I'll be repeating some that others have also mentioned:

DAS BOOT
THE GREAT ESCAPE
STALAG 17
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
THE DEER HUNTER
THE ENEMY BELOW
RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP
TORA! TORA! TORA!
SAHARA
THITRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO
THEY WERE EXPENDABLE
THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI
THE BRIDGE AT REMAGAN
A BRIDGE TOO FAR
THE LONGEST DAY
MIDWAY
BACK TO BATAAN
PLATOON
WE WERE SOLDIERS

And while it's not a movie, I thought Band of Brothers was excellent.

Not only ZULU, but also check out ZULU DAWN - good explanations of the strategies of each side (if the British could be said to have had a strategy - the Zulus come off quite well).

As someone mentioned, BRAVO TWO ZERO is quite good. It was made for British audiences and the thick local accents and extensive British military slang means American viewers may benefit from use of subtitles.

Hard to find but very worthwhile is the Australian Vietnam film THE ODD ANGRY SHOT - it follows an Australian SAS unit in Vietnam for a year. Realistic patrolling tactics.

BREAKER MORANT - a good Australian film about the Boer War, see also the Australian WWI film GALLIPOLI.

PATTON, of course.

GO TELL THE SPARTANS is an interesting film set in the early days of U.S. involvement as advisers in Vietnam. One of Burt Lancaster's best performances.

THE LOSERS - a real guilty pleasure as outlaw bikers are recruited to rescue a state department official from the Vietcong. Classic biker movie cast.

FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER - John Milius flick about the air war over Vietnam.

Two enjoyable mercenary films: THE WILD GEESE (with Richard Burton, Richard Harris, and Roger Moore together on one movie, I'm sure the hangovers on the set each morning must have been epic.); and THE DOGS OF WAR, with Chris Walken and a cast of then-unknowns (Tom Berenger, Ed O'Neill) excellent in a very downbeat loose adapation of the Frederick Forsythe novel.

THE BIG RED ONE with Lee Marvin in director Sam Fuller's semi-autobiographic film about the 1st Division in WWII.

SERGEANT YORK - Classic Gary Cooper WWI flick as the 82nd Division Medal of Honor winner.

One of my all-time favorites is another John Milius film: THE WIND AND THE LION - Brian Keith is excellent as Theodore Roosevelt, and Sean Connery as a Berber chieftan. Based loosely - very loosely - on an actual incident where an American citizen (who turned out not to be) was taken hostage, it has an amazing scene where the Marines land and seize the presidential palace in Morocco. Milius did a later film about Roosevelt's rise in the Spanish-American war, THE ROUGH RIDERS which is also very enjoyable. Tom Berenger was surprisingly good as a younger TR.

I would have to say Red Dawn. There have been a lot of great entries already, but this one is a war movie that had the most impression on me.

I would have to say Red Dawn. There have been a lot of great entries already, but this one is a war movie that had the most impression on me.

Although it's mostly about the aftermath, you could also say that Josey Wales is a war movie.

Ken V.

I am surprised no one has mentioned Gallipoli, despite its inaccuracies, I thought it was a pretty good film, as well as showing a much lesser known theater of WWI, or at least lesser shown.

I would have to say Red Dawn. There have been a lot of great entries already, but this one is a war movie that had the most impression on me.

I could really relate to Red Dawn. I had similar fantasies as a kid.

PATTON, of course.

George C. Scott's portrayal of Patton, while not very accurate, was one of my favorite movie characters of all time.

I am surprised no one has mentioned Gallipoli, despite its inaccuracies, I thought it was a pretty good film, as well as showing a much lesser known theater of WWI, or at least lesser shown.

I don't remember much about Gallipoli, but there are inaccuracies in virtually all war movies.

In SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, you see them banging the base of mortar shells on the ground (or was it a rock) and throwing them -- and the mortar shells explode. In reality, mortar shells are armed by accelleration out of the barrel of the mortar, just as artillery shells are spin-armed.

And if you have ever seen someone in a movie pull the pin on a hand grenade with his teeth, you should know that his teeth will pull before the pin will.

Ken V.

My favorite war movies are ....
300
Black Hawk Down
The Lord of the Rings
Gladiator
Pearl Harbor
The Lives of Others.