Movies like Don Winslow of the Navy (1942)
The best movies like Don Winslow of the Navy (1942) are Swashbuckler (1976), U-571 (2000) and Batman (1943). If Don Winslow of the Navy hooked you with its adventure and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTop Gun: Maverick (2022)8.2/10 from 11,903 votes
- NewestMayday (2026)Released 2026
Swashbuckler (1976)
A pirate and a hot-tempered noblewoman join forces to protect Jamaica from a tyrant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisU-571 (2000)
In the midst of World War II, the battle under the sea rages and the Nazis have the upper hand as the Allies are unable to crack their war codes. However, after a wrecked U-boat sends out an SOS signal, the Allies realise this is their chance to seize the 'enigma coding machine'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman (1943)
Japanese master spy Daka operates a covert espionage-sabotage organization located in Gotham City's now-deserted Little Tokyo, which turns American scientists into pliable zombies. The great crime-fighters Batman and Robin, with the help of their allies, are in pursuit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Thrust into an all-new adventure, a down-on-his-luck Capt. Jack Sparrow feels the winds of ill-fortune blowing even more strongly when deadly ghost sailors led by his old nemesis, the evil Capt. Salazar, escape from the Devil's Triangle. Jack's only hope of survival lies in seeking out the legendary Trident of Poseidon, but to find it, he must forge an uneasy alliance with a brilliant and beautiful astronomer and a headstrong young man in the British navy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Were Expendable (1945)
After a demonstration of new PT boats, Navy brass are still unconvinced of their viability in combat, leaving Lt. "Rusty" Ryan frustrated. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, Ryan and his buddy Lt. Brickley are told they can finally take their squadron into battle. The PT boats quickly prove their worth, successfully shooting down Japanese planes, relaying messages between islands, and picking off a multitude of enemy ships.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Guns of Navarone (1961)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreyhound (2020)
A first-time captain leads a convoy of allied ships carrying thousands of soldiers across the treacherous waters of the "Black Pit" to the front lines of WWII. With no air cover protection for 5 days, the captain and his convoy must battle the surrounding enemy Nazi U-boats in order to give the allies a chance to win the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTom Clancy's Without Remorse (2021)
An elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidway (1976)
This war drama depicts the U.S. and Japanese forces in the naval Battle of Midway, which became a turning point for Americans during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder Siege (1992)
A disgruntled ex-CIA operative, his assistant and their assembled group of terrorists seize a battleship with nuclear blackmail in mind. They've planned for every contingency but ignore the ship's cook, former Navy SEAL Casey Ryback—an error that could be fatal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHornblower: Mutiny (2001)
Hornblower and his comrades come under the command of a revered but mentally unstable captain and are forced to mutiny in order to save their ship, the HMS Renown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTop Gun: Maverick (2022)
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTo Have and Have Not (1945)
A Martinique charter boat skipper gets mixed up with the underground French resistance operatives during WWII.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOperation Pacific (1951)
During WWII, Duke E. Gifford is second in command of the USS Thunderfish, a submarine which is firing off torpedoes that either explode too early or never explode at all. It's a dilemma that he'll eventually take up personally. Even more personal is his quest to win back his ex-wife, a nurse; but he'll have to win her back from a navy flier who also happens to be his commander's little brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003)
After an abrupt and violent encounter with a French warship inflicts severe damage upon his ship, a captain of the British Royal Navy begins a chase over two oceans to capture or destroy the enemy, though he must weigh his commitment to duty and ferocious pursuit of glory against the safety of his devoted crew, including the ship's thoughtful surgeon, his best friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisH.M.S. Defiant (1962)
Defiant's crew is part of a fleet-wide movement to present a petition of grievances to the Admiralty. Violence must be no part of it. The continual sadism of Defiant's first officer makes this difficult, and when the captain is disabled, the chance for violence increases.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHornblower: The Even Chance (1998)
Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, 17-year-old midshipman Horatio Hornblower takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a feud with a shipmate causes complications.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMayday (2026)
