War is (entertaining as) hell. That’s a line that war films have been dropping since just about the beginning of cinema. Tales of heroism set against war-torn backdrops or that focus on the emotional toll the fighting takes on soldiers are so ubiquitous they used to have their own section at Blockbuster (ask your parents, Gen Z). Films like Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now have frequently been recognized as essential war movies, but there are many other cinematic wartime stories that remain overlooked.
Some of these are war films that were considered too raw or controversial for audiences to deal with upon their original release, while others got lost in the legendary filmographies of their filmmakers. There’s no reason that these films should remain in the shadows of film history. These are the most overlooked war movies that deserve to have audiences standing at attention.
10 ‘The Boys in Company C’ (1978)
Directed by Sidney J. Furie
One of the earliest films to deal with the Vietnam War directly in its aftermath, The Boys in Company C is a completely unvarnished look at the demoralizing effects that basic training and active combat can have on a group of young men. Despite its commitment to realism and strong performances from the young cast, the film was completely overlooked in favor of its contemporaries Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter, which was released the same year, but also gets war all wrong.
For fans of Full Metal Jacket, this film also features the first on-screen appearance of real-life veteran R. Lee Ermey, who gives an authentic performance here as a drill instructor years before his iconic role in Stanley Kubrick’s classic. The Boys in Company C is one of the actor’s best films, and a war movie that has been forgotten for far too long.
- Director
- Sidney J. Furie
- Cast
- Andrew Stevens , Stan Shaw , James Canning , Michael Lembeck , Craig Wasson , Scott Hylands , James Whitmore Jr. , Helen McNeely , Noble Willingham , R. Lee Ermey , Santos Morales , Henry Strzalkowski , Rick Natkin
- Runtime
- 125 minutes
The Boys in Company C is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
9 ‘Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant’ (2023)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (as it’s titled onscreen to avoid confusion with a mostly forgotten, terrible supernatural teen thriller from 2006) is unlike any war movie, and unlike any Guy Ritchie movie as well. The director shows restraint in his signature style, and instead lets the visuals be in service of the story here. The film follows a U.S. Army Sergeant, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, and the relationship that develops between him and his interpreter, played by Dar Salim, as both characters take turns saving each other’s lives.
Modern warfare films have had mixed results in terms of their success. While films like Lone Survivor and American Sniper were both critical and financial successes, others such as this film and 2019’s The Outpost have come and gone without much notice. Ritchie’s film deserves far more recognition, not only for the maturity it shows in the director’s efforts, but also for how it shines a light on the forgotten plight of many interpreters who served the military in Afghanistan or Iraq, putting themselves and their families at great risk.
- Release Date
- April 21, 2023
- Runtime
- 123 Minutes
8 ‘Cross of Iron’ (1977)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Few American films have depicted war from the perspective of the opposing side. Even fewer still have had the fortitude to depict German soldiers during World War II. Leave it to maverick filmmaker Sam Peckinpah to do just that in Cross of Iron, his underrated, gritty, brutal war movie.
Set on the Eastern Front, the film follows the rivalry between two soldiers. One is a decorated veteran who has become disillusioned with the war, played by James Coburn, and the other is a soft aristocrat in search of his own battle-won glory, played by James Mason. One of Peckinpah’s best films, Cross of Iron is a tale of hardened men and the violent worlds they inhabit. It’s as anti-war as they come, with the director’s signature slow-motion used to depict the horrors of battle in excruciating and gruesome detail.
- Release Date
- May 20, 1977
- Director
- Sam Peckinpah
- Cast
- James Coburn , Maximilian Schell , James Mason , David Warner , Klaus Löwitsch , Vadim Glowna , Roger Fritz , Dieter Schidor
- Runtime
- 119 Minutes
Cross of Iron is available to watch on Prime Video in the U.S.
7 ‘Duck, You Sucker!’ (1971)
Directed by Sergio Leone
Coburn also co-stars in this epic western war film from legendary director Sergio Leone. Duck, You Sucker! was Leone’s last spaghetti western, but it had a tumultuous release, with a truncated edit of the film first premiering in the states. Distributors didn’t know how to market the film and tried to connect it with Leone’s successful Dollars trilogy, as evidenced when the film was re-titled A Fistful of Dynamite for a subsequent release (and was listed as such on several DVD releases). European distributors tried the same trick by titling the film Once Upon a Time… the Revolution, to connect the film with Leone’s epic western Once Upon a Time in the West.
The marketing let the film down. While it does share some traits with his prior westerns, the film has a cynical, amoral edge to it, mixed with political symbolism, which Leone later said was not the intent. The epic battle sequences are also some of the most thrilling Leone has ever shot and stand shoulder to shoulder with his most iconic sequences. The director’s final film, Once Upon a Time in America, suffered an even more severe re-editing when it was first released, but that film has since undergone a massive reassessment and is considered a classic of its genre. The same should be afforded to his war epic.
6 ‘Bullet in the Head’ (1990)
Directed by John Woo
Like Leone, John Woo is a director who is practically a genre unto himself. His heroic bloodshed films, like The Killer and Hard Boiled, blew the doors off the action genre and elevated Woo to legendary status. Between the releases of those films, there was also Bullet in the Head, an epic action-war-crime saga that should be counted among the director’s best.
Woo’s film follows three criminal friends from Hong Kong, who flee to Vietnam to become smugglers and take advantage of the conflict there, eventually getting themselves captured and sent to a Vietnamese prison camp. The story trades in the same themes as Woo’s other crime films (brotherhood, honor, redemption) but uses the Vietnam War as its backdrop to tell one of the director’s most emotional and overtly political films. For audiences who are only aware of Woo’s other war movie, the disappointing Windtalkers, they should seek out this masterpiece.
