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About This Quiz
Hollywood is big on heroes, and Tinseltown's finest identifies many kinds of heroic roles on their respective filmographies. That includes being a military hero, at least once or maybe twice, in their careers.
The movie industry is very fond of exploring the narratives of military exploits in a given time frame. Whether the military involvement is from the distant past or whether it takes place in recent times, there is always a great tale to tell from these scenarios. For what brings greater dramatic conflict than a person fighting another person, for the sake of another person, the company, or the country. And of course, that fight will be cheered or jeered by the audience, depending on where their leanings are, of course.
But it's undeniable that our favorite Hollywood actors love portraying characters that are right smack in the middle of such conflicts. Attach a legendary director to the film and they'll don any uniform to get a chance at a good opportunity and role.
So, for this fun quiz, we picked out a few of these memorable military heroes played by great thespians. Can you name the ranks that their characters held? If you're a true movie buff, this drill will be easy, soldier!
At ease, and take this fun quiz, now!
Commander
Admiral
Corporal
Captain
The 1940s soldier Steve Rogers gets transformed into Captain America in the popular Marvel Comics stories, as well as in the movies. Chris Evans is most recognizable now for playing this Marvel character, who also participates in "The Avengers" movies.
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Private First Class
"Saving Private Ryan" is all about how a special group of soldiers was tasked to retrieve the very last Ryan sibling participating in the war, as three of his brothers were already killed in action. This interesting World War II Spielberg film actually starred Tom Hanks in the lead.
Brigadier General
Lieutenant Colonel
Officer cadet
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Major general
Lieutenant general
Colonel
"A Few Good Men" is the 1992 film written by Aaron Sorkin, which has compelling dialogue that made Jack Nicholson's performance unforgettable. He played Colonel Nathan Jessup, the U.S. Marine put on trial for allegedly ordering a subordinate to be killed by his peers.
Seaman
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Lieutenant colonel
Robert Duvall played Lieutenant Colonel William "Bill" Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 opus "Apocalypse Now." Kilgore's character delivers that epic quote of "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" which basically characterizes how the horrors of war could affect people in a general way, as the concept of the mundane gets colored in more terrifying ways.
Sergeant
Pilot officer
Air marshal
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Lieutenant
"G.I. Jane" was an action vehicle for Demi Moore back in 1997, as her character underwent dramatic changes for special warfare training. Her character's name is Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, and one of the most talked about scenes here is when her real hair was buzzed off completely.
Vice admiral
Brigadier general
Air commodore
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Rear admiral
Officer cadet
Wing commander
General
"Patton" was the 1970 biopic co-written by Francis Ford Coppola, which starred George C. Scott as the real-life World War II persona, General George S. Patton. It was a Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards, also the Best Original Screenplay award, and director Franklin Schaffner also won for Best Director.
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Petty officer
Corporal
Warrant officer
Lieutenant
"Dances with Wolves" was Kevin Costner's 1990 opus which depicted a Union soldier getting sympathetic with the Native American Indians that he encountered on his post. Prior to "turning Injun" as his other co-soldiers termed, he was known as Lieutenant John J. Dunbar before being given the name Dances With Wolves.
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Admiral of the fleet
Field marshal
Lieutenant
Gary Sinise played Lieutenant Dan Taylor in the 1994 CGI whiz of a film called "Forrest Gump," where he played Forrest's army leader in the Vietnam War. Director Robert Zemeckis went to great lengths in making audiences believe that Lt. Dan lost his legs, and appeared as an amputee for a good part of his exposure.
Marshal of the air force
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Air marshal
Major general
First lieutenant
The ingenious Quentin Tarantino gave us the insubordinate film called "Inglourious Basterds" back in 2009. Brad Pitt headed the star-studded cast, playing the role of First Lieutenant Aldo Raine, also known as "The Apache."
Rear admiral
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Lieutenant
Ensign
Gunnery Sergeant
"Full Metal Jacket" is the great director Stanley Kubrick's take on a war film, which turned out as more artistic than war-like -- which fans and critics liked. One of the most memorable characters here is Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, the drill instructor during basic training, played by Ronald Lee Ermey, who actually had real-life drill instructor duties during his stint with the U.S. Marine Corps.
Flight lieutenant
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Sergeant
Chief petty officer
"American Sniper" was the 2015 film directed by Clint Eastwood, a biopic of the late Chief Petty Officer Christopher Scott Kyle. The film showed his exploits as a great sniper during his many duties in the Iraq War, as well as the PTSD he suffered after.
