Movies like McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965)
The best movies like McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force (1965) are Carry On Sergeant (1958), Hot Shots! (1991) and What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966). If McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force 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 ratedMayday (2026)7.8/10 from 1,076 votes
- NewestMayday (2026)Released 2026
Carry On Sergeant (1958)
Sergeant Grimshawe wants to retire in the flush of success by winning the Star Squad prize with his very last platoon of newly called-up National Servicemen. But a motley bunch they turn out to be, and it's up to Grimshawe to put the no-hopers through their paces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 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 comedy & war
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisOh! What a Lovely War (1969)
The working-class Smiths change their initially sunny views on World War I after the five boys of the family witness the harsh reality of trench warfare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuck Soup (1933)
Rufus T. Firefly is named president/dictator of bankrupt Freedonia and declares war on neighboring Sylvania over the love of wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming! (1966)
When a Soviet submarine gets stuck on a sandbar off the coast of a New England island, its commander orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Rozanov, to get them moving again before there is an international incident. Rozanov seeks assistance from the island locals, including the police chief and a vacationing television writer, while trying to allay their fears of a Communist invasion by claiming he and his crew are Norwegian sailors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & war
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMajor Payne (1995)
Major Benson Winifred Payne is being discharged from the Marines. Payne is a killin' machine, but the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield. A career Marine, he has no idea what to do as a civilian, so his commander finds him a job - commanding officer of a local school's JROTC program, a bunch of ragtag losers with no hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlaying with Fire (2019)
A crew of rugged firefighters meet their match when attempting to rescue three rambunctious kids.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979)
Amos and Theodore, the two bumbling outlaw wannabes from The Apple Dumpling Gang, are back and trying to make it on their own. This time, the crazy duo gets involved in an army supply theft case -- and, of course, gets in lots of comic trouble along the way!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFun with Dick and Jane (1977)
When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGet Smart (2008)
When members of the nefarious crime syndicate KAOS attack the U.S. spy agency Control and the identities of secret agents are compromised, the Chief has to promote hapless but eager analyst Maxwell Smart to field agent. He is partnered with veteran and capable Agent 99, the only spy whose cover remains intact. Can they work together to thwart the evil world-domination plans of KAOS and its crafty operative?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOscar (1991)
Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite having no experience in making money in a legal fashion, Snaps sets about to keep his promise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Burlesque on Carmen (1915)
A gypsy seductress is sent to sway a goofy officer to allow a smuggling run.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisScooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold (2018)
Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang meet up with Batman and other friends to defeat evil villains and save the day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrain Donors (1992)
Three manic idiots—a lawyer, a cab driver and a handyman—team up to run a ballet company to fulfil the will of a millionaire. Stooge-like antics result as the trio try to outwit the rich widow and her scheming big-shot lawyer, who also wants to run the ballet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrivate Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous (2008)
When fluffy, bubble gum movie star Megan Valentine suddenly finds herself broke and humiliated in the public eye, she wanders from the wreckage of a car accident and witlessly enlists in the U.S. Army hoping in vain that it will change her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTop Secret! (1984)
Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillary Flammond, he finds himself caught up in an underground resistance movement. Rivers joins forces with Agent Cedric and Flammond to attempt the rescue of her father, Dr. Paul, from the Germans, who have captured the scientist in hopes of coercing him into building a new naval mine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tóth Family (1969)
The Tóth family resides in Northern Hungary. The couple has a daughter and a son, the latter a member of the armed forces. When his weary major is ordered to take a vacation, the son talks him into a visit to his family home. Hilarity ensues when the Tóths go overboard trying to make things pleasant for the visiting major in hopes of an easier life for their son, the soldier.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war & comedy
Wild Wild West (1999)
Legless Southern inventor Dr. Arliss Loveless plans to rekindle the Civil War by assassinating President Ulysses S. Grant. Only two men can stop him: gunfighter James West and master-of-disguise and inventor Artemus Gordon. The two must team up to thwart Loveless' plans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisShanghai Noon (2000)
Chon Wang, a clumsy imperial guard, trails Princess Pei Pei when she's kidnapped from the Forbidden City and transported to America. Wang follows her captors to Nevada, where he teams up with an unlikely partner, outcast outlaw Roy O'Bannon, and tries to spring the princess from her imprisonment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Final Countdown (1980)
During routine manoeuvres near Hawaii in 1980, the aircraft-carrier USS Nimitz is caught in a strange vortex-like storm, throwing the ship back in time to 1941—mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thin Red Line (1998)
The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNational Theatre Live: Nye (2024)
Confronted with death, National Health Service founder Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan's deepest memories lead him on a mind-bending journey back through his life; from childhood to mining underground, Parliament and fights with Winston Churchill.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Emperor's Bed (1973)
In the first day of liberation, partisan Meke enters the palace where the king used to live.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Europa Europa (1990)
A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMidnight Run (1988)
A bounty hunter pursues a former Mafia accountant who is also being chased by a rival bounty hunter, the F.B.I., and his old mob boss after jumping bail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlame & Citron (2008)
Gunman Flame and his partner Citron assassinate Nazi collaborators for the Danish resistance. Assigned targets by their Allies-connected leader, Aksel Winther, they relish the opportunity to begin targeting the Nazis themselves. When they begin to doubt the validity of their assignments, their morally complicated task becomes even more labyrinthine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force?
The closest matches to McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force are Carry On Sergeant (1958), Hot Shots! (1991) and What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force?
Start with Carry On Sergeant (1958), the closest match to McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force.
What is the highest-rated movie like McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force?
Mayday (2026), rated 7.8/10 by 1,076 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force?
Mayday (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force?
Yes: Carry On Sergeant (1958), Hot Shots! (1991) and What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966).
How are movies similar to McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside McHale's Navy Joins the Air Force, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.