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....
Probability Zero (1969)
Director: Maurizio Lucidi
Starring: Henry Silva
Europe, WWII. When an Allied Spitfire plane containing important radar equipment is shot down and crashes over Norway, the desperate German forces set... Read more
Gettysburg (blu-ray) (1993)
7.7/10
Director: Ronald F Maxwell
Starring: Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, Richard Jordan, Stephen Lang
The bloody, three day Civil War battle that took place in July of 1863 that saw 53,000 lives lost is depicted in spectacular style in this epic film m... Read more
Memphis Belle (Blu-ray) (1990)
6.9/10
Director: Michael Caton-Jones
Starring: Matthew Modine, Eric Stoltz, Billy Zane, Sean Astin
A factually-based wartime adventure, set during WWII revolving around the 25th (and last) mission of American flyers aboard the B17 bomber 'Memphis Be... Read more
Zulu (Blu-ray) (1964)
7.7/10
Director: Cy Endfield
Starring: Stanley Baker, Michael Caine, Jack Hawkins, James Booth
Michael Caine stars in this epic story of the battle of Rorke's Drift, on January 22nd 1879, where 1,200 British troops found themselves completely ou... Read more
Diamonds Of The Night (Blu-ray) (1964)
7.5/10
Director: Jan Nemec
Two Jewish boys escape from a train transporting them from one concentration camp to another. The film goes beyond the themes of war and anti-Nazism a... Read more
The Train (Blu-ray) (1964)
7.8/10
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau
A gripping high powered action film about the French Resistance trying to waylay a train taking French Art treasures to Germany. Read more
Battle at Bloody Beach (1961)
5.5/10
Director: Herbert Coleman
Starring: Audie Murphy, Gary Crosby, Dolores Moran
In his second WWII film after the autobiographical "To Hell and Back" Audie Murphy plays a civilian working for the Navy helping supply guerilla insur... Read more
Australia (2008)
6.6/10
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Bryan Brown, David Gulpilil, David Wenham, Hugh Jackman, Jack Thompson, Nicole K...
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman join forces with visionary director Baz Luhrmann in "Australia", an epic and romantic action adventure set on the brink... Read more
The Hasty Heart (1949)
7.4/10
Director: Vincent Sherman
Starring: Ronald Reagan, Patricia Neal, Richard Todd
In Burma on the penultimate day of World War II, Cameron Highlander Lachlan 'Lachie' MacLachlan is seriously wounded and transported to a local milita... Read more
Flyboys (Blu-ray) (2006)
6.5/10
Director: Tony Bill
Starring: Jean Reno, Tim Pigott-Smith, James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jennifer Decker, Ty...
Inspired by the true story of American volunteers who, before the US became involved in World War I, went to fly with the French airforce in a squadro... Read more