This is my attempt at a statistical analysis of the
greatest war movies. Here is the
methodology. I found four 100 Greatest
War Movies lists that I feel are knowledgeable on the subject. Two of those lists (Military History magazine
and Channel 4) rank the movies. The
others are Film Site and the book 101 War Movies You Must See Before You
Die. I also used three books that
rate war movies: Video Hound’s War
Movies, Brassey’s Guide to War Films, and The Belle and Blade Guide to Classic
War Videos. The reason why the list
is limited to only movies from the 20th Century is because the
sources do not include 21st Century movies.
I won’t bore with the details, but basically
the first number is a combination of the average rating from the ratings books
and a rating based on the ranking from the two ranked lists (on a scale of 1-5).
I grouped the movies based on how many
lists they made so only movies that were in both Military History magazine and
Channel 4 made the top 43.
I must
emphasize that this list does not reflect my opinions. In fact, I find some of the positions
ridiculous. I have seen and reviewed all
of the movies on the list. Some are not
war movies, in my opinion. Others are
very overrated. It is also apparent that
foreign movies got short-changed.
Sorry about the columns. I was not drunk when I made them.
Either MH (Military History magazine) or C4 (Channel 4) plus
one more list
100. The
Manchurian Candidate (1962) 3.85 85MH
99. Bridge at
Toko-Ri 3.85 73MH
98. Mrs. Miniver 3.93 79C4
97. To Hell and
Back 3.94 77MH
96. Run Silent,
Run Deep 3.95 79MH
95. The Alamo (1960) 4.02 61MH
94. Sands of Iwo
Jima 4.03 76C4
93. Land and
Freedom 4.05 80MH
92. Ulzana’s
Raid 4.05 54MH
91. The Sea Hawk 4.05 48MH
90. The Man Who
Would Be King 4.08 74MH
89. Hail the
Conquering Hero! 4.08 70MH
88. The Cruel
Sea 4.08 41C4
87. They Died
with Their Boots On 4.09 68MH
86. Foreign
Correspondent 4.1 86MH
85. Ride with
the Devil 4.1 73C4
84. Casualties
of War 4.12 55C4
83. The Train 4.16 62MH
82. Empire of
the Sun 4.16 43C4
81. Life is
Beautiful 4.19 56C4
80. Twelve
O’Clock High 4.2 72MH
79. The Story of
G.I. Joe 4.26 45MH
78. She Wore a
Yellow Ribbon 4.28 55MH
77. Catch-22 4.28 42C4
76. Oh! What a Lovely War 4.28 40C4
75. The Tin Drum 4.3 60MH
74. Scipio
Africanus 4.3 56MH
73. Ministry of
Fear 4.3 53MH
72. Colonel Redl 4.3 50MH
71. The Third
Man 4.33 80MH
70. Battleground 4.34 36MH
69. Beau Geste 4.35 52MH
68. Three Kings 4.4 50C4
67. Hell’s
Angels 4.4 43MH
66. Hope and
Glory 4.43 52MH
65. Pork Chop
Hill 4.43 39MH
64. Good
Morning, Vietnam 4.44 31C4
63. Gettysburg 4.46 46MH
62. Battleship
Potemkin 4.47 47MH
61. Tora! Tora!
Tora! 4.51 39C4
60. Kagemashu 4.53 34MH
59. The African
Queen 4.53 32MH
58. Duck Soup 4.53 27MH
57. Notorious 4.55 57MH
56. The
Searchers 4.55 49MH
55. The Dawn
Patrol (1938) 4.58 38MH
54. Best Years
of Our Lives 4.61 40MH
53. The Dam
Busters 4.69 11C4
52. The Killing
Fields 4.75 15C4
Either MH or C4 plus two more lists
51. Birth of a
Nation 3.8 92C4
50. Ballad of a
Soldier 3.9 81MH
49. The Big
Parade 4.1
58MH
48. In Which We
Serve 4.12 57C4
47. Gallipoli 4.19 48C4
46. Stalag 17 4.19 18MH
45. Sergeant
York 4.4 19MH
44. Wings 4.7 11MH
Both MH and C4 (the
highlighted movies appear on all four lists)
43. The Last of
the Mohicans (1992) 3.75 65 (avg. of MH and
C4)
