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....
Escape to Athena ( Blu-ray ) (1979)
5.7/10
Director: George Pan Cosmatos
Starring: Claudia Cardinale, David Niven, Elliott Gould, Richard Roundtree, Roger Moore, S...
Outlandish WWII adventure has P.O.W.s planning an escape and art heist at the same time! Allied prisoners join forces with cultured Nazi Roger Moore a... Read more
Immortal Sergeant (1942)
6.7/10
Director: John M Stahl
Starring: Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, Thomas Mitchell, Reginald Gardiner, Melville Cooper
Henry Fonda delivers one of his finest performances in this powerful WW2 tale of honour, bravery and love worth fighting for. Colin has never been a b... Read more
Mary Queen of Scots (Blu-Ray) (2018)
6.3/10
Director: Josie Rourke
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce, David Tennant, Jack Lowden, Joe Alwyn,...
Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary Stuart defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful t... Read more
Fail Safe (blu-ray) (1964)
8/10
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Dan O'Herlihy, Henry Fonda, Larry Hagman, Walter Matthau
One of the greatest anti-war thrillers ever. This tense Cold War offering is about a squad of American bombers that are accidentally sent to deliver a... Read more
The Match (2020)
6/10
Starring: Franco Nero, Caspar Phillipson, Armand Assante
Inspired by true events from the spring of 1944 when the Nazis organized a football match between a team of camp inmates and an elite Nazi team on Ado... Read more
The Fighting 69th (1940)
6.8/10
Director: William Keighley
Starring: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Dennis Morgan, Alan Hale
A WWI regiment of New York-Irish soldiers is sent to No Man's Land and the horrors found there turn young soldier Plunkett (James Cagney) from a cocky... Read more
Above and Beyond (2006)
6.5/10
Director: Sturla Gunnarsson
Starring: Richard E Grant, Liane Balaban, Jason Priestley, Joss Ackland, Jonathan Scarfe,...
This Canadian mini-series tells the story of Ferry Command, a civilian effort to escort bombers across the Atlantic Ocean to the UK during the darkest... Read more
Courage Under Fire ( Blu-ray ) (1996)
6.6/10
Director: Edward Zwick
Starring: Bronson Pinchot, Denzel Washington, Lou Diamond Phillips, Matt Damon, Meg Ryan,...
Denzel Washington plays a guilt-ridden army officer investigating pilot Meg Ryan, a candidate for a posthumous Medal of Honor for heroism during the P... Read more
Louis Malle: Youth and Conflict ( Le Souffle au Coeur; Lacombe Lucien; Au Revoir, Les Enfants ) (1987)
8.3/10
Director: Louis Malle
Starring: Daniel Gelin, Francine Racette, Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Pierre Blaise, A...
Louis Malle remains one of the most well-loved, and well-regarded French film makers from the 1960s right through to the 1990s. This triple-pack compi... Read more
American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)
6.1/10
Director: Fritz Lang
Starring: Micheline Presle, Tom Ewell, Tyrone Power
After his PT boat is sunk, U.S. naval officer Tyrone Power joins a group of Americans helping Filipinos fight Japanese occupation forces. There he fal... Read more