Best movies like Lawrence of Arabia
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of British officer T.E. Lawrence's mission to aid the Arab tribes in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Lawrence becomes a flamboyant, messianic figure in the cause of Arab unity but his psychological instability threatens to undermine his achievements.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 309000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 218 min
Plot tags: epic, captivating, breathtaking, visually appealing, visually stunning, scenic, factual, exciting, realistic, stylized
Best tv shows and movies like Lawrence of Arabia (1962):
Similar in 81%
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Plot Summary:
A robust adventure about two British adventurers who take over primitive Kafiristan as "godlike" rulers, meeting a tragic end through their desire for a native girl. Based on a short story by Rudyard Kipling.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 51000
Genere: Adventure, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: epic, breathtaking, humorous, witty, funny, retro, philosophical, bloody, satanic, costume drama
Similar in 78%
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 78%
The Duellists (1977)
Plot Summary:
In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: costume drama, visually appealing, period piece, cult classic, realistic, stylized, satanic, action adventure, historical drama, serious
Similar in 80%
March or Die (1977)
Plot Summary:
The French Foreign Legion, in the early 20s, is tasked to protect a group of Archaeologists in the middle east. After scenes depicting the hardship of day-to-day Foreign Legion life, and the ragtag collection of people who join, the local Arabs take offence at the Archaeologists and declare Jihad. A large battle takes place, with the inevitable last stand.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, tense, suspense, epic, independent film
Similar in 85%
Gallipoli (1981)
Plot Summary:
As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank, both agile runners, become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, touching, harsh, emotional, intense, serious, captivating, realistic, depressing, sad
Similar in 89%
Lion of the Desert (1980)
Plot Summary:
This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya in WWII. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Libya
Duration: 173 min
Plot tags: epic, islamic, exciting, inspirational, feel good, political, suspense, sad, dramatic, controversial
Similar in 86%
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 79%
The Antagonists (1981)
Plot Summary:
After the destruction of the Second Temple, 900 Jewish zealots hold out against a 5000 man Roman legion on the mountaintop fortress of Masada.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 394 min
Plot tags: captivating, exciting, tense, serious, biblical, political thriller, mythical, realistic, epic
Similar in 80%
The Message (1976)
Plot Summary:
Handsomely-mounted historical epic concerns the birth of the Islamic faith and the story of the prophet Mohammed.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 50000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Lebanon, Libya, Kuwait, Morocco, UK, Egypt
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags: epic, controversial, islamic, breathtaking, spiritual, dramatic, thinking, esoteric, historically accurate, profound
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 75%
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%
The Four Feathers (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story, set in 1875, follows a British officer (Heath Ledger) who resigns his post when he learns of his regiment's plan to ship out to the Sudan for the conflict with the Mahdi. His friends and fiancée send him four white feathers which symbolize cowardice. To redeem his honor he disguises himself as an Arab and secretly saves the lives of those who branded him a coward.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, serious, atmospheric, touching, captivating, epic, intense, inspirational, romantic
Similar in 85%
Hidalgo (2004)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1890, this is the story of a Pony Express courier who travels to Arabia to compete with his horse, Hidalgo, in a dangerous race for a massive contest prize, in an adventure that sends the pair around the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 85000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, Sport, Western
Country: USA, Morocco
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: inspirational, exciting, epic, scenic, factual, intense, serious, captivating, realistic, period piece
Similar in 83%
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Plot Summary:
A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 54000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: suspense, exciting, tense, intense, serious, epic, fast paced, realistic, suspenseful, retro
Similar in 82%
Gettysburg (1993)
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
Similar in 86%
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 86%
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Plot Summary:
Doctor Zhivago is the filmed adapation of the Russian novel by Boris Pasternak from director David Lean that was an international success and today deemed a classic. Omar Sharif and Julie Christie play two protagonists who in fact love each other yet because of their current situation cannot find a way be together.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 81000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Italy, UK, USA
Duration: 197 min
Plot tags: epic, atmospheric, emotional, romantic, scenic, costume drama, visual, sentimental, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Che: Part One (2008)
Plot Summary:
The Argentine, begins as Che and a band of Cuban exiles (led by Fidel Castro) reach the Cuban shore from Mexico in 1956. Within two years, they mobilized popular support and an army and toppled the U.S.-friendly regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 48000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Spain, USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: political, talky, intense, sincere, captivating, thought provoking, serious, heroic, realistic, cerebral
Similar in 88%
War Horse (2011)
Plot Summary:
Follows a young man named Albert and his horse, Joey, and how their bond is broken when Joey is sold to the cavalry and sent to the trenches of World War One. Despite being too young to enlist, Albert heads to France to save his friend.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 164000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, India
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, epic, uplifting, captivating, sentimental, melancholic, serious, crying, sad
Similar in 76%
Lone Survivor (2013)
Plot Summary:
Four Navy SEALs on a covert mission to neutralize a high-level al-Qaeda operative must make an impossible moral decision in the mountains of Afghanistan that leads them into an enemy ambush. As they confront unthinkable odds, the SEALs must find reserves of strength and resilience to fight to the finish.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 303000
Genere: Action, Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: rough, tense, captivating, emotional, exciting, disturbing, realistic, serious, intense, touching
Similar in 78%
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%
1917 (2019)
Plot Summary:
At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers—Blake's own brother among them.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 654000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA, India, Spain
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: tense, period piece, entertaining, sad, visually stunning, suspense, psychological, rough, serious, captivating
Similar in 86%
Patton (1970)
Plot Summary:
"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 107000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 172 min
Plot tags: breathtaking, realistic, patriotic, historical drama, epic, political, art house, spectacular, aesthetic, twisted
Similar in 85%
Che: Part Two (2008)
Plot Summary:
After the Cuban Revolution, Che is at the height of his fame and power. Then he disappears, re-emerging incognito in Bolivia, where he organizes a small group of Cuban comrades and Bolivian recruits to start the great Latin American Revolution. Through this story, we come to understand how Che remains a symbol of idealism and heroism that lives in the hearts of people around the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Spain, France, USA, Germany
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: political, inspirational, suspense, talky, factual, atmospheric, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 84%
Henry V (1989)
Plot Summary:
Gritty adaption of William Shakespeare's play about the English King's bloody conquest of France.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, exciting, costume drama, atmospheric, serious, rough, captivating, stylized, breathtaking
Similar in 83%
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Plot Summary:
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds, lead by Lt. Aldo Raine soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 15000000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, War
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: absurd, suspense, atmospheric, captivating, tense, dark comedy, witty, epic, rough, realistic
Similar in 76%
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Plot Summary:
After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 307000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, Germany, Spain, Morocco, USA, Italy, France
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: epic, serious, exciting, realistic, period piece, scenic, harsh, visually stunning, historical drama, intense
Similar in 79%
Gandhi (1982)
Plot Summary:
In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 238000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, India, USA, South Africa
Duration: 191 min
Plot tags: epic, spiritual, inspirational, political, uplifting, factual, motivational, touching, compassionate, emotional
Similar in 83%
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
Similar in 80%
Braveheart (1995)
Plot Summary:
Enraged at the slaughter of Murron, his new bride and childhood love, Scottish warrior William Wallace slays a platoon of the local English lord's soldiers. This leads the village to revolt and, eventually, the entire country to rise up against English rule.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: epic, emotional, factual, breathtaking, scenic, inspirational, exciting, rough, period piece, entertaining