Movies like Best Defense (1984)
The best movies like Best Defense (1984) are No Time for Sergeants (1958), The Boys in Company C (1978) and The Pentagon Wars (1998). If Best Defense hooked you with its comedy and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFull Metal Jacket (1987)8.1/10 from 11,938 votes
- NewestThe Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)Released 2009
No Time for Sergeants (1958)
Georgia farm boy Will Stockdale is about to bust with pride. He’s been drafted. Will’s ready. But is Uncle Sam ready for Will?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Boys in Company C (1978)
Disheartened by futile combat, appalled by the corruption of their South Vietnamese ally, and constantly endangered by the incompetence of their own company commander, the young men find a possible way out of the war. They are told that if they purposely lose a soccer game against a South Vietnamese team, they can spend the rest of their tour playing exhibition games behind the lines.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pentagon Wars (1998)
From the director of “Made In America” and “The Money Pit” comes a hilarious look at one of the most expensive blunders in military history. Over 17 years and almost as many billion dollars have gone into devising the BFV (Bradley Fighting Vehicle). There's only one problem. . . it doesn't work. (Spoiler alert: 25 years later ... it does work.)
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLoafing and Camouflage (1984)
A group of Greek soldiers are assigned to run the Cinematographic Unit of the army in the midst of political unrest.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Buffalo Soldiers (2002)
A criminal subculture operates among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Morning, Vietnam (1987)
A disk jockey goes to Vietnam to work for the Armed Forces Radio Service. While he becomes popular among the troops, his superiors disapprove of his humor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCatch-22 (1970)
A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Army Now (1994)
Bones Conway and Jack Kaufman, two misguided youths, join the reserves to make some easy money for their entrepreneurial dreams. Unfortunately, no sooner than they finish basic training they find themselves at war as part of the water purification team.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisM*A*S*H (1970)
One of the world's most acclaimed comedies, M*A*S*H focuses on three Korean War Army surgeons brilliantly brought to life by Donald Sutherland, Tom Skerritt and Elliott Gould. Though highly skilled and deeply dedicated, they adopt a hilarious, lunatic lifestyle as an antidote to the tragedies of their Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, and in the process infuriate Army bureaucrats. Robert Duvall, Gary Burghoff and Sally Kellerman co-star as a sanctimonious Major, an other-worldly Corporal, and a self-righteous yet lusty nurse.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStripes (1981)
Hard-luck cabbie John Winger, directionless after being fired from his job and dumped by his girlfriend, enlists in the U.S. Army with his close pal, Russell Ziskey. After his barely satisfactory performance in basic training, the irreverent Winger emerges as the figurehead for a ragtag band of misfits. However, his hijinks threaten to cause an international scandal when he inadvertently commandeers a military assault vehicle behind enemy lines.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlight of the Intruder (1991)
U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Jake Grafton and his bombardier buddy, Lt. Cmdr. Virgil Cole, are two soldiers embedded in the Vietnam War growing frustrated by the military's constraints on their missions. Despite the best efforts of their commanding officer, Cmdr. Frank Camparelli, to re-engage them, this disillusioned pair decide to take the war effort into their own hands with an explosive battle plan that could well get them court-martialed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
SnoozefestMovies like thisPrivate Benjamin (1980)
A sheltered young high society woman joins the US Army on a whim and finds herself in a more difficult situation than she ever expected.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1941 (1979)
In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisHeartbreak Ridge (1986)
A hard-nosed, hard-living Marine gunnery sergeant clashes with his superiors and his ex-wife as he takes command of a spoiled recon platoon with a bad attitude.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow I Won the War (1967)
An inept British WWII commander leads his troops to a series of misadventures in North Africa and Europe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisBiloxi Blues (1988)
A Jewish teenager sets three goals: lose his virginity, become a writer, and survive World War II.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhich Way to the Front? (1970)
Brendan Byers III, one of the richest men in America, has been pronounced 4-F and can't serve his country in its war against Hitler. Byers does not take "No" for an answer and recruits other 4-F's to fight against Hitler.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
A pragmatic U.S. Marine observes the dehumanizing effects the U.S.-Vietnam War has on his fellow recruits from their brutal boot camp training to the bloody street fighting in Hue.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMcHale's Navy (1997)
