War Movies (Reviews)

Inspired by the building of one of the railway bridges over the Mae Klong as part of the construction of the Burma railway in 1942 and 1943 and loosely based on the novel Le Pont de la Rivière Kwai by Pierre Boulle, the Bridge on the River Kwai is one of the great epic war movies about British prisoners of war that are ordered by their Japanese ...

Based on Cornelius Ryan’s book with the same name from 1959, The Longest Day is one of the great epic war movies about the D-Day landings at the Normandy on June 6, 1944 during WW II.

Based on the true story of the escape of British war prisoners from the German detention camp Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland, The Great Escape is one of the timeless epic WW II war movies.

Based on the non-fiction 1961 book "Le front de l'art" by Rose Valland and inspired by the real-life events surrounding train No. 40,044, The Train is one of the great WW II war movies shot in black and white paying homage to the French Resistance.

Based on E.M. Nathanson’s novel with the same name that was inspired by the real-life members of the “Filthy Thirteen”, The Dirty Dozen is a one of the most entertaining, action-packed war movies set 1944 shortly prior to WW II’s D-Day.

Based on the autobiographical novel from Lothar-Günther Buchheim, who served as a war correspondent on minesweepers, destroyers and submarines during WW II, Das Boot tells the story of the German submarine U-96 and its crew as they patrol the northern Atlantic in search of Allied ships at the end of 1941.

Based on his own experiences as a US infantryman during the Vietnam War, director Oliver Stone filmed with Platoon one of the great anti-war movies.

Based on the semi-autobiographical novel “The Short-Timers” written by Gustav Hasford, who served as a combat correspondent during the Vietnam War, Full Metal Jacket follows a platoon of fresh Marine Corps recruits undergoing training and then being shipped off to Vietnam.

Inspired by the experiences of Adrian Cronauer, a former US Air Force sergeant and innovative AFRS radio DJ based in Saigon during the Vietnam War, Good Morning Vietnam might be Hollywood’s first Vietnam comedy, but at the same time is deadly serious anti-war film.

Loosely based on the story of the Niland brothers, Saving Private Ryan is a realistic and powerful war movie set during WW II’s D-day invasion of the Normandy and the immediate aftermath in which a squad of US soldiers go behind enemy lines to find Private Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in action within a week, and bring him back home.