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English war films from the 1980s
The best 100 of 109
- 1
Full Metal Jacket
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
- 2
Platoon
As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
- 3
Empire of the Sun
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even th
- 4
Glory
Robert Gould Shaw leads the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates.
- 5
Good Morning, Vietnam
A disk jockey goes to Vietnam to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service. While he becomes popular among the troops, his superiors disapprove of his humor.
- 6
The Killing Fields
New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanbe
- 7
Sophie's Choice
Stingo, a young writer, moves to Brooklyn in 1947 to begin work on his first novel. As he becomes friendly with Sophie and her lover Nathan, he learns that she is a Holocaust survivor. Flashbacks reveal her harrowing story, from pre-war pro
- 8
Casualties of War
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
- 9
Born on the Fourth of July
Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, Ron Kovic becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
- 10
Threads
Documentary style account of a nuclear holocaust and its effect on the working class city of Sheffield, England; and the eventual long run effects of nuclear war on civilization.
- 11
When the Wind Blows
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
- 12
Heartbreak Ridge
A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.
- 13
Birdy
Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam War. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through?
- 14
Gallipoli
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.
- 15
Escape to Victory
A group of POWs in a German prison camp during World War II play the German National Soccer Team in this powerful film depicting the role of prisoners during wartime.
- 16
Rambo: First Blood Part II
John Rambo is released from prison by the government for a top-secret covert mission to the last place on Earth he'd want to return - the jungles of Vietnam.
- 17
Henry V
In 1415, in the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France.
- 18
Salvador
In 1980, an American journalist covering the Salvadoran Civil War becomes entangled with both the leftist guerrilla groups and the right-wing military dictatorship while trying to rescue his girlfriend and her children.
- 19
Lion of the Desert
Resistance leader Omar Mukhtar opposes Italian colonization before World War II. The brutal guerrilla war against Italian General Rodolfo Graziani and the Fascist forces of Benito Mussolini highlights the struggle for Libyan independence an
- 20
Escape from Sobibor
The true story of WWII's notorious Sobibor Nazi death camp, where a courageous inmate orchestrates and leads the escape of over 300 prisoners.
- 21
Southern Comfort
A squad of National Guards on an isolated weekend exercise in the Louisiana swamp must fight for their lives when they anger local Cajuns by stealing their canoes. Without live ammunition and in a strange country, their experience begins to mirror the Vietnam experience.
- 22
The Beast
During the war in Afghanistan a Soviet tank crew commanded by a tyrannical officer find themselves lost and in a struggle against a band of Mujahadeen guerrillas in the mountains.
- 23
Breaker Morant
During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practice
- 24
Hope and Glory
A middle-aged man recalls his childhood growing up in and around London during World War II.
- 25
The Final Countdown
During routine manoeuvres near Hawaii in 1980, the aircraft-carrier USS Nimitz is caught in a strange vortex-like storm, throwing the ship back in time to 1941—mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
- 26
The Big Red One
A veteran sergeant of World War I leads a squad in World War II, always in the company of the survivor Pvt. Griff, the writer Pvt. Zab, the Sicilian Pvt. Vinci and Pvt. Johnson, in Vichy French Africa, Sicily, D-Day at Omaha Beach, Belgium
- 27
Hamburger Hill
The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for thei
- 28
To Be or Not to Be
A bad Polish actor is just trying to make a living when Poland is invaded by the Germans in World War II. His wife has the habit of entertaining young Polish officers while he's on stage, which is also a source of depression to him. When on
- 29
Under Fire
Three U.S. journalists get too close to one another and their work in 1979 Nicaragua.
- 30
Hôtel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie
Marcel Ophuls' riveting film details the heinous legacy of the Gestapo head dubbed "The Butcher of Lyon." Responsible for over 4,000 deaths in occupied France during World War II, Barbie would escape—with U.S. help—to South America in 1951, where he lived until a global manhunt led to his 1983 arrest and subsequent trial.
