Movies like John Paul Jones (1959)
The best movies like John Paul Jones (1959) are The Crossing (2000), Gunga Din (1939) and Hellfighters (1968). If John Paul Jones hooked you with its war and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTo Have and Have Not (1945)7.5/10 from 599 votes
- Newest1780 (2026)Released 2026
The Crossing (2000)
A made-for-TV dramatization of George Washington's perilous gamble of crossing the Delaware River and attacking the British forces at Trenton.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both war
Gunga Din (1939)
British army sergeants Ballantine, Cutter and MacChesney serve in India during the 1880s, along with their native water-bearer, Gunga Din. While completing a dangerous telegraph-repair mission, they unearth evidence of the suppressed Thuggee cult. When Gunga Din tells the sergeants about a secret temple made of gold, the fortune-hunting Cutter is captured by the Thuggees, and it's up to his friends to rescue him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHellfighters (1968)
The adventures of oil well fire specialist Chance Buckman (based on real-life Red Adair), who extinguishes massive fires in oil fields around the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this400 Bullets (2021)
One cold winter night in Afghanistan is about to get a whole lot worse for Rana Rae, a Gurkha soldier left to guard a British military outpost, when Captain Noah Brandt arrives looking for refuge from a group of rogue special ops and a cell of heavily armed Taliban. The two soldiers must fight for their lives as they attempt to call for backup before the rogue squad, led by the backstabbing Sergeant Bartlett, can hunt them down to retrieve a case of missile guidance chips that Noah intercepted. But Bartlett and his men do not count on Rana, whose ferocious Gurkha training makes him a force to be reckoned with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Worth the HypeMovies 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 romance & war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel and the Badman (1947)
A wounded outlaw finds unexpected mercy in the care of a rancher's daughter. The hope of love pulls him toward a different life until the law, and his violent past, close in on his new home. Now he must choose the kind of man he'll become.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorth West Mounted Police (1940)
Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.)
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Robin Hood fights nobly for justice against the evil Sir Guy of Gisbourne while striving to win the hand of the beautiful Maid Marian.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bridge at Remagen (1969)
In March of 1945, as the War in Europe is coming to a close, fighting erupts between German and American troops at the last remaining bridgehead across the Rhine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrince Valiant (1954)
A young Viking prince strives to become a knight in King Arthur's Court and restore his exiled father to his rightful throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSouth Pacific (1958)
Can a girl from Little Rock find happiness with a mature French planter she got to know one enchanted evening away from the military hospital where she is a nurse? Or should she just wash that man out of her hair? Bloody Mary is the philosopher of the island and it's hard to believe she could be the mother of Liat who has captured the heart of Lt. Joseph Cable USMC. While waiting for action in the war in the South Pacific, sailors and nurses put on a musical comedy show. The war gets closer and the saga of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque becomes serious drama.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sea Wolves (1980)
A German spy is passing on information about the location of Allied ships in the neutral harbor of Goa, India, with catastrophic results. Unable to undertake a full military operation in the Portuguese stronghold, English intelligence brings out of retirement a crew of geriatric ex-soldiers, veterans from World War I, using their age as cover. These old soldiers are asked to take to the seas and pull off an unlikely undercover mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisReap the Wild Wind (1942)
The Florida Keys in 1840, where the implacable hurricanes of the Caribbean scream, where the salvagers of Key West, like the intrepid and beautiful Loxi Claiborne and her crew, reap, aboard frail schooners, the harvest of the wild wind, facing the shark teeth of the reefs to rescue the sailors and the cargo from the shipwrecks caused by the scavengers of the sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor Me and My Gal (1942)
Two vaudeville performers fall in love, but find their relationship tested by the arrival of WWI.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan Triumphs (1943)
Zandra, white princess of a lost civilization, comes to Tarzan for help when Nazis invade the jungle with plans to conquer her people and take their wealth. Tarzan, the isolationist, becomes involved after the Nazis shoot at him and capture Boy: "Now Tarzan make war!"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSolomon and Sheba (1959)
