Historical War/Drama MUST WATCH

by kwcampbell15-832-185432 | created - 2 months ago | updated - 1 month ago | Public
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1. Hamburger Hill (1987)

R | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

64 Metascore

A very realistic interpretation of one of the bloodiest battles of the Vietnam War.

Director: John Irvin | Stars: Anthony Barrile, Michael Boatman, Don Cheadle, Michael Dolan

Votes: 27,959 | Gross: $13.84M

2. The Eagle (2011)

PG-13 | 114 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

55 Metascore

In Roman-ruled Britain, a young Roman soldier endeavors to honor his father's memory by finding his lost legion's golden emblem.

Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Donald Sutherland, István Göz

Votes: 74,070 | Gross: $19.49M

3. Ben-Hur (2016)

PG-13 | 123 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

38 Metascore

Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother, an officer in the Roman army, returns to his homeland after years at sea to seek revenge, but finds redemption.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi

Votes: 46,859 | Gross: $26.41M

4. Ben-Hur (1959)

G | 212 min | Adventure, Drama

90 Metascore

After a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

Director: William Wyler | Stars: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet

Votes: 253,716 | Gross: $74.70M

5. Valkyrie (2008)

PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller

56 Metascore

A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.

Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh

Votes: 259,319 | Gross: $83.08M

6. Schindler's List (1993)

R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History

95 Metascore

In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall

Votes: 1,451,297 | Gross: $96.90M

7. Rules of Engagement (2000)

R | 128 min | Drama, Thriller, War

45 Metascore

An attorney defends an officer on trial for ordering his troops to fire on civilians after they stormed a U.S. embassy in a Middle Eastern country.

Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley

Votes: 50,327 | Gross: $61.34M

8. Courage Under Fire (1996)

R | 116 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

77 Metascore

A U.S. Army officer, despondent about a deadly mistake he made, investigates a female chopper commander's worthiness for the Medal of Honor.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips, Michael Moriarty

Votes: 59,587 | Gross: $59.03M

9. U-571 (2000)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, War

62 Metascore

A German submarine is boarded by disguised American submariners trying to capture their Enigma cipher machine.

Director: Jonathan Mostow | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Bill Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi

Votes: 87,423 | Gross: $77.09M

10. The Thin Red Line (1998)

R | 170 min | Drama, History, War

78 Metascore

Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.

Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo

Votes: 199,647 | Gross: $36.40M

11. The King (I) (2019)

R | 140 min | Biography, Drama, History

62 Metascore

Young Henry V encounters deceit, war and treachery after becoming King of England in the 15th century, in the aftermath of his brother's death.

Director: David Michôd | Stars: Tom Glynn-Carney, Gábor Czap, Tom Fisher, Edward Ashley

Votes: 152,931

12. Das Boot (1981)

R | 149 min | Drama, War

85 Metascore

A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.

Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch

Votes: 264,405 | Gross: $11.49M

13. Red Cliff (2008)

R | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

73 Metascore

The first chapter of a two-part story centered on a battle fought in China's Three Kingdoms period (220-280 A.D.).

Director: John Woo | Stars: Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang, Chang Chen

Votes: 48,501 | Gross: $0.63M

14. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)

R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

89 Metascore

The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase

Votes: 170,078 | Gross: $13.76M

15. K-19: The Widowmaker (2002)

PG-13 | 138 min | Drama, History, Thriller

58 Metascore

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sam Spruell, Peter Stebbings, Christian Camargo

Votes: 67,419 | Gross: $35.17M

16. Hart's War (2002)

R | 125 min | Drama, War

49 Metascore

A law student becomes a lieutenant during World War II, is captured and asked to defend a black prisoner of war falsely accused of murder.

Director: Gregory Hoblit | Stars: Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser

Votes: 55,340 | Gross: $19.08M

17. Fury (2014)

R | 134 min | Action, Drama, War

64 Metascore

A grizzled tank commander makes tough decisions as he and his crew fight their way across Germany in April, 1945.

Director: David Ayer | Stars: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña

Votes: 547,456 | Gross: $85.82M

18. Full Metal Jacket (1987)

R | 116 min | Drama, War

78 Metascore

A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin

Votes: 790,667 | Gross: $46.36M

19. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)

R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

79 Metascore

The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross, Jesse Bradford

Votes: 129,272 | Gross: $33.60M

20. Emperor (2012)

PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, History, War

48 Metascore

As the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, General Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.

Director: Peter Webber | Stars: Matthew Fox, Colin Moy, Tommy Lee Jones, Eriko Hatsune

Votes: 14,853 | Gross: $3.35M

21. Defiance (I) (2008)

R | 137 min | Action, Drama, History

58 Metascore

Jewish brothers in German-occupied Eastern Europe escape into a Belorussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters, and endeavor to build a village, in order to protect themselves and about one thousand Jewish non-combatants.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos

Votes: 155,701 | Gross: $28.64M

22. Apocalypse Now (1979)

R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, War

94 Metascore

A U.S. Army officer serving in Vietnam is tasked with assassinating a renegade Special Forces Colonel who sees himself as a god.

Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Frederic Forrest

Votes: 710,504 | Gross: $83.47M

23. Alexander (2004)

R | 175 min | Action, Biography, Drama

40 Metascore

Alexander, the King of Macedonia and one of the greatest army leaders in the history of warfare, conquers much of the known world.

Director: Oliver Stone | Stars: Colin Farrell, Anthony Hopkins, Rosario Dawson, Angelina Jolie

Votes: 176,695 | Gross: $34.30M

24. Empire of the Sun (1987)

PG | 153 min | Drama, War

62 Metascore

A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers

Votes: 134,346 | Gross: $22.24M

25. Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)

PG-13 | 150 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

52 Metascore

The defiant leader Moses rises up against Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II, setting six hundred thousand slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver

Votes: 179,270 | Gross: $65.01M

26. Free State of Jones (2016)

R | 139 min | Action, Biography, Drama

53 Metascore

A disillusioned Confederate army deserter returns to Mississippi and leads a militia of fellow deserters and women in an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government.

Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, Keri Russell

Votes: 62,465 | Gross: $20.76M

27. Greyhound (2020)

PG-13 | 91 min | Action, Drama, History

64 Metascore

Several months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.

Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Tom Hanks, Elisabeth Shue, Stephen Graham, Matt Helm

Votes: 114,903

28. Cold Mountain (2003)

R | 154 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance

73 Metascore

In the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart.

Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Eileen Atkins

Votes: 156,109 | Gross: $95.64M

29. The Man in the Iron Mask (I) (1998)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

49 Metascore

The cruel King Louis XIV of France has a secret twin brother whom he keeps imprisoned. Can the twin be substituted for the real king?

Director: Randall Wallace | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu

Votes: 178,852 | Gross: $56.97M

30. The Last Duel (2021)

R | 152 min | Action, Drama, History

67 Metascore

The Knight Jean de Carrouges must settle the dispute over his wife Marguerite by challenging his former friend to a duel to the death.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer, Harriet Walter

Votes: 182,233 | Gross: $10.85M

31. Enemy at the Gates (2001)

R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War

53 Metascore

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.

Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz

Votes: 277,679 | Gross: $51.40M

32. The Deer Hunter (1978)

R | 183 min | Drama, War

90 Metascore

An in-depth examination of the ways in which the Vietnam War impacts and disrupts the lives of several friends in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania.

Director: Michael Cimino | Stars: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Cazale, John Savage

Votes: 362,333 | Gross: $48.98M



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