Best World War II movies
by akshayug05 | created - 05 May 2015 | updated - 14 Apr 2022 | Publicbest World war II movies, must watch (not in order) best list for WWII enthusiast
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1. 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: 277,756 | Gross: $51.40M
2. Pearl Harbor (2001)
PG-13 | 183 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, William Lee Scott
Votes: 352,040 | Gross: $198.54M
3. Inglourious Basterds (2009)
R | 153 min | Adventure, Drama, War
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth, Mélanie Laurent
Votes: 1,585,829 | Gross: $120.54M
4. 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: 37,750 | Gross: $0.08M
5. Valkyrie (2008)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller
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: 259,422 | Gross: $83.08M
6. 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: 375,464 | Gross: $5.51M
7. 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: 80,551 | Gross: $4.40M
8. Female Agents (2008)
TV-MA | 148 min | Drama, War
London, 1944: SOE's section for French ops parachute 4 women into France, plus a woman there, to free an English geologist and kill SS colonel Heindrich.
Director: Jean-Paul Salomé | Stars: Sophie Marceau, Julie Depardieu, Moritz Bleibtreu, Marie Gillain
Votes: 7,958
9. The Imitation Game (2014)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.
Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech
Votes: 825,554 | Gross: $91.13M
10. 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: 1,497,576 | Gross: $216.54M
11. Defiance (I) (2008)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
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: 155,734 | Gross: $28.64M
12. Fury (2014)
R | 134 min | Action, Drama, War
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: 547,758 | Gross: $85.82M
13. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 743,783 | Gross: $57.60M
14. 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: 246,787 | Gross: $9.03M
15. 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: 1,452,088 | Gross: $96.90M
16. The Book Thief (2013)
PG-13 | 131 min | Drama, War
While subjected to the horrors of World War II Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. In the basement of her home, a Jewish refugee is being protected by her adoptive parents.
Director: Brian Percival | Stars: Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Ben Schnetzer
Votes: 142,377 | Gross: $21.49M
17. The Flowers of War (2011)
R | 146 min | Drama, History, Romance
An American finds refuge during the 1937 Japanese invasion of Nanking in a church with a group of women. Posing as a priest, he attempts to lead the women to safety.
Director: Yimou Zhang | Stars: Christian Bale, Ni Ni, Xinyi Zhang, Tianyuan Huang
Votes: 55,745 | Gross: $0.01M
18. Cross of Iron (1977)
R | 119 min | Drama, War
German commander Hauptmann Stransky places a squad in extreme danger after Sergeant Rolf Steiner refuses to lie for him.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason, David Warner
Votes: 29,199
19. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 259,099 | Gross: $12.10M
20. Escape from Sobibor (1987 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 143 min | Drama, History, War
German death camp in Sobibor, Poland, killed two hundred fifty thousand Jews. It had the most successful prisoner escape in World War II on October 14, 1943.
Director: Jack Gold | Stars: Alan Arkin, Joanna Pacula, Rutger Hauer, Hartmut Becker
Votes: 9,835
21. 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: 913,309 | Gross: $32.57M
22. 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: 264,491 | Gross: $11.49M
23. 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: 61,600 | Gross: $50.80M
24. 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: 528,014
25. Anthropoid (2016)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, History
Based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and the Reich's third in command after Hitler and Himmler.
Director: Sean Ellis | Stars: Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy, Brian Caspe, Karel Hermánek Jr.
Votes: 54,277 | Gross: $2.96M
26. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
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: 170,127 | Gross: $13.76M
27. The Pacific (2010)
TV-MA | 53 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Pacific Theatre of World War II, as seen through the eyes of several young Marines.
Stars: James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Seda, Ashton Holmes
Votes: 130,215
28. 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: 28,679 | Gross: $0.68M
29. Conspiracy (2001 TV Movie)
R | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
Director: Frank Pierson | Stars: Clare Bullus, Stanley Tucci, Simon Markey, David Glover
Votes: 24,860
30. Stalingrad (2013)
R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War
A group of Russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless German army, and in the process become deeply connected to two Russian women who have been living there.
