Best movies like Return from the River Kwai
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A group of war prisoners has spilt blood, sweat and tears to construct a bridge over the river Kwai in Thailand. Just when the bridge is ready, an American bomber arrives and destroys it. Camp commander Tanaka wants to set an example and orders that some of the prisoners must be executed. Just in time major Harada arrives with orders that the healthiest prisoners must be transported to Japan by train and boat. A treacherous journey since the allied forces keep a close eye on railroads and practically own the seas.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Return from the River Kwai (1989):
Similar in 80%
The Tenth Man (1988)
Plot Summary:
During World War 2 the Germans arrested people at random off the streets of Paris and in retaliation to sabotage by the resistance announced the execution of one in ten prisoners. Chosen as one of the victims, lawyer Chavel trades his place with another man in return for all his possessions. At the end of the war he returns to his house and tries to integrate himself with the family of the man who traded places with him, all the while hiding his true identity. However matters are complicated when a stranger arrives claiming to be Chavel.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: noir, tense, sentimental, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama, tragic
Similar in 84%
The Secret of Blood Island (1965)
Plot Summary:
Based on the true story of a British secret agent, shot down over Malaya near to a Allied POW forced labour camp. There she is hidden, disguised as a youthful prisoner, until her escape can be effected. The costs of keeping her identity secret fall on all the POW's as the Japanese embark on a policy of ruthless terror to extract her and the focus shifts to the conflicts of the group' s collective concerns against the necessities of personal survival.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: grindhouse
Similar in 80%
The Longest Hundred Miles (1967)
Plot Summary:
During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, an assorted group of refugees, including an American soldier, an Army nurse, a priest and a group of local children, try to make their getaway aboard a rattletrap, creaky bus.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 222
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 88%
The Password Is Courage (1962)
Plot Summary:
A British officer, captured by the Germans, tries everything he can to escape. In the process, amongst many other adventures he gets awarded the Iron Cross !! Based on a true story.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: sitcom, historical drama
Similar in 78%
The Heroes (1989)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, The Heroes follows one of the most extraordinary and heroic exploits of World War II. After months of rigorous training in the north of Australia, a team of 14 men, most barely out of their teens, set sail from Cairns on board a leaky old fishing boat called 'The Krait'. Their mission, code-named Operation Jaywick, became a tense voyage through thousands of kilometres of Japanese held territory to launch a daring attack on Singapore Harbour. The raid is a success but within sight of safety they encounter a Japanese destroyer, and all prepare to die rather than be taken prisoner.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 189
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 208 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
The Great Escape II: The Untold Story (1988)
Plot Summary:
Allied prisoners tunnel out of a stalag, then return to avenge fellow escapees executed by the Nazis.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 580
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 178 min
Plot tags: ridiculous
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Weekend at Dunkirk (1964)
Plot Summary:
In June 1940, during the Dunkirk evacuation of Allied troops to England, French sergeant Julien Maillat and his men debate whether to evacuate to Britain or stay and fight the German troops that are closing-in from all directions. - from IMDB.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
In Enemy Country (1968)
Plot Summary:
Wartime secret agents are on a mission to destroy a deadly new type of torpedo, hidden in a Nazi stronghold in France.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 248
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 86%
Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
Plot Summary:
On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen. In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. Written by Anthony Hughes.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 944
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: cult classic, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
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The Highest Honor (1982)
Plot Summary:
On 11 September 1944, a squad of 23 Australian and British soldiers lead by Lieutanant-Colonel Ivan Lyon leave Fremantle bound for Indonesia as part of Operation Rimau, an attempted repeat of the highly-successful Operation Jaywick the previous year in which nearly sixty ships in Japanese-occupied Singapore Harbour were destroyed.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 160
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, Japan
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: independent film
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Sharpe: The Legend (1997)
Plot Summary:
Several years after the battle of Waterloo, a former soldier from Shoreditch sits in a London inn reminiscing about the brave and determined officer who took him to hell and back. The narrator is Rifleman Cooper, and the officer whose fame he recalls is the legendary Richard Sharpe.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 552
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 90%
King Rat (1965)
Plot Summary:
