Best movies like Billy Budd
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Billy is an innocent, naive seaman in the British Navy in 1797. When the ship's sadistic master-at-arms is murdered, Billy is accused and tried.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: tense, emotional, serious, suspenseful, retro, road movie, black and white, historical drama, independent film, realistic
Best tv shows and movies like Billy Budd (1962):
Similar in 78%
The Mark of Cain (2007)
Plot Summary:
After a bomb kills their company commander in Iraq, British soldiers Treacle and Shane are ordered to round up suspects and use torture on the detainees. Back home, the press gets the story and the pair achieves instant infamy.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, realistic
Similar in 80%
Mutiny (1999)
Plot Summary:
Fact-based story about 300 predominantly black sailors who were killed on July 17, 1944 while loading munitions on a ship in San Francisco. Three weeks later, 50 survivors were court-martialed for refusing to load another shipment. The men cited the Navy's lack of care for their safety.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 319
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing
Similar in 75%
The Winston Affair (1964)
Plot Summary:
In a remote jungle outpost in the Far Eastern theater of World War II, a hotheaded American soldier murders an allied British sergeant in cold blood. Stalwart American Lt. Colonel Barney Adams (Mitchum) is dispatched to defend him in the ensuing court martial. But when Lt. Adams starts encountering roadblocks in his search for evidence, and his key witnesses start disappearing one after another, he soon realizes he's merely a pawn in a mysterious conspiracy that could extend to the highest levels of military power.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 805
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, captivating, suspenseful, independent film, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Word of Honor (2003)
Plot Summary:
Prompted by a just-published book that holds ex-lieutenant Ben Tyson accountable for a hushed-up massacre committed by his platoon in a Hue hospital 18 years before, the army recalls Tyson to stand trial for murder. Tyson, confronted by an army authority anxious to save its own face, an embarrassed federal government, and a threatened marriage, and entangled, furthermore, in his own past lives and present sense of guilt, must call on all his cleverness and his own inner toughness to fight his case.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 584
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, suspenseful, bleak, realistic
Similar in 80%
King & Country (1964)
Plot Summary:
During World War I a British soldier, charged with desertion, is defended by an officer who at first despises his actions and then grows to feel sympathy for him.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, atmospheric, thought provoking, bleak, serious, realistic, independent film
Similar in 77%
Good Work (1999)
Plot Summary:
Foreign Legion officer, Galoup, recalls his once glorious life, leading troops in the Gulf of Djibouti. His existence there was happy, strict and regimented, but the arrival of a promising young recruit, Sentain, plants the seeds of jealousy in Galoup's mind. He feels compelled to stop him from coming to the attention of the commandant who he admires, but who ignores him. Ultimately, his jealousy leads to the destruction of both Sentain and himself.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: meditative, surreal, harsh, touching, realistic, serious, psychological, atmospheric, contemplative, stylized
Similar in 77%
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (1988)
Plot Summary:
A full-length adaptation, originally staged as a play, of the court-martial segment from the novel "The Caine Mutiny".
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 693
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, clever, serious, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, talky, biting, suspense
Similar in 90%
Breaker Morant (1980)
Plot Summary:
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 practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: political, tense, witty, factual, atmospheric, intense, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking
Similar in 84%
Das Boot - The Director's Cut (1981)
Plot Summary:
A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 261000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, Italy, France, UK
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: epic, tense, suspenseful, realistic, atmospheric, suspense, tension, factual, rough, serious
Similar in 89%
The Hill (1965)
Plot Summary:
North Africa, World War II. British soldiers on the brink of collapse push beyond endurance to struggle up a brutal incline. It's not a military objective. It's The Hill, a manmade instrument of torture, a tower of sand seared by a white-hot sun. And the troops' tormentors are not the enemy, but their own comrades-at-arms.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: black and white, tense, bleak, retro, noir, thinking, existential, historically accurate, rough, serious
Similar in 83%
Kidnapped (1971)
Plot Summary:
Scottish orphan David Balfour (Lawrence Douglas) is betrayed by his wicked uncle Ebeneezer (Donald Pleasance), who arranges for David to be kidnapped and sold into slavery so that Unk can claim his inheritance. The boy is rescued and befriended by Alan Breck (Michael Caine), a Scottish rebel fighting on behalf of his country's independence from the British (did we tell you that the film takes place during late 18th century?) Both David and Alan undergo several exhilarating adventures before Alan comes to realize that the rebellion is doomed from the start, and David foils his uncle's greedy machinations. (AllMovie).
