One of cinema’s most beloved brands of film, the war genre has played host to some of the best movies ever made. From stunning historical epics to visceral accounts inspired by more modern conflicts, these gripping tales of wartime encompass everything from thrilling fictional premises to real-life historical events. Accordingly, it should come as little surprise that the greatest war movies of all time boast some of the most electrifying stories and unforgettable characters that wider popular culture has to offer.
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Dotted in among these standout genre offerings are a number of iconic and timeless performances that have stood out from the pack, carving out an indelible cultural niche for themselves off the back of a dramatic bow for the ages. Breathing life into a diverse array of names that are widely regarded as some of the most enduring and influential movie characters of all time, the best war movie performances feature the talents of some of the most gifted actors that Hollywood has ever had to offer.
You are watching: 10 Best Performances In War Movies
10
Robert Duvall As Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore
Apocalypse Now (1979)
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Apocalypse Now
R
Drama
War
Mystery
10/10
9.5/10
Release Date
August 15, 1979
Runtime
147 minutes
Director
Francis Ford Coppola
Writers
Joseph Conrad, John Milius, Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Herr
Cast
See All
-
Marlon Brando
-
Martin Sheen
In Francis Ford Coppola’s classic Vietnam War film, loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness, an army Captain is tasked with assassinating a rogue Colonel who has created a cult-like compound in the Cambodian jungle and is currently waging his own war outside the army’s purview. Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando star as Captain Willard and Colonel Kurtz respectively, with an ensemble cast that includes Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, and Dennis Hopper.
Main Genre
War
Studio(s)
United Artists
Distributor(s)
United Artists
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It’s a supreme state of irony that, while Marlon Brando is widely credited with the most famous and celebrated turn in Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War tour de force Apocalypse Now, his legendary bow as Colonel Walter Kurtz isn’t actually the best performance that the 1979 war movie has to offer. That honor belongs to Robert Duvall, with the cinematic icon producing a masterful bow to bring the movie’s larger-than-life Lieutenant Bill Kilgore to life in colorful fashion.
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Earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his memorable efforts, Duvall brings this fervent warmonger to life in a manner that deftly walks the line between comical and outright disturbing. The man behind a large portion of this seminal genre offering’s most iconic scenes and pieces of dialogue, Duvall’s legendary turn as Kilgore is the crowning jewel on what is arguably the greatest war film of the 1970s.
9
Aleksei Kravchenko As Flyora Gaishun
Come And See (1985)
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Come And See
NR
Drama
War
10/10
Release Date
October 17, 1985
Runtime
142 Minutes
Director
Elem Klimov
Writers
Elem Klimov, Ales Adamovich
Cast
See All
-
Aleksei Kravchenko
-
Olga Mironova
Come and See is a 1985 Soviet war drama directed by Elem Klimov. The film follows a young Belarusian boy named Flyora as he witnesses and experiences the horrors of World War II. Through his eyes, viewers are exposed to the brutal realities of war and its devastating impact on humanity. Renowned for its stark portrayal of violence and suffering, the film is considered a powerful anti-war statement.
Main Genre
Drama
Studio(s)
Belarusfilm, Mosfilm
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Contentiously the best anti-war movie ever made, Elem Klimov’s Come and See chronicles a harrowing array of Nazi atrocities from the perspective of Flyora Gaushin, a young Belarusian boy who sees his existence turned upside down by WWII. Flyora is brought to life in a haunting lead performance from Aleksei Kravchenko, a bow that is widely regarded as one of the most impressive pieces of acting from a child actor in cinematic history.
Come and See boasts a rating of 8.3 on IMDb.
Kravchenko captures every desolating nuance of his charge’s tribulations in devastating fashion across the course of the acclaimed 1985 war movie. One of the most heartbreaking and intensely moving performances of all time, irrespective of genre, Kravchenko’s incredible efforts are even more remarkable given that the Russian actor was no more than 14 years old when filming began.
8
Tom Hanks As Captain John Miller
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
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Saving Private Ryan
R
War
Drama
10/10
29
9.6/10
Release Date
July 24, 1998
Runtime
169 minutes
Director
Steven Spielberg
Writers
Robert Rodat
Cast
See All
-
Tom Sizemore
-
Adam Goldberg
Tom Hanks stars as Captain John Miller in Steven Spielberg’s 1998 WWII film. Saving Private Ryan tells the story of Miller’s command of a company of soldiers who risk their lives in an attempt to extricate Private James Ryan from the fighting in Europe, in order to spare his family from losing all of their sons after Ryan’s brothers are killed in the war. Matt Damon, Edward Burns, and Tom Sizemore also star.
