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1980s War Drama Movies

Public list by WPS with 96 movies or TV shows/series

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95 movies found (page 1/4):

Platoon(1986)

R
| 2h | Drama, War, Action
3.9/5 (with 1,946 votes)

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.

Full Metal Jacket(1987)

R
| 1h 57min | Drama, War
4.1/5 (with 4,893 votes)

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.

Das Boot(1981)

R
| 2h 30min | Drama, History, War
4.0/5 (with 1,007 votes)

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.

Hamburger Hill(1987)

R
| 1h 52min | War, Action, Drama
3.3/5 (with 183 votes)

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.

Come and See(1985)

NR
| 2h 22min | Drama, War
4.1/5 (with 559 votes)

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.

Glory(1989)

R
| 2h 2min | Drama, History, War
3.7/5 (with 660 votes)

Robert Gould Shaw leads the US Civil War's first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of both his own Union army and the Confederates.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence(1983)

R
| 2h 4min | Drama, History, War
3.7/5 (with 186 votes)

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

Enemy Mine(1985)

PG-13
| 1h 48min | Drama, Science Fiction
3.5/5 (with 403 votes)

A soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band together to survive on this hostile world. In the end the human finds himself caring for his enemy in a completely unexpected way.

Empire of the Sun(1987)

PG
| 2h 33min | Drama, History, War
3.8/5 (with 822 votes)

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, 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.

The Last Metro(1980)

PG
| 2h 11min | Drama, Romance / Love, War
3.6/5 (with 203 votes)

In occupied Paris, an actress married to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Nazis while doing both of their jobs.

Casualties of War(1989)

R
| 1h 53min | Drama, History, War
3.6/5 (with 367 votes)

During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.

Au Revoir les Enfants(1987)

PG
| 1h 45min | Drama, War
3.8/5 (with 271 votes)

Au revoir les enfants tells a heartbreaking story of friendship and devastating loss concerning two boys living in Nazi-occupied France. At a provincial Catholic boarding school, the precocious youths enjoy true camaraderie—until a secret is revealed. Based on events from writer-director Malle’s own childhood, the film is a subtle, precisely observed tale of courage, cowardice, and tragic awakening.

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Birdy(1984)

2h | Drama
3.5/5 (with 213 votes)

Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam war. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through?

Fat Man and Little Boy(1989)

PG-13
| 2h 7min | War, Drama, History
3.1/5 (with 55 votes)

Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but the two men clash fiercely on a number of issues. Despite their frequent conflicts, Groves and Oppenheimer ultimately push ahead with two bomb designs — the bigger "Fat Man" and the more streamlined "Little Boy.".

The Killing Fields(1984)

R
| 2h 22min | Drama, History, War
3.8/5 (with 310 votes)

New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg is on assignment covering the Cambodian Civil War, with the help of local interpreter Dith Pran and American photojournalist Al Rockoff. When the U.S. Army pulls out amid escalating violence, Schanberg makes exit arrangements for Pran and his family. Pran, however, tells Schanberg he intends to stay in Cambodia to help cover the unfolding story — a decision he may regret as the Khmer Rouge rebels move in.

Men Behind the Sun(1988)

1h 45min | War, History, Horror, Drama
3.1/5 (with 81 votes)

The film is a graphic depiction of the war atrocities committed by the Japanese at Unit 731, the secret biological weapons experimentation unit of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. The film details the various cruel medical experiments Unit 731 inflicted upon the Chinese and Soviet prisoners at the tail-end of the war.

Directed by Mou Tun-fei

Red Sorghum(1988)

1h 31min | Drama, War, Romance / Love
3.6/5 (with 81 votes)

An old leper who owned a remote sorghum winery dies. Jiu'er, the wife bought by the leper, and her lover, identified only as "my Grandpa" by the narrator, take over the winery and set up an idealized quasi-matriarchal community headed by Jiu'er. When the Japanese invaders subject the area to their rule and cut down the sorghum to make way for a road, the community rises up and resists as the sorghum grows anew.

Barefoot Gen(1983)

1h 23min | Animation, Drama, War
3.7/5 (with 80 votes)

A story about the effect of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.

