80s Films set in the 1940s
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- DirectorBob ClarkStarsPeter BillingsleyMelinda DillonDarren McGavinIn the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
- DirectorElem KlimovStarsAleksey KravchenkoOlga MironovaLiubomiras LauceviciusAfter finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsSam ShepardScott GlennEd HarrisThe U.S. space program's development from the breaking of the sound barrier to selection of the Mercury 7 astronauts, from a group of test pilots with a more seat-of-the-pants approach than the program's more cautious engineers preferred.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsBob HoskinsChristopher LloydJoanna CassidyWhen a cartoon rabbit is accused of murder, he enlists the help of a burnt out private investigator to prove his innocence.
- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
- DirectorGiuseppe TornatoreStarsPhilippe NoiretEnzo CannavaleAntonella AttiliA filmmaker recalls his childhood when falling in love with the pictures at the cinema of his home village and forms a deep friendship with the cinema's projectionist.
- DirectorWolfgang PetersenStarsJürgen ProchnowHerbert GrönemeyerKlaus WennemannA German U-boat stalks the frigid waters of the North Atlantic as its young crew experience the sheer terror and claustrophobic life of a submariner in World War II.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsChristian BaleJohn MalkovichMiranda RichardsonA young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
- DirectorJames L. BrooksStarsShirley MacLaineDebra WingerJack NicholsonFollows hard-to-please Aurora looking for love and her daughter's family problems.
- DirectorBernardo BertolucciStarsJohn LoneJoan ChenPeter O'TooleBernardo Bertolucci's Oscar-winning dramatisation of the life story of China's last emperor, Pu Yi.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsMorgan FreemanJessica TandyDan AykroydAn old Jewish woman and her African-American chauffeur in the American South have a relationship that grows and improves over the years.
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMatthew BroderickChristopher WalkenMatt MulhernA group of young recruits go through boot camp during the Second World War in Biloxi, Mississippi. From the play by Neil Simon.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsGoldie HawnKurt RussellChristine LahtiA woman finds romance when she takes a job at an aircraft plant to help make ends meet after her husband goes off to war.
- DirectorRobert GreenwaldStarsOlivia Newton-JohnGene KellyMichael BeckA struggling artist living in Los Angeles meets a girl who may hold the key to his happiness.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsFaye DunawayDiana ScarwidSteve ForrestThe abusive and traumatic adoptive upbringing of Christina Crawford at the hands of her mother, screen queen Joan Crawford, is depicted.
- DirectorDon TaylorStarsKirk DouglasMartin SheenKatharine RossA modern aircraft carrier is thrown back in time to 1941 near Hawaii, just hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
- DirectorStewart RaffillStarsMichael ParéNancy AllenEric ChristmasA United States Navy destroyer escort participates in a Navy "invisibility" experiment that inadvertently sends two sailors forty years into the future.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsMichael CaineAnthony AndrewsVictoria TennantThe son of a German General becomes part of a mysterious conspiracy to gain hidden Nazi funds.
- DirectorNagisa ÔshimaStarsDavid BowieTom ContiRyuichi SakamotoDuring WWII, a British colonel tries to bridge the cultural divides between a British POW and the Japanese camp commander in order to avoid bloodshed.
- DirectorLewis JacksonStarsBrandon MaggartJeffrey DeMunnDianne HullA toy factory worker, mentally scarred as a child upon learning Santa Claus is not real, suffers a nervous breakdown after being belittled at work, and embarks on a Yuletide killing spree.
- DirectorRichard MarquandStarsDonald SutherlandKate NelliganStephen MacKennaA ruthless German spy, trying to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day, must spend time with a young woman and her crippled husband.
- DirectorTun-Fei MouStarsGang WangDai Yao WuRunshen WangJapanese troops round up Chinese and Russian prisoners of war and take them to unit 731, where they're horribly tortured and experimented on to test new biological weapons.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsMia FarrowDianne WiestMike StarrA nostalgic look at radio's golden age focusing on one ordinary family and the various performers in the medium.
