Movies like Desert Hell
The best movies like Desert Hell (1958) are The Guns of Navarone (1961), Beau Geste (1939) and The Alamo (1960). If Desert Hell hooked you with its war and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLawrence of Arabia (1962)8.0/10 from 3,655 votes
- NewestAngels Fallen: Warriors of Peace (2024)Released 2024
The 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 & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeau Geste (1939)
Brothers Beau, John and Digby Geste join the Foreign Legion, where they fall under the rule of tyrannical Sergeant Markoff. Beau and John are assigned to Fort Zinderneuf, where Markoff tries to break their spirit, aware of a dark family secret concerning a fabulous jewel one of them carries. As tensions rise, Arabs attack the fort and rivalries must be thrown aside in a desperate battle for life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & war
Worth the HypeMovies 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 & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZulu Dawn (1979)
In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & war
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 adventure & war
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Four Feathers (1939)
A disgraced officer risks his life to help his childhood friends in battle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBattleground (1949)
Members of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division are fighting for their country amidst the rugged terrain of Bastogne, Belgium, in December 1944. Holley and his American compatriots have already seen one of their own, Roderigues, perish under enemy fire. The men try to rebuff another series of Nazi attacks, but what they really need is a change in the weather. Without clear skies, they'll never get the air support they need.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil's Brigade (1968)
At the onset of World War II, American Lt. Col. Robert Frederick is put in charge of a unit called the 1st Special Service Force, composed of elite Canadian commandos and undisciplined American soldiers. With Maj. Alan Crown leading the Canadians and Maj. Cliff Bricker the acting head of the American contingent, there is initial tension -- but the team comes together when given a daunting mission that few would dare to attempt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966)
A by-the-book Captain is ordered to capture a strategic village in Italy. The Italian soldiers are willing to surrender, if they can have a festival first. The lieutenant convinces the Captain this is the only way. Because of aerial reconnaissance, they must look like they are fighting. To sort this out an intelligence officer is sent in. Meanwhile the festival gets complicated with the Mayors daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Rifleman (2023)
A WWII veteran escapes his care home in Northern Ireland and embarks on an arduous but inspirational journey to France to attend the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, finding the courage to face the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCast a Giant Shadow (1966)
An American Army officer is recruited by the yet to exist Israel to help them form an army. He is disturbed by this sudden appeal to his Jewish heritage. Each of Israel's Arab neighbors has vowed to invade the poorly prepared country as soon as partition is granted. He is made commander of the Israeli forces just before the war begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngels Fallen: Warriors of Peace (2024)
When an Iraq War veteran receives a calling from a higher power, he embarks on a mission to stop a fallen angel from raising an army of the dead to take over the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisVera Cruz (1954)
After the American Civil War, mercenaries travel to Mexico to fight in their revolution for money. The former soldier and gentleman Benjamin Trane meets the gunman and killer Joe Erin and his men, and together they are hired by the Emperor Maximillian and the Marquis Henri de Labordere to escort the Countess Marie Duvarre to the harbor of Vera Cruz.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBuck Privates (1941)
Petty con artists Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown mistakenly join the Army evading the cops. The cop chasing them winds up as their drill instructor. A rich young man and his former working class chauffeur are not only in the same unit, they're vying for a pretty girl who seems attracted to both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBud Abbott and Lou Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
Jonesy and Lou are in Algeria looking for a wrestler they are promoting. Sergeant Axmann tricks them into joining the Foreign Legion, after which they discover Axmann's collaboration with the nasty Sheik Hamud El Khalid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Parade (1925)
The story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958)
A German soldier home on leave falls in love with a girl, then returns to World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTobruk (1967)
In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaiting for Anya (2020)