- 31
Genocide
The mass murder of Jewish people by the Nazi regime is chronicled, with a warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise and the events of the Holocaust could happen again. The history of European Jewish culture and events before and during the Holocaust are seen in newsreels, photographs, and animated segments. The words of the victims of the era are read, and footage from the liberation os a concentration camp is shown.
- 32
Utu
In New Zealand in the 1860s the native Māori people fought the British colonials to keep the land guaranteed to them by treaty. The warrior Te Wheke fights for the British until betrayal leads him to seek utu (revenge). The settler Williamson in turn seeks revenge after Te Wheke attacks his homestead. Meanwhile Wiremu, an officer for the British, seems to think that resistance is futile.
- 33
And the Violins Stopped Playing
This is the true story about a group of Romani's (gypsy) in occupied Poland during World War II as they confront the atrocities and tragedies of a forgotten holocaust.
- 34
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin
The chronicle of Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and his tyranic rule from 1971 to his overthrow in 1979.
- 35
Code Name: Emerald
In preparation for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Nazi occupied territory, the 'overlords' were the few Allied agents who knew the details of the operation. When one them is captured by the Germans, a double agent must infiltrat
- 36
Jacknife
A conflict develops between a troubled Vietnam veteran and the sister he lives with when she becomes involved romantically with the army buddy who reminds him of the tragic battle they both survived.
- 37
Combat Shock
A dangerously disturbed Vietnam veteran struggles with life 15 years after his return home, and slowly falls into insanity from his gritty urban lifestyle.
- 38
The Highest Honour
After a highly successful raid on Singapore Harbour, soldiers of Z Special Unit lead a new expedition in Singapore, with disastrous results.
- 39
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
A Real American Hero is the first G.I. Joe miniseries, in it the G.I. Joe Special Missions Force must contend with COBRA who, after the successful theft of a special broadcast satellite now threaten the world with a teleportation machine ca
- 40
Resurrected
A Falklands War soldier missing, believed dead, turns up claiming amnesia.
- 41
War Requiem
During World War I, British soldier Owen is mortified by the examples of cruelty that surround him in the trenches. He combats these terrifying images by maintaining hope in his love for an army nurse. But he also begins to accept his fate as another battlefield sacrifice.
- 42
The Last Reunion
Several members of a platoon of American soldiers not only kill a Japanese general, but also rape and murder the man's wife. The couple's son, Kimon, witnesses these ghastly events and vows revenge. Thirty-three years later the platoon get back together in Manila for a reunion. The adult Kimon also shows up to pick off the platoon members who are responsible for butchering his parents.
- 43
Latino
The fighting between the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and the Contra rebels backed by U.S. money and expertise is the focus of this pro-Sandinista film by Haskell Wexler. On a secret mission to help the U.S. Special Forces train Contra rebels in the jungles of Nicaragua, American soldier Eddie Guerrero begins to question the morality of the task at hand and consider how his actions may influence the fate of a nation.
- 44
In Love and War
This movie is an account of US Navy Commander James Stockdale's 8 year imprisonment in North Vietnam. During his confinement in such camps as the infamous "Hanoi Hilton", Stockdale, among other senior officers, led a resistance group against the North Vietnamese, facing torture, isolation, and starvation in attempts to break their wills. Back in the US, Stockdale's wife, Sybil, begins working with other POW wives to try to get information on their husbands and to inform the world on their treatment.
- 45
84 Charlie Mopic
An Army cameraman is embedded with a reconnaissance patrol and charts their mission across territory controlled by the North Vietnamese.
- 46
Purple Hearts
A Navy surgeon and a nurse fall in love while serving in Vietnam during the war. Their affection for one another provides a striking contrast to the violence of warfare.
- 47
The Iron Triangle
Based on the diary of an unknown Viet Cong soldier, this film provides a sympathetic look at a Viet Cong soldier who protected a captured American soldier whom he believed did not kill him when the American had the opportunity. Written by John Sacksteder
- 48
The Dressmaker
In England during World War II, a repressed dressmaker and her sister struggle looking after their 17-year-old niece, who is having a delusional affair with an American soldier.