- DirectorTinto BrassStarsSerena GrandiAndrea OcchipintiFranco InterlenghiIn this erotic comedy, Miranda is the landlady of a small country tavern who is looking for a husband, and tries out a variety of men for size.
- DirectorJoseph ZitoStarsVicky DawsonChristopher GoutmanLawrence TierneyAn unknown killer, clad in World War II U.S. Army fatigues, stalks a small California town, bent on reliving a 35 year-old double murder by focusing on a group of college kids holding an annual graduation dance.
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsGaspard ManesseRaphael FejtöFrancine RacetteA French boarding school run by priests seems to be a haven from World War II until a new student arrives. Occupying the next bed in the dormitory to the top student in his class, the two young boys begin to form a bond.
- DirectorGraeme CliffordStarsJessica LangeJonathan BanksBonnie BartlettThe story of Frances Farmer's meteoric rise to fame in Hollywood and the tragic turn her life took when she was blacklisted.
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsPaul NewmanDwight SchultzBonnie BedeliaThis film reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret WWII project, and the first atomic bombs designed, built, and tested in Los Alamos.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsSarah MilesDavid HaymanSebastian Rice-EdwardsBill, a young boy living on the outskirts of London experiences the exhilaration of World War II. During this period, Bill learns about sex, death, love, hypocrisy, and the faults of adults as he prowls the ruins of bombed houses.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsForest WhitakerDiane VenoraMichael ZelnikerThe troubled life and career of jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker.
- DirectorFrancis Ford CoppolaStarsJeff BridgesJoan AllenMartin LandauThe story of Preston Tucker, the maverick car designer and his ill-fated challenge to the auto industry with his revolutionary car concept.
- DirectorSamuel FullerStarsLee MarvinMark HamillRobert CarradineA hardened sergeant and the four core members of his infantry unit try to survive World War II as they move from battle to battle throughout Europe.
- DirectorNorman JewisonStarsHoward E. Rollins Jr.Adolph CaesarArt EvansAn African-American officer investigates a murder in a racially charged situation in World War II.
- DirectorCarl ReinerStarsSteve MartinRachel WardAlan LaddFilm noir parody with a detective uncovering a sinister plot. Characters from classic noir films appear as scenes from various movies interjected into the story.
- DirectorPeter MastersonStarsGeraldine PageJohn HeardCarlin GlynnIn 1940s Texas, an elderly woman is determined to visit her childhood home one last time.
- DirectorMichael CiminoStarsChristopher LambertTerence StampJoss AcklandEgocentric bandit Salvatore Giuliano fights the Church, the Mafia, and the landed gentry while leading a populist movement for Sicilian independence.
- DirectorDavid Hugh JonesStarsAnne BancroftAnthony HopkinsJudi DenchTrue story of a transatlantic business correspondence about used books that developed into a close friendship.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsMeryl StreepSam NeillAndré MaranneA young Englishwoman spends twenty years to make whatever kind of life for herself, at the expense of others around her, in post-World War II England.
- DirectorFrançois TruffautStarsCatherine DeneuveGérard DepardieuJean PoiretIn occupied Paris, an actress married to a Jewish theater owner must keep him hidden from the Germans while doing both of their jobs.
- DirectorUlu GrosbardStarsRobert De NiroRobert DuvallCharles DurningA worldly ambitious monsignor clashes with his older brother, a cynical Los Angeles homicide detective who is investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.
- DirectorJack FiskStarsSissy SpacekEric RobertsSam ShepardA divorcee with two sons has an affair with a young sailor passing through her Texas town in 1944.
- DirectorRalph BakshiStarsMews SmallRon ThompsonJerry HollandThe story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsAlbert FinneyTom CourtenayEdward FoxPersonal assistant Norman struggles to get deteriorating veteran actor Sir through a difficult performance of King Lear.
