Sadly, men have been marching off to war for centuries; without the Revolutionary War, there would be no Starbucks, Apple, or Major League Baseball. Hollywood has leaned on its brightest stars to tell the biggest war stories so let’s remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice this Memorial Day weekend, and then share the Hollywood movies that gave us chills at the box office…
Here is (our opinion) the top Hollywood war movies of all time…
1.) ‘Lincoln’
2.) ‘The Patriot’
3.) ‘Saving Private Ryan’
4.) ‘Schindler’s List’
5.) ‘Gone With the Wind’
6.) ‘Patton’
7.) ‘The Great Escape’
8.) ‘From Here to Eternity’
9.) ‘Stalag 17’
10.) ‘The Dirty Dozen’
11.) ‘Apocalypse Now’
12.) ‘American Sniper
13.) ‘1976’
Observations: We’re happy to see the Revolutionary war represented by ‘The Patriot’ with Mel Gibson and the original music ‘1776.’ WWII dominates the list; remember the golden days of Hollywood had many stars to share; Steve McQueen in the Great Escape, the ensemble cast in the Dirty Dozen and Stalag 17, and perhaps the best WWII movie ever made, Tom Hanks in the iconic Saving Private Ryan.
There’s not a great deal of diversity here, but let’s give a shout out to Sally Field in Lincoln, Joely Richardson in the Patriot, Vivien Leigh and Olivia de Havilland in Gone With the Wind. African American stars Hattie McDaniel and Butterfly McQueen also broke the color barrier in Gone With the Wind…
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Photo credit: USA Track & Field