Best tv shows like The Cowra Breakout
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
In August 1944, 1104 Japanese prisoners of war at the Australian POW camp at Cowra stage a mass breakout. Four guards are killed in the escape, and 231 prisoners die by wounds sustained or suicide, while 334 prisoners are recaptured over the subsequent nine days.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 137
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags:
Best tv shows and movies like The Cowra Breakout (1984):
Similar in 75%
Great Transport (1983)
Plot Summary:
This WW2 epic was one of the last movies of that kind made in former Yugoslavia. It tells the true story of great transport of Partizans from Vojvodina to Bosnia in 1943.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 177
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Yugoslavia
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: epic
Similar in 83%
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 79%
Dear Elza! (2014)
Plot Summary:
"Mankind is nature's greatest mistake. In his actions echoes millions of years of instinct and a few genius's idea's useless revolution." End of 1942, eastern front, Ukraine. Private Lombos, tied to his family and his homeland by a strong loyalty, is serving in the Royal Hungarian Army. Due to an administrational error, he cannot go back home on leave. Despite his sorrow, he does his duty and takes up arms again to march further into the hell of the eastern front. During an attack he gets wounded and he's forced to spend a night behind enemy lines hiding out in a pit, where he meets an old man. They talk through the night, and the old man's words tremble his unbroken faith in his family and his country. As the dawn approaches, soviet shtrafbat soldiers find them and Private Lombos falls into captivity, then soon he's forced to join the "mine tramplers", a penal battalion whose soldiers clear minefields by stepping on them. Lombos has a hard time fitting into this new scenery, but the.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Hungary
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 77%
Two Half-Times in Hell (1961)
Plot Summary:
To celebrate Hitler's birthday, a soccer match is organized between the Germans and prisoners of war.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Sport, War
Country: Hungary
Duration: 140 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, black and white
Similar in 77%
Changi (2001)
Plot Summary:
Changi is a six-part Australian television miniseries broadcast by ABC TV in 2001. It originally aired from 14 October 2001 to 18 November 2001.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 413
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance, War
Country: Australia
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 86%
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 84%
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
Similar in 87%
Jenny's War (1985)
Plot Summary:
This fact-based story follows a woman who launches a rescue of her Royal Air Force pilot son, who was shot down over Germany in 1941. Getting no help from the underground, she sets up her own rescue mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 198 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 81%
War Sailor (2023)
Plot Summary:
When WWII erupts, two sailors on a Norwegian merchant ship face brutal conditions as they fight to survive a conflict they were never asked to join. Based on true stories of Norwegian merchant sailors and their families during and after World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Norway, Germany, Malta
Duration: 175 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 79%
SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022)
Plot Summary:
The dramatised account of how the world’s greatest Special Forces unit, the SAS, was formed under extraordinary circumstances in the darkest days of World War Two.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Action, Drama, Thriller, War
Country: UK
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: satirical
Similar in 86%
12 O'Clock High (1964)
Plot Summary:
This series chronicles the adventures--in the air and on the ground--of the men of the 918th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. First commanded by irascible General Frank Savage--and later by Colonel Joe Gallagher, the son of a Pentagon General--the Group is stationed in England, and flies long-range bombing missions into German-held Europe.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: vintage
Similar in 81%
The Attackers (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Eastern Front, 1943. Two Soviet pilots, straight out of training, join a veteran fighter squadron on the front line.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 150
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 84%
The Penal Battalion (2004)
Plot Summary:
The authors of the television series studied archival materials and military chronicles. The last series ends with a demonstration of the list of penalty parts, which from 1942 to 1945 fought on the Soviet fronts.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 550 min
Plot tags: sentimental, captivating, realistic, exciting, suspenseful, rough
Similar in 88%
A Town Like Alice (1981)
Plot Summary:
Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades. From the steamy jungles of Malaya to the dusty and desolate outback of Australia Based on Nevil Shute' international bestselling novel A TOWN LIKE ALICE follows the lives of Jean Paget and Joe Harman. Meeting in Malaya--she an attractive young English captive and he a cheerful Australian POW tortured for a simple act of kindness. Separated first by their captors then by the distance of passing years, the two are finally reunited in the rugged outback of Australia-to face a challenge every bit as demanding as their wartime trials.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 301 min
