The Best Movies About The Korean War
“What are the best movies about the Korean War?” We looked at 38 of the top Korean War films, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
The top 16 films, all appearing on 2 or more “Best Korean War” movie lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 20+ movies, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 16 Korean War Movies
16 .) All the Young Men (1960)
Lists It Appears On:
- Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
- Movie Babble Reviews
During the Korean War, the lieutenant in charge of a Marine rifle platoon is killed in battle. Before he dies, he places the platoon’s sergeant, who’s black, in charge. The sergeant figures on having trouble with two men in his platoon: a private who has much more combat experience than he does, and a racist Southerner who doesn’t like blacks in the first place and has no intention of taking orders from one. Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com
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15 .) Battle Hymn (1957)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
Battle Hymn was inspired by the true story of American minister Dean Hess, played here with rare sensitivity by Rock Hudson. A bomber pilot during World War II, Hess inadvertently releases a bomb which destroys a German orphanage. Tortured by guilt, Hess relocates in Korea after the war to offer his services as a missionary. Combining the best elements of Christianity and Eastern spiritualism, Hess establishes a large home for orphans. The preacher’s efforts are threatened when the Korean “police action” breaks out in 1950. Battle Hymn was one of several collaborations between Rock Hudson and director Douglas Sirk–though Sirk felt that Robert Stack would have been better suited to the role of Rev. Hess.
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14 .) Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
The story of a platoon during the Korean War. One by one, Corporal Denno’s superiors are killed until it comes to the point where he must try to take command responsibility.
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13 .) Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
A widowed doctor of both Chinese and European descent falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China’s Communist revolution.
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12 .) Sayonara
Lists It Appears On:
- Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
- Movie Babble Reviews
Air Force Major Lloyd Gruver (Marlon Brando) is reassigned to a Japanese air base, and is confronted with US racial prejudice against the Japanese people. The issue is compounded because a number of the soldiers become romantically involved with Japanese women, in defiance of US military policy. Ordinarily an officer who is by-the-book, Gruver must take a position when a buddy of his, an enlisted man Joe Kelly (Red Buttons) falls in love with a Japanese woman Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki) and marries her. Gruver risks his position by serving as best man at the wedding ceremony.
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11 .) Silver Stallion (1991)
Lists It Appears On:
- Movie Babble Reviews
- Ranker
Soldiers with the U.N. forces that entered Korea during the Korean War rape a village girl named Eon-rae. The villagers ostracize Eon-rae and her son. Unable to make a living, Eon-rae joins the brothel district that has been set up near the U.N. base on the other side of the river from the village. The war and the introduction of U.S. culture break down the social order of the village. After several village children have died, the villagers put the blame on the prostitutes. Eventually the villagers, unable to maintain the village, leave their homes one by one. Eon-rae and her son also leave
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10 .) The Bridges at Toko-Ri
Lists It Appears On:
- Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
- Movie Babble Reviews
A naval aviator is assigned to bomb a group of heavily defended bridges during the Korean War.
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9 .) The Front Line
Lists It Appears On:
- Movie Babble Reviews
- Ranker
In 1951 ceasefire is declared, but two remaining armies fought their final battle on the front line Towards the end of the Korean War, a South Korean battalion is fiercely battling over a hill on the front line border against the North in order to capture a strategic point that would determine the new border between two nations. The ownership of this small patch of land would swap multiple times each day. Kang is dispatched to the front line in order to investigate the tacit case that’s been happening there. But he gets spiraled into the war that’s more terrifying than death itself when he meets his friend Kim, who has transformed into a war machine, and his unit. As the countdown for ceasefire begins, both sides become more vicious, resulting in deaths of countless lives until the last man could claim the land.
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8 .) The Hook (1963)
Lists It Appears On:
- Movie Babble Reviews
- War Movies
Three soldiers in Korea go through inner torment when they’re ordered to execute an enemy soldier.
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7 .) The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
Near the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw is lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco, finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and, together with fellow soldier Allen Melvin, races to uncover a terrible plot.
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6 .) 71: Into the Fire (2010)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
- War Movies
A civil war broke out in the 1950s between North and South Korea which changed the country forever. 71: Into the Fire centers on the struggles of 71 student soldiers who fought through the Korean War. Using real people and events based on the opening moves of the Battle of P’ohang-dong, the film exposes the personal and physical conflicts that these students faced when finding themselves on the last line of defense at P’ohang-dong Girl’s Middle School against the NKPA’s advancement, needing to hold out until back up from other Korean troops and the Allies arrived.
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5 .) Men in War (1957)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
- War Movies
In Korea, on 6 September 1950, Lieutenant Benson’s platoon finds itself isolated in enemy-held territory after a retreat. Soon they are joined by Sergeant Montana, whose overriding concern is caring for his catatonic colonel. Benson and Montana can’t stand each other, but together they must get the survivors to Hill 465, where they hope the division is waiting. It’s a long, harrowing march, fraught with all the dangers the elusive enemy can summon.
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4 .) Pork Chop Hill (1959)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
- War Movies
American GI’s must retake a barren hill in Korea that has been overrun by Red Chinese troops. The ensuing battle becomes a meat grinder for American and Chinese alike.
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3 .) The Steel Helmet (1951)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Movie Babble Reviews
- Ranker
A ragtag group of American stragglers battles against superior Communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.
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2 .) M*A*S*H (1970)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
- Movie Babble Reviews
- War Movies
The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and high jinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.
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1 .) Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
Lists It Appears On:
- IMDB
- Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
- Movie Babble Reviews
- Ranker
When two brothers are forced to fight in the Korean War, the elder decides to take the riskiest missions if it will help shield the younger from battle.
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The 20+ Additional Best Korean War Movies
| # | Movies | Lists |
| (Films Appear On 1 Lists Each) | ||
| 17 | A Hill in Korea (1956) | War Movies |
| 18 | Battle Circus, |
Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
|
| 19 | Field of Honor | Ranker |
| 20 | Five Marines | Ranker |
| 21 | Gran Torino | Ranker |
| 22 | In Love and War | Ranker |
| 23 | Into the Fire T.O.P, | Ranker |
| 24 | Joint Security Area | Ranker |
| 25 | MacArthur (1977) |
Movie Babble Reviews
|
| 26 | Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) | War Movies |
| 27 | Nambugun | Ranker |
| 28 | Piagol (1955) |
Movie Babble Reviews
|
| 29 | Piagol Piagol | Ranker |
| 30 | Red Scarf | Ranker |
| 31 | Spring in my Hometown | Ranker |
| 32 | The Brotherhood of War (2004) | War Movies |
| 33 | The Hunters |
Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
|
| 34 | The Last Witness | Ranker |
| 35 | The Marines Who Never Returned | Ranker |
| 36 | Time Limit (1957) |
Movie Babble Reviews
|
| 37 | War Hunt |
Japanese Culture Reflections Blog
|
| 38 | Welcome to Dongmakgol | Ranker |
5 Best Movies About The Korean War Film Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| IMDB | 10 Best Korean War Films – IMDb |
| Japanese Culture Reflections Blog | Korean War movies | japaneseculturereflectionsblog |
| Movie Babble Reviews | Top 10 Best Movies Set During the Korean War | MovieBabble |
| Ranker | The Best Korean War Movies | Korean Language War Movies – Ranker |
| War Movies | Best Korean War movies list on War Movies Info |