- Release Date
- August 17, 1990
- Cast
- Tony Leung Chiu-wai , Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau , Waise Lee Chi-Hung , Simon Yam , Fennie Yuen Kit-Ying , Yolinda Yan Choh-sin , Lam Chung , Pau Hei-Ching
- Runtime
- 131 Minutes
Bullet in the Head is not currently streaming in the U.S.
5 ‘A Midnight Clear’ (1992)
Directed by Keith Gordon
This somber World War 2 drama follows a small squad of U.S. soldiers who attempt to let a German platoon surrender with honor, but the fog of war leads them into violent conflict. Well-reviewed upon its release, A Midnight Clear features great acting, from a talented cast that includes Ethan Hawke and Gary Sinise, and solid direction from actor turned director Keith Gordon, but it failed to make an impact with audiences.
The smaller-scale story is short on epic battle sequences, and instead focuses on the personal turmoil of young men caught up in conflict who want nothing more than to go home to their families. The Christmastime setting adds an even more haunting atmosphere to the unsettling proceedings. Fans of Band of Brothers nuanced portrayal of soldiers dealing with wartime trauma will appreciate this hidden gem.
- Release Date
- April 24, 1992
- Director
- Keith Gordon
- Cast
- Peter Berg , Kevin Dillon , Arye Gross , Ethan Hawke , Gary Sinise , Frank Whaley , John C. McGinley , Larry Joshua , David Jensen , Curt Lowens , Rachel Griffin , Tim Shoemaker , Kelly Gately , Bill Osborn , Andre Lamal
- Runtime
- 108 Minutes
A Midnight Clear is currently streaming on Peacock in the U.S.
4 ‘The Big Red One’ (1980)
Directed by Samuel Fuller
Sam Fuller’s early career as a director was characterized by films that were generally, and unfairly, considered low-grade B movies. A late career resurgence saw him delve into a couple more personal, and controversial, films. The Big Red One is based on Fuller’s own experiences in the 1st Infantry Division during World War 2. The cast includes Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill, who took a break between fighting wars in space to be a part of this brutal war movie.
While Saving Private Ryan was celebrated for its gritty approach in depicting soldiers on the ground during the war, and is rightly considered a perfect war movie for it, Fuller was exploring the same ideas as Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning film almost two decades prior. It’s a lesser known classic that shell shocks the audience with its stark brutality.
3 ‘Letters from Iwo Jima’ (2006)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
In 2006, Clint Eastwood directed two war films, each portraying the battle of Iwo Jima from different perspectives. While Flags of Our Fathers, which tells the story from the American side, was given more attention in the U.S., the Japanese counterpart, Letters from Iwo Jima, is the better film and is one of the most intense and heartbreaking movies ever made.
Despite actually out-grossing Flags of Our Fathers at the box office, and being nominated for four Academy Awards, the film remains overlooked. Eastwood’s experiment of making both films back-to-back to depict the complexities of war never received the credit it deserves. Both films make for compelling companion viewings that offer a much more complete view of the battle they depict, and Letters from Iwo Jima is one of Eastwood’s most perfect films.
- Release Date
- February 2, 2007
- Cast
- Ken Watanabe , Kazunari Ninomiya , Tsuyoshi Ihara , Ryo Kase , Shido Nakamura , Hiroshi Watanabe , Takumi Bando , Yuki Matsuzaki
- Runtime
- 141 Minutes
Letters from Iwo Jima is currently streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.
2 ‘Jarhead’ (2005)
Directed by Sam Mendes
Films about the Gulf War are fewer in number in comparison to World War 2 or the Vietnam War, but it has been the setting for some of the more unique war films ever made. Three Kings, which is generally considered the best, used the desert conflict to tell an elevated heist plot, while Sam Mendes’ underrated Jarhead focuses on the isolation and boredom of its Marine characters. Jake Gyllenhaal plays real-life Marine Anthony Swofford as he goes through training and then active duty, but never sees real combat.
Jarhead is far less visceral than the more action heavy war films, and approaches its subject matter with more subtlety, which impacted its success with audiences and critics, who may have been expecting something more combat heavy, as the teaser trailer implied. It’s worth revisiting for its honest depiction of a side of war rarely glimpsed in Hollywood depictions. Avoid the action-oriented sequels, however, as they are among some of the worst war movies ever made.
- Release Date
- November 4, 2005
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
1 ‘The Ascent’ (1977)
Directed by Larisa Shepitko
When it comes to World War 2 dramas made from a Soviet perspective, Come and See has dominated the conversation in cinephile circles as the best of them. There is another anti-war film that is just as powerfully bleak as that classic, that has yet to get its due. The Ascent follows two Soviet partisans who, after getting separated from their unit, are captured and endure torture at the hands of the German command. The film deals with the philosophical ideas of patriotism and loyalty, and the limits of those when tested by hardship.
The Ascent was the final completed film of director Larisa Shepitko, who died tragically in an accident while preparing her follow-up film, cutting short a career that was nothing short of luminary. She left behind a powerful legacy with her final film considered her greatest professional achievement. A few years ago, the film was given a proper home media release on the Criterion Collection. Hopefully, it’s reputation will only expand as one of the most singular anti-war statements to ever be put on celluloid.
- Release Date
- April 2, 1977
- Director
- Larisa Shepitko
- Cast
- Vladimir Gostyukhin , Boris Plotnikov , Sergei Yakovlev
- Runtime
- 1h 51m
The Ascent is currently available to watch on the Criterion Channel
WATCH ON THE CRITERION CHANNEL