My World War II Movies Top 22
by hd_rump | created - 15 Feb 2012 | updated - 16 Feb 2012 | PublicMy Personal World War II Movies Top 22 (including a mini-series or two)
This list is based on my humble opinion and may not represent everyone's point of view. It isn't set in stone and can be seen as just a suggestion (What to watch).
More suggestions...
Movies that didn't make the Top 22 but were close:
23 Bridge On The River Kwai (1957)
24 The Guns Of Navarone (1961)
25 The Thin Red Line (1998)
26 Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
27 The Longest Day (1962)
28 The Great Escape (1963)
29 The Dam Busters (1954)
30 Battle Of The Bulge (1965)
31 The Big Red One (1980)
32 Cross Of Iron (1977)
33 The Dirty Dozen (1967)
34 Kelly's Heroes (1970)
35 Where Eagles Dare (1968)
36 Days Of Glory (2006)
37 Die Brücke (1959)
38 Ivanovo detstvo (1962)
39 Kanal (1957)
And (although I couldn't quite feel this one)
40 Patton (1970)
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1. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
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: 264,250 | Gross: $11.49M
(The 1985 TV Mini-Series would have also worked)
2. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
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: 1,449,934 | Gross: $96.90M
3. Band of Brothers (2001)
TV-MA | 59 min | Drama, History, War
The story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.
Stars: Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Shane Taylor
Votes: 526,632
4. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 911,683 | Gross: $32.57M
5. Downfall (2004)
R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History
Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler
Votes: 375,083 | Gross: $5.51M
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
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 | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,495,796 | Gross: $216.54M
7. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,121
8. Black Book (2006)
R | 145 min | Drama, Thriller, War
In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Carice van Houten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn
Votes: 80,491 | Gross: $4.40M
9. Soldier of Orange (1977)
R | 165 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of the Netherlands.
Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Rutger Hauer, Jeroen Krabbé, Susan Penhaligon, Edward Fox
Votes: 13,871
(Also released as a TV mini-series)
10. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008)
PG-13 | 94 min | Drama, War
Through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences.
Director: Mark Herman | Stars: Asa Butterfield, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Zac Mattoon O'Brien
Votes: 246,278 | Gross: $9.03M
11. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Not Rated | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
Director: Marc Rothemund | Stars: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf
Votes: 28,659 | Gross: $0.68M
12. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War
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: 277,516 | Gross: $51.40M
13. Stalingrad (1993)
Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, War
The story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.
Director: Joseph Vilsmaier | Stars: Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph
Votes: 37,703 | Gross: $0.08M
14. A Bridge Too Far (1977)
PG | 175 min | Drama, History, War
Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Sean Connery, Ryan O'Neal, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier
Votes: 61,509 | Gross: $50.80M
15. The White Rose (1982)
108 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
During the Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to question the decisions and sanity of Germany's Nazi government. The students form a resistance cell ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Verhoeven | Stars: Lena Stolze, Martin Benrath, Wulf Kessler, Oliver Siebert
Votes: 1,100
16. The Grey Zone (2001)
R | 108 min | Drama, History, War
A Nazi doctor, along with the Sonderkommando, Jews who are forced to work in the crematoria of Auschwitz against their fellow Jews, find themselves in a moral gray zone.
Director: Tim Blake Nelson | Stars: David Arquette, Velizar Binev, David Chandler, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 11,419 | Gross: $0.52M
17. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
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: 129,226 | Gross: $33.60M
(Combined with "Letters From Iwo Jima")
18. A Woman in Berlin (2008)
Unrated | 131 min | Biography, Drama, History
A woman tries to survive the invasion of Berlin by the Soviet troops during the last days of World War II.
Director: Max Färberböck | Stars: Nina Hoss, Evgeniy Sidikhin, Irm Hermann, Rüdiger Vogler
Votes: 7,043 | Gross: $0.29M
19. U-571 (2000)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, War
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: 87,376 | Gross: $77.09M
20. Leningrad (2009)
R | 110 min | Drama, War
Winter, 1941. World War II rages on as Nazi troops invade the Soviet Union and besiege the devastated city of Leningrad. Foreign journalists are quickly evacuated, but in the chaos that ensues, Kate Davies is left behind.
Director: Aleksandr Buravskiy | Stars: Mira Sorvino, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Olga Sutulova, Gabriel Byrne
Votes: 4,834
21. Everyman's War (2009)
Not Rated | 104 min | Biography, Drama, War
A battle weary GI and his unit stand ready to defend a small German town, a key position in the Allied advance to win the war, against the assault of the seasoned infantry and tank units of the German 11th Panzer Ghost division.
Director: Thad T. Smith | Stars: Cole Carson, Lauren Bair, Michael J. Prosser, Sean McGrath
Votes: 1,434
22. Die Brücke (2008 TV Movie)
R | 103 min | Drama, History, War
In this TV remake of the classic German war film, 16-year-old Walter and his friends are recruited to help defend a bridge near their town. What begins as a minor op becomes a life or death... See full summary »
Director: Wolfgang Panzer | Stars: François Goeske, Franka Potente, Lars Steinhöfel, Robert Höller
Votes: 1,040
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