Highest-Rated Movies about 'U.s. Civil War'

The General (1926), Gone with the Wind (1939), The Last Samurai (2003), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Gangs of New York (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), The Raid (1954), Virginia City (1940) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best U.s. Civil War movies.

#1. The General (1926)

Storyline: Johnnie loves his train ("The General") and Annabelle Lee. When the Civil War begins he is turned down for service because he's more valuable as an engineer. Annabelle thinks it's because he's a coward. Union spies capture The General with Annabelle on board. Johnnie must rescue both his loves.

Plot Keywords: train, national film registry, shooting, covered wagon, chopping wood, jumping onto a train, rifle ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. Gone with the Wind (1939)

Storyline: Scarlett is a woman who can deal with a nation at war, Atlanta burning, the Union Army carrying off everything from her beloved Tara, the carpetbaggers who arrive after the war. Scarlett is beautiful. She has vitality. But Ashley, the man she has wanted for so long, is going to marry his placid cousin, Melanie. Mammy warns Scarlett to behave herself at the party at Twelve Oaks. There is a new man there that day, the day the Civil War begins. Rhett Butler. Scarlett does not know he is in the room when she pleads with Ashley to choose her instead of Melanie.

Plot Keywords: narcissistic personality disorder, american civil war, black stereotype, battle of the sexes, high society, cotton, old maid ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. The Last Samurai (2003)

Storyline: In the 1870s, Captain Nathan Algren, a cynical veteran of the American Civil war who will work for anyone, is hired by Americans who want lucrative contracts with the Emperor of Japan to train the peasant conscripts for the first standing imperial army in modern warfare using firearms. The imperial Omura cabinet's first priority is to repress a rebellion of traditionalist Samurai -hereditary warriors- who remain devoted to the sacred dynasty but reject the Westernizing policy and even refuse firearms. Yet when his ill-prepared superior force sets out too soon, their panic allows the sword-wielding samurai to crush them. Badly wounded Algren's courageous stand makes the samurai leader Katsumoto spare his life; once nursed to health he learns to know and respect the old Japanese way, and participates as advisor in Katsumoto's failed attempt to save the Bushido tradition, but Omura gets repressive laws enacted- he must now choose to honor his loyalty to one of the embittered sides when ...

Plot Keywords: white savior, japanese, spirituality, prostitute, seppuku, bowing, samurai ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. 3:10 to Yuma (1957)

Storyline: After outlaw leader Ben Wade is captured in a small town, his gang continue to threaten. Small-time rancher Dan Evans is persuaded to take Wade in secret to the nearest town with a railway station to await the train to the court at Yuma. Once the two are holed up in the hotel to wait it becomes apparent the secret is out, and a battle of wills starts.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: arizona, western hero, justice, standoff, cowboys and outlaws, cowboy, drought ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Gangs of New York (2002)

Storyline: In the god-forsaken district of early-1860's Lower Manhattan known as the Five Points, the vicious Nativist, Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, is the supreme overlord of an area riddled with crime, prostitution, theft and murder, as the American Civil War still rages on. Sixteen whole years after the brutal murder of his father from Bill's blood-stained hands, an orphaned Irish-American, Amsterdam Vallon, returns to this melting pot of corruption to avenge his untimely death; however, a lot has changed since then. Who can remember the once innocent boy and now a young man bent on revenge, who works his way up to the hierarchy of Five Points? Will Amsterdam ever taste the dangerous but sweet fruit of retribution?

Plot Keywords: gangster, prostitution, catholic church, bludgeoning, american civil war, pickpocket, 1840s ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. Cold Mountain (2003)

Storyline: This Civil War saga addresses romance, friendship, and the ravages of war--both in the field and on the home front. Captures the horrors of war for both those fighting it, and for those left behind. This is a tale of hope, longing, redemption, second chances, and faith.

