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Image by Jefferson Chacon
War never changes. The trends of the times in which war movies are released, however, certainly do. As a genre, war cinema is one of the oldest and most evergreen categories in film, one that has always been defined by its thematic might, its enlightening focus on the horrors of war, and its grueling depictions of the brutality of combat.
While many war films have maintained their relevance for almost a century, others have gradually lost the ability to engage modern audiences. From overly patriotic propaganda pictures of recent decades to older releases that are undone by contemporary aspects that have become glaring faults over time, these 10 war films may not quite be the pictures they once were.
10 'Gone with the Wind' (1939)
Directed by Victor Fleming
Image via Loews Cineplex Entertainment
One of the most cited examples of an all-time classic—of any genre—that has elements that have not held up over time, Gone with the Wind remains a fantastic feat of film-making that now contains a few cringe-worthy sensitivities. The 1939 epic focuses on the tumultuous romance between Southern belle Scarlet O’Hara (Vivian Leigh) and Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), a roguish philanderer who profiteers off the American Civil War. Their relationship is only further strained as the South begins to crumble amid the war effort.
Interestingly, the film softens the racist overtones that permeate throughout Margaret Mitchell’s novel, and completely erases the overt presence of the Ku Klux Klan, but it still has several moments that are jolting and distracting today. Its sympathetic attitude towards slavery borders on sentimental and nostalgic, and is perhaps the most glaring example of this present in the film. Of course, the infamous marital rape scene is particularly outdated as well.
Gone With the Wind
Release Date December 15, 1939
Cast Thomas Mitchell , Barbara O'Neil , Vivien Leigh , Evelyn Keyes , Ann Rutherford , George Reeves , Hattie McDaniel
Runtime 238 minutes
9 'The Dam Busters' (1955)
Directed by Michael Anderson
For the most part, The Dam Busters is a fascinating historical war film that runs with an interesting story of innovation and technological progress. Barnes Wallis (Michael Redgrave) struggles to invent a bomb that can target Nazi Germany’s dams to interrupt their heavy industry. Once he successfully creates such a device, it becomes the task of Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd) to execute an air raid on chosen German dams.
While elements of its action sequences have aged, The Dam Busters still delivers an engrossing story that honors the bravery of its real-life heroes. Where it does become jarring, though, is in the prolific referencing to the squad’s pet dog, which, as it was in real life, was named after a particularly strong racial slur. Granted, the historical accuracy remains true, and it is important to note that the sensitivities of the time were drastically different to what they are now, but the frequent use of the word is quite displacing today, and, on occasion, undermines the excellence of the rest of the movie.
8 'Force 10 from Navarone' (1978)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Image via MGM
Force 10 from Navarone is a war adventure movie… and therein lies the problem. A relic of a bygone era of war cinema, it serves as a sequel to the 1961 classic The Guns of Navarone, with Robert Shaw and David Niven occupying the two lead roles. It follows the two heroes as they carry out an assignment to destroy a bridge that is of vital importance to German operations while also setting out to hunt down a Nazi spy.
Like many of the other adventure blockbuster war movies of the time, Force 10 from Navarone brings a gleam of wonder and excitement to the prospect of war. Unfortunately, it isn’t able to do so with the fun-filled grace or poised balance of such films as Where Eagles Dare, The Dirty Dozen, or even its predecessor. The end result is an awkward meshing of wartime stakes and light-hearted fun that feels disjointed and uncouth in the modern day.
Force 10 from Navarone
Release Date August 16, 1978
Runtime 114 minutes
7 'Battle of the Bulge' (1965)
Directed by Ken Annakin
Image via Warner Bros.
Battle of the Bulge is a film endemic to a time when war cinema, particularly in America, was about celebrating the triumph of victory with rousing, fist-pumping pride, more so than paying any respect to what the battlefield actually was like. Its endeavor to thrive as big-screen entertainment is, today, completely offset by its blatant disregard for historical accuracy, but also by its eagerness to exploit war violence for action thrills.
Couple this with the fact that the movie also features weather and terrain that do not remotely align with the dense forest landscape and fierce winter conditions the soldiers faced, Battle of the Bulge can today be considered a disingenuous cash-grab that bastardizes the heroics of those who actually fought in the battle. Granted, the film had its naysayers at the time of release, but as more details of WWII and its battles have become common knowledge, all the starry-eyed gloss and excitement it may have once contained has vanished entirely.
Battle of the Bulge
Release Date December 16, 1965
Cast Henry Fonda , Robert Shaw , Robert Ryan , Dana Andrews , George Montgomery , Ty Hardin
Runtime 167 minutes
6 'The Patriot' (2000)
Directed by Roland Emmerich
Image via Sony
As the name would suggest, The Patriot is a sweeping and triumphant movie that proudly presents an emotionally rousing tale of revenge amid the American Revolutionary War. Mel Gibson stars as Benjamin Martin, a once feared soldier who gives up a life of violence to raise his seven children on a farm. While he remains impartial to the war when it begins, he is lured into the conflict when a sadistic English officer murders his son.
To say the film is hyperbolic with historical facts would be an understatement. It concocts an air of villainy around the British while brushing off the possibility that the rebels themselves may have committed their own atrocities. As popcorn entertainment with an overly simple story of injustice and vengeance, it has some appeal, but as a historical epic it is outright egregious. Its depiction of the British is one thing, but the falsities it creates around race relations and the treatment of Black people in 18th century America is a heavy-handed oversight that is strikingly apparent when rewatched today.