When a U.S. Navy pilot on a top-secret mission during the Cold War gets trapped behind enemy lines, his only chance at survival is to form an alliance with an eccentric ex-KGB agent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTreasure Island (1972)
Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer's treasure, in this short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Legendaries (2026)
They are brave, intrepid, indomitable, and they turned back to children! While fighting the terrible sorcerer Darkhell, the official heros of Alysia: The Legendaries accidentally broke the Jovenia stone, the one of eternal youth. This is how the whole kingdom of Alysia, and especially our champions, has fallen back into childhood. No more birth, but people keep on dying of accident or sickness… Humanity is then doomed to extinction. A real curse! And quite a blow to the myth of "The Legendaries". The five warriors, formerly admired, have now to lie low… Today blamed and discredited, they are well decided to break the spell and fix their mistake. "Nothing is impossible for a willing heart"… Even at 10!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Fantasy Mission Force (1983)
A force of loners and fighters is put together to try and rescue the generals and save the war effort with the promise of gold and pardons of past crimes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Hurricane Express (1932)
The Wrecker wrecks trains on the L & R Railroad. One of his victims is Larry Baker's father. Baker wants to find the evildoer, among a host of suspects, but it will be difficult since the Wrecker can disguise himself to look like almost anyone
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & action
Bear Island (1979)
A group of people converge on a barren Arctic island. They have their reasons for being there but when a series of mysterious accidents and murders take place, a whole lot of darker motives become apparent. Could the fortune in buried Nazi gold be the key to the mystery? Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave investigate
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild West Days (1937)
Retired lawman Kentucky Wade and his three buddies, Mike Morales, "Dude" Hanford and "Trigger" Benton come to Brimstone and help their friends Larry Munro and his sister, Lucy , in their fight to retain control of Larry's rich ore mine. "Doc" Hardy , as an old friend of Wade's, joins them in their efforts to keep Matt Keeler , the scheming owner of "The Brimstone News", from his efforts to wrest control of Munro's property and mine. Keller employs a legion of henchmen, and sidelines at running runs guns to Red Hatchet and his tribe so they can also get in on the fray against the Munro's and Kentucky and friends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
The Invincible Iron Man (2007)
When a cocky industrialist's efforts to raise an ancient Chinese temple leads him to be seriously wounded and captured by enemy forces, he must use his ideas for a revolutionary power armor in order to fight back as a superhero.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Sonja (2025)
A young girl rises from the ashes of tragedy to become the most feared warrior woman of all time: the She-Devil with a Sword.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisHulk vs. Wolverine (2009)
Department H sends in Wolverine to track down a mysterious beast known by the US Military as the Hulk, who is rampaging across the Canadian wilderness. Surveying the extent of the damage to a destroyed town, Wolverine notices a toxic scent as well as the smell of gunpowder. He is then deployed to the wilderness to resume tracking the creature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWonder Woman (2009)
On the mystical island of Themyscira, a proud and fierce warrior race of Amazons have raised a daughter of untold beauty, grace and strength: Princess Diana. When an Army fighter pilot, Steve Trevor, crash-lands on the island, the rebellious and headstrong Diana defies Amazonian law by accompanying Trevor back to civilization.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAge of Heroes (2011)
The true story of the formation of Ian Fleming's 30 Commando unit, a precursor for the elite forces in the U.K.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Don Winslow of the Navy?
The closest matches to Don Winslow of the Navy are Swashbuckler (1976), U-571 (2000) and Batman (1943). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Don Winslow of the Navy?
Start with Swashbuckler (1976), the closest match to Don Winslow of the Navy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Don Winslow of the Navy?
Top Gun: Maverick (2022), rated 8.2/10 by 11,903 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Don Winslow of the Navy?
Mayday (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Don Winslow of the Navy?
Yes: Swashbuckler (1976), U-571 (2000) and Batman (1943).
How are movies similar to Don Winslow of the Navy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Don Winslow of the Navy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.