Director: Fedor Bondarchuk | Stars: Mariya Smolnikova, Yanina Studilina, Pyotr Fyodorov, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 17,721 | Gross: $1.01M
31. The Monuments Men (2014)
PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, War
An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from German thieves and return them to their owners.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 141,301 | Gross: $78.03M
32. 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: 87,436 | Gross: $77.09M
33. The Misfit Brigade (1987)
R | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
War story of the 27th Panzers, Hitler's heavy-duty combat regiment composed of prisoners. In 1943, this motley tank crew is sent on a suicide mission behind enemy lines to destroy a Soviet train that's carrying fuel for the Red Army.
Director: Gordon Hessler | Stars: Bruce Davison, David Patrick Kelly, D.W. Moffett, Jay O. Sanders
Votes: 2,179
34. The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
PG | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
A German plot to kidnap Sir Winston Churchill unfolds at the height of World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland, Robert Duvall, Jenny Agutter
Votes: 24,537
35. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,494 | Gross: $5.58M
36. Generation War (2013)
TV-MA | 270 min | Action, Drama, History
Five friends go out to war and promise each other to be back for Christmas.
Stars: Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Miriam Stein
Votes: 32,606 | Gross: $0.09M
37. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
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: 199,712 | Gross: $36.40M
38. The Ogre (1996)
R | 118 min | Drama
Frenchman Abel Tiffauges likes children, and wants to protect them against the grown-ups. Falsely suspected as child molester, he's recruited as a soldier in the 2nd World War, but very ... See full summary »
Director: Volker Schlöndorff | Stars: John Malkovich, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gottfried John, Marianne Sägebrecht
Votes: 2,680 | Gross: $0.05M
39. To End All Wars (2001)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, War
During World War II, four Allied POWs endure harsh treatment from their Japanese captors while being forced to build a railroad through the Burmese jungle.
Director: David L. Cunningham | Stars: Robert Carlyle, Kiefer Sutherland, Ciarán McMenamin, Mark Strong
Votes: 11,650
40. Greyhound (2020)
PG-13 | 91 min | Action, Drama, History
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: 115,006
41. Overlord (2018)
R | 110 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
A small group of American soldiers find horror behind enemy lines on the eve of D-Day.
Director: Julius Avery | Stars: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, Pilou Asbæk
Votes: 106,610 | Gross: $21.70M
42. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer
Votes: 594,930 | Gross: $67.21M
43. The Great Raid (2005)
R | 132 min | Action, Drama, War
Taking place towards the end of WWII, 500 American Soldiers have been entrapped in a camp for 3 years. Beginning to give up hope they will ever be rescued, a group of Rangers goes on a dangerous mission to try and save them.
Director: John Dahl | Stars: Benjamin Bratt, Joseph Fiennes, James Franco, Robert Mammone
Votes: 23,988 | Gross: $10.17M
44. The Forgotten Battle (2020)
TV-MA | 124 min | Drama, War
1944, the Second World War. A British glider pilot, a Dutch boy fighting on the German side and a Dutch female resistance member all end up involved in the Battle of the Schelde. Their choices differ, but their goal is the same: freedom.
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. | Stars: Gijs Blom, Jamie Flatters, Susan Radder, Jan Bijvoet
Votes: 37,104
45. T-34 (2018)
TV-14 | 139 min | Action, War
An SS Panzer Division uses a T-34 manned by Soviet POWs as a training target, but the prisoners plot a daring maneuver.
Director: Aleksey Sidorov | Stars: Alexander Petrov, Irina Starshenbaum, Viktor Dobronravov, Vinzenz Kiefer
Votes: 14,367
46. Allied (2016)
R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Romance
In 1942, a Canadian intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard, Jared Harris, Vincent Ebrahim
Votes: 169,886 | Gross: $40.10M
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