Perhaps the most harrowing and visceral film of the 1980s, The Killing Fields is unstinting in its cinematic and, more broadly, political intelligence. American journalist Sydney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) remains in Cambodia after the Communist Khmer Rough takeover, but must leave when the situation becomes too murderous. Tragically his aide and guide, Dith Pran (Hang S Ngor), is unable to escape, and is consigned to a Khmer Rouge death camp. It's a potent, enthralling story, always intelligently told, with a palpable sense of moral outrage permeating every frame.

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Gregory Peck leads a gang of mercenaries on the side of the allies in this much-loved Second World War action movie. Their mission, to destroy two German super-guns on a Greek island, maybe a little hard to swallow, but charismatic performances from Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn mean that it's hard not to get carried away with the story. The blockbuster adaptation of Alistair MacLean's novel garnered Oscar recognition for its special effects, and is considered by many a classic - a landmark in the action genre.

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Mel Gibson produced, directed and starred in this fictionalisation of the story of William Wallace (and copped a barrel-load of Oscars for his trouble). Braveheart is three hours' worth of gripping drama, which spares nothing on either the visceral or the emotional front. The ending, in which Wallace finally gets his come-uppance, is genuine lump-in-the-throat stuff.

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An at-once epic and intimate depiction of three buddies Michael, Nick and Steven (played by Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage) drafted to Vietnam, for which director Michael Cimino won an Academy Award. The carefully described relationships in the film's opening section (almost an hour long) accentuate the horror of their subsequent capture by the VietCong. Recognised by contemporary critics as the most harrowing of all the Vietnam movies.

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Chocs away for a stirring tale of wartime heroics as the RAF hit the enemy where it hurts. Michael Anderson's account of one of the most celebrated raids of the war, in which the 617 squadron destroyed three German dams, is the quintessential British war film. Pipe-smoking boffins, clipped accents and handlebar moustaches balanced on stiff upper lips abound. And then there's that unforgettable soundtrack...

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