Mine are:

1. Where Eagles Dare
2. The Guns of Navarone

What are yours?

A league of their own
1941

Longest Day, Where Eagles Dare.

Runner ups: Bridge Too Far, Tora Tora Tora, Das Boot, Midway (original),

The Final Countdown

Not a movie, technically....but still the greatest WWII story ever filmed.

From a movie standpoint:

The Great Escape
Patton
The Longest Day

Inglourious Basterds

Masterpiece.

Dunkirk
The Thin Red Line

Battle Of Britain is an honorable mention as well

watched "flags of our fathers" and "letters from iwo jima" last week on a couple flights. thought they were really good from a telling-the-story standpoint. really clever format. as a 40 something, I had no idea how brutal that battle was. seems like the Normandy invasion gets most of the spotlight these days.

while several others on this thread are higher ranked for good reason, I highly recommend both of these if you like war films (watch Flags first).

Von Ryan's Express was always one I loved growing up.

rononeill said:

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watched "flags of our fathers" and "letters from iwo jima" last week on a couple flights. thought they were really good from a telling-the-story standpoint. really clever format. as a 40 something, I had no idea how brutal that battle was. seems like the Normandy invasion gets most of the spotlight these days.

while several others on this thread are higher ranked for good reason, I highly recommend both of these if you like war films (watch Flags first).

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Flags of our Fathers book was also very good, even better than the movie I would say.

Brad 98 said:

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Mine are:

1. Where Eagles Dare
2. The Guns of Navarone

What are yours?

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both Alistair MacLean stories. And two of my faves as well.

Where Eagles Dare was on TV last night.... caught the last half and my son (25) sat down and watched. He was a history major and a real big WWII buff. Despite the outdated effects, etc. at the end he says "that was a really good movie".

I'd put these up there too in Europe/Pacific groups

The Longest Day
Downfall
Dirty Dozen
Conspiracy
A Bridge Too Far
Fury
Schindler's List
Saving Private Ryan

The Bridge on the River Kwai
Thin Red Line
Empire of the Sun
Midway
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Midway (original)
Tora Tora Tora

The Great Escape
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Patton
Saving Private Ryan
12 O'Clock High
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
A Midnight Clear (Full Movie)

Band of Brothers
The Pacific

Letters from Iwo Jima
Das Boot

Schindler's List
Life Is Beautiful
A Hidden Life
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Full Film)
Empire of the Sun (An excellent move overall but even if it was horrible it would make the list for this scene alone.)

To Be or Not To Be
Inglorious *******s

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Seems like a list that could kickstart a March Madness-style WWII Movie Bracket!!

Gig-Em2003 said:

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Seems like a list that could kickstart a March Madness-style WWII Movie Bracket!!

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I have to think about it and come up with bracket categories.

Had to look up the worst all time, and Joey Tribbiani did not disappoint... making $23,662 on a $15 million budget.

________

All the Queen's Men stands as the worst of the worst when it comes to World War II films, based on Rotten Tomatoes. It's actually made to be a comedy film where American (Matt LeBlanc) and British spies cross-dress as female factory workers in order to infiltrate Berlin and steal a German Enigma machine for the war.

It's basically a sitcom idea or sketch stretched to be a movie. All the Queen's Men was so bad, that it only made $23,662 in the box office despite having a $15 million budget, probably burying Matt LeBlanc's movie career below sea level. You'll need to watch all the best movies on this list after seeing All the Queen's Men's trailer just to wash off the bad taste.

I love The Pianist and JoJo Rabbit

The Pianist was surprisingly good to me...

Saving Private Ryan
Fury

Watch those over and over...

I think Fury is a severely underrated movie.

It's one of my favorite war movies.

Ag_07 said:

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I think Fury is a severely underrated movie.

It's one of my favorite war movies.

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Totally agree, the more I watch it, the better it gets....

Sahara (with Humphrey Bogart) is an underrated gem.

Schindler's List
Saving Private Ryan

The Darkest Hour would be close

So I saw The Catcher was a Spy advertised on Hulu last night and I'd never heard of it. Big cast, WWII film, but it must have slipped past my radar somehow. Anyone seen it? Was it any good?

So hard to pick just two. But if forced I'd probably pick The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen. A Bridge Too Far, Inglorious Basterds, and Patton round out my top 5.

Casablanca and Bridge on the River Kwai.

Not only two of the best war movies ever made, but two of the best movies ever made period.

Two classics not yet mentioned

The Best Years of Our Lives
Made right after the war. This movie was ahead of its time talking about ptsd, and soldiers' blending back into society and how difficult that was for many. A lead character Lost his hands in the war and that was a central topic

Casablanca
One of the greatest movies of all time

oragator said:

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Casablanca and Bridge on the River Kwai.

Not only two of the best war movies ever made, but two of the best movies ever made period.

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Dang- you beat me to it on Casablanca!

chico said:

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The Best Years of Our Lives

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Das Boot
Saving Private Ryan

So many choices here ...

being a warbird nut, I'll go with a couple that are aviation-centric:

Battle of Britain
Midway (1976)

But there are so many WWII movies that are fantastic to watch, many already mentioned here...

Empire of the Sun
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler's List
1941 (a silly comedy but who can't appreciate any movie featuring John Belushi flying a P-40 Warhawk)?

Midway (2019)
Fury
633 Squadron
Tora! Tora! Tora!
Pearl Harbor (for the warbird stuff, the rest of it was far too Titanic-y)
They Were Expendable
The Longest Day
Letters from Iwo Jima
Das Boot
Run Silent, Run Deep
Hacksaw Ridge
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Guns of Navarone
Force 10 From Navarone
12 O'Clock High
Dunkirk
Downfall
The Great Escape
Casablanca
Inglorious Basterds
Enemy at the Gates
Conspiracy
The Dirty Dozen
Judgment at Nuremberg
The Big Red One
Patton
Valkyrie
Captain America The First Avenger
The Caine Mutiny
The Enemy Below
A Bridge Too Far
U-571
Greyhound

And from the mini-series lineup:
Band of Brothers
The Pacific
The Winds of War
War and Remembrance

It's silly, but I love U-571

Bruce Almighty said:

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It's silly, but I love U-571

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Hell, I liked that one too.

I remember laughing when Matthew Mac??? showed up near the beginning with a close-cropped haircut, looking like he was heading to formation with the A&M Corps of Cadets. Knowing that he was a hard-core t-sip made that scene unbelievable.

Add Greyhound to my list above.

Couple more not mentioned yet.

Eye of the needle
The Eagle has landed.
Operation petticoat
Father goose

No Kelly's heroes? Maybe not a top 2, but a classic non the less. Oddball is one of my favorite movie characters.

I forgot about how great both Kelly's Heroes and the Dirty Dozen are. I would love to see a military movie channel on that is nothing but war movies.