- 49
The Key to Rebecca
From master storyteller and best-selling author, Ken Follett, comes the exotic spy-thriller based on true events. North Africa, Summer of 1942 — master spy, Alex Wolff is on a mission to send General Erwin Rommel's advancing army the secrets that would unlock the doors to Cairo... and the ultimate Nazi triumph in the war. Wolff's pursuer, Major Vandarn, engages the seductive charm of Elene Fontana to lure him into range for what is to be a startling and explosive confrontation.
- 50
Rebel
This drama is set in World War II Australia, where an American Marine, Rebel is recuperating from wounds suffered in battle. He is weary of war and is intent on going AWOL and escaping from Australia. He becomes infatuated with a local singer, Kathy and pursues her. Kathy is married and initially is not interested in him, but later begins to love Rebel. Kathy receives a letter advising her that her husband was killed in battle. The local police and the U.S. Military are searching for Rebel as an AWOL soldier. Rebel arranges to escape Austalia by a cargo ship, but eventually allows himself to be arrested in order to keep the local police from arresting Kathy for harboring him
- 51
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story
Allied prisoners tunnel out of a stalag, then return to avenge fellow escapees executed by the Nazis.
- 52
The Assisi Underground
This film sheds light on the role of the Catholic Church and the people of Assisi in rescuing Italian Jews from the Nazis in 1943.
- 53
Hell on the Battleground
Vietnam: The battle-tested Seargents Casey and Lance have to accompany a young Lieutenant and a group of newly arrived teenage soldiers on a practice trip in the jungle. But the trip turns bloody serious when they are discovered by Russian scouts and have half a company follows hot on their heels.
- 54
Bat★21
Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory the Air Force very much wants to get him back. Hambleton knows the area he's in is going to be carpet-bombed but a tempora
- 55
Uncommon Valor
A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese.
- 56
Cobra Mission
Ten years after the end of the war in Vietnam, four ex-Marines decide to return to S.E. Asia to investigate reports of American POWs still being held there. These four include Roger, whose daughter's just been married, the unemployed James, Mark, who's quit his job at an Arizona roadside tavern, and Richard, recently a patient at a mental hospital. In the jungles of S.E. Asia they discover American POWs but also find out about a U.S. Government plot to keep this knowledge a secret.
- 57
Deadline
An American journalist is set up and fed false information after the Lebanon war.
- 58
Gardens of Stone
At Arlington National Cemetery during the Vietnam era, veteran sergeant Clell Hazard trains young soldiers while mourning those lost in combat. Unable to return to war himself, he mentors Jackie Willow—the idealistic son of a fallen comrade
- 59
The Hanoi Hilton
Lionel Chetwynd's film documents the horrific struggles that faced American POWs held in the North Vietnamese prison Hoa Lo -- more infamously known as the Hanoi Hilton -- between 1964 and 1975. Williamson (Michael Moriarty) leads a group of American servicemen who are prisoners at the detention camp. He assumes command after Cathcart (Lawrence Pressman) is dragged off to be tortured.
- 60
Cop Game
In the final days of the Vietnam War, someone is killing the officers of the elite Cobra Force. Two undercover M.P.'s are assigned to the case. The trail leads from the streets of Saigon to the war zone.
- 61
Streamers
Four young recruits about to be sent to Vietnam confront their prejudicial feelings toward one another when it's learned one of them is gay.
- 62
Fat Man and Little Boy
Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but t
- 63
Farewell to the King
An American soldier who escapes the execution of his comrades by Japanese soldiers in Borneo during WWII becomes the leader of a personal empire among the headhunters in this war story told in the style of Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling.
- 64
Attack Force Z
Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific during WWII, Captain Kelly and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.
- 65
Biloxi Blues
A Jewish teenager sets three goals: lose his virginity, become a writer, and survive World War II.
- 66
Red Dawn
It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town—and their country—from invading Soviet forces.