- DirectorMichael RadfordStarsSarah MilesJoss AcklandJohn HurtIn 1940s Kenya, a married couple join other affluent British expatriates in a lifestyle of recklessness and excess, but soon find themselves in a troubling situation.
- DirectorTinto BrassStarsNicola WarrenFrancesca DelleraAndy J. ForestAfter the renewed flings with their former lovers prove to be disastrously unlike the romantic memories, an unfaithful couple returns to each other.
- DirectorRichard BenjaminStarsSean PennElizabeth McGovernNicolas CageIn 1942 California, two young men await induction into the U.S. Marines and say goodbye to their girlfriends.
- DirectorMoshé MizrahiStarsTom HanksCristina MarsillachBenedict TaylorA Protestant World War II pilot and a Jewish girl fall in love in Jerusalem, even though their diverse backgrounds threaten to pull them apart.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsScott GlennToshirô MifuneDonna Kei BenzA down-and-out American boxer becomes involved in a feud between two Japanese brothers.
- DirectorPaul LynchStarsJanet JulianDavid WysockiJohn Wildman"Humongous" tells the tale of when the monstrous offspring of a violent criminal grow up in seclusion on a remote island. Then year later, a boat-full of teens become shipwrecked on the island, unaware of what is lurking in the woods.
- DirectorDavid S. WardStarsNick NolteDebra WingerAudra LindleyMonterey, California in the 1940's. Cannery Row - the section of town where the now closed fish canneries are located - is inhabited primarily by the down and out, although many would not move away even if they could. Probably the most upstanding citizen in the area is Doc, a marine biologist who earns a living primarily by collecting and selling marine specimens for research. He is a lost soul who is looking for his place in life. He is running away from his past, one where he is trying to make amends for what he considers a past wrong. But his current life isn't totally satisfying either. He believes that his recent collection of eight baby octopi will help him define that future in conducting research on their behavior. However, he is finding that research is not as easy as he had hoped, and that he is still feeling restless. Into the area comes drifter Suzy DeSoto. She too is a lost soul. With few job skills, she gets a job as what she calls a floozy in the local whorehouse, despite her openly headstrong demeanor not making her well suited to the work. Doc and Suzy are immediately attracted to each other, but theirs is a clash of personalities, despite each truly liking the other. The other residents of Cannery Row do their part for a Doc/Suzy coupling, not always with successful results. Doc and Suzy will first have to find their own lot in life before they can commit to someone else, be it the other or anyone else.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsGene HackmanTheresa RussellRutger HauerIn 1925, a lone and obsessed Arctic prospector Jack McCann finally strikes gold. Twenty years later, he begins spiraling out of control when his only daughter becomes engaged to a man he strongly dislikes.
- DirectorFederico FelliniStarsSergio RubiniAntonella PonzianiMaurizio MeinFederico Fellini accepts the request of a television crew to be interviewed about his career, narrating memories, dreams, realities and fantasies.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsJackie GleasonMac DavisTeri GarrA team of cons is planning a new scam involving betting on a boxing match but one of its past victims aims to exact revenge by eliminating the whole group.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsTony Leung Chiu-waiShu-Fen HsinSung-Young ChenThe story of a family embroiled in the "White Terror" that was wrought on the Taiwanese people by the Kuomintang government after their arrival from mainland China in the late 1940s.
- DirectorMori MasakiStarsIssei MiyazakiCatherine BattistoneYoshie ShimamuraA powerful statement against war, Barefoot Gen is a disturbing story about the effect of the atomic bomb on a boy's life and the lives of the Japanese people.
- DirectorRainer Werner FassbinderStarsHanna SchygullaGiancarlo GianniniMel FerrerIn 1938, a German singer falls in love with a Jewish composer in Zurich, who helps Jews flee Nazi Germany. She wants to help but is forced back to Germany. Her song "Lili Marleen" becomes a hit with soldiers and the Nazi top brass.
