Best movies like The Deer Hunter
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
A group of working-class friends decides to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael and Nick were in love with the same woman. But all three are different men upon their return.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 356000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 183 min
Plot tags: epic, depressing, harsh, psychological, emotional, rough, disturbing, intense, controversial, serious
Best tv shows and movies like The Deer Hunter (1978):
Similar in 89%
The Last Full Measure (2019)
Plot Summary:
The incredible true story of Vietnam War hero William H. Pitsenbarger, a U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen medic who personally saved over sixty men. Thirty-two years later, Pentagon staffer Scott Huffman investigates a Congressional Medal of Honor request for Pitsenbarger and uncovers a high-level conspiracy behind the decades-long denial of the medal, prompting Huffman to put his own career on the line to seek justice for the fallen airman.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, sincere, captivating, disturbing, depressing, cult classic, period piece
Similar in 76%
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Plot Summary:
Tracing the struggle of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale to gain freedom from French colonial rule as seen through the eyes of Ali from his start as a petty thief to his rise to prominence in the organisation and capture by the French in 1957. The film traces the rebels' struggle and the increasingly extreme measures taken by the French government to quell the revolt.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 64000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Italy, Algeria
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: political, black and white, art house, bleak, realistic, disturbing, philosophical, sad, sincere, touching
Similar in 90%
Brothers (2009)
Plot Summary:
When his helicopter goes down during his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan, Marine Sam Cahill is presumed dead. Back home, brother Tommy steps in to look over Sam’s wife, Grace, and two children. Sam’s surprise homecoming triggers domestic mayhem.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 142000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: touching, psychological, emotional, tense, melancholic, suspense, heartbreaking, poignant, intense, rough
Similar in 86%
Taking Chance (2009)
Plot Summary:
Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, a volunteer military escort accompanies the body of Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps to his hometown in Wyoming.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 77 min
Plot tags: realistic, touching, emotional, sincere, sentimental, sad, serious, harsh, christian film, motivational
Similar in 77%
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 82%
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Plot Summary:
The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: cult classic, realistic, black and white, action adventure, independent film, rough, serious, suspenseful, gloomy, political thriller
Similar in 84%
Cross of Iron (1977)
Plot Summary:
It is 1943, and the German army, ravaged and demoralised, are hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of all this madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich are still vastly superior to the Russian army; however within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors. Steiner's lack of respect results in a growing animosity between the two.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, West Germany
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: political, brutal, cult classic, tense, bleak, realistic, independent film, philosophical, mind bending, psychedelic
Similar in 85%
Thank You for Your Service (2017)
Plot Summary:
A group of U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq struggle to integrate back into family and civilian life, while living with the memory of a war that threatens to destroy them long after they've left the battlefield.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA, India
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: tense, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, political, sad, independent film, patriotic, anamorphic, therapeutic
Similar in 87%
Johnny Got His Gun (1971)
Plot Summary:
Joe, a young American soldier, is hit by a mortar shell on the last day of World War I. He lies in a hospital bed in a fate worse than death - a quadruple amputee who has lost his arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Unbeknown to his doctors, he remains conscious and able to think, thereby reliving his life through strange dreams and memories and unable to distinguish whether he is awake or dreaming. He remains frustrated by his situation, until one day when Joe discovers a unique way to communicate with his caregivers.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: depressing, disturbing, thought provoking, surreal, political, psychological, atmospheric, controversial, black and white, emotional
Similar in 81%
Empire of the Sun (1987)
Plot Summary:
Jamie Graham, a privileged English boy, is living in Shanghai when the Japanese invade and force all foreigners into prison camps. Jamie is captured with an American sailor named Basie, who looks out for him while they are in the camp together. Even though he is separated from his parents and in a hostile environment, Jamie maintains his dignity and youthful spirits, providing a beacon of hope for the others held captive with him.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 133000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 153 min
Plot tags: sad, emotional, heartbreaking, period piece, touching, realistic, inspirational, historical drama, sincere, philosophical
Similar in 87%
Come and See (1985)
Plot Summary:
The invasion of a village in Byelorussia by German forces sends young Florya into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Florya finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: bleak, disturbing, thought provoking, rough, political, psychological, atmospheric, depressing, controversial, serious
Similar in 75%
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 75%
Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Plot Summary:
A drama based on the experiences of Agu, a child soldier fighting in the civil war of an unnamed African country. Follows the journey of a young boy, Agu, who is forced to join a group of soldiers in a fictional West African country. While Agu fears his commander and many of the men around him, his fledgling childhood has been brutally shattered by the war raging through his country, and he is at first torn between conflicting revulsion and fascination Depicts the mechanics of war and does not shy away from explicit, visceral detail, and paints a complex, difficult picture of Agu as a child soldier.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 86000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: disturbing, political, bleak, harsh, dramatic, tense, atmospheric, suspense, serious, rough
Similar in 87%
Jarhead (2005)
Plot Summary:
Jarhead is a film about a US Marine Anthony Swofford’s experience in the Gulf War. After putting up with an arduous boot camp, Swafford and his unit are sent to the Persian Gulf where they are eager to fight, but are forced to stay back from the action. Swofford struggles with the possibility of his girlfriend cheating on him, and as his mental state deteriorates, his desire to kill increases.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 203000
Genere: Biography, Drama, War
Country: USA, UK, Germany
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: realistic, emotional, factual, tense, serious, disturbing, suspenseful, psychological, visually stunning, dark comedy
Similar in 82%
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008)
Plot Summary:
When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno befriends Shmuel, a boy who lives on the other side of the fence where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 239000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: emotional, touching, sad, heartbreaking, sentimental, tear jerker, serious, crying, thought provoking, gloomy
Similar in 82%
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 86%
Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
Plot Summary:
A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 47000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 130 min
Plot tags: realistic, harsh, suspense, intense, serious, rough, cult classic, dark comedy, inspirational, retro
Similar in 81%
Platoon (1986)
Plot Summary:
As a young and naive recruit in Vietnam, Chris Taylor faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 432000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: epic, realistic, rough, disturbing, atmospheric, emotional, suspense, brutal, tense, harsh
Similar in 87%
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 90%
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Plot Summary:
When U.S. Rangers and an elite Delta Force team attempt to kidnap two underlings of a Somali warlord, their Black Hawk helicopters are shot down, and the Americans suffer heavy casualties, facing intense fighting from the militia on the ground.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 417000
Genere: Action, Drama, History, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: realistic, epic, rough, captivating, suspenseful, intense, factual, brutal, disturbing, political
Similar in 86%
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Plot Summary:
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 777000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: disturbing, suspense, bleak, cult classic, psychological, psychological thriller, clever, political, visually stunning, tense
Similar in 77%
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 90%
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Plot Summary:
Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 468000
Genere: Drama, Thriller, War
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspense, emotional, tense, serious, rough, psychological, political, sad, factual
Similar in 82%
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 87%
Fury (2014)
Plot Summary:
Last months of World War II in April 1945. As the Allies make their final push in the European Theater, a battle-hardened U.S. Army sergeant in the 2nd Armored Division named Wardaddy commands a Sherman tank called "Fury" and its five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 532000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, China, UK
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: serious, exciting, tense, rough, suspenseful, realistic, sad, cult classic, historical drama, psychological
Similar in 86%
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 84%
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Plot Summary:
While serving time for insanity at a state mental hospital, implacable rabble-rouser, Randle Patrick McMurphy inspires his fellow patients to rebel against the authoritarian rule of head nurse, Mildred Ratched.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 11000000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 133 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, dramatic, serious, captivating, surprise ending, tragicomedy, bleak, emotional, inspirational
Similar in 77%
Taxi Driver (1976)
Plot Summary:
A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 898000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: psychological, neo noir, bleak, cult classic, disturbing, controversial, psychological thriller, depressing, rough, atmospheric
Similar in 80%
Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Plot Summary:
Inspired by true events, this film takes place in Rwanda in the 1990s when more than a million Tutsis were killed in a genocide that went mostly unnoticed by the rest of the world. Hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina houses over a thousand refuges in his hotel in attempt to save their lives.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 368000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, South Africa, Italy, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: emotional, intense, informative, rough, political, sad, depressing, inspirational, sincere, touching
Similar in 87%
Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
Plot Summary:
WWII American Army Medic Desmond T. Doss, who served during the Battle of Okinawa, refuses to kill people and becomes the first Conscientious Objector in American history to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 577000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Australia, USA, UK, China
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: inspirational, touching, sentimental, harsh, motivational, emotional, brutal, tense, christian film, suspense