War films had been around since the earliest days of feature films and it is a genre that’s produced some true masterpieces. The 1980s saw an interesting change in the genre. Films started to move away from the heroic war adventures and started exploring movies that were more critical of war in general.

While the genre was changing, the results were not always so successful. Some lesser movies rose to the top of the genre while other genuinely interesting films were unjustly ignored. Here are some of the most underrated and some of the most overrated war films of the 1980s.

10 Underrated: Das Boot (1981)

It’s rare for such a high-profile war film to focus on the German side of World War II, but Das Boot makes excellent use of the subverted story. The movie examines the lives of submariners working aboard a German U-boat.

The film is a claustrophobic thriller about a crew trying to maintain order while struggling to understand the ideology of their government. The movie achieved considerable success especially given its subject matter but is unfairly forgotten when speaking of the best war movies of all time.

9 Overrated: Escape To Victory (1981)

There have been plenty of great and intriguing prisoner of war movies with The Great Escape being the most famous among them. Escape to Victory attempted to achieve similar success with the incredible true story of a group of prisoners who took on their Nazi captors in a game of soccer.

The inventive story sometimes allows this film to be spoken of more highly than it has any right to be. With a cast including Michael Caine, Sylvester Stallone, and soccer star Pele, it could have been a fun war adventure, but it instead tries to be Rocky with a cheesy sports drama feel.

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8 Underrated: Glory (1989)

There are so many untold stories of war that make for amazing movies, with Glory being one of them. The film tells the story of the little-known company of all-black volunteer soldiers who fought for the Union during the American Civil War.

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For whatever reason, when thinking of great war movies, Civil War movies are often forgotten. However, Glory is one of the genre’s very best with amazing battle sequences, a rousing story, and an incredible cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, and Denzel Washington in an Oscar-winning role.

7 Overrated: Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Heartbreak Ridge is one of those films that examines the life of soldiers before they head into battle. The movie star Clint Eastwood as a tough and mean Gunnery Sergeant.

The movie was a solid success with critics and audiences when it was released, but looking back, it’s hard to see what they saw in the film. It is little more than an excuse for Eastwood to play the tough-guy role we’ve seen from him so many times before only this time there is little interesting about the character.

6 Underrated: Casualties Of War (1989)

There are many films that explore the horrors and dehumanizing battles of the Vietnam War, but Casualties of War may be more effective than any others. The movie stars Michael J. Fox is one of his best performances as a soldier who finds himself the sole voice of reason when his fellow soldiers kidnap a villager.

Despite an acclaimed filmmaker like Brian De Palma at the helm and a cast that also includes Sean Penn and Jon C. Reilly, Casualties of War is an overlooked gem in the genre that pulls no punches in its storytelling.

5 Overrated: Good Morning Vietnam (1987)

The problematic history of the Vietnam War is given a much more simplistic examination in Good Morning Vietnam. Loosely based on a true story, Robin Williams plays a military radio DJ who clashes with authority as he takes an unorthodox approach to delivering news to the frontlines.

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It cannot be denied that Williams is great in the role which mixes his dramatic and comedic skills wonderfully. However, he is the bright spot in an otherwise uninteresting story that fails at mixing zany humor with the reality of the war.

4 Underrated: The Big Red One (1980)

In the 60s and 70s, the kind of grand World War II adventures like The Big Red One were everywhere, but in the 1980s, this kind of film was sadly overlooked. Lee Marvin stars as a hardened sergeant who leads his men from battle to battle across Europe.

The movie is all but forgotten by audiences which is a shame because it is a thrilling throwback film well worth seeking out. It also features one of Mark Hamill’s finest performances as a young soldier in Marvin’s command.

3 Overrated: Missing In Action (1984)

Chuck Norris helped cement his action hero status in the Vietnam-set film, Missing in Action. Norris plays an American colonel who escapes from a prison camp in the jungles of Vietnam then returns in a one-man mission to rescue the rest of the prisoners.

The movie somehow launched a franchise for Norris despite being a pretty dull action movie and a childish war movie. It lacks the complexity of even the lesser films on this list and shows that Norris, for all his other talents, is not much of an actor.

2 Underrated: Empire Of The Sun (1987)

Steven Spielberg has created some of the most beloved films of all time so it’s strange to think one of his movies could have failed to get the attention it deserves. Empire of the Sun stars a young Christian Bale in one of his first roles as a young English boy who attempts to survive alone under Japanese occupation in WWII.

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Spielberg is the perfect director to tell a war story through the eyes of a young child. Even at a young age, Bale carries the film with a terrific performance. It is a thrilling, beautiful, and heart-wrenching film that deserves a place among Spielberg’s best.

1 Overrated: Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Stanley Kubrick is another highly acclaimed filmmaker who tackled the complex Vietnam War with his film Full Metal Jacket. The film is told in two parts, the first examining the intense and often cruel boot camp young soldiers go through, and the second looks at those soldiers in the midst of the war.

The film has been touted as one of the best films ever made. It’s true that its first half of the story is a brilliant film that plays with tension, comedy, and drama expertly. However, the second half is much less interesting and holds the film back from being truly great.

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About The Author


Colin McCormick
(2030 Articles Published)

Colin McCormick is a Senior Writer with Screen Rant and has been a proud member of the team since 2019. In addition to his work as Screen Rant, Colin is also a writer of News, Feature and Review pieces at Game Rant. Colin has had a long passion and obsession with movies going back to the first time he saw The Lion King in theaters. Along with movies, Colin stays up-to-date on the latest must-see TV shows. While he loves to find interesting projects in any kind of genre, he has a special movie of crime stories that are infused with a little dark humor much like the work of his favorite author, Elmore Leonard.

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