Top 100 History Movies List

#20 History Movie

Kingdom of Heaven (2005) R

Balian of Ibelin travels to Jerusalem during the crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writers:

William Monahan

Stars:

Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson

#19 History Movie

12 years a Slave (2013) R

In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.

Director:

Steve McQueen

Writers:

John Ridley, Solomon Northup

Stars:

Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender

#18 History Movie

Spartacus (1960) PG-13

The slave Spartacus leads a violent revolt against the decadent Roman Republic.

Director:

Stanley Kubrick

Writers:

Dalton Trumbo, Howard Fast

Stars:

Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons

#17 History Movie

Titanic (1997) PG-13

A seventeen-year-old aristocrat falls in love with a kind but poor artist aboard the luxurious, ill-fated R.M.S. Titanic.

Director:

James Cameron

Writers:

James Cameron

Stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane

#16 History Movie

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazi judges for war crimes.

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writers:

Abby Mann

Stars:

Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark

#15 History Movie

The Ten Commandments (1956)

The Egyptian Prince, Moses, learns of his true heritage as a Hebrew and his divine mission as the deliverer of his people.

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Dorothy Clarke Wilson, J.H. Ingraham

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter

#14 History Movie

The Untouchables (1987) R

Federal Agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop Al Capone; because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team.

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writers:

Oscar Fraley, Eliot Ness

Stars:

Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro

#13 History Movie

The Last Samurai (2003) R

An American military advisor embraces the Samurai culture he was hired to destroy after he is captured in battle.

Director:

Edward Zwick

Writers:

John Logan

Stars:

Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe, Billy Connolly

#12 History Movie

Ip Man (2008) R

During the Japanese invasion of 1937, when a wealthy martial artist is forced to leave his home and work to support his family, he reluctantly agrees to train others in the art of Wing Chun for self-defense.

Director:

Wilson Yip

Writers:

Edmond Wong, Tai-lee Chan

Stars:

Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Siu-Wong Fan

#11 History Movie

Apollo 13 (1995) PG

NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.

Director:

Ron Howard

Writers:

Jim Lovell, Jeffrey Kluger

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon

#10 History Movie

Hotel Rwanda (2004) PG-13

Paul Rusesabagina was a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.

Director:

Terry George

Writers:

Keir Pearson, Terry George

Stars:

Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Joaquin Phoenix

#9 History Movie

Das Boot (1981) R

The claustrophobic world of a WWII German U-boat; boredom, filth, and sheer terror.

Director:

Wolfgang Petersen

Writers:

Wolfgang Petersen, Lothar G. Buchheim

Stars:

Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann

#8 History Movie

Downfall (2004) R

Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.

Director:

Oliver Hirschbiegel

Writers:

Bernd Eichinger, Joachim Fest

Stars:

Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes

#7 History Movie

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) PG

The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.

Director:

David Lean

Writers:

T.E. Lawrence, Robert Bolt

Stars:

Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn

#6 History Movie

300 (2006) R

King Leonidas of Sparta and a force of 300 men fight the Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C.

Director:

Zack Snyder

Writers:

Zack Snyder, Kurt Johnstad

Stars:

Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, David Wenham

#5 History Movie

Apocalypto (1998) PG-13

As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.

Director:

Mel Gibson

Writers:

Mel Gibson, Farhad Safinia

Stars:

Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernández

#4 History Movie

Ben-Hur (1959) G

When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Lew Wallace, Karl Tunberg

Stars:

Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd

#3 History Movie

Saving Private Ryan (1998) R

Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Robert Rodat

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore

#2 History Movie

The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) PG-13

A young man, falsely imprisoned by his jealous "friend," escapes and uses a hidden treasure to exact his revenge.

Director:

Kevin Reynolds

Writers:

Alexandre Dumas, Jay Wolpert

Stars:

Jim Caviezel, Guy Pearce, Richard Harris

#1 History Movie

Gangs of New York (2002) R

In 1863, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writers:

Jay Cocks

Stars:

Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis

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