20 best movies like Shogun (1980)

List of the best movies like Shogun (1980): Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Farewell to the King, Cast a Giant Shadow, The 300 Spartans, Alexander, Force 10 from Navarone, Dark of the Sun, Exodus, Battle Hymn.

Tags: movies similar to Shogun (1980) - full list

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:18

In the wake of Pearl Harbor, a young lieutenant leaves his expectant wife to volunteer for a secret bombing mission which will take the war to the Japanese homeland.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:18

After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genreaction, drama, adventure, military
CountryUSA

An American soldier who escapes the execution of his comrades by Japanese soldiers in Borneo during WWII becomes the leader of a personal empire among the headhunters in this war story told in the style of Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling. The American is reluctant to rejoin the fight against the Japanese on the urging of a British commando team but conducts a war of vengeance when the Japanese attack his adopted people.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genredrama, adventure, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration02:18

An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his jewish roots. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genredrama, adventure, military, history
CountryUSA
Duration01:54

Essentially true story of how Spartan king Leonidas led an extremely small army of Greek Soldiers (300 of his personal body guards from Sparta) to hold off an invading Persian army now thought to have numbered 250,000.

Markimdb: 5.6
Genreaction, melodrama, drama, adventure, military, biography, history
CountryUSA, United Kingdom, Germany, Netherlands, France, Italy, Morocco, Thailand
Duration02:55

    Alexander, the King of Macedonia, leads his legions against the giant Persian Empire. After defeating the Persians, he leads his army across the then known world, venturing farther than any westerner had ever gone, all the way to India.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military
    CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
    Duration01:58

    Mallory and Miller are back. The survivors of Navarone are sent on a mission along with a unit called Force 10, which is led by Colonel Barnsby. But Force 10 has a mission of their own which the boys know nothing about.

    Markimdb: 6.8
    Genreaction, thriller, drama, adventure, military
    CountryUnited Kingdom, USA

    A band of mercenaries led by Captain Curry travel through the Congo across deadly terrain, battling rival armies, to rescue $25 million in uncut diamonds.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration03:28

    The theme is the founding of the state of Israel. The action begins on a ship filled with Jewish immigrants bound for Israel who are being off loaded on Cyprus. An Intelligence officer succeeds in getting them back on board their ship only to have the harbor blocked by the British with whom they must negotiate. The second part deals with declaring independence and the resulting warring.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:48

    Battle Hymn was inspired by the true story of American minister Dean Hess, played here with rare sensitivity by Rock Hudson. A bomber pilot during World War II, Hess inadvertently releases a bomb which destroys a German orphanage. Tortured by guilt, Hess relocates in Korea after the war to offer his services as a missionary. Combining the best elements of Christianity and Eastern spiritualism, Hess establishes a large home for orphans. The preacher's efforts are threatened when the Korean "police action" breaks out in 1950.

    Markimdb: 7.3
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom
    Duration01:57

    A naval adventure, based on the novels by C.S. Forester, about the heroic, 19th-century British seafarer. The story sails with his ship, the Lydia, through battles with Spain and then France won with wit rather than might.

    Markimdb: 6.1
    Genreaction, thriller, melodrama, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountrySpain
    Duration02:25

    In 17th century Spain Diego Alatriste, a brave and heroic soldier, is fighting in his King's army in the Flandes region. His best mate, Balboa, falls in a trap and, near to death, asks Diego to look after his son and teach him to be a soldier.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, biography, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:30

    Although loudmouthed braggart Jerry Plunkett alienates his comrades and officers, Father Duffy, the regimental chaplain, has faith that he'll prove himself in the end.

    Markimdb: 6.5
    Genredrama, adventure, military, history
    CountryKazakhstan
    Duration02:13

    A universal story about the freedom of the human spirit and the struggle against slavery and despotism, about love, loss and betrayal. It is seen through the eyes of simple Kazakh kids and teenagers.

