Top Historical Movies


The Top Historical Movies List is calculated by overall movie ratings and members' "Top Historical List". Lists are calculated daily.

31. Silence

Year of Release: 2016
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Martin Scorsese
Actors: Andrew Garfield, Liam Neeson, Adam Driver, Ciarán Hinds
Plot: During the 17th Century a pair of Jesuit priests find their faith put to the ultimate test when they go in search of their mentor in Japan - during a time when Catholicism is outlawed and their very presence anathema.

32. Gallipoli

Year of Release: 1981
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Peter Weir
Actors: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins
Plot: Follows a group of young Australian men as they live their various lives behind in order to fight in WWI. The men are sent to Gallipoli where they will face the might of the Turkish army.

33. The Insider

Year of Release: 1999
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Michael Mann
Actors: Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Christopher Plummer, Diane Venora
Plot: A researcher about Tobacco companies comes under scrutiny as his life is threatened because he wants to tell the true story about how the tobacco industry deals with addiction.

34. Best of Youth, The ( Meglio gioventù, La )

Year of Release: 2003
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Italian
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Marco Tullio Giordana
Actors: Luigi Lo Cascio, Alessio Boni, Adriana Asti, Sonia Bergamasco
Plot: An Italian epic that follows the lives of two brothers, from the 1960s to the 2000s.

35. Z

Year of Release: 1969
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: French
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Costa-Gavras
Actors: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin
Plot: Costa-Gavras chronicles the overthrow of the democratic government in Greece. When a liberal politician is murdered in an attack during a peace demonstration, the right wing established figures in the military and the police try and hide not only their parts in it, but try to cover up the murder as well. The magistrate must act as a detective in order to go through the cover up. While historically accurate, it is told as a combination mystery and thriller

36. The Favourite

Year of Release: 2018
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Biography/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Actors: Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz, Nicholas Hoult, Joe Alwyn
Plot: In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne is on the throne while war rages with the French. Her devoted friend, Sarah Churchill, governs the country in her stead while trying to keep the queen's health and temper under control The arrival of a new servant, Abigail, soon changes the dynamics as she at first endears herself to Sarah, and later, the queen herself.

37. Inherit the Wind

Year of Release: 1960
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Stanley Kramer
Actors: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Dick York
Plot: Based on the Scopes trial which took place in the '20s: Creationism versus Evolution.

38. Titanic

Year of Release: 1953
Overall Rating: 2.8 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Jean Negulesco
Actors: Clifton Webb, Barbara Stanwyck, Robert Wagner, Richard Basehart
Plot: Julia Sturges is unhappy with her marriage and her life and plans to take her two children with her to America, aboard the new luxury liner Titanic. Her husband, however, isn't about to let her go and also manages to get aboard the ship - but the ship's maiden voyage is to be its last.

39. Phoenix

Year of Release: 2015
Overall Rating: 3.4 out of 4 stars
Language: German
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Christian Petzold
Actors: Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Michael Maertens

40. Hunger

Year of Release: 2008
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Steve McQueen
Actors: Michael Fassbender, Stuart Graham, Helena Bereen, Laine Megaw
Plot: The story follows the last six weeks in the life of Bobby Sands, during the IRA hunger strikes of 1981in a Northern Ireland prison.

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