This document provides summaries for 10 of the best military movies of all time, including We Were Soldiers (2002) about the Battle of Iao Valley in Vietnam, Saving Private Ryan (1998) about a mission to retrieve a paratrooper behind enemy lines in Normandy, and Full Metal Jacket (1987) about the dehumanizing effects of the Vietnam War on US Marine recruits from boot camp to combat. Other movies summarized are Black Hawk Down (2001) about a battle in Somalia, Dr. Strangelove (1964) about triggering nuclear war, Flags of Our Fathers (2006) about the flag raising at Iwo Jima, All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) about disillusionment in W

1. Best 10 Military Movies of All Time

2. PG15 | 138 min | Action, Drama, History
Plot: The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on
both sides that fought it
Director: Randall Wallace
Writers: Harold G. Moore (book) (as Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore) , Joseph L. Galloway (book)
Stars: Mel Gibson, Madeleine Stowe, Greg Kinnear
We Were Soldiers (2002)

3. PG15 | 169 min | Action, Drama, War
Plot: Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a
paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Robert Rodat
Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore
Saving Private Ryan (1998)

4. PG18 | 116 min | Drama, War
Plot: A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his
fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writer: Gustav Hasford (novel), Stanley Kubrick (screenplay)
Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio
Full Metal Jacket (1987)

5. PG15 | 144 min | Drama, History, Thriller
Plot: 123 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord
and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.
Director: Ridley Scott
Writer: Mark Bowden (book), Ken Nolan (screenplay)
Stars: Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Tom Sizemore
Black Hawk Down (2001)

6. PG | 95 min | Comedy, War
Plot: An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and
generals frantically try to stop.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Writer: Stanley Kubrick (screenplay), Terry Southern (screenplay)
Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
Dr. Strangelove (1964)

7. PG15 | 135 min | Drama, History, War
Plot: The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at The Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in
WWII.
Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: William Broyles Jr. (screenplay), Paul Haggis (screenplay)
Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross
Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

8. PG | 136 min | Drama, War
Plot: A young soldier faces profound disillusionment in the soul-destroying horror of World War I.
Director: Lewis Milestone
Writer: Erich Maria Remarque (by), Maxwell Anderson (adaptation)
Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray
All Quiet in the Western Front (1930)

9. PG15 | 120 min | Drama, War
Plot: A young recruit in Vietnam faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the
duality of man.
Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Oliver Stone
Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe
Platoon (1986)

10. R | 149 min | Adventure, Drama, War
Plot: The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Writer: Wolfgang Petersen (screenplay), Lothar G. Buchheim (novel)
Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus
Das Boot (1981)

11. A | 106 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Plot: The true WWII story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in U.S. history. The story is
based on the autobiography of Audie Murphy who stars as himself in the film.
Director: Jesse Hibbs
Writer: Gil Doud (screenplay), Audie Murphy (autobiography "To Hell And Back")
Stars: Audie Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Charles Drake
To Hell and Back (1955)