These are the 10 best movies about snipers that all marksmen would love to see. Snipers are not only in war or military movies. Some of the best sniper movies on this list are true stories while others are based on books or are simply pure fiction.
- “D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear” released in 2003 is one of the best movies about snipers. This movie is based on the real story of two snipers who spent 23 days forcing people of Washington D.C. to live in fear of being killed at any moment. The two snipers, John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, spent the 23 days of October in 2002 killing what seemed to be random people in public places.
- “Enemy at the Gates” was a sniper movie released in 2001 that has always been considered one of the best sniper movies. This movie is about two snipers in World War II during the battle of Stalingrad. This movie is based, in part, on a book by William Craig entitled “Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad”.
- “Sniper” is a trilogy of movies which are no doubt some of the best movies about snipers. All of the “Sniper” movies star Tom Berenger as Thomas Beckett, an American sniper. These movies show a variety of different sniper missions that Thomas Beckett and other American snipers go on.
- A 2007 movie titled “Shooter” quickly became a favorite movie about snipers. This is based on a book by Stephen Hunter called “Point of Impact”. This movie stars Mark Wahlberg as United States Marine Corps Scout sniper, Bob Lee Swagger. Swagger is framed for murder by a private military company, and he must find a way to clear his name.
- Another beloved movie about a sniper was the 1987 “Full Metal Jacket”. This movie was created based on a novel “The Short-Timers” by Gustav Hasford. “Full Metal Jacket” got its name from the type of ammunition used by riflemen in the military which is known as a full metal jacket bullet. This movie shows a squad of United States Marine’s going through their training and experiences from the Vietnam War.
- “Phone Booth” was one of the best movies ever released about a sniper. This movie was released in 2003 starring Colin Farrel as Stu Shepard. Shepard is a New York publicist who has been trapped in a phone booth by a dangerous sniper. The sniper tells Shepard that if he hangs up the phone or leaves the booth, he will be killed. He is holding Shepard hostage, because he was unfaithful to his wife and the sniper believes that he needs to come clean.
- “Assassins” was released in 1995, and it is still one of the best movies about snipers. “Assassins” is a movie about dueling snipers. Robert Rath, played by Sylvester Stallone, is paid to assassinate the same person as Miguel Bain, played by Antonio Banderas. After the first time that Bain kills Rath’s mark before him, it becomes a serious battle to see who can kill the next mark first.
- “The Deadly Tower” was released in 1975, making this one of the oldest movies on our list of best movies about snipers. This movie is about a student at the Univeristy of Texas named Charles Whitman, played by Kurt Russell. Whitman suffers from migraines and in his migraine fits, he also suffers from outrageous bursts of violence, causing him to barricade himself into the tower of his school and take aim as a sniper.
- “Two-Minute Warning” was an Academy Award nominated movie about a sniper. This movie is based on the novel “Two-Minute Warning” by George La Fountaine, Sr. This movie is about a sniper who positioned himself at a professional football game and is accidentally discovered by a television crew. The SWAT team is then called in to try to capture the man before anyone is injured.
- “Behind Enemy Lines” was a 2001 war movie that included great sniper scenes. This movie is about a plane that is shot down after Chris Burnett talks his pilot into flying slightly off-course to check out a target. The rest of the movie is focused on showing how Burnett tries to survive an enemy's army.
