Entertainment
The Best Black War Movies
List Rules
Vote up your favorite war movies that feature African American soldiers.
The cinema has told several different stories featuring Black soldiers fighting in wars, dating all the way back to Home of the Brave in 1949. Some of these Black war films are composed of a mostly Black cast, while others feature a Black soldier as a prominent character. Here is a look at the greatest Black war movies ever. Which one will make it to the top of the list? That's for you to decide with your votes.
The 1989 American Civil War drama Glory told the true story of the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which was the first all African-American military unit. The movie made a star out of Denzel Washington, who took home a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. The film won a total of three Academy Awards. But Glory is not the only outstanding movie on this list of Black war films.
What are the greatest Black war films ever made? That’s up for you to decide. Vote up or down on this comprehensive list and check back for new Black war movies as they come out.
Ranked by
- 1Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: Edward Zwick
Following the Battle of Antietam, Col. Robert Gould Shaw (Matthew Broderick) is offered command of the United States' first all-African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. ...more - 2Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, George Dzundza
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Tony Scott
After the Cold War, a breakaway Russian republic with nuclear warheads becomes a possible worldwide threat. U.S. submarine Capt. Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) signs on a relatively green but highly ...more - 3Howard E. Rollins, Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Norman Jewison
A black Army investigator (Howard E. Rollins Jr.) travels to a remote military base in the heart of the Louisiana backwoods to look into the mysterious murder of a black sergeant toward the tail end ...more - 4Denzel Washington, Meg Ryan, Lou Diamond Phillips
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Edward Zwick
During the 1991 Gulf War, Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling (Denzel Washington) accidentally caused a friendly fire incident, a mistake that was hushed up by his superiors. Following the war, he ...more - 5Robert De Niro, Cuba Gooding, Charlize Theron
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: George Tillman
Carl Brashear (Cuba Gooding Jr.) is an ambitious sharecropper who joins the U.S. Navy to become the world's first black master diver. But as he works through diving training, the bitter and racist ...more - 6Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Robert Markowitz
A semi-fictionalized account of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first all-African-American Air Force squadron during World War II, the film centers on ambitious young pilot Hannibal Lee (Laurence ...more - 7Matthew Modine, Adam Baldwin, Vincent D'Onofrio
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis (Matthew Modine), quickly christened "Joker" by his foul-mouthed drill sergeant (R. Lee Ermey), and pudgy Private Lawrence ...more - 8Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Spike Lee
During World War II, members of the U.S. Army's all-black division are stationed in the Tuscany region of Italy. Four of the soldiers (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller) become ...more - 9Derek Luke, Joy Bryant, Denzel Washington
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: Denzel Washington
The touching story of a sailor (Derek Luke) who, prone to violent outbursts, is sent to a naval psychiatrist (Denzel Washington) for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually ...more - 10Danny Glover, Clifton Powell, Bob Gunton
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Charles Haid
Buffalo Soldiers is a 1997 TNT television film starring Danny Glover, Mykelti Williamson, Tom Bower, Timothy Busfield, Clifton Powell, and Bob Gunton. It features the Buffalo Soldiers, black members ...more - 11Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, Liev Schreiber
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Years after his squad was ambushed during the Gulf War, Major Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) finds himself having terrible nightmares. He begins to doubt that his fellow squad-mate Sergeant Raymond ...more - 12
Cuba Gooding, Terrence Howard, Nate Parker- Released: 2012
- Directed by: Anthony Hemingway
During World War II, the Civil Aeronautics Authority selects 13 black cadets to become part of an experimental program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The program aims at training "colored ...more - 13Stephen Boyd, Robert Hooks, Susan Oliver
- Released: 1970
- Directed by: George McCowan
Black Brigade (a.k.a. Carter's Army) is a 1970 war drama directed by George McCowan. Capt. Beau Carter (Stephen Boyd) is put in charge of a squad of all black troops charged with the mission of ...more - 14Anthony Barrile, Michael Boatman, Don Cheadle
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: John Irvin
Over the course of 10 days in May 1969, an infantry squad led by Lt. Frantz (Dylan McDermott) and composed of both seasoned troops and new recruits, attempts to take a hill during the Vietnam War. In ...more - 15Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Staff Sgt. William James (Jeremy Renner), Sgt. J.T. Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) are members of a bomb-disposal unit in Baghdad. As their tour of duty enters ...more - 16Douglas Dick, Steve Brodie, Jeff Corey
- Released: 1949
- Directed by: Mark Robson
Paralyzed African-American veteran Peter Moss (James Edwards) is undergoing psychoanalysis after suffering a nervous breakdown. As Moss recounts his trauma to an army psychiatrist (Jeff Corey), he ...more - 17Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbæk
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Julius Avery
On the eve of D-Day, American paratroopers drop behind enemy lines to penetrate the walls of a fortified church and destroy a radio transmitter. As the soldiers approach their target, they soon begin ...more
