Movies/TV Shows inspired by the historical events of the 20th and 21st century
by Attila85 | created - 25 Jul 2011 | updated - 19 Feb 2023 | PublicA list of the best movies and TV shows based on such events as World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, etc. Also includes biographies.
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1. All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
Passed | 152 min | Drama, War
A German youth eagerly enters World War I, but his enthusiasm wanes as he gets a firsthand view of the horror.
Director: Lewis Milestone | Stars: Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Arnold Lucy
Votes: 67,716 | Gross: $3.27M
2. Joyeux Noel (2005)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, History, Music
In December 1914, an unofficial Christmas truce on the Western Front allows soldiers from opposing sides of the First World War to gain insight into each other's way of life.
Director: Christian Carion | Stars: Diane Kruger, Benno Fürmann, Guillaume Canet, Natalie Dessay
Votes: 32,004 | Gross: $1.05M
3. Paths of Glory (1957)
Approved | 88 min | Drama, War
After a failed attack on a German position, a general orders three soldiers, chosen at random, court-martialed for cowardice and their commanding officer must defend them.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready
Votes: 212,424
4. The Big Parade (1925)
Not Rated | 151 min | Drama, Romance, War
A young American soldier witnesses the horrors of the Great War.
Directors: King Vidor, George W. Hill | Stars: John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, Hobart Bosworth, Claire McDowell
Votes: 7,285 | Gross: $11.00M
5. Wings (1927)
PG-13 | 144 min | Drama, Romance, War
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, who are in love with the same woman, become fighter pilots in World War I.
Directors: William A. Wellman, Harry d'Abbadie d'Arrast | Stars: Clara Bow, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Richard Arlen, Jobyna Ralston
Votes: 14,549 | Gross: $6.59M
6. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Approved | 218 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The story of T.E. Lawrence, the English officer who successfully united and led the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes during World War I in order to fight the Turks.
Director: David Lean | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins
Votes: 314,563 | Gross: $44.82M
7. 1917 (2019)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, History
April 6th, 1917. As an infantry battalion assembles to wage war deep in enemy territory, two soldiers are assigned to race against time and deliver a message that will stop 1,600 men from walking straight into a deadly trap.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, Daniel Mays, Colin Firth
Votes: 676,366 | Gross: $159.23M
8. The Lost Patrol (1934)
Passed | 73 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A dozen British soldiers, lost in a Mesopotamian desert during World War I, are menaced by unseen Arab enemies.
Director: John Ford | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Boris Karloff, Wallace Ford, Reginald Denny
Votes: 3,608
9. Gallipoli (1981)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins
Votes: 41,991 | Gross: $5.73M
10. The Grand Illusion (1937)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama, War
During WWI, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are eventually sent to a seemingly inescapable fortress.
Director: Jean Renoir | Stars: Jean Gabin, Dita Parlo, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
Votes: 38,871 | Gross: $0.17M
11. Flyboys (2006)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Drama, History
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Director: Tony Bill | Stars: James Franco, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, Scott Hazell
Votes: 44,505 | Gross: $13.08M
12. The Red Baron (2008)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
German biopic loosely based on the World War I fighter ace Manfred Von Richthofen, nicknamed the Red Baron by friend and foe alike.
Director: Nikolai Müllerschön | Stars: Matthias Schweighöfer, Lena Headey, Til Schweiger, Joseph Fiennes
Votes: 13,162 | Gross: $0.04M
13. Blizzard of Souls (2019)
Not Rated | 123 min | Action, Drama, History
After losing his mother and his home, Arturs finds some consolation in joining the army. However, war is nothing like he imagined.
Director: Dzintars Dreibergs | Stars: Oto Brantevics, Greta Trusina, Martins Vilsons, Rezija Kalnina
Votes: 5,025
14. King Petar the First (2018)
125 min | Biography, Drama, History
King Petar The First, as a young man is banished from Serbia Many years later, he returns to his country to liberate its people and secure parliamentary democracy and starts the reconstruction of Serbia.