    Markimdb: 6.8
    Genredrama, adventure, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:49

    Matrac (Humphrey Bogart) is a freedom-loving French journalist who sacrifices his happiness and security to battle Nazi tyranny.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUSA, Japan
    Duration02:15

    There were five Marines and one Navy Corpsman photographed raising the U.S. flag on Mt. Suribachi by Joe Rosenthal on February 23, 1945. This is the story of three of the six surviving servicemen – John 'Doc' Bradley, Pvt. Rene Gagnon and Pvt. Ira Hayes, who fought in the battle to take Iwo Jima from the Japanese.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genredrama, adventure, biography, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:30

    This unhistorical account of pirate Captain Kidd revolves around treasure and treachery. In 1699, William Kidd, presenting himself as an honest shipmaster, dupes King William III into backing his mission to fight pirates, with a crew of condemned pirates and the promise of pardon.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genremelodrama, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:59

    During the War of 1812 against Britain: General Andrew Jackson has only 1,200 men left to defend New Orleans when he learns that a British fleet will arrive with 60 ships and 16,000 men to take the city. In this situation an island near the city becomes strategically important to both parties, but it's inhabited by the last big buccaneer: Jean Lafitte. Although Lafitte never attacks American ships, the governor hates him for selling merchandise without taxes - and is loved by the citizens for the same reason. When the big fight gets nearer, Lafitte is drawn between the fronts. His heart belongs to America, but his people urge him to join the party that's more likely to win.

    Markimdb: 5.3
    Genredrama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, Norway

    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.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, USA

    Disgusted with the policies of King Charles I, Oliver Cromwell plans to take his family to the New World. But on the eve of their departure, Cromwell is drawn into the tangled web of religion and politics that will result in the English Civil War.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genreaction, thriller, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, France, USA
    Duration01:37

    Britain, A.D. 117. Quintus Dias, the sole survivor of a Pictish raid on a Roman frontier fort, marches north with General Virilus' legendary Ninth Legion, under orders to wipe the Picts from the face of the Earth and destroy their leader, Gorlacon.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genreaction, melodrama, drama, adventure, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:38

    An American pilot impulsively joins His Majesty's Royal Air Force in Britain in an attempt to impress his ex-girlfriend.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genreaction, drama, military, biography, history
    CountryThailand
    Duration02:04

    During the 16th century, as Thailand contends with both a civil war and Burmese invasion, a beautiful princess rises up to help protect the glory of the Kingdom of Ayothaya. Based on the life of Queen Suriyothai.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, biography, history
    CountryNetherlands
    Duration02:25

    When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France and Germany and faces its own civil war no less, only one man, Michael de Ruyter, can lead the county's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet.

    Markimdb: 7.9
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryJapan, USA
    Duration03:00

    Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountrySouth Korea, China
    Duration02:13

    In 1375, China was in chaos between Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. Coryo (an ancient kingdom of Korea then) sent a delegation of many diplomats, soldiers and a silent slave to make peace with the new Chinese government. However, this delegation got charged as spies and sent in exile to a remote desert.

    Markimdb: 6.5
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryJapan, USA
    Duration01:45

    As the Japanese surrender at the end of WWII, Gen. Fellers is tasked with deciding if Emperor Hirohito will be hanged as a war criminal. Influencing his ruling is his quest to find Aya, an exchange student he met years earlier in the U.S.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryRussia
    Duration01:37

    The film is based on the eponymous book by Emmanuil Kazakevich. In the summer of 1944 the Nazi Armies prepare a massive Tank Division named 'Viking" for the offensive on occupied Russian land. The Russian Army's special group of seven snipers named "Zvezda" is sent for a reconnaissance operation behind the enemy lines in the back of the Nazi Tank Division. Two previous Russian groups never came back. The seven Russians know that they are going to an almost certain Death for the sake of Victory.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:34

    Diplomats, soldiers and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief and tacit support of the Boxers by the Empress of China and her generals.

    Markimdb: 7.6
    Genremelodrama, drama, adventure, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration03:16

    Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.

    Markimdb: 6.7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration03:08

    Drawn from the same events that later inspired Gladiator, the film charts the power-hungry greed and father-son betrayal that led to Rome's collapse at the bloody hands of the Barbarians.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryItaly, Yugoslavia, West Germany
    Duration02:24

    In January 1943 the German army, afraid of an Allied invasion of the Balkans, launched a great offensive against Yugoslav Partisans in Western Bosnia. The only way out for the Partisan forces and thousands of refugees was the bridge on the river Neretva.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genreadventure, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:15

    During World War II, Captain Cassidy and his crew of submariners are ordered into Tokyo Bay on a secret mission. They are to gather information in advance of the planned bombing of Tokyo. Along the way, the crew learn about each other as they face the enemy and some of them lose their lives.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genremelodrama, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryYugoslavia, USA
    Duration02:02

    Ukraine, 16th century. While the Poles dominate the Cossack steppes, Andrei, son of Taras Bulba, a Cossack leader, must choose between his love for his family and his folk and his passion for a Polish woman.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genredrama, adventure, military, biography, history
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom
    Duration02:16

    Austrian mountaineer, Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Llaso, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, whose friendship ultimately transforms his outlook on life.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, biography, history
    CountryRussia, Germany, Kazakhstan
    Duration02:06

    The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan, a slave who went on to conquer half the world in the 11th century.

