So many great ones already mentioned. But if you had to choose just a single war movie as the best of all time, which would it be?
I can think of any number of war movies that are thoroughly entertaining classics but very inaccurate (Bridge on the River Kwai, Battle of the Bulge). Does that make them bad movies? Some deal more with the human side than actual historical events (Saving Private Ryan, Das Boot, Stalingrad, The Thin Red Line), while others tell the story of an actual battle (Gettysburg, A Bridge Too Far, Blackhawk Down). And a few are hypothetical and only loosely based on history (Ran, Enemy at the Gates)
So what is it exactly that makes for a good war film?