During the harrows of WWII, Jo, a young shepherd along with the help of the widow Horcada, helps to smuggle Jewish children across the border from southern France into Spain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKings of the Sun (1963)
In order to flee from powerful enemies, young Mayan king Balam leads his people north across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of what will become the United States. They build a home in the new land but come into conflict with a tribe of Native Americans led by their chief, Black Eagle, while both Balam and Black Eagle fall in love the beautiful Mayan princess Ixchel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarch or Die (1977)
Just after World War I, Major Foster is incorporating new recruits into his French Foreign Legion platoon when he is sent to his former remote outpost located in the French Morocco to protect an archaeological excavation from El Krim, a Rifian leader who intends to unite all local tribes to fight the colonial government…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & war
SnoozefestMovies like thisWomen Everywhere (1930)
Charles Jackson, an American sea-captain and singing soldier-of-fortune, is arrested by the French Foreign Legion for running guns to the rebel forces in Morocco fighting against the rule of the French in north Africa. He is saved by Lili La Fleur, a singer/dance in a Morocco café and, through her, eventually becomes a hero to the Foreign Legion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The Last Samurai (2003)
Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mummy (1999)
Dashing legionnaire Rick O'Connell stumbles upon the hidden ruins of Hamunaptra while in the midst of a battle to claim the area in 1920s Egypt. It has been over three thousand years since former High Priest Imhotep suffered a fate worse than death as a punishment for a forbidden love—along with a curse that guarantees eternal doom upon the world if he is ever awoken.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Flying Deuces (1939)
Ollie falls in love with a woman. When he discovers she's already married, he unsuccessfully attempts suicide but he and Stan then decide to join the Foreign Legion to get away from their troubles. When they’re arrested for soon trying to desert the Legion—they escape a firing squad by stealing an aircraft.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSergeant Klems (1971)
A man masquerading as a dead soldier seeks to desert his post and join the enemy in their struggle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The Last Remake of Beau Geste (1977)
Brothers Beau, John and Digby Geste join the Foreign Legion, where they fall under the rule of tyrannical Sergeant Markoff. Beau and John are assigned to Fort Zinderneuf, where Markoff tries to break their spirit, aware of a dark family secret concerning a fabulous jewel one of them carries. As tensions rise, Arabs attack the fort and rivalries must be thrown aside in a desperate battle for life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisDisco Boy (2023)
After a painful journey through Europe, Aleksei, a Belarusian, joins the Foreign Legion in France and clings to a confused hope of a European identity. Jomo, a Nigerian, fights for the survival and durability of his people in the Niger Delta and is ready to die to defend his ideas. These two young people who are sacrificed and smashed together will, against all odds, meet and their destinies will merge to continue across borders, bodies, life and death...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Garden of Allah (1936)
The star-crossed desert romance of a cloistered woman and a renegade monk.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The Legion of Missing Men (1937)
Bob Carter, a member of the Foreign Legion, is glad to see his brother, Don, for the first time in ten years but is sorry that Don has joined the Legion. Bob, Don and Bob's buddies, Muggsy and Bilgey, go to a café and there Don falls for Nina, a singer in love with Bob. Bob doesn't know this and thinks she is Garccia's girl, and warns Don to have nothing to do with her. Don disregards the warning and Garcia discovers Nina and Don together and provokes Don into hitting him. Don is arrested and thrown into the company brig. Nina, with the aid of an Arabian sheik, Ul Ahmed, helps Don escape. Bob, Muggsy and Bilgey follow but are captured and taken to Ul Hamid's headquarters. The sheik tortures Don to force Bob to work some captured machine guns for him. Ah Hamid and his tribe attack the fort, but Bob manages to turn the machine guns against his captors, and the fort is saved.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Like Desert Hell and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Desert Hell?
The closest matches to Desert Hell are The Guns of Navarone (1961), Beau Geste (1939) and The Alamo (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Desert Hell?
Start with The Guns of Navarone (1961), the closest match to Desert Hell.
What is the highest-rated movie like Desert Hell?
Lawrence of Arabia (1962), rated 8.0/10 by 3,655 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Desert Hell?
Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Desert Hell?
Yes: The Guns of Navarone (1961), Beau Geste (1939) and The Alamo (1960).
How are movies similar to Desert Hell chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Desert Hell, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.