- 67
The Misfit Brigade
War story of the 27th Panzers, Hitler's heavy-duty combat regiment composed of prisoners.
- 68
Zombie Brigade
When an amusement park is built on the grounds of an old cemetery, the dead rise to take revenge.
- 69
Monsignor
The vows of an ambitious young American priest are tested during World War II. Not only does Father John Flaherty get involved with the black market to raise money for the Vatican, he also falls in love with a young French nun.
- 70
Hitman the Cobra
"The war has reached its peak; the entire country is suffering under the bloody and merciless occupation of enemy troops. Innocent people are being tortured and ruthlessly executed. To put an end to this reign of terror once and for all, the local troops have received support from a handful of highly trained commandos. These commandos are led by the American elite soldier Gordon, who also has a very personal score to settle. The guerrilla troops are under the command of Mike, with whom he shares a gruesome past dating back to the Vietnam War. The day of deadly reckoning is drawing ever closer, and only one will survive." - DVD Back of the Box Description Hong Kong cut and paste edit of the 1984 Filipino War film "Kumander Sumulong" with new scenes.
- 71
The Sea Wolves
A German spy is passing on information about the location of Allied ships in the neutral harbor of Goa, India, with catastrophic results. Unable to undertake a full military operation in the Portuguese stronghold, English intelligence bring
- 72
1969
Two rebellious youths, Ralph and Scott, find themselves struggling with adulthood as the Vietnam War rages. Feeling trapped in their small town, Scott battles with his conservative veteran father, Cliff, and Ralph deals with his desperately
- 73
P.O.W. The Escape
Col. Cooper leads a group of American P.O.W.s, battling their way to freedom as Saigon falls to the Viet Cong.
- 74
The Dirty Dozen: The Deadly Mission
Learning of a Nazi plot to attack Washington, D.C. with a deadly nerve gas, Major Wright leads twelve convicts on a suicide mission deep into occupied France to destroy the secret factory where the poison is made.
- 75
The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission
A renegade team of World War II soldiers. This time, one of the 12 is a woman and, with a Nazi spy within their midst, they're up against German wartime geniuses out to establish a Fourth Reich.
- 76
Zone Troopers
American soldiers, led by The Sarge, are stuck behind Nazi enemy lines. As they make their way across the Italian countryside, they come across an alien spaceship that has crash-landed in the woods. The alien pilot is dead, but one of the s
- 77
Swing Shift
In 1941 America, Kay and her husband are happy enough until he enlists after Pearl Harbor. Against his wishes, she takes a job at the local aircraft plant where she meets Hazel, the singer from across the way. The two soon become firm frien
- 78
Treasure of the Amazon
An adventurer and his buddies race a former Nazi and others to diamonds in the South American jungle.
- 79
Red Scorpion
A Soviet commando is sent to eliminate a rebel leader in Africa. Soon he finds himself doubting his mission.
- 80
Biggles
Unassuming catering salesmen Jim Ferguson falls through a time hole to 1917 where he saves the life of dashing Royal Flying Corps pilot James "Biggles" Bigglesworth after his photo recon mission is shot down. Before he can work out what has
- 81
Revolution
New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he
- 82
Rambo III
Combat has taken its toll on Rambo, but he's finally begun to find inner peace in a monastery. When Rambo's friend and mentor Col. Trautman asks for his help on a top secret mission to Afghanistan, Rambo declines but must reconsider when Tr
- 83
The Delta Force
A 707 aircraft jetliner, en route from Athens to Rome and then to New York City, is hijacked by Lebanese terrorists, who demand that the pilot take them to Beirut. What the terrorists don't realize is that an elite team of commandos have be
- 84
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning
Prequel to the first Missing In Action, set in the early 1980s it shows the capture of Colonel Braddock during the Vietnam war in the 1970s, and his captivity with other American POWs in a brutal prison camp, and his plans to escape.