Retired Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale spends his days puttering around the Caribbean in the old PT-73 selling homebrew, ice cream, and swimsuit calendars. He's brought out of retirement when Major Vladikov, his old nemesis turned the second top terrorist in the world, takes over the island of San Moreno and starts building a nuclear launch silo. With help from his old crew and hindrances from Captain Wallace B. Binghampton, who sank a cruise liner a while back, McHale aims to put Vladikov out of business.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlatoon Leader (1988)
West Point graduate lieutenant Jeff Knight meets cynicism when taking command of sergeant Michael McNamara's tour veterans platoon in a Vietnamese trench camp. Unlike his predecessor, who hid till the end of his tour, Jeff takes charge, experiences the manual doesn't allow coping with all realities and gets wounded. He returns, now fully respect by men and superiors. Besides the Vietcong, the platoon wrestles with the inscrutable villagers, which the G.I.'s officially protect, but also fear as some collaborate with them, other covertly with the Cong, either way subject to bloody reprisals.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
SnoozefestMovies like thisDown Periscope (1996)
Maverick Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge will never be a textbook officer, but he's a brilliant seaman who's always wanted to command a nuclear submarine — he's been given one last chance to clean up his record. Unfortunately, Admiral Graham, his nemesis, would rather sink the fleet than give Dodge his own boat. So, Graham stacks the deck against him and assigns Dodge to the Stingray, a diesel-powered WW2 submarine that can barely keep afloat. To make matters worse, Dodge's crew is a collection of maladjusted, mistake-prone misfits. Then, he's tagged the "enemy" in a crucial war game, and ordered to take on the U.S. Navy's best.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Topper Harley is found to be working as an odd-job-man in a monastery. The CIA want him to lead a rescue mission into Iraq, to rescue the last rescue team, who went in to rescue the last rescue team—who went in to rescue hostages left behind after Desert Storm.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like this84 Charlie Mopic (1989)
An Army cameraman is embedded with a reconnaissance patrol and charts their mission across territory controlled by the North Vietnamese.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDemobbed (2000)
The student, Rifle, has managed to seduce his professor's wife, Bomber, an average working guy, has bought a factory and Bullet, the casino lover, is hiding from creditors. They all share a common path and conscription. In the army they teach you that everything must be smart and in order - cockades, straps and all, otherwise you're not fit to call yourself a person, you're a maggot. For a real man, there's no better place than the army.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKelly's Heroes (1970)
A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968)
When 5 allied generals are captured in Italy in WWII, it is a propaganda nightmare for the allies. The generals are all 1 star and refuse to take orders from each other in order to plan an escape. Harry Frigg is a private who has escaped from the guard house dozens of times. He is promoted to Major General and ordered to get the generals out once he is captured. Harry is willing to escape, but then he meets the countess...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Kings (1999)
A group of American soldiers stationed in Iraq at the end of the Gulf War find a map they believe will take them to a huge cache of stolen Kuwaiti gold hidden near their base, and they embark on a secret mission that's destined to change everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)
A reporter in Iraq might just have the story of a lifetime when he meets Lyn Cassady, a guy who claims to be a former member of the U.S. Army's New Earth Army, a unit that employs paranormal powers in their missions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSahara (1995)
After the fall of Tobruk in June 1942, U.S. Army sergeant Joe Gunn leads his tank into the Sahara desert, in order to evade advancing Rommel's forces and reach Allied lines. Along the way he picks up few Allied soldiers, but soon they are running out of water. They find water at the ancient well, but the well is a goal of an entire German battalion. Despite the impossible odds, Sergeant Gunn decides to defend the well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Best Defense?
The closest matches to Best Defense are No Time for Sergeants (1958), The Boys in Company C (1978) and The Pentagon Wars (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Best Defense?
People who watched Best Defense most often go on to No Time for Sergeants (1958), The Boys in Company C (1978) and The Pentagon Wars (1998).
What is the highest-rated movie like Best Defense?
Full Metal Jacket (1987), rated 8.1/10 by 11,938 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Best Defense?
The Men Who Stare at Goats (2009) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Best Defense?
Yes: No Time for Sergeants (1958), The Boys in Company C (1978) and The Pentagon Wars (1998).
How are movies similar to Best Defense chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Best Defense, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.