Salvador(1986)

R
| 2h 3min | Drama, History, Thriller
3.6/5 (with 139 votes)

A second-rate journalist from the US tries his luck in El Salvador during the military dictatorship in the 1980s.

Gallipoli(1981)

PG
| 1h 52min | War, Drama, Adventure, History
3.5/5 (with 192 votes)

As World War I rages, brave and youthful Australians Archy and Frank—both agile runners—become friends and enlist in the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps together. They later find themselves part of the Dardanelles Campaign on the Gallipoli peninsula, a brutal eight-month conflict which pit the British and their allies against the Ottoman Empire and left over 500,000 men dead.

A City of Sadness(1989)

2h 39min | Drama, History
3.7/5 (with 51 votes)

The story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror", mainland China's political repression that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government in the late 1940s.

Directed by Hou Hsiao-Hsien - With Tony Leung, Jack Kao, Chen Sung-young, Li Tian-lu, Ho Ai-Yun, Hsin Shu-fen, ...

Attack Force Z(1982)

NR
| 1h 33min | War, Action
3.2/5 (with 22 votes)

Tim Burstall directs then-up-and-comers Mel Gibson and Sam Neill in this action-packed Cannes Film Festival selection about the grim realities of World War II, a gritty drama based on actual events. Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific, Capt. P.G. Kelly (Gibson) and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.

The Big Red One(1980)

PG
| 1h 53min | Drama, War
3.4/5 (with 119 votes)

A veteran sergeant of World War I leads a squad in World War II, always in the company of the survivor Pvt. Griff, the writer Pvt. Zab, the Sicilian Pvt. Vinci and Pvt. Johnson, in Vichy French Africa, Sicily, D-Day at Omaha Beach, Belgium and France, and ending in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia where they face the true horror of war.

Revolution(1985)

2h 6min | Adventure, Drama, History, War
2.7/5 (with 45 votes)

New York trapper Tom Dobb becomes an unwilling participant in the American Revolution after his son Ned is drafted into the Army by the villainous Sergeant Major Peasy. Tom attempts to find his son, and eventually becomes convinced that he must take a stand and fight for the freedom of the Colonies, alongside the aristocratic rebel Daisy McConnahay. As Tom undergoes his change of heart, the events of the war unfold in large-scale grandeur.

Breaker Morant(1980)

PG
| 1h 47min | Drama, History, War
3.6/5 (with 57 votes)

During the Boer War, three Australian lieutenants are on trial for shooting Boer prisoners. Though they acted under orders, they are being used as scapegoats by the General Staff, who hopes to distance themselves from the irregular practices of the war. The trial does not progress as smoothly as expected by the General Staff, as the defence puts up a strong fight in the courtroom.

1969(1988)

R
| 1h 35min | Drama, War
2.7/5 (with 24 votes)

Two rebellious youths, Ralph and Scott, find themselves struggling with adulthood as the Vietnam War rages. Feeling trapped in their small town, Scott battles with his conservative veteran father, Cliff, and Ralph deals with his desperately sexual mother, Ev. When tragic news arrives from overseas, the entire town, inspired by Ralph and Scott's antiwar efforts, reevaluates its attitude toward the war.

Lili Marleen(1981)

3.1/5 (with 29 votes)

The story of a German singer named Willie who while working in Switzerland falls in love with a Jewish composer named Robert whose family is helping people to flee from the Nazis. Robert’s family is skeptical of Willie, thinking she could be a Nazi as she becomes famous for singing the song “Lili Marleen”.

Barefoot Gen 2(1986)

1h 25min | Animation, Drama, War
3.1/5 (with 24 votes)

Three years after the Hiroshima bombing, a teenager helps a group of orphans to survive and find their new life.

The Scarlet and the Black(1983)

2h 23min | Drama, History, TV Movie, War
3.4/5 (with 21 votes)

- No description / details available yet. -

Mata Hari(1985)

1.9/5 (with 13 votes)

Based loosely on the real-life story of the World War I spy. The exotic dancer uses her contacts in European high society, along with her seductive charm, to collect military secrets during the war. She successfully plays both sides against each other until at last her deceptions catch up with her.

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