84 articles
¡Ay, Carmela!
¡Ay, Carmela! is Carlos Saura's 1990 Spanish-Italian tragicomedy, adapted from José Sanchís Sinisterra's play, starring Carmen Maura, Andrés Pajares, and Gabino Diego as Civil War variety performers; it won 13 Goyas from 15 nominations.
55 Days at Peking
55 Days at Peking (1963) is a Samuel Bronston epic directed by Nicholas Ray, starring Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, dramatizing the 55-day siege of the Peking legations in the 1900 Boxer Rebellion; shot in Spain, it ended Ray's Hollywood career.
A Bridge Too Far (film)
A Bridge Too Far (1977), Richard Attenborough's epic war film adapted by William Goldman from Cornelius Ryan's book, depicts the failed Operation Market Garden; all-star cast, $25 million budget, four BAFTA wins.
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now: 1979 Francis Ford Coppola war film, also known as Apocalypse Now Redux and Final Cut, adapting Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness to the Vietnam War; shot in the Philippines over 238 days, won the 1979 Palme d'Or.
Battle of Okinawa (激動の昭和史 沖縄決戦) (1971 film)
Battle of Okinawa (激動の昭和史 沖縄決戦) is a 1971 Toho war film directed by Kihachi Okamoto, scripted by Kaneto Shindo, starring Keiju Kobayashi, Tetsuro Tamba, and Tatsuya Nakadai, depicting the 1945 Okinawa ground battle from the Japanese 32nd Army's perspective.
Bullet in the Head
Bullet in the Head (喋血街頭) is John Woo's 1990 Hong Kong action epic starring Tony Leung, Jacky Cheung, and Waise Lee as friends who flee 1967 Hong Kong for wartime Vietnam and are destroyed by gold; a box office failure later reappraised as his most personal film.
Casualties of War
Casualties of War is a 1989 American war drama directed by Brian De Palma, based on the real rape and murder of a Vietnamese woman by American soldiers.
Come and See
Come and See (Иди и смотри) is Elem Klimov's 1985 Soviet war drama about a Byelorussian boy amid the Nazi occupation, based on Ales Adamovich's Khatyn narrative, titled from Revelation's fourth seal, with about 30 million Soviet admissions.
Cromwell (film)
Cromwell (1970) is a Ken Hughes British historical drama starring Richard Harris as Oliver Cromwell and Alec Guinness as Charles I, released by Columbia, winner of the Academy Award for Costume Design, and widely criticized for historical inaccuracy.
Cross of Iron
Cross of Iron is Sam Peckinpah's 1977 British-West German war film, based on Willi Heinrich's novel The Willing Flesh, starring James Coburn as Sergeant Steiner and Maximilian Schell as Stransky during the 1943 German retreat on the Eastern Front.
Eastern Condors (东方秃鹰)
Eastern Condors (东方秃鹰, also Eastern Bald Eagles) is a 1987 Hong Kong action war film directed by and starring Sammo Hung, a Dirty Dozen-style mission to destroy a secret US missile depot in Vietnam, with Yuen Biao, Yuen Wah, and Haing S. Ngor.
Empire of the Sun (film)
Empire of the Sun is Steven Spielberg's 1987 war drama adapted from J.G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical novel, starring a young Christian Bale as Jim, a British boy interned in Japanese-occupied Shanghai; the first western production to film in Shanghai since World War II, it earned six Oscar nominations but underperformed at the box office.
Escape from Sobibor
Escape from Sobibor is a 1987 British TV war drama directed by Jack Gold, starring Alan Arkin, Rutger Hauer, and Joanna Pacula, dramatizing the October 1943 Jewish prisoner uprising and mass escape from the Sobibor extermination camp; it won two Golden Globes and five Emmy nominations.
Escape to Victory
Escape to Victory (US title Victory) is John Huston's 1981 sports war drama starring Stallone, Caine, and Pelé as Allied POWs playing a propaganda match against a German team in occupied Paris while planning an escape, loosely inspired by the 1942 Kyiv Death Match.
Force 10 from Navarone (film)
Force 10 from Navarone is Guy Hamilton's 1978 WWII action film, a sequel to The Guns of Navarone based on Alistair MacLean's 1968 novel, starring Robert Shaw, Harrison Ford, and Barbara Bach on a Yugoslav mission.