Release Date June 30, 2000
Runtime 165 Minutes
5 'American Sniper' (2014)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Image via Warner Bros.
American Sniper is an Oscar-winning film that, at the time of its release, was lauded by many around the world as being a powerful biopic focused on famed U.S. Navy SEAL sniper, Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper). In fact, many of its elements remain incredibly timely today, not least of which is its stirring and nuanced emphasis on the difficulty many veterans face re-adapting to life at home and, by extension, the emotional toll tours of duty have on the loved ones of soldiers.
Where American Sniper does let itself down, however—and where it has aged so aggressively in such a short amount of time—is in regard to its concocted rivalry between Kyle and Mustafa (Sammy Sheik), a character partially based on the real Iraqi sniper Juba. Not only does this augmented lens on the Iraq War depict the conflict with a black-and-white simplicity, but it also waters down much of the harrowing intrigue of Chris Kyle’s memoir on which the film was based.
American Sniper
Release Date December 25, 2014
Runtime 132minutes
4 'Act of Valor' (2012)
Directed by Mike McCoy & Scott Waugh
Image via Relativity Media
Another relatively recent release that has aged abysmally in a short space of time, Act of Valor is a disturbing byproduct of the wave of military sentimentality and reverence that swept the nation following the successful raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in 2011. While this elevated appreciation for the armed forces, the terrors they endure, and the sacrifices they make is a good thing, harnessing such a moment into a movie that is no more than a thinly-veiled recruitment advert is particularly despicable.
Starring actual Navy SEALs, the war action film offers a real-world look at military precision in the war zone. As impressive as these sequences are, and as revering of the cast members’ profession as it is, the film has the inescapable feeling of being akin to a Call of Duty playthrough, albeit with even less attention to the moral complexities of combat. Its glamorization and its blatant efforts to make war appealing have not held up at all well in the relatively short time since its release.
Act of Valor
Release Date February 24, 2012
Cast Alexander Asefa , Drea Castro , Jason Cottle , Aurelius DiBarsanti , Timothy Gibbs , Carla Jimenez
Runtime 111 minutes
3 'The Deer Hunter' (1978)
Directed by Michael Cimino
Image via Universal Pictures
The Deer Hunter is one of the defining pictures of the 1970s, and many elements of its brilliance can still be appreciated today. A poignant tale of PTSD and displacement following service, it focuses on the bond between three friends who enlist to fight in Vietnam in search of valor and heroism. The trio find their lives forever changed, however, when they are taken as POWs and subjected to horrific bouts of psychological torture.
The film is powered by its outstanding performances and its emotionally devastating story of violence and trauma, but there are plenty of components within it that haven’t aged at all gracefully. The one-track and vitriolic portrayal of the Vietnamese is a misstep that becomes increasingly apparent as time goes on, while the progression of the story has a certain malaise that feels lethargic and lingering by modern standards rather than measured and contemplative.
The Deer Hunter
Release Date December 8, 1978
Runtime 183 minutes
2 'The Green Berets' (1968)
Directed by John Wayne & Ray Kellogg
Image via Warner Bros
An absurd movie on release that has only grown more disingenuous with time, The Green Berets is effectively John Wayne’s efforts to validate the Vietnam War. An unabashed propaganda piece, it follows a reporter who is against the war as he is assigned to cover the conflict alongside a group of Green Berets led by Col. Mike Kirby (Wayne). As the soldiers are tasked with fortifying a vulnerable encampment and capturing an enemy general, the reporter’s steadfast anti-war stance begins to soften as he learns to respect America’s involvement in the conflict.
Had the film been made to a better standard, it may have posed a serious threat to the American public. Instead, it is a dull, lazy, and transparent piece of pro-war cinema that was largely dismissed upon release. It has come to be a disgusting picture in retrospect. Rife with the cowboys-and-Indians simplicity of Wayne’s weakest Westerns, The Green Berets is an unbecoming war film that is now viewed as nothing more than a grotesque stain on the history of war cinema.
The Green Berets
Release Date June 19, 1968
Runtime 142 Minutes
1 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915)
Directed by D. W. Griffith
Image Via Epoch Producing Co.
There is perhaps no movie that has aged as abysmally in terms of its attitude and its content as The Birth of a Nation. Set in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War during the Reconstruction era, it sees conflict emerge between two rival families. While the abolitionist Stonemans are depicted as nation-defying cretins, the Camerons are presented as the necessary heroes of the time, and their founding of the Ku Klux Klan is depicted as being a valiant stance for the upholding of national values and the restoration of order.
The movie remains revered for its immense influence on film-making, with its innovative brilliance pioneering techniques that are still used to this day. In this regard, it is worth every bit of praise it gets. But the story’s focus must be berated for being not only grotesquely outdated, but for being a disgraceful insult to American values of camaraderie and equality that many hold in such high regard today. Roger Ebert once described it as “a great movie that argues for evil.” Its evil has come to be as defining of it as its greatness.
Release Date March 21, 1915
Cast Henry B. Walthall , Lillian Gish , Miriam Cooper , Mae Marsh , Mary Alden , Ralph Lewis , George Siegmann , Walter Long , Joseph Henabery , Wallace Reid , Elmer Clifton , Josephine Crowell , Spottiswoode Aitken , George Beranger , Maxfield Stanley , Jennie Lee , Donald Crisp , Howard Gaye , Sam De Grasse , William De Vaull , Willam Freeman , Tom Wilson , Fred Burns
Runtime 193 Minutes
English (US) ·