War and Anti-War Films
"War and Anti-War Films" often acknowledge the horror and heartbreak of war, letting the actual combat fighting or conflict (against nations or humankind) provide the primary plot or background for the action of the film. Typical elements in the action-oriented war plots include POW camp experiences and escapes, submarine warfare, espionage, personal heroism, "war is hell" brutalities, air dogfights, tough trench/infantry experiences, or male-bonding buddy adventures during wartime. Themes explored in war films include combat, survivor and escape stories, tales of gallant sacrifice and struggle, studies of the futility and inhumanity of battle, the effects of war on society, and intelligent and profound explorations of the moral and human issues.
Listed below are all the very best of this genre. Scroll yer heart out....
Aces High (1976)
6.6/10
Director: Jack Gold
Starring: Christopher Plummer, John Gielgud, Malcolm McDowell, Peter Firth, Ray Milland, R...
An excellent cast heads this solid old-fashioned war drama recounting the adventures of a crack group of WWI airmen. Exciting aerial dogfight sequence... Read more
Action in the North Atlantic (1943)
7/10
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Dane Clark, Alan Hale, Raymond Massey, Julie Bishop
Humphrey Bogart and freighter captain Raymond Massey head the crew of the S.S. Seawitch as they match tactics with U-boats and the Luftwaffe. A tense... Read more
Adam Resurrected (2008)
6.3/10
Director: Paul Schrader
Starring: Derek Jacobi, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Ayelet Zurer
A German Jew (Jeff Goldblum) once imprisoned in a Nazi death camp uses his comic skills to entertain fellow Holocaust survivors while institutionalize... Read more
Against the Sun (2014)
6.5/10
Director: Brian Falk
Starring: Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel
Three men. One raft. 100 million square miles of ocean. In one of the most harrowing true stories of World War II, three US Navy airmen crash land... Read more
Against the Sun (Blu-ray) (2014)
6.2/10
Director: Brian Falk
Starring: Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel
Three men. One raft. 100 million square miles of ocean. In one of the most harrowing true stories of World War II, three US Navy airmen crash land... Read more
Age Of Heroes (Blu-ray) (2011)
5.6/10
Starring: Sean Bean, Danny Dyer, Aksel Hennie
The true story of the formation of Ian Fleming's 30 Commando unit, a precursor for the elite forces in the U.K. Read more
Air America (1990)
5.7/10
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Starring: Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr, Nancy Travis
Two pilots (Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr.) fly the unfriendly skies over Cambodia during the Vietnamese war. The Thai locations are beautiful, the... Read more
All Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
7.1/10
Director: Delbert Mann
Starring: Richard Thomas, Ernest Borgnine, Donald Pleasence, Ian Holm, Patricia Neal
A remarkably good remake of the 1930 classic anti-war film telling of the experiences of a group of raw recruits in the German trenches of W.W.I. Erne... Read more
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
8.1/10
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Slim Summerville, John Wray
One of the first and most powerful war films ever made, director Lewis Milestone's adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque novel follows a group of ide... Read more
All Quiet on the Western Front ( Blu-ray ) (1930)
8.1/10
Director: Lewis Milestone
Starring: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, Slim Summerville, John Wray
One of the first and most powerful war films ever made, director Lewis Milestone's adaptation of the Erich Maria Remarque novel follows a group of ide... Read more