Corporal
Leading seaman
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Staff sergeant
"Platoon" was Oliver Stone's great 1986 war film that's actually anti-war, due to the sentiments floated in the film, through its morally conflicted characters and the morally ambivalent war scenarios they faced. One of the most memorable characters here is Staff Sergeant Bob Barnes, played by Tom Berenger, who clashes with another sergeant in their platoon, Sgt. Elias, played by Willem Dafoe.
Seaman recruit
Chief petty officer
Major
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Lieutenant colonel
"The Bridge on the River Kwai" was about a group of POWs incarcerated in an Asian enemy camp, and Alec Guinness played the character of Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson brilliantly in this 1957 film by David Lean. The World War II story started with Nicholson insisting that, as a British officer, he is exempted to do manual labor in POW camps according to the Geneva Convention, but of course his Japanese Imperial Army enemies think otherwise.
Petty officer 3rd class
Warrant officer
Fleet admiral
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Ensign
Commander
Private first class
Captain
Steve McQueen headlines "The Great Escape," the 1963 epic where he played Captain Virgil Hilts. Known as the "Cooler King" in the German POW camp, he becomes part of a grand escape scheme that's really suspenseful to watch!
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Chief warrant officer 2
Sergeant First Class
Kathryn Bigelow became the first female director to win the Academy Award for Best Directing due to "The Hurt Locker." The 2008 war film stars Jeremy Renner in the role of Sergeant First Class William James, on duty during the Iraq War.
Captain
Major
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Private
Denzel Washington played Private Silas Tripp in the 1989 film "Glory," where he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film told the narratives of the all-Black units of the Union Army that fought in the Civil War.
Corporal
Specialist
Staff sergeant
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Colonel
Sergeant
Private First Class
"Born on the Fourth of July" was the 1989 biopic of U.S. Marine Corps soldier turned anti-war veteran, Private First Class Ron Kovic. Real-life war veteran turned Hollywood writer-director Oliver Stone helmed this one.
Chief warrant officer 4
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Colonel
"Apocalypse Now" featured Marlon Brando in a brief but pivotal role, playing Colonel Walter Kurtz who went AWOL from the U.S. Army and turned into a sort of scary enigmatic figure hiding out in Cambodia. Martin Sheen's character, Captain Benjamin Willard, was tasked to find Kurtz -- and assassinate him.
Airman
Technical sergeant
Major
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Master sergeant
Airman basic
Captain
"Courage Under Fire" featured Meg Ryan as Captain Karen Emma Walden, a character who appears only in the flashback retelling portions of the narrative, as the story revolves around an investigation of a past occurrence during the Gulf War. Denzel Washington co-stars, playing the role of the officer tasked to investigate the captain's achievements and last duty.
Chief petty officer
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Admiral
Master sergeant
Corporal
"Hacksaw Ridge" was the 2016 biopic featuring Corporal Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist Christian who served in World War II but refused to carry weapons, much less fire them on people. Andrew Garfield played him, under the direction of returning actor-director Mel Gibson.
Warrant officer 1
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Sergeant
Gary Cooper appeared as Sergeant Alvin York in the 1941 film directed by Howard Hawks. The film's title was "Sergeant York," which narrated the life of a farmer turned soldier during World War I, earning Gary Cooper an Academy Award for Best Actor.
Lance corporal
Brigadier general
Lieutenant
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Major
Captain
"Starship Troopers" is the futuristic sci-fi military story based on a novel by acclaimed sci-fi writer Robert A. Heinlein. Denise Richards played Capt. Carmen Ibanez here, who showed that women can also fight with men in any kind of battle situation.
Colonel
General
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Private
Corporal
Lieutenant
"Pearl Harbor" is Michael Bay's 2001 grand epic film about the eponymous bombing incident that pushed the USA to join World War II. It was also the love story of two soldiers in love with one woman, Lieutenant Evelyn Johnson, played by Kate Beckinsale.
Sergeant
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Captain
"Fort Apache" was the 1948 western directed by John Ford, featuring John Wayne as Capt. Kirby York. The Duke's co-stars in this film were fellow Hollywood legends, namely Henry Fonda, and a grown-up Shirley Temple.
Commandant of the Coast Guard
Rear admiral
Ensign
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Lieutenant, junior grade
Commander
Sergeant
"From Here to Eternity's" super-famous opening scene at the beach features the character of Sergeant Milton Warden, played by Burt Lancaster, kissing Deborah Kerr's character named Karen. The adulterous kiss was very forward and risqué for its time, especially since this film was released in 1953.
Chief petty officer
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Specialist
Corporal
First sergeant
Petty officer 2nd class
"Battleship," the 2012 flop, saw singer Rihanna act as Petty Officer 2nd Class Cora "Weps" Raikes. Her character was part of the U.S. Navy ships that had to fight some alien ships, under the direction of Peter Berg.
