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Lawrence of Arabia poster

Movies that feel likeLawrence of Arabia (1962)

During World War I, English officer Thomas Edward 'T.E.' Lawrence sets out to unite and lead the diverse, often warring, Arab tribes to fight the Turks.

If you loved Lawrence of Arabia, the closest films we have are The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), The Longest Day (1962) and Where Eagles Dare (1968). All three share Lawrence of Arabia's epic and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Stalingrad (1993).

🍅 93% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. David Leanepicbleak
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Lawrence of Arabia hit the spot, these will too

The Bridge on the River Kwai poster
The Bridge on the River Kwai
1957 · dir. David Lean
🍅 96%★ 8.1drama · history · war

The same hand behind both of them: David Lean

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Lawrence of Arabia does

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.

The Longest Day poster
The Longest Day
1962 · dir. Ken Annakin
🍅 83%★ 7.7war · drama · history

Two things both keep coming back to: a true story and historical fiction

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"

Where Eagles Dare poster
Where Eagles Dare
1968 · dir. Brian G. Hutton
🍅 84%★ 7.6adventure · war

Epic and bleak in the same breath

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.

The Great Escape poster
The Great Escape
1963 · dir. John Sturges
🍅 94%★ 8.2adventure · drama · warPrime Video

Adventure with a pulse of scale, in both cases

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.

The Battle of Algiers poster
The Battle of Algiers
1966 · dir. Gillo Pontecorvo
🍅 99%★ 8.1drama · war · historyMax

Both lean on bleakness more than on history

Former petty criminal Ali la Pointe becomes a commander of the Algerian Front de Liberation Nationale, directing a guerilla insurgency against the colonial French occupation. Paratrooper commander Colonel Phillippe Mathieu, a veteran of World War II and the First Indochina War, is sent to Algeria to reinforce efforts to squelch the uprisings.

The Guns of Navarone poster
The Guns of Navarone
1961 · dir. J. Lee Thompson
🍅 92%★ 7.5adventure · drama · warNetflix

War built on scale, twice over

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.

Patton poster
Patton
1970 · dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
🍅 92%★ 7.9war · drama · history

Bleak history in both cases

"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.

Grand Illusion poster
Grand Illusion
1937 · dir. Jean Renoir
🍅 97%★ 8drama · history · war

Both are built on the same subject: world war i

The difference: Made in the 1930s, in a different era of the craft

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

Enemy at the Gates poster
Enemy at the Gates
2001 · dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
🍅 53%★ 7.5war · history

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

War Horse poster
War Horse
2011 · dir. Steven Spielberg
🍅 74%★ 7.2war · history · drama

Common ground: horse

On the brink of the First World War, Albert's beloved horse Joey is sold to the Cavalry by his father. Against the backdrop of the Great War, Joey begins an odyssey full of danger, joy, and sorrow, and he transforms everyone he meets along the way. Meanwhile, Albert, unable to forget his equine friend, searches the battlefields of France to find Joey and bring him home.

The King poster
The King
2019 · dir. David Michôd
🍅 71%★ 7.3drama · history · warNetflix

The same preoccupation in both: historical fiction

England, 15th century. Hal, a capricious prince who lives among the populace far from court, is forced by circumstances to reluctantly accept the throne and become Henry V.

Stalingrad poster
Stalingrad
1993 · dir. Joseph Vilsmaier
★ 7.5drama · history · war

Both are war through and through

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.

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The best-reviewed films that share Lawrence of Arabia’s defining feeling.