- DirectorPekka ParikkaStarsTaneli MäkeläVesa VierikkoTimo TorikkaIn 1939, two Finnish brothers are conscripted in the army to fight in the war between Finland and the Soviet Union.
- DirectorRobert M. YoungStarsWillem DafoeEdward James OlmosRobert LoggiaIn Greece during World War II, a young Jewish boxer, his girlfriend, and their families are sent to Auschwitz. When the camp guards learn of his boxing abilities, they force him to participate in weekly boxing matches.
- DirectorPhil Alden RobinsonStarsPatrick DempseyTalia BalsamBeverly D'AngeloA 14-year-old nicknamed the 'Woo Woo Kid', is a teenage casanova who has affairs and runs away to marry two older women, mothers themselves, fascinating the public and the media with his romantic prowess.
- DirectorPaul MazurskyStarsRon SilverAnjelica HustonLena OlinA ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsJohn Phillip LawMel GibsonSam NeillA group of Australian commandos launch a secret mission against Japanese forces in World War II.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsMaximilian SchellRod SteigerRobby BensonIn 1944, in Brooklyn, two Jewish kids become friends. One is from a very conservative family, and the other is more liberal. The issues of importance of tradition, parental expectations and the formation of Israel cause constant friction.
- DirectorClaude LelouchStarsRobert HosseinNicole GarciaGeraldine ChaplinThrough fabulous music, this movie tracks three generations of musicians and dancers from Russia, Germany, France and the U.S., from before World War II through the war and the Holocaust, to the 1980s. Their lives become intertwined through historical circumstances, and the culmination is the presence of several of them, including a former Nazi pianist and a French Jewish Holocaust survivor, at an anti-famine concert.
- DirectorTerence DaviesStarsPete PostlethwaiteFreda DowieAngela WalshThe lives of an English working-class family are told out of order in a free-associative manner. The first part, "Distant Voices", focuses on the father's role in the family. The second part, "Still Lives", focuses on his children.
- DirectorTerry MarcelStarsSam J. JonesMaud AdamsJasper CarrottJane and the colonel must journey to Africa to the lost city to retrieve the diamonds before the Germans do. Based on the classic adult UK comic strip "Jane," especially popular during World War II for its strong pin-up elements.
- DirectorJ. Lee ThompsonStarsCharles BronsonJason RobardsDominique SandaIn 1948, an assortment of shady characters are searching for Nazi loot, sunken off the coast of Peru.
- DirectorGordon HesslerStarsBruce DavisonDavid Patrick KellyD.W. MoffettWar story of the 27th Panzers, Hitler's heavy-duty combat regiment composed of prisoners. In 1943, this motley tank crew is sent on a suicide mission behind enemy lines to destroy a Soviet train that's carrying fuel for the Red Army.
- DirectorJean RollinJulian de LasernaStarsHoward VernonPierre-Marie EscourrouAnouchkaIn a small village, somewhere in France, German soldiers, killed and thrown into the lake by the Resistance during WW II, come back.
- DirectorJohn MiliusStarsNick NolteNigel HaversFrank McRaeBorneo, 1942: An American soldier escapes WWII and becomes the king of the headhunters in the jungle. Two British soldiers are parachuted into the area to find local support for the battle against the Japanese.
- DirectorSteve CarverStarsMichael DudikoffDonald PleasenceRobert VaughnIn 1965 a guide in the Amazon leads people to a lost city in search of a mad Nazi doctor.
- DirectorLuis ValdezStarsDaniel ValdezEdward James OlmosCharles AidmanWhen barrio leader Henry Reyna and his friends are unjustly convicted on circumstantial evidence, activist lawyers Alice Bloomfield and George Shearer fight the blatant racially motivated miscarriage of justice to win them their freedom.
- DirectorHsiao-Hsien HouStarsChia-bao ChangNeng ChangChih-Chen ChenThe semi-autobiographical film on director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's childhood and adolescence, when he was growing up in Taiwan, living through the deaths of his father, mother and grandmother.