Director: Petar Ristovski | Stars: Lazar Ristovski, Milan Kolak, Radovan Vujovic, Danica Ristovski
Votes: 1,945
15. October (Ten Days that Shook the World) (1927)
95 min | Drama, History
A large-scale view on the events of 1917 in Russia, when the monarchy was overthrown.
Directors: Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Sergei Eisenstein | Stars: Boris Livanov, Nikolay Popov, Vasili Nikandrov, Layaschenko
Votes: 8,454
16. Reds (1981)
PG | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann, Jerzy Kosinski
Votes: 24,726 | Gross: $40.38M
17. Trotsky (2017)
50 min | Biography, Drama, History
A flashback to earlier episodes in the life of Leon Trotsky, the Marxist revolutionary, framed by events during his asylum in Mexico City 1939-1940
Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Mikhail Porechenkov, Maksim Matveev, Evgeniy Stychkin
Votes: 2,202
18. Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
Not Rated | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
After years of political agitation, Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and Leo Jogiches form a revolutionary German party, the Spartacists.
Director: Margarethe von Trotta | Stars: Barbara Sukowa, Daniel Olbrychski, Otto Sander, Adelheid Arndt
Votes: 1,923
19. The Last Emperor (1987)
PG-13 | 163 min | Biography, Drama, History
Bernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci | Stars: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole, Ruocheng Ying
Votes: 111,564 | Gross: $43.98M
20. Radioactive (2019)
PG-13 | 109 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The incredible true story of Marie Sklodowska-Curie and her Nobel Prize-winning work that changed the world.
Director: Marjane Satrapi | Stars: Rosamund Pike, Yvette Feuer, Mirjam Novak, Ralph Berkin
Votes: 21,753
21. Michael Collins (1996)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
Neil Jordan's historical biopic of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, the man who led a guerrilla war against the UK, helped negotiate the creation of the Irish Free State, and led the National Army during the Irish Civil War.
Director: Neil Jordan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Julia Roberts, Ian Hart
Votes: 33,773 | Gross: $11.09M
22. The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
Not Rated | 127 min | Drama, War
Against the backdrop of the Irish War of Independence, two brothers fight a guerrilla war against British forces.
Director: Ken Loach | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Pádraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald
Votes: 54,657 | Gross: $1.83M
23. Born a King (2019)
103 min | Drama, History
The story focuses on growing up and finding one's place within your country, your family. It's about standing up for belief, learning about people's differences and allowing for that to be a positive thing.
Director: Agustí Villaronga | Stars: Abdullah Ali, Rawkan Binbella, Ed Skrein, Hermione Corfield
Votes: 2,858
24. The Red and the White (1967)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, War
During the Russian Civil War, the Red Army - aided by Hungarian Communists - and the White Army fight for control of the area surrounding the Volga.
Director: Miklós Jancsó | Stars: Krystyna Mikolajewska, Mikhail Kozakov, Tatyana Konyukhova, Viktor Avdyushko
Votes: 3,949
25. J. Edgar (2011)
R | 137 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
J. Edgar Hoover, powerful head of the F.B.I. for nearly fifty years, looks back on his professional and personal life.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Josh Hamilton
Votes: 133,668 | Gross: $37.31M
26. Public Enemies (2009)
R | 140 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The Feds try to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Christian Bale, Johnny Depp, Christian Stolte, Jason Clarke
Votes: 318,750 | Gross: $97.10M
27. The Untouchables (1987)
R | 119 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During Prohibition, Treasury agent Eliot Ness sets out to stop ruthless Chicago gangster Al Capone, and assembles a small, incorruptible team to help him.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Charles Martin Smith
Votes: 330,970 | Gross: $76.27M
28. Stalin (1992 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 172 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The life and career of the brutal Soviet dictator, Joseph Stalin.
Director: Ivan Passer | Stars: Robert Duvall, Julia Ormond, Maximilian Schell, Jeroen Krabbé
Votes: 2,784
29. The King's Speech (2010)
R | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of King George VI, his unexpected ascension to the throne of the British Empire in 1936, and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch overcome his stammer.
