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....
The Train (1964)
7.9/10
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
The Cardinal (1963)
6.7/10
Director: Otto Preminger
Starring: Tom Tryon, Carol Lynley, Dorothy Gish
A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal. Read more
The Great Escape ( Blu-ray ) (1963)
8.2/10
Director: John Sturges
Starring: Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, James Donald, James Garner, Ric...
An epic WWII adventure film starring Steve McQueen, unforgettable as "the Cooler King," leading Allied prisoners in a daring escape from a German POW... Read more
633 Squadron (1963)
6.4/10
Director: Walter Grauman
Starring: Cliff Robertson, Donald Houston, George Chakiris, Harry Andrews, Maria Perschy
Spectacular aerial photography and a pulse-pounding climactic sequence highlight this W.W. II drama in the air, starring Cliff Robertson, as a combat-... Read more
The Great Escape (1963)
8.2/10
Director: John Sturges
Starring: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Garner, James Donald, James Coburn, D...
An epic WWII adventure film starring Steve McQueen, unforgettable as "the Cooler King," leading Allied prisoners in a daring escape from a German POW... Read more
The Silent Invasion (1962)
4.5/10
Director: Max Varnel
Starring: Petra Davies, Francis De Wolff, Eric Flynn
A wartime drama starring Eric Flynn, Petra Davies and Francis De Wolff, 'The Silent Invasion' is set in the small French town of Mereux, where the sta... Read more
The Longest Day ( Blu-ray ) (1962)
7.8/10
Director: Andrew Marton, Ken Annakin, Bernhard Wicki
Starring: Curt Jurgens, Eddie Albert, Gert Frobe, Henry Fonda, Jeffrey Hunter, John Wayne,...
Acclaimed as one of Hollywood's greatest epics, producer Darryl F. Zanuck's brilliant re-creation of the Allied landing at Normandy on June 6, 1944 fo... Read more
McHale's Navy: Season 1 (1962)
7.5/10
Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Billy Sands, Gavin MacLeod, Carl Ballantine, Gary V...
Ernest Borgnine stars in the WWII-set comedy as maverick PT boat captain Quinton McHale, whose crack squad might be good at their jobs, but have a hab... Read more
The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
7.6/10
Director: George Seaton
Starring: William Holden, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Griffith
William Holden stars as Eric Erickson, a Swedish-American businessman blackmailed by British Intelligence into posing as a Nazi sympathizer while actu... Read more
The War Lover (1962)
6.7/10
Director: Philip Leacock
Starring: Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, Shirley Anne Field
Steve McQueen fights his own private battle as a volatile "war lover" in this gripping story based on a novel by John Hersey and featuring spectacular... Read more