Best War Movies of 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.

Both sober and sobering, producer-director Emile de Antonio’s In the Year of the Pig is a powerful and, no doubt for many, controversial documentary about the Vietnam War.

During World War II, Italian villagers hide their wine from the German army.

Satire about the First World War based on a stage musical of the same name, portraying the "Game of War" and focusing mainly on the members of one family (last name Smith) who go off to war. Much of the action in the movie revolves around the words of the marching songs of the soldiers, and many scenes portray some of the more famous (and infamous) incidents of the war, including the assassination of Duke Ferdinand, the Christmas meeting between British and German soldiers in no-mans-land, and the wiping out by their own side of a force of Irish soldiers newly arrived at the front, after successfully capturing a ridge that had been contested for some time.

A POW in World War II is put to work in a Munich zoo, looking after an Asian elephant. The zoo is bombed by the Americans and the director of the zoo decides it is not safe for his Asian elephant Lucy to remain there. So he sends Brooks to safety with Lucy. They escape and go on the run in order to get to Switzerland.

During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.

During the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his isolated castle hoping they will defend it against the advancing Germans.

When half-breed Indian Yaqui Joe robs an Arizona bank, he is pursued by dogged lawman Lyedecker. Fleeing to Mexico, Joe is imprisoned by General Verdugo, who is waging a war against the Yaqui Indians. When Lyedecker attempts to intervene, he is thrown into prison as well. Working together, the two escape and take refuge in the hills, where Lyedecker meets beautiful Yaqui freedom fighter Sarita and begins to question his allegiances.

While a WW2, RAF squadron leader mourns the death of a comrade, he receives a bombing mission against a secret Nazi V-2 rocket testing facility in France.

While Old England is being ransacked by roving Danes in the 9th century, Alfred is planning to join the priesthood. But observing the rape of his land, he puts away his religious vows to take up arms against the invaders, leading the English Christians to fight for their country. Alfred soundly defeats the Danes and becomes a hero. But now, although Alfred still longs for the priesthood, he is torn between his passion for God and his lust for blood.

"The Fall" depicts certain scenes in New York City between October 1967 and March 1968, shot by the independent filmmaker, Peter Whitehead. It is a very personal documentary, and Whitehead appears in a large number of scenes, and we hear his lengthy ruminations on the state of the United States and the war in Vietnam.

The core of the plot is the romantic triangle formed by the protagonist, a conscripted soldier named Private Brigg; a worldly professional soldier named Sergeant Driscoll, and Phillipa Raskin, the daughter of the Regimental Sergeant Major. The location is a British army base in Singapore during the Malayan Emergency.

Attempting to evade the turmoil of France's Hundred Years' War, Parisian student Heron of Foix decides to journey to the sea. En route, he meets the pretty aristocrat Lady Claudia, and the couple begin a romance amid the intense conflict. As the struggle between peasants and noblemen rages on, Heron and Claudia take shelter at a monastery -- but even their newfound love can't completely keep the horrors of war at bay.

After losing a submarine and fifty crew in a battle with a German ship during WWII, a Royal Navy officer gets a second chance in a daring raid with midget subs.

In 1943, Colonel Greg Brandon, stationed at an United States Army Air Forces 8th Air Force, 103rd Bomb Group base in England, repeatedly attempts to persuade superiors that massive daylight bombing will hasten the end of World War II. In spite of the mission's extreme difficulty, his plan is finally put into effect against a German aircraft factory. During preparation for the raid, Brandon alienates his men by insisting that normal bombing operations continue. His disdain for cautious Lieutenant Archer and brash RAF Wing Commander Trafton Howard further antagonizes his associates, including his girl friend, WAC Lieutenant Gabrielle Ames. When his bomber crashes the morning of the mission, Brandon boards a bomber manned by Archer and Howard. During the effective air raid, he is impressed by Archer's courage and Howard's judgment.

June 1942. As Rommel swept toward the Nile, the fall of Egypt and the capture of the Suez Canal seemed inevitable. Italian and German advance units raced toward Alexandria. Mussolini had given explicit orders: The Italians must arrive first!

During the latter days of WWII an American Lieutenant accidentally falls out of an airplane into German territory. He is taken in by a Baroness who becomes smitten with him and doesn't want him to leave, so she doesn't tell him that the war has ended...for five years!

Two female Army agents go undercover at a Nazi prison camp to get information from a scientist being held there.

A small band of misfit American commandos are assigned to head across the North African desert to blow up a huge German fuel depot.

Captain Kohler recruits an outfit of five American soldiers besides himself (dubbed "The Cut-Throats,") to attack a German stronghold to capture battle plans... although his real motive is to steal a cache of jewels that is Nazi plunder. After the enemy soldiers are gunned down, the beautiful women in the compound treat The Dirty Half-Dozen to a stage show and, later, themselves.

Marooned sailors discover a World War II ship haunted by its late captain.

During the height of the Vietnam war, a hippie and a draft dodger get together and hatch a plan to flee to Canada. They steal a car and head towards Vancouver, but the trip doesn't go as smoothly as they planned, and before long they're being chased by the police, accused of murdering several police officers.

Directed by Cesar Gallardo. With Dolphy, Dolphy Jr., Liza Lorena, Victor Wood.

Watch the Blackhorse squadron move their massive vehicles from the road into the trees. Part of "The Big Picture" series.

Combat footage and old photographs from extant BBC documentary footage from the First and Second World Wars is intercut with contemporary footage of First World War veterans recalling their experiences at Royal Canadian Legion halls, memorial day commemorations and veterans' hospitals.