Director: Tom Hooper | Stars: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi
Votes: 708,188 | Gross: $138.80M
30. Suffragette (2015)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, History
In 1912 London, a young working mother is galvanized into radical political activism supporting the right for women to vote, and is willing to meet violence with violence to achieve this end.
Director: Sarah Gavron | Stars: Carey Mulligan, Anne-Marie Duff, Helena Bonham Carter, Meryl Streep
Votes: 44,767 | Gross: $4.69M
31. Munich: The Edge of War (2021)
PG-13 | 130 min | Biography, Drama, History
A British diplomat travels to Munich in the run-up to World War II, where a former classmate of his from Oxford is also en route, but is working for the German government.
Director: Christian Schwochow | Stars: George MacKay, Jannis Niewöhner, Jeremy Irons, Liv Lisa Fries
Votes: 35,919
32. While at War (2019)
107 min | Drama, History, War
Writer Miguel de Unamuno faces himself and his ideals after the 1936's military coup d'etat.
Director: Alejandro Amenábar | Stars: Karra Elejalde, Eduard Fernández, Santi Prego, Nathalie Poza
Votes: 6,945
33. Battle of Britain (1969)
G | 132 min | Action, Drama, History
In 1940, the British Royal Air Force fights a desperate battle to prevent the Luftwaffe from gaining air superiority over the English Channel as a prelude to a possible Axis invasion of the U.K.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Harry Andrews, Curd Jürgens
Votes: 24,529 | Gross: $4.36M
34. Darkest Hour (2017)
PG-13 | 125 min | Drama, War
In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler, or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.
Director: Joe Wright | Stars: Gary Oldman, Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, Ben Mendelsohn
Votes: 220,922 | Gross: $56.47M
35. Churchill (2017)
PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History
Ninety-six hours before the World War II invasion of Normandy, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill struggles with his severe reservations with Operation Overlord and his increasingly marginalized role in the war effort.
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky | Stars: Brian Cox, Miranda Richardson, John Slattery, Julian Wadham
Votes: 15,788 | Gross: $1.28M
36. The Gathering Storm (2002 TV Movie)
TV-MA | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
Winston Churchill's wilderness years prior to World War II, when only he could see the threat that Adolf Hitler and a rearmed Germany posed to Europe.
Director: Richard Loncraine | Stars: Albert Finney, Vanessa Redgrave, Jim Broadbent, Linus Roache
Votes: 7,053
37. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
R | 169 min | Drama, War
Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns
Votes: 1,497,371 | Gross: $216.54M
38. Band of Brothers (2001)
TV-MA | 59 min | Drama, History, War
The story of Easy Company of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division and their mission in World War II Europe, from Operation Overlord to V-J Day.
Stars: Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Shane Taylor
Votes: 527,874
39. Pearl Harbor (2001)
PG-13 | 183 min | Action, Drama, Romance
A tale of war and romance mixed in with history. The story follows two lifelong friends and a beautiful nurse who are caught up in the horror of an infamous Sunday morning in 1941.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale, Josh Hartnett, William Lee Scott
Votes: 352,003 | Gross: $198.54M
40. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)
G | 144 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor, and the series of preceding American blunders that aggravated its effectiveness.
Directors: Richard Fleischer, Kinji Fukasaku, Toshio Masuda, Akira Kurosawa | Stars: Martin Balsam, Sô Yamamura, Jason Robards, Joseph Cotten
Votes: 37,242 | Gross: $29.55M
41. The Pacific (2010)
TV-MA | 53 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The Pacific Theatre of World War II, as seen through the eyes of several young Marines.
Stars: James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Seda, Ashton Holmes
Votes: 130,185
42. The Thin Red Line (1998)
R | 170 min | Drama, History, War
Adaptation of James Jones' autobiographical 1962 novel, focusing on the conflict at Guadalcanal during the second World War.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Jim Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, Kirk Acevedo
Votes: 199,684 | Gross: $36.40M
43. A Bridge Too Far (1977)
PG | 175 min | Drama, History, War
Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Sean Connery, Ryan O'Neal, Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier
Votes: 61,587 | Gross: $50.80M
44. Cross of Iron (1977)
R | 119 min | Drama, War
German commander Hauptmann Stransky places a squad in extreme danger after Sergeant Rolf Steiner refuses to lie for him.
Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason, David Warner
Votes: 29,194
45. Empire of the Sun (1987)
PG | 153 min | Drama, War
A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers
Votes: 134,370 | Gross: $22.24M
46. Das Boot (1981)
R | 149 min | Drama, War
A German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
Votes: 264,465 | Gross: $11.49M
47. Greyhound (2020)
PG-13 | 91 min | Action, Drama, History
Several months after the U.S. entry into World War II, an inexperienced U.S. Navy commander must lead an Allied convoy being stalked by a German submarine wolf pack.
Director: Aaron Schneider | Stars: Tom Hanks, Elisabeth Shue, Stephen Graham, Matt Helm
Votes: 114,969
48. The Night of the Generals (1967)
Not Rated | 148 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1942, a Polish prostitute and German Agent is murdered in Warsaw. Suspicion falls on three Generals, and Major Grau of German Intelligence seeks justice which ends up taking decades.
Director: Anatole Litvak | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 8,791
49. Stalingrad (1993)
Not Rated | 134 min | Drama, War
The story follows a group of German soldiers, from their Italian R&R in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of Soviet Russia and ending with the battle for Stalingrad.
Director: Joseph Vilsmaier | Stars: Dominique Horwitz, Thomas Kretschmann, Jochen Nickel, Sebastian Rudolph
Votes: 37,747 | Gross: $0.08M
50. Enemy at the Gates (2001)
R | 131 min | Action, Drama, War
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Jude Law, Ed Harris, Joseph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz
Votes: 277,727 | Gross: $51.40M
51. Patton (1970)
GP | 172 min | Biography, Drama, War
The World War II phase of the career of controversial American general George S. Patton.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Stephen Young, Michael Strong
Votes: 108,003 | Gross: $61.70M
52. The Longest Day (1962)
G | 178 min | Action, Drama, History
The events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view.
Directors: Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck | Stars: John Wayne, Robert Ryan, Richard Burton, Henry Fonda
Votes: 59,088 | Gross: $39.10M
53. Valkyrie (2008)
PG-13 | 121 min | Drama, History, Thriller
A dramatization of the July 20, 1944 assassination and political coup plot by desperate renegade German Army officers against Adolf Hitler during World War II.
Director: Bryan Singer | Stars: Tom Cruise, Bill Nighy, Carice van Houten, Kenneth Branagh
Votes: 259,381 | Gross: $83.08M
54. The Man with the Iron Heart (2017)
R | 120 min | Action, Biography, Thriller
As Germany expands its borders, scorching Europe from end to end, two brave Czechs of the Resistance prepare to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich, the mastermind behind the hideous "Final Solution" to the "Jewish Question".
Director: Cédric Jimenez | Stars: Jason Clarke, Rosamund Pike, Jack O'Connell, Jack Reynor
Votes: 18,407
55. Anthropoid (2016)
R | 120 min | Action, Drama, History
Based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the WWII mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution and the Reich's third in command after Hitler and Himmler.
Director: Sean Ellis | Stars: Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy, Brian Caspe, Karel Hermánek Jr.
Votes: 54,269 | Gross: $2.96M
56. Downfall (2004)
R | 156 min | Biography, Drama, History
Traudl Junge, the final secretary for Adolf Hitler, tells of the Nazi dictator's final days in his Berlin bunker at the end of WWII.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel | Stars: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Ulrich Matthes, Juliane Köhler
Votes: 375,427 | Gross: $5.51M
57. Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005)
Not Rated | 120 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.
