# Movies set in the context of a war, but which are not "war movies" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255 "2008-02-12T05:16:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/41 "2008-02-12T17:20:18Z")
OK, well in that case, I think you’ve given a better definition of what I mean. War movies that are not _combat movies,_ then. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/42 "2008-02-12T17:26:18Z")
_Good Morning, Vietnam_ ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/43 "2008-02-12T17:37:02Z")
\*\*_Buffalo Soldiers_ \*\*has training exercises but no actual combat that I can recall. And it’s a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/44 "2008-02-12T17:49:41Z")
**Hart’s War** is a prison movie then a murder mystery then a ‘A Great Escape’ remake and WWII is just a talking point. **Hell in the Pacific** is an anti war flick without ever being a war flick. **A Midnight Clear** is on the fence, theres Germans and theres fighting but the conflict is far more complex then your average ‘good guys vs. bad guys’ fare. **The Star Wars Trilogy** is occurring during a galactic civil war but is really about daddy issues seen from the impressionable eyes of a tatooine hick. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/45 "2008-02-12T17:52:37Z")
[QUOTE=Meyer6] \*\*_Buffalo Soldiers_ \*\*has training exercises but no actual combat that I can recall. And it’s a great movie. [/QUOTE] If you’re talking about the 2001 film, that’s because it doesn’t take place during war, unless you count the Cold War. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/46 "2008-02-12T17:55:24Z")
How about: \*\*South Pacific The Great Escape The Secret of Santa Vittoria\*\* ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/47 "2008-02-12T17:56:30Z")
**Escape to Victory** What a load of twaddle that was ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/48 "2008-02-12T18:14:31Z")
\*\*Captain Corelli’s Mandolin: \*\* A love story with the Italian occupation of Greece as a backdrop. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/49 "2008-02-12T18:20:03Z")
[Breaker Morant](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080310/), about war crimes during the Boer War. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/50 "2008-02-12T18:24:32Z")
I’ll throw in _Sergeant York_. Although it’s definitely a war movie, the story of the most decorated soldier in WWI, much of the movie is him trying to resolve his religious pacifism with the US government’s insisting he go to war. Then when he does get shipped overseas, his main concern is how to prevent as much loss of life as possible. He single-handedly took 132 German soldiers prisoner, to save what few men were left after all the men who commanded him were killed. StG ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/51 "2008-02-12T18:27:27Z")
[QUOTE=Argent Towers] OK, well in that case, I think you’ve given a better definition of what I mean. War movies that are not _combat movies,_ then. [/QUOTE] Does that remove Kelly’s Heroes from the list then? It’s got at least 4 different combat sequences, only one of which is directly related to the war. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/52 "2008-02-12T18:37:29Z")
**Europa, Europa**. About a German Jew whose family first escapes to Poland, and when Poland is invaded by the Russians, ends up growing up in a Russian orphanage. He later ends up having to pretend to be a Nazi (Hitler Youth) to avoid persecution. Fantastic movie (if slightly Hollywoodized), and there’s a shot at the end that I think is one of the all-time most brilliant moments in film. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/53 "2008-02-12T18:48:19Z")
No combat but still set in a war? That could be adaptations of stage plays like [Command Decision](http://imdb.com/title/tt0040242/) whre they didn’t splice in battles, or maybe just a little bit going on outside at the very end, like **What Price Glory?** and **Duck Soup** Or there’s **Gore Vidal’s Lincoln** , where there was no desire for the added expense of battle recreation, and anyway it’s Gore Vidal so who cares about the nobodies who actually did the fighting and dying? And then there’s the previously mentioned **Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,** as well as **The English Patient.** To their credit, these were out and out chick flicks, better than those horrible, calculating war movie/chick flick hybrids (\*\*Pearl Harbor, Battle Cry, \*\* etc.) where for one reel the movie was all about thwarted wartime romance for the females, then the next reel gave the bored guys a dose of shoot-em-up action, then back to the girly stuff. The Blood & Mush epics’ only advantage was they allowed for bathroom breaks and popcorn runs. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/54 "2008-02-12T18:52:50Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] No combat but still set in a war? That could be adaptations of stage plays like [Command Decision](http://imdb.com/title/tt0040242/) [/QUOTE] I have to turn the volume up on this keyboard. Apparently no one can hear me. 😉 Add to this the _Caine Mutiny_. It’s been a long time, was there any combat in it? I know the big action scene was the ship fighting against a typhoon. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/55 "2008-02-12T19:01:40Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] And then there’s the previously mentioned **Captain Corelli’s Mandolin,** as well as **The English Patient.** To their credit, these were out and out chick flicks, better than those horrible, calculating war movie/chick flick hybrids (\*\*Pearl Harbor, Battle Cry, \*\* etc.) where for one reel the movie was all about thwarted wartime romance for the females, then the next reel gave the bored guys a dose of shoot-em-up action, then back to the girly stuff. The Blood & Mush epics’ only advantage was they allowed for bathroom breaks and popcorn runs. [/QUOTE] Might as well throw in Cold Mountain too. I believe the OP is looking for movies where the plot doesn’t necesarily revolve around the war or battle itself, but where the war serves as a backdrop. For example, \*\*Cold Mountain \*\* is in actuality a love story chronicling the Ulysses-esque experiences of a deserter trying to return home during the Civil War. **Off Limts** is a cop movie staring Gregory Hines and William Dafoe investigating a series of murders in Saigon during the war. **Good Morning Vietnam** chronicles the story of a radio disc jockey, also in Nam. **The Good, The Bad and The Ugly** is essentially a heist movie, similar to \*\*Kelly’s Heroes \*\* or **Three Kings** , set during the Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/56 "2008-02-12T19:49:43Z")
[Operation Petticoat](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053143/) also on the Cary Grant tip, [I Was a Male War Bride](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041498/) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/57 "2008-02-12T19:56:19Z")
_The Hill_ is more prison movie than war movie. ---
**Author:** ![Labtrash](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/labtrash/32/528_2.png) [@Labtrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labtrash)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/58 "2008-02-12T20:14:10Z")
Would [Jarhead](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418763/) count? IIRC, they were aching to get into combat during Desert Shield / Storm, but I don’t think they ever did. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/59 "2008-02-12T21:54:13Z")
_A Few Good Men_? Another court-room drama, but with uniforms. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255/60 "2008-02-12T21:56:36Z")
\*\*From Here To Eternity \*\* – about life on and off base at Pearl Harbor, with the main conflicts having to do with bullying, bad leadership and misplaced institutional priorities, adultery, loneliness, alcoholism, abusive relationships,… and then all hell breaks loose when the Japanese pay a visit on the morning of Dec. 7. **Ravenous** – this utterly unhinged black comedy/cannibal horror flick opens briefly in a battle in the Mexican-American War of 1847, but quickly shifts to a different kind of setting and story, with its cowardly officer protagonist’s being shipped out to a remote Army outpost in the Sierra Nevadas, far from the front… where the movie merges a gentle institutional satire of the characters at the post to a gory horror story whose plot draws from elements of the Wendigo myth, the Donner Party, and the notorious cannibal Alferd Packer. And yet for all that, the single most bizarre element isn’t the plot but the outstanding soundtrack, by Damon Albarn (of Blur) and Michael Nyman. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-set-in-the-context-of-a-war-but-which-are-not-war-movies/437255.md?page=4)