- DirectorFranz AntelStarsKarl MerkatzAlfred BöhmHans HoltA politically naïve Viennese butcher (Bockerer) manages to survive the unification of Germany and Austria and the Second World War.
- DirectorAntonio MerceroStarsPepe SorianoJosé SazatornilChus LampreaveDid Franco have a double? The story is set in the late 40's, in Spain... The humble owner of an orthopedics shop in Madrid is abducted by a misterious group... He disappears for the external world... What happened to him? Due to an uncanny similarity with the dictator, Franco, he has been "selected" for the highly secret "Operation Janus", to provide a double for Franco for dangerous moments.
- DirectorAndrew V. McLaglenStarsTimothy BottomsNick TateGeorge TakeiA group of war prisoners from the Kwai bridge building camp undertake a harsh journey to Japan.
- DirectorAndrew SoltStarsJohn LennonYoko OnoPaul McCartneyA biography of the rock music star.
- DirectorPaolo TavianiVittorio TavianiStarsOmero AntonuttiMargarita LozanoClaudio BigagliIn 1944, the residents of a small Italian town under Axis control flee their homes to seek out the liberating Allied forces.
- DirectorMarcel OphülsStarsKlaus BarbieClaude LanzmannMarcel OphülsA documentary about Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo chief of Lyon, and his life after the war.
- DirectorDanny BilsonStarsTim ThomersonTimothy Van PattenArt LaFleurIn Italy, during World War II some American soldiers find an alien UFO.
- DirectorFrank PerryStarsChristopher ReeveGeneviève BujoldFernando ReyAn ambitious priest seduces a nun and leads the Vatican into shady business during and after World War II.
- DirectorJerry SchatzbergStarsJason RobardsChristien AnholtSamuel WestTwo young boys from very different backgrounds become friends in 1933 Stuttgart. However, they don't realize how different they are until much later as one is the son of a well-to-do Jewish doctor and the other the son of a German aristocrat. After that summer and the election of Hitler, things change as anti-semitism gains fervor. After the core of the film deals with that era, the film flashes to the present and the Jewish man now returns to his boyhood home and seeks his old friend with some surprises.
- DirectorAnthony PageStarsJacqueline BissetJürgen ProchnowIrene WorthIn Berlin in the early 1940s, romance is forbidden between the young countess who is studying veterinary medicine and a young man she meets at the home of a former professor. But they fall in love. She gets involved in helping Jews escape from the Nazis. All get out of Berlin except the young man. There is a room in her apartment where he can't be seen through the windows and a chest converted into a sofa where she and her brothers played hide-and-seek as children. This real life hide-and-seek game has high stakes. The movie is said to be based on a true story.
- DirectorJonathan SangerStarsEd HarrisMax von SydowHorst BuchholzEmerald is an agent the Germans "have" inside allied intelligence 1944/WWII. With "help" from Emerald, the Germans catch Wheeler, believed to know the when and where of D-Day. Emerald is sent to be Wheeler's cell mate. Let the game begin.
- DirectorAntonio DroveStarsJane SeymourPeter WellerManuel de BlasA painter becomes obsessed and begins an affair with a mysterious woman who was touched deeply by one of his works.
- DirectorEttore ScolaStarsÉtienne GuichardRégis BouquetFrancesco De RosaDance moves, music and fashion mark the passage of time inside a Paris dance hall, throughout fifty years of history.
- DirectorLuis MandokiStarsRachel ChagallLiv UllmannNorma AleandroThe life of Gaby Brimmer, a girl physically handicapped, who finally gets her goals of study and triumph.
- DirectorSteven PaulStarsElliott GouldSusannah YorkMichelle PfeifferWhile struggling with his midlife crisis, Harry receives an invitation for his high school's reunion back so he takes Sue and their teenage kids on a cross-country car trip back to the Big Apple.