Plot tags: vintage, period drama
Similar in 75%
Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980)
Plot Summary:
Filmed on location at Alcatraz Island, this two-part "whole story" actually concentrates on a handful of the denizens behind the cold grey walls of "The Rock". Michael Beck plays the real-life Clarence Carnes, an Oklahoma Choctaw Indian said to be the youngest man ever incarcerated in the notorious maximum security prison. Serving a 99-year sentence for a gas station holdup and murder, Carnes makes periodic attempts to escape, the final attempt being the most violent. Many of the subordinate characters are fictional (as are most of the details concerning Carnes' escape efforts); the one exception is Robert Stroud, the "Birdman of Alcatraz", here portrayed by Art Carney as a gentle, kindly philosopher. Telly Savalas, a costar of the Burt Lancaster vehicle Birdman of Alcatraz, also guest starred in the 1980 film. Originally titled Alcatraz and Clarence Carnes, this made-for-TV movie wavers between gritty realism and "I'm bustin' outta here!" artifice.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 327
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 196 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Quick and the Dead (1963)
Plot Summary:
Pretty intense war-action drama about a small group of soldiers who capture a German observation post, but in turn are captured themselves. They soon escape and--with the aid of two women--try to fight their way to safety.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 80%
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
Similar in 78%
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 84%
Batallions Ask for Fire (1985)
Plot Summary:
A story of a several days of intense fighting on the Eastern Front during one of the Soviet offensives in WWII.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 309
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 285 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 78%
Tenko (1981)
Plot Summary:
Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 813
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 85%
Colditz (2005)
Plot Summary:
Three prisoners, Jack Rose, Tom Willis and Nick McGrade, embark on an heroic plan to escape from a World War Two POW camp. As Rose And Willis are recaptured by the Germans, McGrade manages to traverse their clutches and travels to London to inform Rose's girlfriend of his capture. So begins a complex love story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, touching, exciting, tense, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 80%
Secret Army (1977)
Plot Summary:
World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period drama
Similar in 75%
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%
The Last Rescue (2015)
Plot Summary:
World World II: Shortly after D-Day, three American soldiers and two Army Corps nurses are stranded behind enemy lines. They take a high-ranking German officer as their prisoner and try to orchestrate an escape.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, tense, suspense
Similar in 78%
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 85%
Combat! (1962)
Plot Summary:
Combat! is an American television program that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The program starred Rick Jason as platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley and Vic Morrow as Sergeant "Chip" Saunders.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: retro, serious, realistic, vintage
Similar in 85%
Kokoda: 39th Battalion (2006)
Plot Summary:
A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, tense, inspirational
Similar in 75%
To End All Wars (2001)
Plot Summary:
Based on a real-life story, this drama focuses on a small group of Allied soldiers in Burma who are held captive by the Japanese. Capt. Ernest Gordon (Ciaran McMenamin), Lt. Jim Reardon (Kiefer Sutherland) and Maj. Ian Campbell (Robert Carlyle) are among the military officers kept imprisoned and routinely beaten and deprived of food. While Campbell wants to rebel and attempt an escape, Gordon tries to take a more stoic approach, an attitude that proves to be surprisingly resonant.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: harsh, tense, suspenseful, rough, serious, sentimental, intense, realistic, touching, captivating
Similar in 79%
Commandos (1968)
Plot Summary:
Sgt. Sullivan puts together a group of Italian-Americans into disguise as Italian soldiers in order to infiltrate a North African camp held by the Italians. After the soldiers have knifed the Italians in their beds, they find a hooker living at the camp. Sullivan's commandos are to hold this camp and its weaponry until an American battalion arrives, all the while these Italian-Americans pretend to be Italian soldiers, often hosting the enemy. Lt. Valli is a young, "green," by-the-book officer who constantly argues with Sgt. Sullivan, who tells his superior that he has no idea what he is doing. One man on the base, probably a touch from Argento, is an entomologist who is needlessly killed. Things go terribly wrong after that.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: Italy, West Germany
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, macaroni combat, exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, cult film
Similar in 78%
The Great Raid (2005)
Plot Summary:
As World War II rages, the elite Sixth Ranger Battalion is given a mission of heroic proportions: push 30 miles behind enemy lines and liberate over 500 American prisoners of war.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Action, Drama, War
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: tense, harsh, rough, suspenseful, realistic, epic, scenic, edutainment, historical drama, atmospheric