Director: Marc Rothemund | Stars: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf
Votes: 28,677 | Gross: $0.68M
58. The White Rose (1982)
108 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
During the Second World War, a small group of students at Munich University begin to question the decisions and sanity of Germany's Nazi government. The students form a resistance cell ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Verhoeven | Stars: Lena Stolze, Martin Benrath, Wulf Kessler, Oliver Siebert
Votes: 1,112
59. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
R | 141 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Ryô Kase
Votes: 170,113 | Gross: $13.76M
60. Flags of Our Fathers (2006)
R | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The life stories of the six men who raised the flag at the Battle of Iwo Jima, a turning point in World War II.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Ryan Phillippe, Barry Pepper, Joseph Cross, Jesse Bradford
Votes: 129,294 | Gross: $33.60M
61. Midway (1976)
PG | 132 min | Action, Drama, History
A dramatization of the battle that was widely heralded as a turning point of the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
Director: Jack Smight | Stars: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford
Votes: 21,502
62. Midway (2019)
PG-13 | 138 min | Action, Drama, History
The story of the Battle of Midway, told by the leaders and the sailors who fought it.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Woody Harrelson, Luke Evans
Votes: 94,528 | Gross: $56.85M
63. Fury (2014)
R | 134 min | Action, Drama, War
A grizzled tank commander makes tough decisions as he and his crew fight their way across Germany in April, 1945.
Director: David Ayer | Stars: Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña
Votes: 547,629 | Gross: $85.82M
64. The Liberator (2020)
TV-MA | 49 min | Animation, Action, Drama
The true story of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
Stars: Bradley James, Martin Sensmeier, Jose Miguel Vasquez, Forrest Goodluck
Votes: 7,070
65. Resistance (2020)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of mime Marcel Marceau as he works with a group of Jewish boy scouts and the French Resistance to save the lives of ten thousand orphans during World War II.
Director: Jonathan Jakubowicz | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Clémence Poésy, Matthias Schweighöfer, Félix Moati
Votes: 8,968
66. Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Not Rated | 167 min | Drama, History, War
A dramatization of Nazi Germany's final Western Front counterattack of World War II.
Director: Ken Annakin | Stars: Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw, Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews
Votes: 17,814 | Gross: $11.12M
67. Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
R | 139 min | Biography, Drama, History
World War II American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, serving during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first man in American history to receive the Medal of Honor without firing a shot.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer
Votes: 594,799 | Gross: $67.21M
68. Dunkirk (2017)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, History
Allied soldiers from Belgium, the British Commonwealth and Empire, and France are surrounded by the German Army and evacuated during a fierce battle in World War II.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Fionn Whitehead, Barry Keoghan, Mark Rylance, Tom Hardy
Votes: 740,651 | Gross: $188.37M
69. The Great Escape (1963)
Approved | 172 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Allied prisoners of war plan for several hundred of their number to escape from a German camp during World War II.
Director: John Sturges | Stars: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson
Votes: 259,067 | Gross: $12.10M
70. Stalag 17 (1953)
Not Rated | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, War
After two Americans are killed while escaping from a German P.O.W. camp in World War II, the barracks black marketeer, J.J. Sefton, is suspected of being an informer.
Director: Billy Wilder | Stars: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger, Robert Strauss
Votes: 58,829
71. The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Drama, War
British POWs are forced to build a railway bridge across the river Kwai for their Japanese captors in occupied Burma, not knowing that the allied forces are planning a daring commando raid through the jungle to destroy it.
Director: David Lean | Stars: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa
Votes: 233,423 | Gross: $44.91M
72. Defiance (I) (2008)
R | 137 min | Action, Drama, History
Jewish brothers in German-occupied Eastern Europe escape into a Belorussian forest, where they join Russian resistance fighters, and endeavor to build a village, in order to protect themselves and about one thousand Jewish non-combatants.
Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Jamie Bell, Alexa Davalos
Votes: 155,723 | Gross: $28.64M
73. Come and See (1985)
Not Rated | 142 min | Drama, Thriller, War
After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
Director: Elem Klimov | Stars: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas
Votes: 97,407
74. The Forgotten Battle (2020)
TV-MA | 124 min | Drama, War
1944, the Second World War. A British glider pilot, a Dutch boy fighting on the German side and a Dutch female resistance member all end up involved in the Battle of the Schelde. Their choices differ, but their goal is the same: freedom.
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. | Stars: Gijs Blom, Jamie Flatters, Susan Radder, Jan Bijvoet
Votes: 37,094
75. MacArthur (1977)
PG | 130 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biopic of General Douglas MacArthur covering his war exploits during WW2 and the Korean War.
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Gregory Peck, Dan O'Herlihy, Ed Flanders, Ivan Bonar
Votes: 5,125
76. The King's Choice (2016)
133 min | Biography, Drama, History
April 1940. Norway has been invaded by Germany and the royal family and government have fled into the interior. The German envoy to Norway tries to negotiate a peace. Ultimately, the decision on Norway's future will rest with the king.
Director: Erik Poppe | Stars: Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo, Karl Markovics, Tuva Novotny
Votes: 10,084 | Gross: $0.11M
77. April 9th (2015)
93 min | Drama, History, War
On April 9, 1940 Germany invaded Denmark. Based on real events - in Southern Jutland a military unit on bicycles was sent south to help hold back the Germans until reinforcement.
Director: Roni Ezra | Stars: Pilou Asbæk, Lars Mikkelsen, Ari Alexander, Joachim Fjelstrup
Votes: 6,480
78. Katyn (2007)
Not Rated | 121 min | Drama, History, War
An examination of the Soviet slaughter of thousands of Polish officers and citizens in the Katyn forest in 1940.
Director: Andrzej Wajda | Stars: Andrzej Chyra, Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, Danuta Stenka
Votes: 17,417 | Gross: $0.12M
79. Rome, Open City (1945)
Not Rated | 103 min | Drama, Thriller, War
During the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the Resistance leader, Giorgio Manfredi, is chased by the Nazis as he seeks refuge and a way to escape.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Anna Magnani, Aldo Fabrizi, Marcello Pagliero, Vito Annichiarico
Votes: 28,992
80. Paisan (1946)
Not Rated | 120 min | Drama, War
American military personnel interact warily with a variety of Italian locals over a year and a half in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces make their retreat.
Director: Roberto Rossellini | Stars: Carmela Sazio, Gar Moore, William Tubbs, Robert Van Loon
Votes: 9,561
81. 1944 (2015)
100 min | Drama, History, War
In 1944 Estonia, a fratricide war ensues when Estonians of the retreating German forces fight against Estonians conscripted into the advancing Soviet Red Army.
Director: Elmo Nüganen | Stars: Kaspar Velberg, Kristjan Üksküla, Maiken Pius, Gert Raudsep
Votes: 6,321
82. Conspiracy (2001 TV Movie)
R | 96 min | Biography, Drama, History
At the Wannsee Conference on January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials meet to determine the manner in which the so-called "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" can be best implemented.
Director: Frank Pierson | Stars: Clare Bullus, Stanley Tucci, Simon Markey, David Glover
Votes: 24,849
83. Schindler's List (1993)
R | 195 min | Biography, Drama, History
In German-occupied Poland during World War II, industrialist Oskar Schindler gradually becomes concerned for his Jewish workforce after witnessing their persecution by the Nazis.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Kingsley, Caroline Goodall
Votes: 1,451,818 | Gross: $96.90M
84. Life Is Beautiful (1997)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When an open-minded Jewish waiter and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp.
Director: Roberto Benigni | Stars: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Giorgio Cantarini, Giustino Durano
Votes: 743,666 | Gross: $57.60M
85. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 913,058 | Gross: $32.57M
86. Son of Saul (2015)
R | 107 min | Drama, War
A Jewish-Hungarian concentration camp prisoner sets out to give a child he mistook for his son a proper burial.
Director: László Nemes | Stars: Géza Röhrig, Levente Molnár, Urs Rechn, Todd Charmont
Votes: 51,975 | Gross: $1.78M
87. Fateless (2005)
R | 140 min | Drama, Romance, War
14-year-old György's life is torn apart in WWII Hungary, as he is deported first to Auschwitz and then to Buchenwald, where he is forced to become a man in the midst of hatred, and what it really means to be Jewish.