Near death, King David has a vision that his poet son, Solomon, should succeed him, rather than hot-headed Adonijah. Furious, Adonijah departs the court, swearing he will become king. Other rulers are concerned that Solomon's benevolent rule and interest in monotheism will threaten their tyrannical, polytheistic kingdoms. The Queen of Sheba makes an agreement with the Egyptian pharaoh to corrupt Solomon for their mutual benefit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & war
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Plainsman (1936)
Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Buffalo Bill go up against Indians and a gunrunner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan and the Amazons (1945)
A group of archaeologists asks Tarzan to help them find an ancient city in a hidden valley of women. He refuses, but Boy is tricked into doing the job. The queen of the women asks Tarzan to help them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAttack Force Z (1982)
Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific during WWII, Captain Kelly and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both war & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lost Patrol (1934)
A World War I British Army patrol is crossing the Mesopotamian desert when their commanding officer, the only one who knows their destination, is killed by the bullet of unseen bandits. The patrol's sergeant keeps them heading north on the assumption that they will hit their brigade. They stop for the night at an oasis and awaken the next morning to find their horses stolen, their sentry dead, the oasis surrounded and survival difficult.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & war
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Two warriors in pursuit of a stolen sword and a notorious fugitive are led to an impetuous, physically-skilled, teenage nobleman's daughter, who is at a crossroads in her life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Will Fight No More Forever (1975)
Pursued by 2,000 US soldiers and cavalry, Chief Joseph leads his tribe of 800 Nez Perce on a 1,700 mile journey across the West and towards Canada. Based on the true story of the westward expansion of the United States and the military force used to displace Native Americans from their lands.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
1780 (2026)
A wounded Revolutionary War soldier takes shelter with a Pennsylvania trapper and his son. As British troops approach, they face choices about loyalty and survival in the wilderness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & war
National Treasure (2004)
Modern treasure hunters, led by archaeologist Ben Gates, search for a chest of riches rumored to have been stashed away by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin during the Revolutionary War. The chest's whereabouts may lie in secret clues embedded in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and Gates is in a race to find the gold before his enemies do.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Patriot (2000)
After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both war
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fatal Encounter (2014)
Late 18th-century Joseon dynasty. The King is beleaguered and surrounded by traitors of the ruling elite. They plan to assassinate and replace him with a puppet. But the King has some aces up his sleeve that may help him defeat them all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
When Jack crosses paths with a woman from his past, he's not sure if it's love...or if she's a ruthless con artist using him to find the fabled Fountain of Youth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road to Wellville (1994)
An unhappy young couple visit the infamous Kellogg spa in Battle Creek, Michigan while a young hustler tries get into the breakfast-cereal business and compete against John Kellogg's corn flakes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisPlunkett & Macleane (1999)
Will Plunkett and Captain James Macleane, two men from different ends of the social spectrum in 18th-century England, enter a gentlemen's agreement: They decide to rid the aristocrats of their belongings. With Plunkett's criminal know-how and Macleane's social connections, they team up to be soon known as "The Gentlemen Highwaymen". But when one day these gentlemen hold up Lord Chief Justice Gibson's coach, Macleane instantly falls in love with his beautiful and cunning niece, Lady Rebecca Gibson. Unfortunately, Thief Taker General Chance, who also is quite fond of Rebecca, is getting closer and closer to getting both.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like John Paul Jones?
The closest matches to John Paul Jones are The Crossing (2000), Gunga Din (1939) and Hellfighters (1968). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after John Paul Jones?
People who watched John Paul Jones most often go on to The Crossing (2000).
What is the highest-rated movie like John Paul Jones?
To Have and Have Not (1945), rated 7.5/10 by 599 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like John Paul Jones?
1780 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like John Paul Jones?
Yes: The Crossing (2000), Gunga Din (1939) and Hellfighters (1968).
How are movies similar to John Paul Jones chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside John Paul Jones, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.