Plot Keywords: u.s. civil war, nonlinear timeline, based on novel, stabbed in the chest, shot in the chest, female frontal nudity, baby ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. The Raid (1954)

Storyline: A group of Confederate prisoners escape to Canada and plan to rob the banks and set fire to the small town of Saint Albans in Vermont. To get the lie of the land, their leader spends a few days in the town and finds he is getting drawn into its life and especially into that of an attractive widow and her son.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: u.s. civil war, u.s. cavalry, based on novel, flag, arson, horse, saboteur ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. Virginia City (1940)

Storyline: During the American Civil War, Captain Kerry Bradford escapes from a notorious confederate prison. He and two of his men are sent to Virginia City where Confederate sympathizers are prepared to donate $5 million dollars to the cause of Southern independence. The war is going badly for the Confederacy and money may tip the war in their favor. On the stagecoach to Virginia City, Bradford meets and falls in love with Julia Hayne not realizing that she is one of the conspirators. When he gets to Virginia City, he also runs into Confederate Captain Vance Irby who has been sent to collect and safely deliver the gold. Irby manages to get out of the city but the Union cavalry is in hot pursue. When Bradfoed catches up with them, he not only has to fight Irby but also John Murrell, a bandit who has his own plans for the gold. He also—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: american civil war, arizona, hay, saloon, wound, bar, blonde ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

Storyline: Two mutant brothers, Logan and Victor, born two hundred years ago, suffer childhood trauma and have only each other to depend on. Basically, they're fighters and killers, living from war to war throughout U.S. history. In modern times, a U.S. Colonel, Stryker, recruits them and other mutants as commandos. Logan quits and becomes a logger, falling in love with a local teacher. When Logan refuses to rejoin Stryker's crew, the Colonel sends the murderous Victor. Logan now wants revenge.

Plot Keywords: good versus evil, self healing, las vegas nevada, nuclear reactor, poker, regeneration, sentenced to death ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

Storyline: While Benjamin Gates (Nicolas Cage) is presenting new information about John Wilkes Booth and the eighteen pages missing from Booth's diary, a man by the name of Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) stands up and presents a missing page of John Wilkes Booth's diary. Thomas Gates, Ben's great-grandfather, is mentioned on the page. It shows that Ben's great-grandfather was a co-conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's murder. When doing more research, the conspiracy takes Ben, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), and Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) to Buckingham Palace (into which they break). They discover a plank that has early Native American writing on it. The plank has only one symbol that Patrick Gates (Jon Voight) can identify. The symbol is Cibola (see-bowl-uh), meaning the City of Gold. In order to define the rest they have to go to Ben's mother, Patrick's divorced wife, Emily Appleton (Dame Helen Mirren). After thirty-two years, it brings back old arguments. After that, the other clue is in the ...

Plot Keywords: cleavage, divorce, hangar, helicopter, horse, internet, key ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. The Beguiled (2017)

Storyline: Three years into the American Civil War, in 1864, the dilapidated mansion of Miss Martha Farnsworth's Seminary for Young Ladies is still running, occupied by the matriarch, a teacher and five students in Spanish moss-draped Virginia. However, when a young student stumbles upon Corporal John McBurney, a wounded Union deserter on the verge of death, the already frail balance of things will be disrupted, as the hesitant headmistress decides to take him in to heal from his injury. Little by little, as the unwelcome guest arouses an uneasy sexual excitation among the women of the secluded boarding school, it is not before long that they will find themselves competing for the alluring man's favour. Undoubtedly, this handsome devil is a manipulator, nevertheless, will the ladies stay forever beguiled by his charm?

Plot Keywords: wounded soldier, american civil war, amputee, sexual tension, confederate soldier, southern belle, seduction ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. The Birth of a Nation (1915)

Storyline: Two brothers, Phil and Ted Stoneman, visit their friends in Piedmont, South Carolina: the family Cameron. This friendship is affected by the Civil War, as the Stonemans and the Camerons must join up opposite armies. The consequences of the War in their lives are shown in connection to major historical events, like the development of the Civil War itself, Lincoln's assassination, and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.—Victor Munoz <vmunoz@macul.ciencias.uchile.cl>

Plot Keywords: ku klux klan, civil war, racist, propaganda, racial discrimination, american civil war, u.s. civil war ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. Fort Defiance (1951)

Storyline: It's just after the Civil War and Ben Shelby arrives looking for Johnny Tallon whom he plans to kill. Shelby was the only survivor of a battle due to the cowardice of Tallon. Thinking Tallon dead, another man who lost a brother at the same battle arrives to kill Tallon's blind brother. Tallon arrives to find Shelby and his brother fleeing. Then they are attacked by Indians and Shelby and Tallon must now fight together postponing the inevitable showdown.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: fort, post civil war, ranch, cattle, native american, gunslinger, shot to death ...

Movie Details Click Here!