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, independent film, period drama
Similar in 75%
A High Wind in Jamaica (1965)
Plot Summary:
In 1870, a Jamaican colonial family sends its children to Britain for proper schooling, but their ship is taken over by pirates, who become fond of the kids.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, vintage
Similar in 79%
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
Plot Summary:
In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 83000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: political, black and white, emotional, suspenseful, disturbing, sincere, tense, realistic, talky, philosophical
Similar in 89%
The Sea Wolf (2008)
Plot Summary:
The Sea-Wolf is based on a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American novelist Jack London, about a literary critic, who is survivor of an ocean collision. He then comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 214
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, serious, realistic
Similar in 87%
Hornblower: Duty (2003)
Plot Summary:
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Admiral Pellew interrupts Hornblower's wedding reception and tasks him to locate a British ship which has disappeared off the French coast, where Napoleon's troops are engaged in covert activities.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, feel good, period piece, realistic, period drama
Similar in 83%
Hornblower: Mutiny (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but obviously mentally unstable captain and eventually must mutiny.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, captivating, suspense, feel good, period piece, period drama, mad
Similar in 75%
Horatio Hornblower: The Duchess and the Devil (1999)
Plot Summary:
Horatio Homblower, now promoted to Acting Lieutenant, captures the French ship Le Reve off the Spanish coast. The Captain of the French ship is furious that such a youngster has pulled off such a coup. But far more daunting is Hornblower's first taste of the high life, when he is invited to dine with the Governor of Gibraltar and his wife. The prospect of this is frightening enough, but an unexpected guest, the glamorous Duchess of Wharfedale, adds another spin to his evening.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: feel good, period piece, exciting, serious, period drama
Similar in 82%
Hornblower: The Even Chance (1998)
Plot Summary:
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Spithead, Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, a 17 year old midshipman takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: exciting, costume drama, serious, realistic, road movie, feel good, period piece, historical drama, period drama, masterpiece
Similar in 87%
The Sand Pebbles (1966)
Plot Summary:
Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat U.S.S. San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the "rice-bowl" system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 182 min
Plot tags: epic, tense, realistic, retro, depressing, cult classic, mind blowing, surprise ending, tragic ending, serious
Similar in 76%
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Plot Summary:
In the Eighteenth Century, in a small village in Ireland, Redmond Barry is a young farm boy in love with his cousin Nora Brady. When Nora engages to the British Captain John Quin, Barry challenges him for a duel of pistols. He wins and escapes to Dublin, but is robbed on the road. Without any other alternative, Barry joins the British Army to fight in the Seven Years War.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 179000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 185 min
Plot tags: visually stunning, period piece, breathtaking, epic, realistic, visual, stylized, costume drama, visually appealing, atmospheric
Similar in 83%
Hornblower: Retribution (2001)
Plot Summary:
Hornblower and the other officers of the Renown must return to Jamaica to face a court-martial and possible execution for their actions in relieving their unstable captain.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, captivating, suspenseful, feel good, period piece, bleak, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 88%
Horatio Hornblower: The Fire Ship (1998)
Plot Summary:
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history. Pellew, Captain of the Indefatigable, decides to put forward his protege Horatio Hornblower for the examination for lieutenant. Leading up to the exam Hornblower comes up against many challenges to prepare him for the difficult life as a lieutenant.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, feel good, period piece, period drama
Similar in 85%
Hornblower: Loyalty (2003)
Plot Summary:
Hornblower is given a dangerous mission to deliver an emigre French nobleman to a secret rendezvous near Brest while coping with enemy agents in his own ranks.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, feel good, period drama
Similar in 85%
Damn the Defiant! (1962)
Plot Summary:
Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: historical drama, serious, realistic, suspenseful, technicolor, vintage, period drama
Similar in 88%
Horatio Hornblower: The Wrong War (1999)
Plot Summary:
The Hornblower series is based on C.S. Forester's classic maritime adventures - the story of one young man's struggle to become a leader of men. Set against the back drop of the 18th century Anglo-French wars, the bloodiest time in British naval history.Lt. Hornblower and his mates are sent to accompany a doomed royalist invasion of revolutionary France.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: feel good, period piece, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 88%
The Bounty (1984)
Plot Summary:
The familiar story of Lieutenant Bligh, whose cruelty leads to a mutiny on his ship. This version follows both the efforts of Fletcher Christian to get his men beyond the reach of British retribution, and the epic voyage of Lieutenant Bligh to get his loyalists safely to East Timor in a tiny lifeboat.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK, USA, New Zealand
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: epic, period piece, costume drama, captivating, suspenseful, breathtaking, suspense, intense, factual, melancholic
Similar in 88%
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962)
Plot Summary:
The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: epic, psychological, suspense, exciting, serious, realistic, dramatic, historical drama, retro, costume drama
Similar in 79%
Hart's War (2002)
Plot Summary:
Fourth-generation Army Col. William McNamara is imprisoned in a brutal German POW camp. Still, as the senior-ranking American officer, he commands his fellow inmates, keeping a sense of honor alive in a place where honor is easy to destroy, all under the dangerous eye of the Luftwafe vetran Col. Wilhelm Visser. Never giving up the fight to win the war, McNamara is silently planning, waiting for his moment to strike back at the enemy. A murder in the camp gives him the chance to set a risky plan in motion. With a court martial to keep Visser and the Germans distracted, McNamara orchestrates a cunning scheme to escape and destroy a nearby munitions plant, enlisting the unwitting help of young Lt. Tommy Hart. Together with his men, McNamara uses a hero's resolve to carry out his mission, ultimately forced to weigh the value of his life against the good of his country.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 55000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: realistic, tense, suspense, harsh, factual, rough, serious, sincere, emotional, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
White Squall (1996)
Plot Summary:
Teenage boys discover discipline and camaraderie on an ill-fated sailing voyage.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 25000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: emotional, suspense, touching, serious, rough, inspirational, feel good, nautical, anamorphic, profound
Similar in 78%
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
Plot Summary:
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 234000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, period piece, serious, suspenseful, breathtaking, dramatic, visually appealing, visually stunning, costume drama