- DirectorMarco FerreriStarsIsabelle HuppertHanna SchygullaMarcello MastroianniThis erotic drama about the incestuous relationship of a mother and daughter is based on the autobiography of Italian theater actress Piera Degli Esposti.
- DirectorColin EgglestonStarsJohn HargreavesMeredith PhillipsMax PhippsHarris starts for a flight to Boa Boa. But he gets lost in a supernatural storm. Home again, no one believes Harris' story, and his crew suspiciously denies it too. Harris is thrown in jail, but manages to escape.
- DirectorAleksey GermanStarsRolan BykovAnatoliy SolonitsynVladimir ZamanskiyA Soviet POW joins the partisan guerrillas and proves his loyalty fighting the Germans.
- DirectorJoel M. ReedStarsJamie GillisRyan HilliardRon ArmstrongInvestigators search for soldiers' missing bodies, and hear unbelievable rumors about zombies. Dismissing those rumors they set out to investigate. After two men are found dead, CIA special-agent Nick Monroe is sent to flush out what are suspected to be deserters from the old U.S. Army Chemical Corps unit. Nick's ruthless investigation uncovers a ghoulish plot of world domination, but first he must escape the horror that does not want to be known... yet!
- DirectorAlexander RamatiStarsBen CrossJames MasonIrene PapasA simple friar and a local bishop set up a pipeline for hundreds of Jews to hide and escape the Nazis in World War II Assisi.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsChristopher LeeRamon EstevezMark HamillIn World War II Germany, two young men, one, an ardent Nazi, and the other, a secret anti-Nazi, are in love with the same woman, the daughter of a wealthy banker. The two join the Army, and the young woman becomes a nightclub singer. Eventually she joins the Army too, to entertain the troops, but circumstances soon result in her entire world being changed.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsMagnus HärenstamLill AnderssonEllionor Bille1944. Cederqvist comes to a small cloth factory to see how the all-women staff can work more efficiently. When first arriving he is greeted with suspicion and his efforts at courting the young ladies are futile. But as soon as he buys himself a car it becomes much easier, especially since he is authorized to relocate people to an easier line of work.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsArmin Mueller-StahlElisabeth TrissenaarWojciech PszoniakIn the winter of 1942-43, a Jewish family leaps from a train going through Silesia. They are separated in the woods, and Leon, a local peasant who's now a farmer of some wealth, discovers the woman, Rosa, and hides her in his cellar. Leon's a middle-aged Catholic bachelor, tormented by his sexual drive. He doesn't tell Rosa he's seen signs her husband is alive, and he begs her to love him. Rosa offers herself to Leon if he'll help a local Jew in hiding who needs money. Leon pays, and love between Rosa and him does develop, but then Leon's peasant subservience and his limited empathy lead to tragedy. At the war's end, a ray of sunshine comes from an unexpected place.
- DirectorGenji NakamuraStarsMiki TakakuraKazuhiro YamajiMaya ItôA mailman abducts a housewife and holds her captive as his sex slave.
- DirectorGoran PaskaljevicStarsPredrag 'Miki' ManojlovicDragan MaksimovicMirjana KaranovicIn September 1945, a fire burns down the school and the new Communist authorities get into the church, hang the flag of the Communist Party, and paint over frescoes--which miraculously restore themselves.
- DirectorAngelo PannacciòStarsWilliam BergerTina AumontElisabeth TulinA secret group of Jewish activists locates and murders the Nazi doctors and soldiers who tortured and murdered their relatives in a notorious extermination camp.
- DirectorLarry ParrStarsGabriel ByrneMarianne BaslerPaul WyettA British soldier falls in love with a French woman wanted by the resistance for crimes against her country.
- DirectorDejan SorakStarsKsenija PajicZarko LausevicDragana MrkicIn the first year after WW2, a young officer of the Communist secret police falls in love with the woman whose husband was the enemy of the new regime.