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is Stanley Kubrick's 1987 Vietnam War film, adapted from Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers, following Marine recruits from Parris Island boot camp to the Battle of Hue, shot at Beckton gasworks in London.
Gallipoli (1981 film)
Gallipoli (1981) is Peter Weir's Australian war drama starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee as two runners who enlist in WWI and die at the Nek; it won eight AFI Awards and sparked debate over its portrayal of British command.
Gardens of Stone
Gardens of Stone is Francis Coppola's 1987 Tri-Star drama, based on Nicholas Proffitt's novel, about the Army's Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery during the Vietnam War, starring James Caan, James Earl Jones, and Anjelica Huston.
Hamburger Hill
Hamburger Hill (1987), John Irvin war drama written by Jim Carabatsos with Philip Glass score, dramatizes the May 1969 101st Airborne assaults on Hill 937, Dong Ap Bia, during Operation Apache Snow; released 28 August 1987, 110 minutes, rated R.
Heartbreak Ridge
Heartbreak Ridge (1986) is a Clint Eastwood war film about Marine Gunnery Sgt. Tom Highway training a recon platoon for the Grenada invasion; also starring Marsha Mason and Mario Van Peebles, released by Warner Bros. December 5, 1986.
In Harm's Way
In Harm's Way is Otto Preminger's 1965 black-and-white World War II epic, also known as a Pearl Harbor naval drama, starring John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, and Patricia Neal, adapted from James Bassett's 1962 novel and released by Paramount on April 6, 1965.
Japan's Longest Day (日本のいちばん長い日)
Japan's Longest Day (日本のいちばん長い日, The Emperor and a General) is a 1967 Toho war drama directed by Kihachi Okamoto, scripted by Shinobu Hashimoto from the nonfiction book actually written by Kazutoshi Handō, dramatizing Japan's August 14–15, 1945 surrender decision and the Kyūjō incident coup, with Toshirō Mifune as Anami.
Kagemusha (影武者)
Kagemusha (影武者, "shadow warrior") is Akira Kurosawa's 1980 Japanese epic about a thief who doubles for the dying warlord Takeda Shingen. Funded with help from Coppola, Lucas, and Fox, it shared the 1980 Cannes Palme d'Or.
La Grande Vadrouille
La Grande Vadrouille (Don't Look Now We're Being Shot At) is a 1966 French-British comedy by Gérard Oury starring Bourvil and Louis de Funès helping downed British airmen escape occupied France; it sold 17.27 million tickets in France, a record until Titanic (1998).
La Vaquilla
La Vaquilla (The Heifer) is Luis García Berlanga's 1985 Spanish Civil War comedy, written with Rafael Azcona, about Republican soldiers stealing a bull; also restaurants and the escaped Minglanilla cow.
Lion of the Desert (أسد الصحراء)
Lion of the Desert (أسد الصحراء), also released in Arabic as Omar Mukhtar, is Moustapha Akkad's 1981 Libyan-financed epic starring Anthony Quinn as resistance leader Omar Mukhtar against Italian colonial rule; it cost $35 million, earned under $1 million, and was long withheld from Italian theaters.
Long Live the Republic!
Long Live the Republic! (Ať žije republika) is a 1965 Czechoslovak war drama by Karel Kachyňa and Jan Procházka, showing WWII's end in Moravia through a 12-year-old boy's eyes; pulled from distribution in 1970.
Murphy's War
Murphy's War, also listed as Murphy's War (1971), is a Peter Yates war drama adapted from Max Catto's novel, starring Peter O'Toole as a merchant seaman seeking revenge on a German U-boat off Venezuela; produced by Michael Deeley with Sian Phillips and Philippe Noiret.
One and Eight
One and Eight (一个和八个, Yige he bage), 1983 Chinese war film by Zhang Junzhao, first work of the Fifth Generation, based on Guo Xiaochuan's 1957 poem, shot by Zhang Yimou, censored and released 1984.
Platoon (film)
Platoon (1986) is Oliver Stone's Vietnam War film, based on his 1967-68 infantry service, starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Willem Dafoe; it won four Oscars including Best Picture and grossed $137.9 million.