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 Gentle Gunman (1952)
6.3/10
Director: Basil Dearden
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Elizabeth Sellars, John Mills, Robert Beatty
Set in the London Blitz during the early days of WWII. During an IRA terrorist offensive to plant bombs in the Underground as Londoners take shelter f... Read more
The Giant of Marathon (1959)
5.1/10
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Starring: Mylene Demongeot, Steve Reeves, Daniela Rocca
Steve Reeves, cinema's most famous muscleman, stars as the real life hero of Greek history. In 'The Giant of Marathon', Reeves plays Philippides, an O... Read more
The Good German (2006)
6.1/10
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Tobey Maguire, Beau Bridges, Tony Curran, Leland...
Soderbergh's ode to the 1940s' post-war noir was shot authentically on equipment used at the time, and is based on the best-selling novel by Joseph Ka... 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 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
The Great Raid (2005)
6.7/10
Director: John Dahl
Starring: Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Joseph Fiennes, Marton Csokas
Telling the story of one of the most successful rescue missions in US armed forces history, in which Army Rangers raided a Philippine POW camp freeing... Read more
The Great War (2019)
3.7/10
Starring: Ron Perlman, Billy Zane
During the last days of the Great War, a group of U.S. soldiers are sent behind enemy lines to rescue a lost platoon. Read more
The Green Berets (1968)
5.7/10
Director: John Wayne, Ray Kellogg
Starring: John Wayne, David Janssen, Jim Hutton, Aldo Ray
This Vietnam action picture presents WWII-type heroics of the American Special Forces. The now infamous ending has the sun setting in the East. Read more
The Grey Zone (2001)
7.1/10
Director: Tim Blake Nelson
Starring: David Arquette, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Natasha Lyonne, Mira Sorvino, Dani...
Based on a true story, this bleak yet affecting World War II drama tells of a group of Jewish prisoners known as the 12th Sonderkommando squad, ostens... Read more
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018)
7/10
Director: Mike Newell
Starring: Penelope Wilton, Tom Courtenay, Bronagh Gallagher, Matthew Goode, Katherine Park...
In 1946 a London-based writer begins exchanging letters with residents on the island of Guernsey, which was German-occupied during WWII. Feeling compe... Read more