Best movies like Gettysburg
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Summer 1863. The Confederacy pushes north into Pennsylvania. Union divisions converge to face them. The two great armies clash at Gettysburg, site of a theology school. For three days, through such legendary actions as Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge, the fate of "one nation, indivisible" hangs in the balance.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 271 min
Plot tags: epic, factual, realistic, serious, captivating, exciting, breathtaking, intense, period piece, patriotic
Best tv shows and movies like Gettysburg (1993):
Similar in 86%
Field of Lost Shoes (2015)
Plot Summary:
A group of teenage cadets sheltered from war at the Virginia Military Institute must confront the horrors of an adult world when they are called upon to defend the Shenandoah Valley.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, tense, serious, touching
Similar in 80%
Custer of the West (1967)
Plot Summary:
Biopic of General George Armstrong Custer from his rise to prominence in the Civil War through to his "last stand" at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War, Western
Country: UK, France, Spain, USA
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: spaghetti western, independent film, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, tragic ending
Similar in 77%
The Colt (2005)
Plot Summary:
During the heat of battle in the midst of the Civil War, a beguilingly innocent colt is born to Union Jim Rabb's beloved mare. Refusing the orders to shoot it, lest it prove a hindrance, Rabb keeps the colt as a consolation in these desperate times-a symbol of hope that leads the men of the First Cavalry on a journey of self-discovery and newfound brotherhood.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 564
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, sincere, touching, exciting
Similar in 87%
North and South, Book II (1986)
Plot Summary:
The continuing saga of the Hazards and the Mains. The Hazards are from the North and the Mains from the South. George Hazard and Orry Main met at West Point and fought in the Mexican American war together becoming fast friends. Now they find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the Civil War and struggle to maintain their friendship through these troubled times.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 570 min
Plot tags: patriotic, serious, captivating, realistic, family saga, vintage
Similar in 76%
The Blue and the Gray (1982)
Plot Summary:
This movie is also in existance as a 3 part miniseries. America just before and during the Civil War, as seen through the eyes of an artist correspondent. The plot revolves around the families of two sisters; Maggie Geyser and Evelyn Hale. The Geysers are farmers who reside near Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Hales own a small newspaper in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Geysers are generally indifferent to the issue of slavery, but are sympathetic to the Southern cause. The lone exception in the family is son John, an artistic young man who becomes sympathetic to the plight of Southern slaves and free Negroes. The Hales are pro-Union and anti-slavery, but, like many Northerners at the time, they hope for a peaceful solution to the nation's problems.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 381 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, disturbing, exciting, sincere
Similar in 77%
North and South (1985)
Plot Summary:
Two friends, one northern and one southern, struggle to maintain their friendship as events build towards the American Civil War.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: USA
Duration: 561 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, emotional, soap opera, period piece, costume drama, patriotic
Similar in 77%
The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of events that led to the British involvement in the Crimean War against Russia and which led to the siege of Sevastopol and the fierce Battle of Balaclava on October 25, 1854 which climaxed with the heroic, but near-disastrous calvary charge made by the British Light Brigade against a Russian artillery battery in a small valley which resulted in the near-destruction of the brigade due to error of judgement and rash planning on part by the inept British commanders.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: epic, factual, harsh, serious, exciting, realistic, patriotic, light, romantic, depressing
Similar in 75%
The Green Berets (1968)
Plot Summary:
Col. Mike Kirby picks two teams of crack Green Berets for a mission in South Vietnam. First off is to build and control a camp that is trying to be taken by the enemy the second mission is to kidnap a North Vietnamese General.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, thought provoking, captivating, retro, exciting, sentimental, sexy, epic, bad ending
Similar in 79%
Zulu Dawn (1979)
Plot Summary:
In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership. Cy Endfield co-wrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst defeat of the British army by natives, with the British contingent outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film's opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached manner leads to one mistake after another.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: Netherlands, USA
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: cult classic, action adventure, historical drama, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 76%
The Crossing (2000)
Plot Summary:
A made-for-TV dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the British forces at Trenton.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, exciting, realistic, serious, political, christian film, historical drama, historically accurate, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 87%
The Winter War (1989)
Plot Summary:
Russia attacked Finland in late November 1939. This film tells the story of a Finnish platoon of reservists from the municipality of Kauhava in the province of Pohjanmaa/Ostrobothnia who leave their homes and go to war. The film focuses on the farmer brothers Martti and Paavo Hakala.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Finland
Duration: 199 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, tense, bleak, serious, captivating, emotional, suspenseful, light, brutal
Similar in 85%
Zulu (1964)
Plot Summary:
In 1879, during the Zulu wars, man of the people Lt. John Chard (Stanley Baker) and snooty Lt Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine) were in charge of defending the isolated Natal outpost of Rorke's Drift from tribal hordes, holding out during an Alamo-like siege until they are overwhelmed, losing the battle, but going down in history as heroes. 150 soldiers defended a supply station against some 4000 Zulus, aided by the Martini-Henry rifle "with some guts behind it". In the hundred years since the Victoria Cross was created for valour and extreme courage beyond that normally expected of the British soldier in face of the enemy only 1344 have been awarded. Eleven of these were won by the defenders of the mission station at Rorke's Drift, Natal, January 22nd to the 23rd 1879.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 42000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, suspense, factual, psychological, exciting, serious, breathtaking, period piece, inspirational
Similar in 85%
Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)
Plot Summary:
This is the story of the senior-level preparations for the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 from the time of Dwight D. Eisenhower's appointment as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, to the establishment of the beachhead in Normandy. The film recounts many of the trials and tribulation Ike had to face, not the least of which were the many prima donnas surrounding him (Patton, Montgomery and especially de Gaulle) and the need for tact and diplomacy to bring all sides together for what would be the largest amphibious assault ever attempted.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, political
Similar in 77%
Shenandoah (1965)
Plot Summary:
Charlie Anderson, a farmer in Shenandoah, Virginia, finds himself and his family in the middle of the Civil War he wants nothing to do with. When his youngest boy is taken prisoner by the North the Civil War is forced upon him.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, War, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: retro, black and white, sincere, rough, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, technicolor, tense
Similar in 79%
Khartoum (1966)
Plot Summary:
English General Charles George Gordon, a devout Christian, is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by the Prime Minister. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by a Muslim army.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, factual, suspenseful, talky, serious, technicolor, retro, sad, spectacular
Similar in 79%
Revolution (1985)
Plot Summary:
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 must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay. As Tom undergoes his change of heart, the events of the war unfold in large-scale grandeur.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, Norway
Duration: 126 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspense, dramatic, cult classic, historical drama, independent film, epic, period drama, cult film
Similar in 84%
55 Days at Peking (1963)
Plot Summary:
Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 154 min
Plot tags: serious, epic, exciting, realistic, tense, suspense, surprise ending, independent film, vintage
Similar in 90%
Rough Riders (1997)
Plot Summary:
In 1898 the US government decided to intervene on the side of the Cuban rebels in their struggle against Spanish rule. Assistant Navy Secretary Theodore Roosevelt decides to experience the war first hand by promoting and joining a volunteer cavalry regiment. The regiment, later known as the Rough Riders, brings together volunteers from all corners of the nation and all walks of life. When Roosevelt and his men finally land on Cuba, they face ambush, intense enemy fire, and a desperate, outnumbered charge up a defended hill.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War, Western
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, captivating, tense, suspenseful, political
Similar in 86%
Free State of Jones (2016)
Plot Summary:
In 1863, Mississippi farmer Newt Knight serves as a medic for the Confederate Army. Opposed to slavery, Knight would rather help the wounded than fight the Union. After his nephew dies in battle, Newt returns home to Jones County to safeguard his family but is soon branded an outlaw deserter. Forced to flee, he finds refuge with a group of runaway slaves hiding out in the swamps. Forging an alliance with the slaves and other farmers, Knight leads a rebellion that would forever change history.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, History, War, Western
Country: USA, China
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, factual, intense, period piece, costume drama, epic, captivating, political, historical drama, exciting
Similar in 80%
MacArthur (1977)
Plot Summary:
The film portrays MacArthur's (Gregory Peck) life from 1942, before the Battle of Bataan, to 1952, the time after he had been removed from his Korean War command by President Truman (Ed Flanders) for insubordination, and is recounted in flashback as he visits West Point.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: melancholic, epic, intense, realistic, serious, political, exciting, tense, sincere, rough
Similar in 76%
Gods and Generals (2003)
Plot Summary:
The film centers mostly around the personal and professional life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a brilliant if eccentric Confederate general, from the outbreak of the American Civil War until its halfway point when Jackson is killed accidentally by his own soldiers in May 1863 during his greatest victory.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 219 min
Plot tags: intense, sincere, rough, serious, epic, christian film, political, costume drama, anamorphic, religious drama
Similar in 84%
Glory (1989)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: epic, inspirational, suspense, realistic, rough, factual, period piece, emotional, talky, serious
Similar in 85%
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Plot Summary:
A Bridge Too Far tells the story of Operation Market Garden, the failed attempt by the allies to end the war quickly by securing three bridges in Holland and allowing access over the Rhine into Germany. A combination of poor allied intelligence and the presence of two crack German Panzer divisions meant that the final part of this operation (the bridge in Arnhem over the Rhine, the titular 'bridge too far') was doomed to failure.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 61000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, suspense, intense, rough, serious, suspenseful, breathtaking, cult classic, spectacular
Similar in 89%
The Longest Day (1962)
Plot Summary:
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day".
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 58000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, factual, black and white, tense, suspense, harsh, suspenseful, touching, serious
Similar in 89%
Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Plot Summary:
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 168000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min
Plot tags: emotional, bleak, realistic, epic, disturbing, contemplative, touching, bloody, dramatic, black and white
Similar in 89%
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Plot Summary:
At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 698000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, War
Country: USA
Duration: 147 min
Plot tags: psychological, bleak, atmospheric, disturbing, surreal, visual, visually stunning, tense, allegory, visually appealing
Similar in 79%
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 149000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Germany, USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: serious, factual, realistic, emotional, suspenseful, sentimental, brutal, epic, suspense, intense
Similar in 81%
The Patriot (2000)
Plot Summary:
After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 289000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: period piece, dramatic, rough, uplifting, factual, inspirational, sincere, realistic, historical drama, sentimental
Similar in 90%
Lincoln (2012)
Plot Summary:
A revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President's tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 270000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, India
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: political, period piece, emotional, epic, factual, thought provoking, suspense, sentimental, historical drama, captivating
Similar in 89%
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Plot Summary:
As U.S. troops storm the beaches of Normandy, three brothers lie dead on the battlefield, with a fourth trapped behind enemy lines. Ranger captain John Miller and seven men are tasked with penetrating German-held territory and bringing the boy home.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 15000000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 169 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, breathtaking, captivating, touching, motivational, rough, visually stunning, tense, inspirational