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....
Foyle's War: Series 3 (2004)
8.4/10
Director: Gavin Millar, Jeremy Silberston
Starring: Michael Kitchen, Anthony Howell, Julian Ovenden, Honeysuckle Weeks
In early 1941, Foyle is again pursuing a position that will contribute more to the war effort, but he is distracted by a local murder in 'The French D... Read more
Foyle's War: Series 4 and 5 (2006)
8.4/10
Director: Gavin Millar, Tristram Powell, Jeremy Silberston
Starring: Michael Kitchen, Anthony Howell, Honeysuckle Weeks, Edward Fox, Robert Hardy, Da...
Foyle and his team tackle a brutal death on an American Army base; uncover secret government research into biological warfare; investigate a murder qu... Read more
Foyle's War: Series 6 (2008)
8.4/10
Starring: Anthony Howell, Honeysuckle Weeks, Edward Fox, Robert Hardy, David Horovitch
This excellent series draws to a close with the sixth season (or does it? - the producers of the show are apparently fighting tooth and nail to revers... Read more
Foyle's War: Series 7 (2010)
8.4/10
Director: Stuart Orme, David Richards
Starring: Eleanor Bron, Tim Pigott-Smith, Tom Goodman-Hill, Charlotte Riley, Honeysuckle W...
It's July 1945 and the war in Europe is over. Britain is settling into peacetime, a new Labour Government is waiting in the wings and Foyle is eager t... Read more
Foyle's War: Series 8 (2013)
8.4/10
Starring: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks
Michael Kitchen returns to the screen as Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle, a man of scrupulous integrity who has survived the First World War, sol... Read more
Foyle's War: Series 9 (2015)
8.4/10
Starring: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks
Michael Kitchen returns to the screen as Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle, a man of scrupulous integrity who, having survived the First World War,... Read more
Free State of Jones (2016)
6.9/10
Director: Gary Ross
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Keri Russell, Mahershala Ali, Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Based on an incredible true-story during the Civil War, Free State of Jones tells the story of defiant Southern farmer, Newt Knight, and his extraordi... Read more
Friendly Persuasion (1956)
7.4/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Dorothy McGuire, Gary Cooper
The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religous sect is strongly opposed to violence and war. It's not easy for them to meet the r... Read more
From Hell To Victory (1979)
5.2/10
Director: Umberto Lenzi, Hank Mileston
Starring: Anny Duperey, George Hamilton, George Peppard, Horst Buchholz
This internationally produced Macaroni-War film is evocative of the works of Erich Maria Remarque. Several close friends of varying nationalities are... Read more
From Here to Eternity (1953)
7.7/10
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Donna Reed, Ernest Borgnine, Frank Sinatra, Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, De...
The talented Fred Zinnemann ('A Man for All Seasons') perfectly captures the static isolation and boredom that envelops the military personnel in peac... Read more