allmovie
allmusicallmovieallgame
Rovi: Powered by AMG

enter a title or name

» Coming Soon » Quick Browse
» Essays » Glossary
» New Releases » Movie Trailers
» AllMovie Blog » In the Spotlight
 
Born Today
Alice Calhoun (1900)
Goldie Hawn (1945)
Andrew Davis (1946)
Nopachai Jayanama (1973)
explore by.../type
War Adventure

An adventure film using the battles of a war (usually World War II) as either a backdrop or a starting point for the action. The most prominent category of this entry is the "men-on-a-mission" film, in which a group of soldiers must band together to complete a mission crucial to the victory of the battle. Films like The Dirty Dozen, Kelly's Heroes, and The Guns Of Navarone portrayed these soldiers as tough, no-nonsense men of action who put aside their differences to get the job done. There was also the WWII espionage film, with plots of invasions, assassinations, and intrigue behind enemy lines (Brass Target, The Eagle Has Landed, Where Eagles Dare). The he-man exploits of the military brass, treacherous spies, and dog-faced foot-soldiers of wartime have produced some rousing stories of history turning men into heroes in far-away lands. Though the subgenre had its most active period in the '60s and '70s, the war adventure returns periodically the Rambo series of the 1980s.

Major Works
Rating
Year
 Title
 
 Director
  9 Stars 1967 The Dirty Dozen   Robert Aldrich
  8 Stars 1999 Three Kings   David O. Russell
  8 Stars 1939 Gunga Din   George Stevens
  8 Stars 1963 The Great Escape   John Sturges
  7 Stars 1990 Bullet in the Head   John Woo
  7 Stars 1976 Black Sheep Squadron   Russ Mayberry
    7 Stars 1926 Tell It to the Marines   George W. Hill
    7 Stars 1926 Beau Geste   Herbert Brenon
    7 Stars 1971 Zeppelin   Etienne Perier
  7 Stars 1965 The Train   John Frankenheimer
  7 Stars 1934 The Lost Patrol   John Ford
  7 Stars 1961 The Guns of Navarone   J. Lee Thompson
  6 Stars 1968 Where Eagles Dare   Brian G. Hutton
  6 Stars 1965 Von Ryan's Express   Mark Robson
  6 Stars 1981 The Dogs of War   John Irvin
  6 Stars 1988 Bat 21   Peter Markle
    5 Stars 1971 Escape of the Birdmen   Philip Leacock
    5 Stars 1946 O.S.S.   Irving Pichel
    5 Stars 1942 Night Plane from Chungking   Ralph Murphy
    5 Stars 1936 A Message to Garcia   George Marshall
    5 Stars 1953 Destination Gobi   Robert Wise
    5 Stars 1930 The Dawn Patrol   Howard Hawks
    5 Stars 1929 The Black Watch   John Ford
  5 Stars 1970 Too Late the Hero   Robert Aldrich
    5 Stars 1963 Pt 109   Leslie Martinson
  5 Stars 1965 Operation Crossbow   Michael Anderson
  5 Stars 1968 Hell in the Pacific   John Boorman
  5 Stars 1968 The Green Berets   Ray Kellogg
  5 Stars 1976 The Eagle Has Landed   John Sturges
    4 Stars 1945 This Man's Navy   William Wellman
    4 Stars 1965 Situation Hopeless But Not Serious   Gottfried Reinhardt
    4 Stars 1942 Joe Smith, American   Richard Thorpe
  4 Stars 1985 Rambo: First Blood Part II   George Pan Cosmatos
  4 Stars 1965 None But the Brave   Frank Sinatra
  4 Stars 1971 Murphy's War   Peter Yates
  4 Stars 1970 Kelly's Heroes   Brian G. Hutton
    3 Stars 1958 Quantrill's Raiders   Edward Bernds
  3 Stars 1978 Force 10 from Navarone   Guy Hamilton
  2 Stars 1988 Rambo III   Peter MacDonald
 
 
 
Rovi About Us | Contact | Employment | Product Submissions | Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Copyright Policy
© 2009 Macrovision Corporation. All Rights Reserved.