feelsalike.com

Movies that feel like The Guns of Navarone (1961)

If you loved The Guns of Navarone, the closest films we have are Kalashnikov AK-47 (2020), Patton (1970) and The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). All three share The Guns of Navarone's epic and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

A team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

πŸ… 92% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.5 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. J. Lee Thompsonepiccontemplativebleak
Stream it:Netflix β†—
See it on the map

When is The Guns of Navarone streaming? β†’

If The Guns of Navarone hit the spot, these will too

Kalashnikov AK-47 poster
Kalashnikov AK-47
2020 Β· dir. Konstantin Buslov
β˜… 6.6war Β· history Β· drama

One thread runs through both: world war ii

The difference: Leans harder into history than The Guns of Navarone does

A Russian military propaganda film about the tank commander Kalashnikov, severely injured in battle in 1941. The accident leaves him incapacitated and unable to return to the front line. While recovering in the hospital, he begins creating the initial sketches of what will become one of the world’s most legendary weapons. A self-taught inventor is only 29 when he develops the now iconic assault riffle β€” the AK-47. Shot in occupied Crimea.

Feels alike?
Patton poster
Patton
1970 Β· dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.9war Β· drama Β· history

Common ground: allies

"Patton" tells the tale of General George S. Patton, famous tank commander of World War II. The film begins with Patton's career in North Africa and progresses through the invasion of Germany and the fall of the Third Reich. Side plots also speak of Patton's numerous faults such his temper and habit towards insubordination.

Feels alike?
The Bridge on the River Kwai poster
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1957 Β· dir. David Lean
πŸ… 96%β˜… 8.1drama Β· history Β· war

Both keep coming back to the same thing: world war ii

The classic story of English POWs in Burma forced to build a bridge to aid the war effort of their Japanese captors. British and American intelligence officers conspire to blow up the structure, but Col. Nicholson, the commander who supervised the bridge's construction, has acquired a sense of pride in his creation and tries to foil their plans.

Feels alike?
Where Eagles Dare poster
Where Eagles Dare
1968 Β· dir. Brian G. Hutton
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.6adventure Β· war

Epic where it counts, bleak underneath

The difference: None of the stillness The Guns of Navarone is built on

World War II is raging, and an American general has been captured and is being held hostage in the Schloss Adler, a Bavarian castle that's nearly impossible to breach. It's up to a group of skilled Allied soldiers to liberate the general before it's too late.

Feels alike?
The Longest Day poster
The Longest Day
1962 Β· dir. Ken Annakin
πŸ… 83%β˜… 7.7war Β· action Β· drama

Both are built on the same subject: allies

The difference: Missing the scale of The Guns of Navarone

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

Feels alike?
Army of Shadows poster
Army of Shadows
1969 Β· dir. Jean-Pierre Melville
πŸ… 97%β˜… 8.1war Β· drama Β· thriller

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Betrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, and exacts his revenge on the informant, he must continue a quiet, seemingly endless battle against the Nazis in an atmosphere of tension, paranoia and distrust.

Feels alike?
The Battle of Algiers poster
The Battle of Algiers
1966 Β· dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
πŸ… 99%β˜… 8.1drama Β· war Β· history

Epic war, and it commits to that

Paratrooper commander Colonel Mathieu, a former French Resistance fighter during World War II, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings of the Algerian War. There he faces Ali la Pointe, a former petty criminal who, as the leader of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directs terror strategies against the colonial French government occupation. As each side resorts to ever-increasing brutality, no violent act is too unthinkable.

Feels alike?
The Tin Drum poster
The Tin Drum
1979 Β· dir. Volker SchlΓΆndorff
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.4drama Β· history Β· war

Both lean on stillness more than on adventure

In 1924, Oskar Matzerath is born in the Free City of Danzig. At age three, he falls down a flight of stairs and stops growing. In 1939, World War II breaks out.

Feels alike?
Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
1993 Β· dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
β˜… 7.5drama Β· history Β· war

Bleak drama in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1990s, in a different era of the craft

A German Platoon is explored through the brutal fighting of the Battle of Stalingrad. After half of their number is wiped out and they're placed under the command of a sadistic captain, the platoon lieutenant leads his men to desert. The platoon members attempt escape from the city, now surrounded by the Soviet Army.

Feels alike?
Paisan poster
Paisan
1946 Β· dir. Roberto Rossellini
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.6drama Β· war

War built on stillness, twice over

Six stories unfold in various regions, from Sicily to the northern Po Valley as American military personnel interact with a variety of Italian locals over eighteen months in the push north during the Italian Campaign of WWII as German forces retreat.

Feels alike?
The Great Escape poster
The Great Escape
1963 Β· dir. John Sturges
πŸ… 94%β˜… 8.2adventure Β· drama Β· war

Epic adventure, and it commits to that

The Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to sit out the remainder of the war. Undaunted, the prisoners plan one of the most ambitious escape attempts of World War II. Based on a true story.

Feels alike?
Katyn poster
Katyn
2007 Β· dir. Andrzej Wajda
πŸ… 91%β˜… 7drama Β· history Β· war

Drama built on bleakness, twice over

On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland, unleashing World War II. On September 17th, the Soviet Red Army crosses the border. The Polish army, unable to fight on two fronts, is defeated. Thousands of Polish men, both military and government officials, are captured by the invaders. Their fate will only be known several years later.

Feels alike?

In the mood for more epic?

all epic movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share The Guns of Navarone’s defining feeling.