Movies like Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield (2003)
The best movies like Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield (2003) are The Devil's Disciple (1959), The Alamo (1960) and Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993). If Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield hooked you with its history and war, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)8.1/10 from 6,482 votes
- NewestPressure (2026)Released 2026
- In KoreanDetective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow (2011)Also in Korean
The Devil's Disciple (1959)
In a small New England town during the American War of Independence, Dick Dudgeon, a revolutionary American Puritan, is mistaken for local minister Rev. Anthony Anderson and arrested by the British. Dick discovers himself incapable of accusing another human to suffer and continues to masquerade as the reverend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Alamo (1960)
The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 300 Spartans (1962)
The 300 Spartans is an account of the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, in which the Greek Spartan King Leonidas, played by Richard Egan, led a remarkably small number of Greek Sparta to victory over an invading Persian army led by evil King Xerxes that was thought to number over 25,000. This spectacular conflict gave the Grecians enough time to organize a force to ultimately repel the Persians, and thus change the course of Western civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow (2011)
In 1782, King Jeong-jo of Joseon asks detective K to investigate a series of murders related to a case of corruption within the government.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLawrence 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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHot Shots! (1991)
The gang that created Airplane! and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this spoof. Topper Harley is a talented but unstable fighter pilot with an axe to grind: clearing the family name. His mission is to avenge his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers. He also gets involved in a relationship with Ramada Thompson, a woman with an unusually talented stomach. Hot Shots! makes fun of a variety of other films, from Dances with Wolves to The Fabulous Baker Boys.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaptain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)
Captain Horatio Hornblower leads his ship HMS Lydia on a perilous transatlantic voyage, during which his faithful crew battle both a Spanish warship and a ragged band of Central American rebels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMidway (2019)
The story of the Battle of Midway, and the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome massive odds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKokoda (2006)
A bitter battle is fought between Australian and Japanese soldiers along the Kokoda trail in New Guinea during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPressure (2026)
In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, and the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice—launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrisoner of War (2025)
British RAF Wing Commander James Wright is captured by the Japanese during WWII and forced to fight in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The Japanese soldiers get more than they bargained for when Wright’s years of martial arts training in Hong Kong prove him to be a formidable opponent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCarry On Jack (1964)
Able seaman Poop-Decker signs up for adventure on the high seas with the wicked Captain Fearless. Those swabbing the decks include Juliet Mills, Charles Hawtrey and Donald Houston. The film was originally to be titled Up the Armada, but the British Board of Film Censors objected to such a rude title.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & history
SnoozefestMovies like thisDunkirk (2017)
The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKhartoum (1966)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both history & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyrouth, Le Dialogue Des Ruines (1993)
Architecture in Beirut was the second greatest victim of the civil war, with pages of ancient and modern history erased by the end of the conflict. This documentary interviews citizens calling for a reconstruction plan that would preserve Beirut’s spirit of culture and openness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & war
Aventure en Indochine (2012)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & war
Guerra do Paraguay (2016)
A soldier coming home after the Paraguay War meets a theater group. A shock between war and art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & war
39-45 L'histoire des bases sous-marines (2019)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history & war
Endless Corridor (2014)
"Endless Corridor" is the definitive account of an agonizing human rights tragedy in which hundreds of Azerbaijanis massacred after Armenian Forces stormed the city of Khojaly during the Nagorno-Karabakh War. It happened in 1992, but the full story never been told throughout the world until now.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
When the Tenth Month Comes (1984)
In the final days of the war, Duyên faces a daily struggle to take care of her young son and ailing father-in-law, all the while hiding from them the fact that her husband has recently been killed in battle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Train of Gold (1986)
First days of September 1939. The government decides to transport the Polish gold stored in the treasury of the National Bank of Poland out of the threatened Warsaw. A convoy is formed under the command of the man for special tasks, Major Bobruk. A string of trucks and city buses travel along crowded roads under relentless attack by aircraft. The convoy makes its way through Lublin to Romanian territory, where the gold will be reloaded onto a train. Prime Minister Calinescu, disregarding the threats of the Nazis, agrees to the transit of the precious bullion through his country. The evacuation of the gold is threatened all the time by a special German sabotage group under the command of Second Lieutenant Rudolf Lang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Unbroken Sword (TBA)
In the 7th century, Khalid bin Al-Walid is a warrior who leads an army across desert terrain to confront the Roman and Persian empires.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Gdleen (1990)
Ryu, a ladder-climbing salaryman exploring the galaxy on the company’s dime, crash-lands in the middle of a generational war over the seat of power on the planet Gdleen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
A Ladder to the Moon (2019)
1916. René Carpentier is a young French farmer who must leave his home behind in order to fight the Germans and serve his country. On the other side of the great ocean, Canadian Nick Irving leaves behind the woman he loves to photograph the horrors of the War in Europe and to become a hero. Both characters will embark on a journey to the mud of the trenches of Verdun to fight the bloody battles of the Great War with a single purpose ... return home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
The Manila Rope (1976)
Manillaköysi is a cult status holding TV-movie adaptation of the satirical war novel by Veijo Meri. Manillaköysi has an endless list of classic one-liners, but it is still not based on cheap laughs or anything like that. The whole humouristic aspect of it comes from describing the absurdity of war, and the whole military system, by looking it with the eyes of a simple man, who's thrown into it, and who simply does not give a rats ass of it all. The tone of it is not overly preachy or moralizing. If I would have to describe it with one word, it would be: unglamourizing. The main point of Manillaköysi is pretty much compressed in one of the most famous quotes of it: There is nothing supernatural about war, it is just work like anything else.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Padmaavat (2018)
Rajputana, India, 13th century. The tyrannical usurper Alauddin Khilji, sultan of Delhi, becomes obsessed with Queen Padmavati, wife of King Ratan Singh of Mewar, and goes to great lengths to satisfy his greed for her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShershaah (2021)
Inspired by the life of Captain Vikram Batra (PVC), the film celebrates his bravery, valiant spirit and honors his invaluable sacrifice during the Kargil War of 1999, at the age of 24.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHopeaa rajan takaa (1963)
In the summer of 1941, the Karelian youths Wist and Anttala decide to seek family silver hidden under Wist's home behind the border line of the truce.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield?
The closest matches to Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield are The Devil's Disciple (1959), The Alamo (1960) and Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield?
Start with The Devil's Disciple (1959), the closest match to Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield.
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield?
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), rated 8.1/10 by 6,482 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield?
Pressure (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Korean movies like Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield?
Yes: Detective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow (2011).
How are movies similar to Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.