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 Dirty Dozen ( Blu-ray ) (1967)
7.8/10
Director: Andrew V McLaglen
Starring: Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richar...
Very tough, very funny and ultimately very violent film, based on EM Nathanson's novel, and featuring a great all-male cast that includes Lee Marvin,... Read more
The Dogs Of War (1980)
6.3/10
Director: John Irvin
Starring: Christopher Walken, Tom Berenger, Colin Blakely
Christopher Walken is a sentimental mercenary in this film of Frederick Forsyth's novel about a plot by a business conglomerate to overthrow an Africa... Read more
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
6.9/10
Director: John Sturges
Starring: Jenny Agutter, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Larry Hagman, Jean Marsh, Donald Pl...
An action-packed W.W.II thriller about a Nazi plot to sneak paratroopers into England to kidnap Winston Churchill. This twist-laden tale has a top-not... Read more
The Eagle Has Landed ( Blu-ray ) (1976)
6.9/10
Director: John Sturges
Starring: Donald Pleasence, Donald Sutherland, Jean Marsh, Jenny Agutter, Larry Hagman, Mi...
An action-packed W.W.II thriller about a Nazi plot to sneak paratroopers into England to kidnap Winston Churchill. This twist-laden tale has a top-not... Read more
The Eight Hundred (2020)
7/10
From the acclaimed filmmaker behind Mr. Six comes a riveting war epic. In 1937, eight hundred Chinese soldiers fight under siege from a warehouse in t... Read more
The End of the Affair (1955)
6.7/10
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Starring: Deborah Kerr, Van Johnson, John Mills, Peter Cushing, Stephen Murray, Nora Swinb...
When bored British housewife Sarah Miles (Deborah Kerr) is introduced to American writer Maurice Bendrix (Van Johnson), the attraction between them is... Read more
The Enemy Below (1957)
7.6/10
Director: Dick Powell
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Curt Jurgens, Theodore Bikel
Robert Mitchum and Curt Jurgens match wits in this acclaimed WW II submarine chase film. A tense and compelling study of bravery in unforgiving circum... Read more
The Exception (2016)
6.8/10
Director: David Leveaux
Starring: Ben Daniels, Christopher Plummer, Janet McTeer, Anton Lesser, Jai Courtney, Lily...
German soldier Stefan Brandt goes on a mission to investigate exiled German Monarch Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Kaiser lives in a secluded mansion in the N... Read more
The Falklands Collection: Tumbledown / The Falklands Play (1988)
Director: Richard Eyre, Michael Samuels
Starring: Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Colin Firth, James Fox, Paul Rhys, Patricia Hodge, David Cal...
1982: After Argentinean troops take control of the Falkland Islands, the British task force set sail. This set features two stellar dramatizations of... 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