can change a person. I would say it's one of the best Korean films I have ever watched.

Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

Letters from Iwo Jima tells the story of a group of Japanese soldiers desperately trying to defend the island of Iwo Jima from the invading American forces during the twilight years of WW2.

Almost entirely in Japanese with a Japanese cast led by the magnificent Ken Watanabe, would it surprise you to learn that this film was directed by no less than Clint Eastwood.

You best believe it, because it's true. He's a terrific director. letters from Iwo Jima is just another feather to add to his cap. He brought great humanity to a group of soldiers who were painfully aware of the hopelessness of their situation.

Plus he also highlights an area of the Second World War that doesn't get as nearly as much attention as the war in Europe.

What's interesting is that while the critically acclaimed Letters from Iwo Jima featured at 362 on the top 1000 films of all time, its sister film, Flags of our Fathers, which tells the same story from the American perspective, received none of the same success.

This list is really just a damning condemnation of the inherently violent nature of humanity. We are a species intent on our self-destruction. Looking at all the conflict currently happening the world, I don't think that's changing any time soon.

The Deer Hunter review

 Number 165 on the top 1000 films of all time is Michael Cimino's 1978 epic Vietnam war film 'the Deer Hunter.'

Michael (Robert De Niro), Nicky (Christopher Walken) and  Steven (John Savage) are three steel workers and happy go-lucky young men who enlist to fight in Vietnam. They are caught by the Viet Cong and are subjected to such brutal torture that each man's life changes forever. Meryl Streep and John Cazale co-star in what very easily could have been just another film about Vietnam.

This film takes a while to get going but when it does, you're in for a hell of a ride. At three hours long, I would argue the film is a little bloated with the first hour seeming to last forever. I found myself constantly wondering when we're going to get to Vietnam. Instead, I was subjected to the three leads and their friends drinking in a bar, an extended marriage scene and, of course, the eponymous deer-hunting scene. Although having said that, the bar scene where the group of friends belt out Frankie Valli's 'Can't Take my Eyes off you,' was a sight to behold. The absolute perfect song for that scene. Reportedly, Michael Cimino had the actors sing along to the actual song rather than a backing track, which is standard film practice. Cimino argued this would increase the realism of the scene which it absolutely did.

The first hour is, of course, the film's set-up: showcasing the normal life of our heroes before they embark on their journey. For us to understand how Vietnam has changed them, we have to understand how they were before, especially Nicky who suffers the worse trauma of the three, but more on that later. Out of all the men, he is one of the first to start dancing and singing to Franki Valli, demonstrating how he is the most jovial and outgoing of the three. Steven is a little shy whereas Michael is already a little hardened. Out of the three he goes through the most profound transformation.

Where this film really kicks into gear is in the controversial Russian Roulette scene, which was a masterpiece of dramatic tension. Prisoner to the Viet Cong, our three heroes are forced to play Russian Roulette, first against the other prisoners and then each other. Steven quickly falls to pieces and is consigned to a watery pit full of rats, leaving behind Michael and Nick as last men standing. De Niro and Walken are both brilliant here - Walken won Best Supporting Actor for his role, which was well-deserved. His fear was palpable.

Michael ups the stakes by adding three bullets into the revolver instead of just one, but this is all part of his plan to escape. And this is when all hell breaks loose. In the film's most thrilling scene, Michael turns the gun on his captors, kills the leader, Nicky grabs another gun and the pair shoot their way to safety. They rescue Steven, despite Michael initially wanting to leave him behind, believing him to only be a liability, and eventually reach safety. But what made this scene so brilliant was how there was no background music. The silence brought the tension to the forefront.

Although all three men escape, they don't all make it home. Michael and Steven return to America where we see how badly the war has changed them. In his escape from Vietnam, Steven is badly hurt and we next see him in rehabilitation after having lost his legs and one arm.  Steven refuses to come home as he no longer feels that he fits in. As for Michael, he is a completely broken man. He spurns his welcome home celebrations and has difficulty reconnecting to his old friends.

He goes deer-hunting again, but is unable to shoot a deer he had been tracking. Stan (John Cazale) snaps after being mocked once too often by Axle (Chuck Aspergen) and threatens to shoot him, but Michael snatches the revolver, removes all but one bullet, holds it to Stan's head and pulls the trigger on an empty chamber. The camaraderie and brotherhood that was present in the first film is now firmly in the past.

And where is Nicky? Steven reveals that somebody has been sending him money. Michael suspects this is Nicky who went AWOL and never returned home from Vietnam. He returns there to find him which is when we see the film's most heartbreaking scene. Nicky, now addicted to heroin, spends his days in a gambling den, playing Russian Roulette and sending his winnings home to Steven. He is now an empty shell of a man - no longer, the young man singing along to Frankie Valli. His eyes are dead and his skin is like chalk. 

Having made him a promise to not leave him behind, Michael desperately tries to convince Nicky to come home, but quickly realises that he is too far gone. Nicky is a dead a man walking and Walken is magnificent. His transformation is the most tragic as he is the only character who has truly transformed, whereas even before Vietnam, Michael is already a bit of a hard nut and Steven is already sensitive which is only exacerbated by their trauma, Nicky has pulled a full 180 from a happy, go-lucky, jovial steel-worker to a hollow man. 

Just when it seems that Michael has reached Nicky, he holds the gun to his head and sends the bullet into his skull. Once again the lack of background music highlights Michael's breaking heart, as well as the audience's. 

The Deer Hunter was Michael Cimino's breakthrough as a director and deservedly so, although it takes a while to get going, but when it does it is well worth the watch with some Oscar-worthy performances especially from De Niro and Walken. It's just a shame that Cimino was never able to repeat his early success.