Top Historical Movies


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

1. Lawrence of Arabia

Year of Release: 1962
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: David Lean
Actors: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
Plot: A British officer leads a charge in Africa to discuss politics. While he was once British, is he now part of the African culture he tried to create?

2. Apollo 13

Year of Release: 1995
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Ron Howard
Actors: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Bill Paxton
Plot: A group of US astronauts deal with a catastrophe in outer space. With the country and NASA's help they try to get back home.

3. Glory

Year of Release: 1989
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: War/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Edward Zwick
Actors: Denzel Washington, Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Cary Elwes
Plot: The first all black volunteer army is confronted by hatred, racism and fear from both the Union and the Confederates. A white man is in charge of controlling the company.

4. All the President's Men

Year of Release: 1976
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Actors: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Robards, Ned Beatty
Plot: A leaked report to Washington Post reporters causes Bernstein and Woodward to investigate further into the Watergate Scandal to force Nixon to resign.

5. The Social Network

Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: David Fincher
Actors: Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Joseph Mazzello, Andrew Garfield
Plot: Follows the exploits of Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckenberg, Sean Parker and Eduardo Saverin as they create Facebook, which has since become the web's most popular social network.

6. Hotel Rwanda

Year of Release: 2004
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Terry George
Actors: Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Plot: A hotel manager tries to save the lives tutsi refugees while the Hutu militia take over Rwanda.

7. Good Night, and Good Luck

Year of Release: 2005
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Historical/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: George Clooney
Actors: David Strathairn, Jeff Daniels, Alex Borstein, Alex Borstein
Plot: A telvision station uses it's news anchors to try and bring down Joseph McCarthy using truthful information and the public while trying not to get pulled from the air.

8. JFK

Year of Release: 1991
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Historical/Mystery
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Oliver Stone
Actors: Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Jack Lemmon, Tommy Lee Jones
Plot: Jim Garison (Costner) is the DA that is covering the JFK murder case when he deeply suspects that there is much more to the case than first thought as it consumes his personal life and professional life.

9. Munich

Year of Release: 2005
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Historical/Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Steven Spielberg
Actors: Eric Bana, Ciarán Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Geoffrey Rush
Plot: Based on the track down and assignation of those responsible for the masacre during the Olympics in the 1970's.

10. Frost/Nixon

Year of Release: 2008
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Drama/Historical
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Ron Howard
Actors: Frank Langella, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Bacon, Michael Sheen
Plot: After three years of silence following Watergate, Richard Nixon agrees to an all-inclusive interview with an unlikely choice of interviewer: British showman David Frost. Each man wants to have the upper hand but all the planning and preparation will come down to one historical interview.

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