Best movies like The Deserters
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Set in military barracks in a small town during World War I. The soldiers herded in the barracks are 'politically suspect' mix of characters from all over of the Austro-Hungarian Empire: Czechs, Jews, and even Italians, but officers in charge are Germans. A new lieutenant arrives with the mission to bring order to the unit. He is the sadist, enjoying humiliating the men. Fed up with his behaviour the lower ranks kidnap him one night and string him up in a public toilet. They also make sure that he fouls up during the inspection. Eventually the five ring leaders are imprisoned. They escape and end up in Budapest posing as guards as guards of veterinary surgeons. They are caught and sent back to face a court martial and their old tormentor.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: Poland, Hungary
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, biting, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like The Deserters (1986):
Similar in 77%
Colonel Kwiatkowski (1995)
Plot Summary:
In 1945, military doctor Andrzej Kwiatkowski pretends to be a communist army colonel in order to save innocent people from Stalinist imprisonment and to get the heart of the girl he's in love with.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, History, Romance, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: crying
Similar in 78%
Sadsacks Go to War (1974)
Plot Summary:
A Grand Slapstick comedy about four buddies serving in the army. Their long-suffering sergeant attempts to whip them into shape but the conflict spirals out of control.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 711
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, humorous, realistic, not serious, slapstick, fast
Similar in 82%
Asboobs: Asal Bobo (2003)
Plot Summary:
An ice cream vendor was bullied and thrown on a river.He swore to become a brave soldier. A spoiled brat snaps his adopted uncle and forced him to undergo military training. A barangay tanod is an action freak.He mauled even the well wishers for his birthday. A NEET accidentally burned a whole building while he was in an internet cafe.He was offered to be a soldier by his roommate. A mama's boy joins the military to strengthen his manhood and erase his mama's boy image.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 25
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: Philippines
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: funny, light, humorous, captivating, entertaining
Similar in 75%
California Dreamin' (2007)
Plot Summary:
Romanian director Cristian Nemescu's comedy California Dreamin' (aka Nesfarsit, 2007) unfolds against the backdrop of the Kosovo War, circa 1999. A NATO train rolls through a Romanian hamlet, transporting a plethora of weapons across the country -- without official documents, and equipped only with the verbal consent of the Romanian authorities. The transport thus grows intensely vulnerable.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: Romania
Duration: 155 min
Plot tags: touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious, intellectual, depressing, contemplative
Similar in 77%
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
Plot Summary:
A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival first. The lieutenant convinces the Captain this is the only way. Because of aerial reconnaissance, they must look like they are fighting. To sort this out an intelligence officer is sent in. Meanwhile the festival gets complicated with the Mayors daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: black comedy, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, cult film
Similar in 81%
The Adventures of Gerard (1970)
Plot Summary:
Based on satirical short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a vain, egotistical Etienne Gerard, a French brigadier serving during the Napoleonic Wars. He thinks he's the best soldier and lover that ever lived and intends to prove it.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, History, War
Country: UK, Switzerland
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 89%
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy (1971)
Plot Summary:
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy (1971) is a comedy film directed by Leslie H. Martinson, starring Rosalind Russell and Darren McGavin, and released by United Artists. This was Russell's last theatrical film role, with one TV movie in 1972. Russell adapted the novel The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, written by Dorothy Gilman under the pseudonym C. A. McKnight.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 537
Genere: Adventure, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: spy comedy, hilarious, independent film, exciting, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 80%
The Rendez-Vous of D?j?-Vu (2013)
Plot Summary:
Hector meets Truquette on Bastille Day and becomes obsessed with seducing her. The plan is to get her to the seaside pronto. Pator is not complaining, especially if her friend Charlotte comes along for the ride. So off they go, down the country roads of a broke and broken France. Times are hard ! Suddenly the government cancels a month of summer. Everyone back to work! A wad of cash and two gun shots later, the group splits in two like France itself. But careering away from work in no way daunts the remaining trio, dead set on relocating the Bastille Girl and reveling in an endless summer.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy
Country: France
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, captivating, offbeat, road movie
Similar in 89%
The Career of Nikos Dyzma (2002)
Plot Summary:
Nikos is a master of funeral ceremonies (that's undertaker to you and me) who doesn't expect much from life. After drunkenly insulting a diplomat at a party, weird things begin to happen for Nikos. The news that a mysterious stranger offended the hated Deputy Prime Minister galvanizes the political elite assembled at the banquet, and a rumor that Nikos can take care of anything spreads like wildfire, making him an idol of the masses.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy
Country: Poland
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, entertaining, realistic, biting, suspense
Similar in 83%
How I Unleashed World War II (1970)
Plot Summary:
How I unleashed World War II is a Polish feature film made in 1969, based on Kazimierz Sławiński's novel "Przygody kanoniera Dolasa" (The adventures of Dolas the cannoneer). The film was divided into three parts: Ucieczka (The escape), Za bronią (Following the arms) and Wśród swoich (Among friends).
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: Poland
Duration: 224 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 80%
Which Way to the Front? (1970)
Plot Summary:
Brendan Byers III (Jerry Lewis), one of the richest men in America, has been pronounced 4-F and can't serve his country in it's war against Hitler. Byers does not takes "No" for an answer and recruits other 4-F's to fight against Hitler.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: slapstick, exciting, humorous, realistic, not serious, slapstick comedy, cult film
Similar in 83%
Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
Plot Summary:
A movie about the First World War based on a stage musical of the same name, portraying the "Game of War" and focusing mainly on the members of one family (last name Smith) who go off to war. Much of the action in the movie revolves around the words of the marching songs of the soldiers, and many scenes portray some of the more famous (and infamous) incidents of the war, including the assassination of Duke Ferdinand, the Christmas meeting between British and German soldiers in no-mans-land, and the wiping out by their own side of a force of Irish soldiers newly arrived at the front, after successfully capturing a ridge that had been contested for some time.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Musical, War
Country: UK
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: humorous, cynical, satirical, tense, thought provoking, captivating, parody, political, black comedy, cult classic
Similar in 83%
On the Double (1961)
Plot Summary:
American GI Ernie Williams, admittedly weak-kneed, has an uncanny resemblance to British Colonel MacKenzie. Williams, also a master of imitation and disguise, is asked to impersonate the Colonel, ostensibly to allow the Colonel to make a secret trip East. What Williams is not told is that the Colonel has recently been a target of assassins. After the Colonel's plane goes down, the plan changes and Williams maintains the disguise to confuse the Nazis about D-Day.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 848
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: retro, independent film, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, spy comedy
Similar in 89%
The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
Plot Summary:
An American Infantry officer assigned to a cloak-and-dagger role in Rome uses homing pigeons for outside contact, with humorous results.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 464
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, realistic, semi serious, freeze frame
Similar in 75%
The Roses of the Desert (2006)
Plot Summary:
A sanitary battalion of Italian Army is sent to Sorman oasis in Lybia during the Africa campaign in 1940. Soon an Italian missionary, living nearby, succeed to transform the occupation by Italian Army in a kind of humanitarian mission. In fact all the battalion is involved to help the local population. The war anyway goes on with no regards to human feelings. The "glorious" Fascist campaign is going to became a fast retreat.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 445
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: Italy
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 86%
Privates on Parade (1983)
Plot Summary:
It is 1947, the year of the communist rebellion in Malaya and the British army's SADUSEA (Song And Dance Unit South East Asia) are called to the Malayan Jungle to entertain the troops. The eccentric, bible-bashing Major Giles Flack (John Cleese) is in command of the unit. Flack is accompanied by an ageing, theatrical drama queen, Terri Dennis (Denis Quilley) who hopes to entertain the troops with his flamboyant impressions, but the bored troops find other ways to enjoy themselves.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 977
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, entertaining, independent film
Similar in 78%
Black and White in Color (1976)
Plot Summary:
French colonists in Africa, several months behind in the news, find themselves at war with their German neighbors. Deciding that they must do their proper duty and fight the Germans, they promptly conscript the local native population. Issuing them boots and rifles, the French attempt to make "proper" soldiers out of the Africans. A young, idealistic French geographer seems to be the only rational person in the town, and he takes over control of the "war" after several bungles on the part of the others.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, France, West Germany, Switzerland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, intercultural, suspense, period drama, inter cultural
Similar in 84%
Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! (1966)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, two French civilians and a downed English Bomber Crew set out from Paris to cross the demarcation line between Nazi-occupied Northern France and the South. From there they will be able to escape to England. First, they must avoid German troops - and the consequences of their own blunders.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: France, UK
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: humorous, exciting, realistic, semi serious, funny, compassionate, sincere, atmospheric, anthology, fast paced
Similar in 90%
Stripes (1981)
Plot Summary:
John Winger, an indolent sad sack in his 30s, impulsively joins the U.S. Army after losing his job, his girlfriend and his apartment.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: feel good, humorous, cult classic, intense, not serious, hilarious, sex comedy, funny, light, parody
Similar in 78%
Dad's Army (2016)
Plot Summary:
A cinema remake of the classic sitcom Dad's Army (1968). The Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon deal with a visiting female journalist and a German spy as World War II draws to its conclusion.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: UK
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: not serious, humorous, funny, light, feel good, captivating, entertaining, realistic
Similar in 87%
The Elusive Corporal (1962)
Plot Summary:
The story serves as a companion piece to Renoir's 1937 film, Grand Illusion, once more bringing together men from across the broad social spectrum of French society to depict one man's Sisyphean efforts to escape captivity in a German POW camp.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, War
Country: France
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, contemplative, semi serious
Similar in 76%
How I Won the War (1967)
Plot Summary:
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, witty, black comedy, parody, realistic, semi serious, dark comedy, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 85%
Guy X (2005)
Plot Summary:
A black comedy set in 1979, about a soldier mistakenly posted to an Arctic military base.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: Canada, Iceland, UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, dark comedy, offbeat, biting, black comedy, suspense
Similar in 75%
The Prisoner of Zenda (1979)
Plot Summary:
Anthony Hope's classic tale gets a decidedly 'un-classic' treatment at the hands of Peter Sellers. Following the story somewhat, friends of the new King Rudolph of Ruritania fear for his life, and switch him with a look-a-like London cabby. Throw in two(!) lovely blondes, treachery, and a battle for life and honour, and enjoy life at its zaniest.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: exciting, feel good, humorous, realistic, semi serious, parody, spoof, slapstick comedy, slapstick
Similar in 75%
Hannibal Brooks (1969)
Plot Summary:
A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the Americans and the director of the zoo decides it is not safe for his Asian elephant Lucy to remain there. So he sends Brooks to safety with Lucy. They escape and go on the run in order to get to Switzerland.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, humorous, realistic, semi serious, buddy comedy, action comedy, cult film
Similar in 83%
The Ascent (1994)
Plot Summary:
The real-life adventure of a dashing Italian soldier who escapes a British prisoner-of-war camp because he dreams of climbing 17,000-foot Mt. Kenya and planting the Italian flag at the summit. The obsessive British camp commander pursues him, and the two men are locked in a battle of wills, fuelled by honor and their love for the same woman.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 205
Genere: Adventure, War
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: independent film, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 84%
Escape to Athena (1979)
Plot Summary:
During the World War II, the prisoners of a German camp in a greek island are trying to escape. They don't want only their freedom, but they also seek for an ineffable treasure hidden in a monastery at the top of the island's mountain.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: UK
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, suspense, disturbing, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, historical drama
Similar in 78%
Two Men Went to War (2002)
Plot Summary:
Comedy drama based on the true story of two British Army dentists who in 1942, eager to see action, go AWOL and invade occupied France on their own.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 934
Genere: Comedy, War, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, entertaining, captivating, offbeat, realistic
Similar in 85%
The Pentagon Wars (1998)
Plot Summary:
From the director of “Made In America” and “The Money Pit” comes a hilarious look at one of the most expensive blunders in military history. Over 17 years and almost as many billion dollars have gone into devising the BFV (Bradley Fighting Vehicle). There's only one problem. . . it doesn't work.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Comedy, War
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, disturbing, semi serious, satirical, dark comedy, clever, biting, suspense
Similar in 81%
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Plot Summary:
A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, War
Country: Yugoslavia, USA
Duration: 144 min
Plot tags: entertaining, light, cynical, semi serious, humorous, realistic, witty, parody, action comedy, relaxing