Main Genre
War
Studio(s)
DreamWorks Distribution
Distributor(s)
DreamWorks Distribution, Paramount Pictures
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A front-runner in the long-running argument over cinema’s best war movie, 1998’s Saving Private Ryan owes a considerable portion of its success to an Oscar-nominated turn from Tom Hanks. Taking on the role of Captain John Miller, Hanks produced one of his best pieces of work to lend raw authenticity and devastating emotional heft to his dramatic charge, a character who serves as the central focus for Stephen Spielberg’s iconic war outing.
|
Saving Private Ryan‘s Oscar Nominations |
Result |
|---|---|
|
Best Picture |
Nominated |
|
Best Director |
Won |
|
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
Best Cinematography |
Won |
|
Best Film Editing |
Won |
|
Best Sound Mixing |
Won |
|
Best Sound Editing |
Won |
|
Best Original Score |
Nominated |
|
Best Original Screenplay |
Nominated |
|
Best Production Design |
Nominated |
|
Best Makeup and Hairstyling |
Nominated |
Imbuing his charge with a facade of stoic neutrality, Hanks’ character is a far more nuanced charge than the allegations that he was assembled out of dead body parts at OSC would suggest. In actuality, Miller is really a school teacher trying to get home to his wife, while desperately trying to keep the men under his command safe. A complex and relatable individual brought to life in stirring fashion, Miller is one of the genre’s most compelling characters as a result of Hanks’ masterful performance.
7
R. Lee Ermey As Gunnery Sergeant Hartman
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
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Full Metal Jacket
R
War
Drama
8/10
11
9/10
Release Date
July 10, 1987
Runtime
116 minutes
Director
Stanley Kubrick
Writers
Michael Herr, Stanley Kubrick, Gustav Hasford
Cast
See All
-
Matthew Modine
-
Arliss Howard
Full Metal Jacket is a war movie directed by Stanley Kubrick where a group of young soldiers endure the brutal training regimen of U.S. Marine Corps drill sergeant Hartman (Lee Ermey) and fight in the Vietnam War. The film was highly acclaimed for its crude portrayal of the dehumanizing effects of war and the psychological toll it takes on soldiers.
Studio(s)
Warner Bros. Pictures
Distributor(s)
Warner Bros. Pictures, Columbia Pictures
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One of the most spectacularly authentic performances in cinematic history, R. Lee Ermey’s turn as the foul-mouthed Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in 1987’s Full Metal Jacket is the stuff of legend. Despite only appearing for around half of the revered war outing, the abusive drill instructor is virtually synonymous with Stanley Kubrick’s nihilistic masterpiece, courtesy of an unforgettable performance and some of the most gloriously obscene soundbites that have ever been put to recording.
An implacable vessel of sadistic torment and unrelenting abuse, the late Ermey lent every shred of legitimacy that he could physically muster into bringing his terrifying charge to life onscreen. A performance that becomes even more impressive given Ermey’s lack of formal acting education, the veteran stole every second of every scene that he appeared in to earn unquestionable status as one of the genre’s most immortal characters.
6
Adrien Brody As Władysław Szpilman
The Pianist (2002)
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The Pianist
R
Biography
Drama
Music
9/10
Release Date
March 28, 2003
Runtime
150 Minutes
Director
Roman Polanski
Writers
Ronald Harwood, Wladyslaw Szpilman
Cast
See All
-
Adrien Brody
Wladyslaw Szpilman
-
Thomas Kretschmann
Captain Wilm Hosenfeld
The Pianist is a historical drama directed by Roman Polanski, featuring Adrien Brody as Władysław Szpilman, a Jewish pianist in Warsaw during World War II. The film follows Szpilman’s harrowing journey of survival amidst the horrors of the Holocaust, capturing his struggles and resilience. The Pianist showcases the impact of war on individuals and art, emphasizing themes of perseverance and human spirit.
Main Genre
Biography
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Adrien Brody’s recent Best Actor win has cast fresh light on the role that earned him his first Oscar. The similarities between 2024’s The Brutalist and 2002’s The Pianist are hard to ignore, with both films focusing on Jewish perspectives of WWII and the Holocaust while boasting powerhouse performances from their shared leading man. Becoming the youngest performer in history to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, Brody utterly loses himself in bringing Władysław Szpilman’s true story to life onscreen.
Brody was just 29 when he won his first Oscar for his work in The Pianist.
Chronicling Szpilman’s miraculous survival during the German occupation of Warsaw, Brody produces a devastating performance for the ages. An iconic bow that turned him into a household name, the actor’s performance in The Pianist captures the visceral desperation at the heart of his charge’s fight for survival in unflinching clarity. Carrying an indescribably powerful true story through the sheer intensity of his incredible performance, Brody’s work in The Pianist stands as one of the greatest dramatic performances of all time.
5
Ken Watanabe As General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
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Letters from Iwo Jima
R
Drama
Action
Adventure
8/10
Release Date
February 2, 2007
Runtime
141 Minutes
Director
Clint Eastwood
Writers
Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, Tsuyoko Yoshido
Producers
Paul Haggis, Robert Lorenz
Cast
See All
-
Ken Watanabe
Private Saigo
-
Kazunari Ninomiya
General Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Letters from Iwo Jima, directed by Clint Eastwood, offers a unique perspective on the World War II battle for Iwo Jima, depicting the struggle from the viewpoint of Japanese soldiers. Released in 2006, the film serves as a companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers, highlighting different wartime experiences.
Main Genre
Drama
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One of Clint Eastwood’s finest war movies, 2006’s Letters from Iwo Jima is spearheaded by masterful direction from the Dirty Harry star and an exemplary turn from Ken Watanabe as General Tadamichi Kuribayashi. An account of the titular WWII battle told from the perspective of Japanese forces, Watanabe’s stirring performance as the leader of the outnumbered defenders is Letters from Iwo Jima’s crowning jewel.
…Watanabe effortlessly captures the bravery, compassion, and honor at the heart of this real-life individual.
A widely respected soldier who insisted on sharing the hardships of his men and refused to allow banzai-charges during combat, Watanabe effortlessly captures the bravery, compassion, and honor at the heart of this real-life individual. Wanatabe’s failure to win an Oscar off the back of his stirring take on Kuribayashi is arguably one of the Academy’s most egregious oversights in modern cinematic history, to say nothing of the mind-boggling fact that he wasn’t even nominated.
4
Bruno Ganz As Adolf Hitler
Downfall (2004)
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Downfall
R
Drama
History
War
9.3/10
Release Date
September 16, 2004
Runtime
155 minutes
Director
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Producers
Bernd Eichinger
Cast
See All
-
Alexandra Maria Lara
Traudl Junge
-
Bruno Ganz
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Adolf Hitler
Downfall is a historical drama depicting the final days of Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker during April 1945. The film explores the collapse of the Third Reich as the Russian Army advances, showcasing the tension among Hitler’s inner circle as they face inevitable defeat. Released in 2004, it provides a detailed portrayal of Hitler’s last moments.
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Chronicling the final days of one of the most evil men in history, 2004’s Downfall plays out from the perspective of Adolf Hitler and the men and women in his bunker during the Battle of Berlin. Despite an array of stellar reviews, the movie unsurprisingly courted controversy for its fraught subject matter and allegations that it painted Hitler in a sympathetic light. However, commentators remained united on one front; the exemplary quality of Bruno Ganz’s leading performance.
Alternating between abject despair and despotic rage as he comes to terms with his impending doom, the actor produces a mesmerizing snapshot of an old and sickly tyrant…
Widely regarded as the most convincing onscreen depiction of the dictator in cinematic history, Ganz captures the paranoia-laced delusion at the heart of Hitler’s last days in jarringly realistic fashion. Alternating between abject despair and despotic rage as he comes to terms with his impending doom, the actor produces a mesmerizing snapshot of an old and sickly tyrant, rapidly coming apart at the seams as the walls of the world close in around him.
3
Robert De Niro As Staff Sergeant Mikhail Vronsky
The Deer Hunter (1978)
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The Deer Hunter
R
Drama
Epic
War
Release Date
February 23, 1979
Runtime
184 Minutes
Director
Michael Cimino
Writers
Deric Washburn, Michael Cimino, Louis Garfinkle, Quinn K. Redeker
Cast
See All
-
Robert De Niro
-
John Cazale
-
John Savage
-
Meryl Streep
The Deer Hunter is a 1978 war drama film by director Michael Cimino that centers on three men in a small steel mill town in Pennsylvania during the Vietnam War. The film explores the effects of the war on small-town workers, with the trio of Russian-American friends bonding over one last hunting trip. Holding onto the hope of bringing home militaristic glory back to their friends and families, their reality quickly comes crashing down when they experience the war in Vietnam firsthand.
Studio(s)
EMI Films
Distributor(s)
Universal Pictures
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A devastating war movie masterpiece from one-hit wonder director Michael Cimino, 1978’s The Deer Hunter sees cinematic icon Robert De Niro at the top of his game. The Goodfellas star plays Mikhail “Mike” Vronsky, serving as the main character for this harrowing commentary on the physical and mental scars left by wartime. The movie follows three working-class friends who enlist to serve in Vietnam, depicting their subsequent nightmarish experiences of the conflict.
|
The Deer Hunter‘s Oscar Nominations |
Result |
|---|---|
|
Best Picture |
Won |
|
Best Director |
Won |
|
Best Actor |
Nominated |
|
Best Supporting Actor |
Won |
|
Best Supporting Actress |
Nominated |
|
Best Screenplay |
Nominated |
|
Best Cinematography |
Nominated |
|
Best Film Editing |
Won |
|
Best Sound |
Won |
While Christopher Walken also produces a generational turn as the broken Nick Chevotarevich throughout Cimino’s picture, De Niro’s Oscar-nominated leading bow remains one of his finest performances in a career littered with seminal bodies of dramatic work. In particular, the movie’s iconic Russian roulette scenes see De Niro virtually burst out of the screen through the sheer intensity of his acting, whether he’s laughing maniacally in his tormentors’ faces or weeping inconsolably at the heartbreaking loss of his friend.
2
Ralph Fiennes As Amon Göth
Schindler’s List (1993)
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Schindler’s List
R
Drama
History
War
8/10
17
9.9/10
Release Date
December 15, 1993
Runtime
195 Minutes
Director
Steven Spielberg
Writers
Thomas Keneally, Steven Zaillian
Cast
See All
-
Liam Neeson
-
Ben Kingsley
Schindler’s List is a historical drama directed by Steven Spielberg, chronicling the efforts of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved over a thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust. Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes, the film vividly portrays the atrocities committed during World War II while highlighting Schindler’s transformation from a profit-driven industrialist to a humanitarian savior.
Main Genre
Drama
Studio(s)
Amblin Entertainment
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Acknowledged by many as the finest war movie villain performance in cinematic history, Ralph Fiennes’ career-best turn as Amon Göth is as close to the living embodiment of pure evil as one is likely to find onscreen. The chief antagonist of Stephen Spielberg’s heart-rending masterpiece, 1993’s Schindler’s List, Fiennes’ performance as Göth was so terrifyingly convincing that he allegedly left a real-life Holocaust survivor shaking uncontrollably after he was introduced to her on set.
While Fiennes somehow failed to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, losing out to The Fugitive’s Tommy Lee Jones, the Englishman’s bow as the despicable lead antagonist of Schindler’s List is still widely regarded as one of the most unforgettable villain performances of all time. Cultivating an unrelenting aura of terror through his mere presence alone, Fiennes’ turn as this real-life sadist is one of the most chilling performances of all time.
1
Christoph Waltz As Hans Landa
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
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Inglourious Basterds
R
Drama
War
Adventure
8/10
11
8.8/10
Release Date
August 21, 2009
Runtime
153 minutes
Director
Quentin Tarantino
Writers
Quentin Tarantino
Cast
See All
-
Brad Pitt
-
Diane Kruger
In Nazi-occupied France, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” execute a mission to terrorize the Third Reich. Simultaneously, a young Jewish cinema owner plots to kill Nazi leaders attending a premiere at her theater. Both plans converge in a high-stakes showdown filled with action and revenge.
Main Genre
War
Studio(s)
Universal Pictures
Distributor(s)
Universal Pictures
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The breakout star of Quentin Tarantino’s subversive triumph, 2009’s Inglourious Basterds, Christoph Waltz was a relative unknown before he was cast as Colonel Hans Landa. A ferociously intelligent SS officer, Landa is nicknamed “The Jew Hunter” as a result of his near-preternatural ability to locate Jews hiding throughout occupied France. A part that Tarantino had feared was “unplayable,” Waltz blew the doors off in a star-making turn for the ages with a generational performance.
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Surprisingly, This Inglourious Basterds Character Only Kills 1 Person On Screen
Inglourious Basterds has a very high kill count, but surprisingly, one of its main characters, despite his job, only kills one person on screen.
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Winning his first of two Oscars for Best Supporting Actor off the back of his work in a Tarantino movie, Waltz is the star of the show from the movie’s very first scene. A calculating pragmatist, Landa is such a terrifying antagonist due to his penchant for switching between genteel and murderous at the drop of a hat, with Waltz’s demure manners and eloquent dictation serving to distract from the ruthless disposition lurking behind his polished smile. As memorable as he is abjectly evil, Waltz’s endlessly quotable war character is the end product of one of the greatest performances the war genre has ever witnessed.
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Category: Entertainment