42. Battle of
Britain 3.75 59.5
41. Guns of
Navarone 3.94 53.5
40. The Deer
Hunter 3.95 20.5
39. A Bridge Too
Far 4.02 50.5
38. El Cid 4.05 74.5
37. Breaker Morant 4.07 84.5
36. The Thin Red
Line (1998) 4.12 58
35. Cross of
Iron 4.12 50.5
34. Braveheart 4.13 40
33. Charge of
the Light Brigade (1936) 4.15 51.5
32. The Dirty
Dozen 4.19 24
31. Rome, Open
City 4.2 56
30. From Here to
Eternity 4.29 56.5
29. The Longest
Day 4.3 17.5
28. Spartacus 4.35 33
27. Alexander
Nevsky 4.38 39.5
26. The Big Red
One 4.4 84.5
25. The General 4.45 53.5
24. Stalingrad (1992) 4.45 40.5
23. Platoon 4.65 7.5
22. Battle of
Algiers 4.5 44
21. MASH 4.52 26.5
20. The Great
Escape 4.52 23.5
19. The Life and
Death of Col. Blimp 4.55 79.5
18. Ran 4.55 70
17. Napoleon 4.55 52
16. Full Metal
Jacket 4.55 10.5
15. All Quiet on
the Western Front (1930) 4.65 17 *
#1 in MH
14. Apocalypse
Now 4.67 8
13. Glory 4.69 39
12. Dr.
Strangelove 4.7 51
11. Casablanca 4.7 47.5
10. Paths of
Glory 4.74 12.5
9. Bridge on
the River Kwai 4.75 11
8. Das Boot 4.84 10
7. Saving
Private Ryan 4.84 4.5
* #1 in C4
6. Henry V (1944) 4.85 55.5
5. Grand
Illusion 4.85 34
4. Patton 4.85 30.5
3. Lawrence
of Arabia 4.85 23
2.
Schindler’s List 5.0 17.5
1. Zulu 5.0 15 * #22 MH
/ #8 C4
A few thoughts:
1. The two ranked
lists (MH and C4) differ greatly in placement of the movies. Only 43 movies made both lists. The movie that was highest on both lists was
“Saving Private Ryan”.
2. Because I could
find only three appropriate rating sources, this meant that if one reviewer
disliked a movie, it could skew the average rating. For instance, “The Longest Day” got a 2.0 in Belle
and Blade, which is ludicrous.
However, I had to stick with the system.
3. “Patton” and
“Dr. Strangelove” were the only movies to get a perfect rating in all three
sources. Several movies had 5s on two
sources, but were not reviewed by the third source. These were “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Zulu”, “Schindler’s
List”, “Casablanca”, “Henry V”, “Ran”, and “Grand Illusion”.
4. Only three
movies made the top ten in both MH and C4:
“Das Boot” (3 & 10), “Saving Private Ryan” (8 & 1), and
“Platoon” (9 & 6). “Platoon” ended
up at #23 because of lukewarm ratings.
5. Movies that met
the criteria, but did not make the top 100 included: “Guadalcanal Diary”, “Castle Keep”, “The
Desert Fox”, “A Walk in the Sun”, “Sahara”, “The Desert Rats”, “Dunkirk”,
“Midway”, “Ben Hur”, “Come and See”,
“Regeneration”, and “Europa, Europa” .
I would have rated Battleground, The Story of G.I. Joe, and The Bridges At Toko-Ri much higher.
ReplyDeleteBen-Hur is a biblical epic, not a war movie. I suppose Spartacus is a borderline case. I consider it a sword-and-sandal epic, but it does have battles.
The Manchurian Candidate is an espionage/political thriller. I guess you could say that the Cold War is the motivation, but that would also be true of a lot of spy-fi movies, whether serious dramas (The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, Topaz) or action-adventure (From Russia With Love, North By Northwest).
Casablanca and Gone With the Wind are romantic dramas, but I guess in each case the war is important to the story.
Genres overlap, so She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (and Fort Apache, Major Dundee, A Thunder of Drums, Escape From Fort Bravo,or Only the Valiant) could be considered a war movie as well as a western. But The Searchers is a Western. The US Army cavalry and Texas Rangers attack the Comanches at the end, but then, the cavalry comes to the rescue in Stagecoach, and nobody seems to consider that a war movie.
The Sea Hawk is a swashbuckler. If it is considered for inclusion, then Captain Blood and Robin Hood should have been, too.
You and I are in agreement on all of this. My personal take on movies like "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" is that you can not be primarily in TWO genres. For that reason, I classify movies like that as Westerns and NOT war movies.
DeleteI was looking for Sand Pebbles and 'They Were Expendable' both Navy films, with great stars and nice action..!
ReplyDeletehamburger Hill?
ReplyDeleteSorry, didn't make it.
Delete