Paths of Glory (1957)

Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory is the genre's most powerful indictment of military bureaucracy, banned in France for 18 years after its release. Kirk Douglas's righteous fury drives a plot where three soldiers are executed as scapegoats for a failed offensive. The film's climactic court-martial scene runs 28 minutes and cost 15% of its $935,000 budget. Cheaper than the typical rival at that time, it delivers an antiwar message that remains more devastating than Saving Private Ryan #3's opening sequence.