    Markimdb: 5.2
    Genredrama, adventure, military, biography, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
    Duration01:54

    This is a movie about the life of Israel's king David.

    Markimdb: 6.8
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUnited Kingdom
    Duration02:08

    English General Charles George Gordon is appointed military governor of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan by the Prime Minister. Ordered to evacuate Egyptians from the Sudan, Gordon stays on to protect the people of Khartoum, who are under threat of being conquered by a Muslim army.

    Markimdb: 7.1
    Genredrama, adventure, military, history
    CountryCanada, Australia
    Duration01:41

    Missionary Father LaForgue travels to the New World in hopes of converting Algonquin Indians to Catholicism. Accepted, though warily, by the Indians, LaForgue travels with the Indians using his strict Catholic rules and ideals to try and impose his religion.

    Markimdb: 8.2
    Genredrama, military, biography, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:53

    This movie tells the story of Omar Mukhtar, an Arab Muslim rebel who fought against the Italian conquest of Libya in WWII. It gives western viewers a glimpse into this little-known region and chapter of history, and exposes the savage means by which the conquering army attempted to subdue the natives.

    Markimdb: 6.1
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:28

    The lives of a small Chinese village are turned Upside down when the Japanese invade it. And heroic young Chinese woman leads her fellow villagers in an uprising against Japanese Invaders.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genreaction, drama, adventure, military, history
    CountryUSA, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland
    Duration02:06

    The story of the Arthurian legend, based on the 'Sarmatian hypothesis' which contends that the legend has a historical nucleus in the Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops stationed in Britain, and that the Roman-British military commander, Lucius Artorius Castus is the historical person behind the legend.

    Markimdb: 7.2
    Genremelodrama, drama, adventure, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:58

    The Bounty leaves Portsmouth in 1787. Its destination: to sail to Tahiti and load bread-fruit. Captain Bligh will do anything to get there as fast as possible, using any means to keep up a strict discipline. When they arrive at Tahiti, it is like a paradise for the crew, something completely different than the living hell aboard the ship. On the way back to England, officer Fletcher Christian becomes the leader of a mutiny.

    Markimdb: 6.6
    Genreaction, drama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration02:13

    A WWII film set on a Pacific island. Japanese and allied forces occupy different parts of the island. When a group of British soldiers are sent on a mission behind enemy lines, things don't go exactly to plan. This film differs in that some of the 'heroes' are very reluctant, but they come good when they are pursued by the Japanese who are determined to prevent them returning to base.

    Markimdb: 5.9
    Genredrama, military, history
    CountryItaly, USA
    Duration01:53

    Allied forces land at Anzio unopposed but instead of moving straight inland their commanding officer decides to dig in. A battle-hardened war correspondent borrows a jeep and drives to Rome and back without meeting any German forces, but his report on this absence of the enemy is discounted. By the time it is finally decided to make a move the Germans have arrived in strength and a prolonged ...

    Markimdb: 6.1
    Genrethriller, drama, adventure, history
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:48

    In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.

    Markimdb: 3.5
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryCanada

    Iraq, 2004: during a routine sortie a US patrol is ambushed and the young soldiers are forced to put their training and skills into action fast. A determined foe with superior local knowledge, the Fedayeen insurgents soon draw them into close quarter combat and a desperate fight for survival.

    Markimdb: 5.4
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryAustralia, Taiwan
    Duration01:33

    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.

    Markimdb: 6.8
    Genreaction, drama, military, history
    CountryUSA, Bulgaria

    A small unit of U.S. soldiers, alone at the remote Combat Outpost Keating, located deep in the valley of three mountains in Afghanistan, battles to defend against an overwhelming force of Taliban fighters in a coordinated attack. The Battle of Kamdesh, as it was known, was the bloodiest American engagement of the Afghan War in 2009 and Bravo Troop 3-61 CAV became one of the most decorated units of the 19-year conflict.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genredrama, military
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:47

    In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.




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