Director: Lajos Koltai | Stars: Marcell Nagy, Béla Dóra, Bálint Péntek, Áron Dimény
Votes: 7,159 | Gross: $0.20M
88. Dara of Jasenovac (2020)
R | 130 min | Drama, War
A 10-year-old girl and her family come face-to-face with the horrors of the Holocaust when they are sent to a concentration camp in Croatia. She must summon the courage to protect herself and her infant brother while trying to escape.
Director: Predrag Antonijevic | Stars: Biljana Cekic, Zlatan Vidovic, Anja Stanic, Luka Saranovic
Votes: 81,853 | Gross: $0.05M
89. Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Approved | 179 min | Drama, War
In 1948, an American court in occupied Germany tries four Nazis judged for war crimes.
Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich
Votes: 85,582
90. The Imitation Game (2014)
PG-13 | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
During World War II, the English mathematical genius Alan Turing tries to crack the German Enigma code with help from fellow mathematicians while attempting to come to terms with his troubled private life.
Director: Morten Tyldum | Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Allen Leech
Votes: 825,485 | Gross: $91.13M
91. Oppenheimer (I) (2023)
R | 180 min | Biography, Drama, History
The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr.
Votes: 731,553 | Gross: $326.11M
92. Enigma (2001)
R | 119 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A young genius frantically races against time to crack an enemy code and solve the mystery surrounding the woman he loves.
Director: Michael Apted | Stars: Dougray Scott, Kate Winslet, Saffron Burrows, Jeremy Northam
Votes: 21,921 | Gross: $4.30M
93. Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
PG-13 | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
This film reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret WWII project, and the first atomic bombs designed, built, and tested in Los Alamos.
Director: Roland Joffé | Stars: Paul Newman, Dwight Schultz, Bonnie Bedelia, John Cusack
Votes: 9,134 | Gross: $3.56M
94. Exodus (1960)
Approved | 208 min | Action, Drama, War
The State of Israel is created in 1948, resulting in war with its Arab neighbors.
Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Peter Lawford
Votes: 11,399 | Gross: $18.97M
95. The Founding of a Republic (2009)
138 min | Drama, History, War
Inspired by true events, Founding of a Republic weaves a rousing tale of one man who fought against the tyranny of a ruler and led his people in battle in the ultimate sacrifice for his country.
Directors: Sanping Han, Jianxin Huang | Stars: Guoqiang Tang, Guoli Zhang, Qing Xu, Jin Liu
Votes: 3,872
96. Kundun (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
From childhood to adulthood, Tibet's fourteenth Dalai Lama deals with Chinese oppression and other problems.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, Tenzin Yeshi Paichang
Votes: 30,513 | Gross: $5.53M
97. The Battle at Lake Changjin (2021)
Not Rated | 176 min | Action, Drama, History
In the fierce battlefield in the midst of the harsh weather conditions, Wu Qian Li and Wu Wan Li, two brothers soldier including the brave Chinese soldiers must fight together and find a way to cope with the invasion of US forces.
Directors: Kaige Chen, Dante Lam, Hark Tsui, Jianxin Huang, Haiqiang Ning, Ju-chun Park | Stars: Jing Wu, Jackson Yee, Yihong Duan, Yawen Zhu
Votes: 4,122 | Gross: $0.34M
98. Gandhi (1982)
PG | 191 min | Biography, Drama, History
The life of the lawyer who became the famed leader of the Indian revolts against the British rule through his philosophy of nonviolent protest.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Ben Kingsley, John Gielgud, Rohini Hattangadi, Roshan Seth
Votes: 240,249 | Gross: $52.77M
99. The Crown (2016–2023)
TV-MA | 60 min | Biography, Drama, History
Follows the political rivalries and romances of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped Britain for the second half of the 20th century.
Stars: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Matt Smith
Votes: 256,939
100. Bridge of Spies (2015)
PG-13 | 142 min | Drama, History, Thriller
During the Cold War, an American lawyer is recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Alan Alda, Amy Ryan
Votes: 327,886 | Gross: $72.31M
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