- 85
Braddock: Missing in Action III
When Colonel James Braddock is told that his Asian wife and 12-year-old son are still alive in Communist Vietnam, he mounts a one-man assault to free them. Armed with the latest high-tech firepower, Braddock fights his way into the heart of
- 86
Missing in Action
American servicemen are still being held captive in Vietnam and it's up to one man to bring them home in this blistering, fast-paced action/adventure starring martial arts superstar Chuck Norris. Following a daring escape from a Vietnamese
- 87
Iron Eagle II
Chappy Sinclair is called to gather together a mixed Soviet/U.S. strike force that will perform a surgical strike on a massively defended nuclear missile site in the Middle East. Chappy finds that getting the Soviet and U.S. Pilots to coope
- 88
Best Defense
An engineer fails to get the bugs out of a tank before an Army officer has to use it in Kuwait.
- 89
Till We Meet Again
Three young women's lives intertwine as they navigate love, betrayal, and family secrets from 1913 to 1956, confronting societal challenges and personal struggles while seeking hope and connection in a changing world.
- 90
In the Storm
The Lebanese film "Fi Mahab al-Reeh" (In the Wind’s Mercy), released in 1985, is a drama set during the Lebanese Civil War. It tells the story of a romantic relationship between two individuals from different social backgrounds, highlighting the deep social and political divisions affecting Lebanese society at the time.
- 91
Death of a Speechwriter
Part of Sweet Disaster; a 1986 series of short films made for Channel 4. It consists of "animated visions of the apocalypse".
- 92
Return of the Kickfighter
The plot concerns a unit of US marines operating in the Vietnam war during 1970, with the movie opening on a raid in a village. After massacring the villagers, the marines steal the villages gold, much to the objection of their Vietnamese translator and guide. Skip forward past the credits sequence; it's now 15 years later, and members of the unit are getting murdered one by one. This leads to the former head of the group, now a high ranking military officer, announcing that the only person who is up to the job of finding out the identity of the killer is an Aussie, Major Brad Cooper.
- 93
Conversations by a Californian Swimming Pool
Part of Sweet Disaster; a 1986 series of short films made for Channel 4. It consists of “animated visions of the apocalypse”.
- 94
Cobra Mission 2
A Vietnam vet who specializes in freeing POWs goes behind enemy lines on a rescue mission with a group of mercenaries.
- 95
The Stick
A squad (stick) of South African soldiers is sent into the bush to track down some rebel fighters when things take a supernatural turn.
- 96
Voices from the Attic
Jewish family history is reconstructed in this documentary about the traces of German terror in Eastern Europe during World War II where in which is about the attic of a peasant's home where her family's parents and relatives hid in squalor during the war for two frightening years hid, and then spent most of their lives afterwards trying to forget what happened. Yet their children somehow knew what their parents went through. Deciding to confront her personal demons, Goodstein went back to Poland with her aunt and a group of cousins to meet the woman who sheltered her family.
- 97
Final Reprisal
Sergeant David Callahan leads a task force of U.S. Marines on a failed mission. Five years later, working as an adviser to Thai Special Forces, he is forced to return to the Vietnamese P.O.W. camp he escaped years before, to fight a deadly duel.
- 98
American Force 4: Soldier Terminators
A secret group of warriors for freedom against oppression in the South Pacific. consisting of secretly trained marines, performs surgeries on behalf of an elitist organization, they have in mind when the purpose of recovery of the control of the region achieved not let the group of mercenaries who used to feel strong, from the fear that such mercenary groups very easily can be found on the opposite side. To cover this eventuality hire in Alexander Sampson, not his own secret commando group, the conflict of baroutokapnismenon warriors of two specific groups will be ruthless ...
- 99
Massive Retaliation
Three families that are best friends head to their secret retreat when WW3 seems to be nearing. The adults arrive at the retreat and must endure the stress to come while the children are separated from the adults and have their own troubles
- 100
Eye of the Eagle 2: Inside the Enemy
When soldier Anthony Glenn discovers that Mai is missing, he sets out to rescue her from the corrupt Major Sorenson pitting soldier against soldier in a bloody game of honor.