MRQE Ranks: Cinema's Best Civil War Movies

1

Gone with the Wind (1939)

Cast: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Hattie McDaniel

Director: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood

Synopsis: Gone With the Wind boils down to a story about a spoiled Southern girl's hopeless love for a married man. Producer David O. Selznick managed to exp... [MORE]

2

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef

Director: Sergio Leone

Synopsis: In the last and the best installment of his so-called "Dollars" trilogy of Sergio Leone-directed "spaghetti westerns," Clint Eastwood reprised the ... [MORE]

3

Glory (1989)

Cast: Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher

Director: Edward Zwick, Richard Zwick

Synopsis: Glory is a celebration of a little-known act of mass courage during the Civil War. Simply put, the heroes involved have been ignored by history due... [MORE]

4

Dances with Wolves (1990)

Cast: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman

Director: Kevin Costner

Synopsis: historical drama about the relationship between a Civil War soldier and a band of Sioux Indians, Kevin Costner's directorial debut was also a surp... [MORE]

5

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon

Director: Clint Eastwood

Synopsis: Clint Eastwood's fifth film as a director and eighth Western as a star (ninth if you count Paint Your Wagon), The Outlaw Josey Wales chronicles the... [MORE]

6

Gettysburg (1993)

Cast: Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, Tom Berenger, Richard Jordan, Stephen Lang

Director: Ronald F. Maxwell

Synopsis: The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara becomes this sprawling historical epic. As in Shaara's novel, director Ronald ... [MORE]

7

Gangs of New York (2002)

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Jim Broadbent, Liam Neeson

Director: Martin Scorsese

Synopsis: The violent rise of gangland power in New York City at a time of massive political corruption and the city's evolution into a cultural melting pot ... [MORE]

8

Cold Mountain (2003)

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Renee Zellweger, Donald Sutherland, Ray Winstone

Director: Anthony Minghella

Synopsis: Based on the novel by Charles Frazier, Anthony Minghella's star-studded Cold Mountain is a sweeping tale set in the final days of the American Civi... [MORE]

9

The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh, Miriam Cooper, Mary Alden

Director: D.W. Griffith

Synopsis: The most successful and artistically advanced film of its time, The Birth of a Nation has also sparked protests, riots, and divisiveness since its ... [MORE]

10

Ride with the Devil (1999/I)

Cast: Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, James Caviezel, Jewel Kilcher

Director: Ang Lee

Synopsis: A complex tale of uneasy alliances and hostilities along the Kansas/Missouri border during the Civil War, Ride with the Devil opens in 1862. The st... [MORE]

11

Gods and Generals (2003)

Cast: Jeff Daniels, Stephen Lang, Robert Duvall, Mira Sorvino, Kevin Conway

Director: Ronald F. Maxwell

Synopsis: Director Ron Maxwell and producer Ted Turner return to the glory and tragedy of the Civil War in this historical drama, a prequel to Gettysburg, wh... [MORE]

12

How the West Was Won (1962)

Cast: Debbie Reynolds, George Peppard, Carroll Baker, James Stewart, Gregory Peck

Director: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe

Synopsis: Filmed in panoramic Cinerama, this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic. Three legendary directors (Henry Hathaway, Joh... [MORE]

13

The Beguiled (1971)

Cast: Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris, Darleen Carr

Director: Don Siegel, David Segal

Synopsis: The Beguiled is a Freudian mood piece from the team of actor Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Eastwood plays Corp. John McBurney, a wounded ... [MORE]

14

Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)

Cast: William Holden, Eleanor Parker, Polly Bergen, John Forsythe, William Demarest

Director: John Sturges

Synopsis: A nail-biting Indian deadlock remains the climax of this otherwise overly verbose Western filmed in M-G-M's then-new Ansco colors (forerunner of Ea... [MORE]

15

Shenandoah (1965)

Cast: James Stewart, Rosemary Forsyth, Glenn Corbett, Philip Alford, Doug McClure

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen

Synopsis: The year is 1863. Wealthy Virginia landowner Charlie Anderson (James Stewart), a man of peace despite his autocratic behavior, steadfastly refuses ... [MORE]

16

Friendly Persuasion (1956)

Cast: Gary Cooper, Dorothy McGuire, Anthony Perkins, Marjorie Main, Richard Eyer

Director: William Wyler

Synopsis: Adapted from the best-selling novel by Jessamyn West, Friendly Persuasion is set in Southern Indiana in the early days of the Civil War. Gary Coope... [MORE]

17

The Great Locomotive Chase (1956)

Cast: Fess Parker, Jeffrey Hunter, Jeff York, John Lupton, Eddie Firestone

Director: Francis D. Lyon

Synopsis: Disney's The Great Locomotive Chase is a dramatic retelling of the actual Civil War events which inspired the Buster Keaton comedy The General. Fes... [MORE]

18

The Red Badge of Courage (1951)

Cast: Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, John Dierkes, Royal Dano, Douglas Dick

Director: John Huston

Synopsis: The backstory of The Red Badge of Courage involves the toppling of MGM's old Louis B. Mayer regime in favor of Dore Schary and his young Turks. It ... [MORE]

19

Major Dundee (1965)

Cast: Charlton Heston, Richard Harris, Michael Anderson Jr., Jim Hutton, James Coburn

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Synopsis: Sam Peckinpah's 1965 feature Major Dundee was recut and rescored for re-release theatrically in 2005, 40 years after its original release. The "Ext... [MORE]

20

Love Me Tender (1956)

Cast: Elvis Presley, Debra Paget, Richard Egan, William Campbell, Robert Middleton

Director: Robert D. Webb

Synopsis: Elvis Presley made his motion picture debut in the Civil War drama Love Me Tender. Elvis, however, is not the star of the proceedings: that honor g... [MORE]