War films have always been a staple of cinema — providing the inspiration for some of the greatest and most honored films ever.

...On Veterans Day on Friday, the U.S. pays homage to the military men and women who have served our country in past and current conflicts. For this occasion we asked writer and film producer Steven Jay Rubin, author of the book "Combat Films: American Realism, 1945-2010," to select Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam combat films he most admires.

Civil War

"Gettysburg," 1993. Directed by Ronald F. Maxwell; stars Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger.

"Ron Maxwell probably created the most ambitious Civil War movies ever made. The Battle of Little Round Top, in which Jeff Daniels plays Col. Joshua Chamberlain fighting off the Confederates, is viscerally one of the most amazing combat sequences ever done of any war film — the brutality, the whole scope of it, the sense of time and place and the physicality of the battle. There is nothing genteel about the Civil War. It was brutal and this was perhaps one of the most brutal battles of the Civil War. The way Ron Maxwell shot it with the moving camera was very complicated. They had to create a dolly that would go up and down a hill, which obviously is very difficult for a camera crew."...