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. This was a POW detention center like no other. There were no walls or barbed-wire fences for the simple reason that there was no place for the prisoners to escape to. Included among the prisoners is the American Cpl. King, a wheeler dealer who has managed to established a pretty good life for himself in the camp. While most of the prisoners are near starvation and have uniforms that are in tatters, King eats well and and has crisp clean clothes to wear every day. His nemesis is Lt. Robin Grey, the camp Provost who attempts to keep good order and discipline. He knows that King is breaking camp rules by bartering with the Japanese but can't quite get the evidence he needs to stop him. King soon forms a friendship with Lt. Peter Marlowe an upper class British officer who is fascinated with King's élan and no rules approach to life.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: black and white, bleak, realistic, sad, rough, serious, suspenseful, independent film, freeze frame, feel good
Similar in 90%
1971 (2007)
Plot Summary:
Based on true facts, the film revolves around 6 brave soldiers who escape from the clutches of the Pakistan Army and risk death with honour and courage with sacrifice towards their journey home.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: India
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: patriotic, tense, captivating, psychological, suspense, cult classic
Similar in 83%
The McKenzie Break (1970)
Plot Summary:
A German U-Boat commander and 600 prisoners plan a daring escape from a PoW camp in Scotland.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, suspenseful, serious, suspense, surprise ending, independent film, freeze frame, dark comedy, black comedy
Similar in 82%
The Burmese Harp (1985)
Plot Summary:
In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 190
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: odd
Similar in 84%
Great Battle of the Japan Sea (1969)
Plot Summary:
Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 263
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
The Human Condition III: A Soldier's Prayer (1961)
Plot Summary:
His ideals challenged by life as a conscript in war-time Japan's military, a pacifist faces ever greater tests in his fight for survival.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 190 min
Plot tags: existential, art house, poetic, atmospheric, bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, cynical, gloomy
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Code Name: Emerald (1985)
Plot Summary:
In april 1944, an allied agent is sent to France in order to rescue an "overlord" captured by the Germans. (An "overlord" is one of the few men who knew the date and place of the "D" day). To achieve this goal, he will be supported by a secret friend of the allies, a very important German officer and the French resistance. But the nazi SS is not resting.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful
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The Battle of the Last Panzer (1969)
Plot Summary:
The film looks through the eyes of the German offense during World War II, specifically a German tank crew who, after losing a battle, struggle to get home.
IMDB Rating: 3.7
IMDB Votes: 300
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Spain, Italy
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: macaroni combat
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For Those I Loved (1983)
Plot Summary:
Polish Martin Gray (Michael York) recalls the Holocaust, New York prosperity, and losing his wife (Brigitte Fossey) and family.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 561
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: France, Canada, Hungary
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags:
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Wallenberg: A Hero's Story (1985)
Plot Summary:
The story of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat responsible for saving thousands of lives from the Nazi Holocaust.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 417
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, Yugoslavia
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags:
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Japan's Longest Day (1967)
Plot Summary:
Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 989
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 85%
The Blockhouse (1973)
Plot Summary:
A group of Slave workers, drafted by the Nazis to help construct their coastal defenses in 1944 are trapped in an underground bunker when the Allies land at Normandy on D-Day. They find huge dtores of food but not enough candles. The slow dying of the light parallels their increasing boredom, illness and jealousy during their entrapment. Based on the Novel 'Le Blockhaus' by Jean Paul Clebert.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 632
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy, independent film
Similar in 84%
Overlord (1975)
Plot Summary:
During the war a young lad is called up and, with an increasing sense of foreboding, undertakes his army training ready for D-day.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: black and white, mind bending, psychedelic, political, surreal, independent film, psychological, tense, sincere, bleak
Similar in 80%
The Biggest Battle (1978)
Plot Summary:
A story of how World War II affected the lives of a German family and an American family, both of whom had sons and fathers fighting in the war.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 570
Genere: War, Drama
Country: Italy, West Germany, Yugoslavia
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: macaroni combat, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
Breakthrough (1979)
Plot Summary:
Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 82%
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honour and glory. In his view, the allied prisoners are cowards when they chose to surrender instead of commiting suicide. One of the prisoners, interpreter John Lawrence, tries to explain the japanese way of thinking, but is considered a traitor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, New Zealand, Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, bleak, realistic, sad, experimental, avant garde, art film, serious, crying
Similar in 87%
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
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Tobruk (1967)
Plot Summary:
In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, Spain
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: spectacular, exciting, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 79%
Too Young the Hero (1988)
Plot Summary:
WWII drama.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 540
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic