Best movies like Path to War
Last updated March 2024
Looking for movies related to Path to War? Leverage your knowledge to direct others toward tv shows and films you've watched previously that may also preoccupy them. Support increasing the cohort of people bringing up videos among each other. We appreciate your contribution!
Plot Summary:
From director John Frankenheimer ('The Manchurian Candidate') comes this powerful drama of soaring ambition and shattered dreams that takes a provocative insider's look at the way our country goes to war--as seen from inside the LBJ White House leading up to and during Vietnam.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 165 min
Plot tags: political, tense, serious, realistic, non fiction, cult classic, cult film, political drama
Best tv shows and movies like Path to War (2002):
Similar in 82%
Platoon Leader (1988)
Plot Summary:
West Point graduate lieutenant Jeff Knight meets cynicism when taking command of sergeant Michael McNamara's tour veterans platoon in a Vietnamese trench camp. Unlike his predecessor, who hid till the end of his tour, Jeff takes charge, experiences the manual doesn't allow coping with all realities and gets wounded. He returns, now fully respect by men and superiors. Besides the Vietcong, the platoon wrestles with the inscrutable villagers, which the G.I.'s officially protect, but also fear as some collaborate with them, other covertly with the Cong, either way subject to bloody reprisals.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, cult classic, independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, eighties, cult film
Similar in 88%
Latino (1985)
Plot Summary:
The fighting between the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and the Contra rebels backed by U.S. money and expertise is the focus of this pro-Sandinista film by Haskell Wexler. On a secret mission to help the U.S. Special Forces train Contra rebels in the jungles of Nicaragua, American soldier Eddie Guerrero begins to question the morality of the task at hand and consider how his actions may influence the fate of a nation.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 208
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: political, independent film, sincere, thought provoking, serious, realistic, disturbing, biting, suspense
Similar in 78%
Bethune: The Making of a Hero (1990)
Plot Summary:
True story of Norman Bethune, a medical doctor who fought for justice in China during Mao's rise to power.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 407
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Canada, China, France
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: realistic, thought provoking, serious, epic, exciting, suspense, independent film, tense, sincere, uplifting
Similar in 78%
Under Fire (1983)
Plot Summary:
Three U.S. journalists (Nick Nolte, Joanna Cassidy, Gene Hackman) get too close to one another and their work in 1979 Nicaragua.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, political, atmospheric, serious, emotional, suspenseful, political thriller, cult classic, independent film
Similar in 88%
A Bright Shining Lie (1998)
Plot Summary:
Something in his past keeps career Army man John Paul Vann from advancing past colonel. He views being sent to Vietnam as part of the US military advisory force a stepping stone to promotion. However, he disagrees vocally (and on the record) with the way the war is being run and is forced to leave the military. Returning to Vietnam as a civilian working with the Army, he comes to despise some South Vietnamese officers while he takes charge of some of the U.S. forces and continues his liaisons with Vietnamese women.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, cult film
Similar in 75%
LBJ: The Early Years (1987)
Plot Summary:
LBJ: The Early Years was a television movie that appeared on the NBC network in February 1987, depicting the life of former President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson from 1934 until 1973. Actor Randy Quaid won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Johnson.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 278
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: sincere, thought provoking, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, political
Similar in 86%
The Hanoi Hilton (1987)
Plot Summary:
Lionel Chetwynd's film documents the horrific struggles that faced American POWs held in the North Vietnamese prison Hoa Lo -- more infamously known as the Hanoi Hilton -- between 1964 and 1975. Williamson (Michael Moriarty) leads a group of American servicemen who are prisoners at the detention camp. He assumes command after Cathcart (Lawrence Pressman) is dragged off to be tortured.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: political, grindhouse, independent film, rough, thought provoking, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
Similar in 87%
Faith of My Fathers (2005)
Plot Summary:
Faith of My Fathers is based on the story of Lieutenant Commander John McCain's experiences as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for five and a half years during the Vietnam War, interleaved with his memories of growing up in a heritage rich with military service.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 643
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, captivating, disturbing, suspense, bleak, realistic, cult film
Similar in 84%
The Pentagon Papers (2003)
Plot Summary:
This compelling political drama is based on the true story of high-ranking Pentagon official Daniel Ellsberg, who, during the Nixon era, strove to preserve American democracy by leaking top-secret documents to the New York Times and Washington Post. The documents in question would eventually become famous as the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the true reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, disturbing, captivating, realistic, political, bleak
Similar in 76%
The Iron Triangle (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on the diary of an unknown Viet Cong soldier, this film provides a sympathetic look at a Viet Cong soldier who protected a captured American soldier whom he believed did not kill him when the American had the opportunity. Written by John Sacksteder.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 532
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, serious, independent film, bleak, captivating, cult film
Similar in 90%
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
Plot Summary:
Radio funny man Adrian Cronauer is sent to Vietnam to bring a little comedy back into the lives of the soldiers. After setting up shop, Cronauer delights the G.I.s but shocks his superior officer, Sergeant Major Dickerson, with his irreverent take on the war. While Dickerson attempts to censor Cronauer's broadcasts, Cronauer pursues a relationship with a Vietnamese girl named Trinh, who shows him the horrors of war first-hand.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 151000
Genere: Biography, Comedy, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: funny, feel good, clever, political, sentimental, sincere, offbeat, humorous, realistic, parody
Similar in 87%
Go Tell the Spartans (1978)
Plot Summary:
Go Tell the Spartans is a 1978 American war film based on Daniel Ford's 1967 novel "Incident at Muc Wa." It tells the story about U.S. Army military advisers during the early part of the Vietnam War. Led my Major Asa Barker, these advisers and their South Vietnamese counterparts defend the village of Muc Wa against multiple attacks by Viet-Cong guerrillas.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, bleak, realistic, independent film, contemplative, gloomy, cult film
Similar in 79%
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 75%
Everyman's War (2009)
Plot Summary:
No one in high command believed that German forces would attack in the sub zero temperatures and near blizzard conditions. As the pre-dawn attack comes, with communications down Sgt. Smith is left with no choice but to make his way through enemy fire, unarmed and wounded, into town and warn of the coming attack. Based on actual accounts "Everyman's War" explores the heroic events of this decorated veterans courage and the struggle between duty and desire. Between the prospect of the life and love, Dorine that waits at home and the harsh realities of war which marks the pivotal epoch in his life as he discovers that the loss of hope can be worse than the loss of life. One man's courage... One man's hope...Everyman's War.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, uplifting
Similar in 77%
Bat*21 (1988)
Plot Summary:
Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory the Air Force very much wants to get him back. Hambleton knows the area he's in is going to be carpet-bombed but a temporary shortage of helicopters causes a delay. Working with an Air Force reconnaissance pilot, Capt. Bartholomew Clark, he maps out an escape route.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, harsh, exciting, serious, suspenseful, rough, tense, sentimental, light
Similar in 85%
84C MoPic (1989)
Plot Summary:
A cameraman embedded with a reconnaissance patrol charts their mission across territory controlled by the Vietnamese. An impressively naturalistic Vietnam film. Impressive performance by unknown actors in this low-budget Vietnam drama. The story is being told in the form of a documentary; a camera team follows an Army unit in pursuit of 'Charlie'. Filmed in Southern California. The movie's producing company itself is called '84 Charlie MoPic'.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, mockumentary, independent film, cult film
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 75%
Fidel & Che (2002)
Plot Summary:
Fidel Castro rises to power in Cuba.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA, Mexico
Duration: 206 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, tense, sincere, edutainment
Similar in 78%
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 85%
Jackie, Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot (2001)
Plot Summary:
They were more than Washington wives. They were part of an American dream known as Camelot. With strength and cunning they upheld their public image by concealing their private truths. Jackie, Ethel and Joan had little choice. They were Kennedy women. What really unfolded behind the monolith of Kennedy power is revealed for the first time: the true story of the Kennedy reign told through the eyes of the three women who lived it.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 453
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 163 min
Plot tags: realistic, sincere, serious, political, contemplative, talky
Similar in 83%
Lumumba (2000)
Plot Summary:
The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later redeemed leader of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Using newly discovered historical evidence, Haitian-born and later Congo-raised writer and director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of the mail clerk and beer salesman with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland to build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgium overlords. Lumumba emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States, the international community, and Lumumba's own administration; a true story of political intrigue and murder where political entities, captains of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political hegemony.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: France, Belgium, Germany, Haiti
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: political, realistic, serious, suspenseful, tense, sincere, thought provoking, contemplative, biting, sexy
Similar in 89%
Seven Days in May (1964)
Plot Summary:
A U.S. Army general alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: political thriller, tense, political, black and white, suspense, suspenseful, atmospheric, intense, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Plot Summary:
The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 114000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: factual, disturbing, emotional, realistic, intense, thought provoking, serious, captivating, psychological, sincere
Similar in 82%
The Day Reagan Was Shot (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Day Reagan Was Shot is a 2001 film made for television directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh. The film stars Richard Dreyfuss as Alexander Haig and Richard Crenna as Ronald Reagan.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: realistic, disturbing, semi serious, suspense, tense, political, biting, fake documentary
Similar in 80%
All the Way (2016)
Plot Summary:
Lyndon B. Johnson's amazing 11-month journey from taking office after JFK's assassination, through the fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his own presidential campaign, culminating on the night LBJ is actually elected to the office – no longer the 'accidental President.'.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tense, realistic, factual, talky, intense, political, historical drama, non fiction, cult classic, inspirational
Similar in 90%
Truman (1995)
Plot Summary:
Biographical account of America's President for the latter part of WWII. Shows Truman's rise from small-town nobody to leader of the USA, his decision to use the Atomic Bomb against Japan, and subsequent election as the US' post-war President.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 135 min
Plot tags: political, historical drama, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, political drama
Similar in 78%
Warm Springs (2005)
Plot Summary:
Franklin Roosevelt, left a paraplegic from polio at 39 years of age, seeks out a miracle cure in the backwoods of Georgia.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, uplifting, realistic, political, captivating, historical drama, historically accurate, touching, serious
Similar in 82%
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 82%
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 84%
Nixon (1995)
Plot Summary:
An all-star cast powers this epic look at American President Richard M. Nixon, a man carrying the fate of the world on his shoulders while battling the self-destructive demands within. Spanning his troubled boyhood in California to the shocking Watergate scandal that would end his presidency.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 192 min
Plot tags: political, factual, talky, compassionate, intense, thought provoking, realistic, sincere, touching, serious