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Staff sergeant
De Niro played Staff Sergeant Michael "Mike" Vronsky in the award-winning 1978 film "The Deer Hunter," winner of the Best Director and Best Picture awards at the Oscars. He co-starred with John Cage and Christopher Walken here, playing the role of Russian-American blue collar workers who were drafted to fight in the Vietnam War.
Warrant officer
Specialist
Colonel
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Airman
Second lieutenant
Senior master sergeant
Colonel
The 1985 action-packed film "Commando" finds Arnold Schwarzenegger playing United States Special Forces Colonel John Matrix, who was coerced to do something against his will, because the bad guys kidnapped his daughter. That daughter, by the way, was played by a very young Alyssa Milano.
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Lieutenant
"The Monuments Men" is an interesting World War II-set film about a group of soldiers whose aim was to recover or find lost art works looted and taken by the Nazis. George Clooney heads this team as Lieutenant Frank Stokes, and Clooney's real-life father played the same character in his old age in the ending of the film.
Chief master sergeant
Petty officer 1st class
Ensign
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Lieutenant commander
Technical sergeant
"Battle: Los Angeles" finds Michelle Rodriguez shooting robotic alien enemies in the role of Technical Sgt. Elena Santos. Her character is part of the U.S. Air Force, who met up with other soldiers fighting the same enemies in Los Angeles in this 2011 action film.
Vice admiral
Lance corporal
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Lance corporal
Gunnery sergeant
Seaman apprentice
Commander
Kenneth Branagh played Royal Navy Commander Bolton in the 2017 Christopher Nolan film "Dunkirk." The World War II-set film was an artistic project for director Nolan, which featured an all-star cast of veterans and young ones, such as One Direction's Harry Styles, and "Mad Max: Fury Road's" Tom Hardy.
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Fleet admiral
Force master chief petty officer
Lieutenant
"Tears of the Sun" had Bruce Willis play Lieutenant A.K. Waters, tasked to rescue an American doctor working in Nigeria, where a civil war was happening. The 2003 film co-starred the beautiful Italian actress Monica Bellucci in the role of the good-natured doctor.
Ensign
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Private 2
Corporal
The 2005 film "Jarhead" was a biopic the featured the life of Corporal Anthony Swofford, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. Sam Mendes directed this war film about the life of Swofford as he underwent several situations during his duty in the Persian Gulf War.
Staff sergeant
Warrant officer
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Colonel
Bryan Singer directed the 2008 film "Valkyrie," about a true-to-life event during World War II. Tom Cruise essayed the role of Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer who collaborated with fellow officers in an attempt to assassinate their Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler.
First sergeant
Major
Brigadier general
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Captain
"M*A*S*H" was a successful black comedy film directed by premiere filmmaker Robert Altman which focused on the lives of army doctors. Tom Skerritt played Capt. Augustus Bedford "Duke" Forrest, while co-stars Donald Sutherland and Elliot Gould played "Hawkeye" and "Trapper John," respectively, who were also captains.
General
Senior airman
Master sergeant
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Admiral
Colonel
"Shining Through" is a 1992 film where Melanie Griffith played the role of an untrained spy in Nazi Germany during World War II. She works with her boss-turned-lover, Colonel Ed Leland, played by Michael Douglas, who is the actual spy she's trying to help for his work in the U.S. Office of Strategic Services.
Major
General
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Captain
Ralph Fiennes played Amon Göth who technically held the title of SS-Hauptsturmführer, and the American equivalent of this is that of a captain. This real-life captain was actually the commandant of a Polish concentration camp during World War II, and was found guilty of war crimes and was also executed eventually.
Technical Sergeant
Staff Sergeant
General
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Commander
Angelina Jolie played Commander Francesca “Franky” Cook in the 2004 sci-fi film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow." It was actually a small role, but still pivotal, given the stature of this actress, especially after the success of her Lara Croft movies during this time.
Admiral
General
Air chief marshal
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Private
"Private Benjamin" starred the funny Goldie Hawn as Private Judy Benjamin, a rich girl who joins the army, which gives us a "fish out of water" trope of laughs. The highly successful film even spawned a TV series.
Captain
Pilot officer
Warrant officer
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Air marshal
Colonel
"Eye in the Sky" is the 2015 film about drone warfare, with Helen Mirren in the lead, supported by Alan Rickman. She played Colonel Katherine Powell, an officer who was part of the British military intelligence.
Flying officer
Corporal
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You Got:
/40
