List of book-based war films (1945–2000 wars)

A list of films that are based on war books.

Chinese Civil War

1945–1950

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Left Hand of God	1955	Edward Dmytryk	US	The Left Hand of God	William E. Barrett	1951[1]	Novel
Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst	1957	Michael Anderson	UK	Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst, April 20, 1949, to July 31, 1949	Lawrence Earl	1950[2]	Non-fiction
Satan Never Sleeps	1962	Leo McCarey	US	Satan Never Sleeps	Pearl S. Buck	1962	Novel
Farewell My Concubine	1993	Chen Kaige	China	Farewell My Concubine	Lilian Lee	1993	Novel
Assembly	2007	Feng Xiaogang	China	Guan Si 官司	Yang Jingyuan[3]	199?	Novel

Greek Civil War

1946–1949

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Eleni	1985	Peter Yates	US	Eleni	Nicholas Gage	1983[1]	Non-fiction

First Indochina War

1946–1954

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Quiet American	1958	Joseph L. Mankiewicz	US	The Quiet American[4]	Graham Greene	1955	Novel
The 317th Platoon	1965	Pierre Schoendoerffer	France	La 317^e Section	Pierre Schoendoerffer	1963	Novel
The Quiet American	2002	Phillip Noyce	US	The Quiet American[4]	Graham Greene	1955	Novel

Cold War

1947–1989
This section deals with the confrontational elements of the Cold War, including mutual suspicion and espionage.
Actual combat operations, such as proxy wars supported by the two sides, are handled in their own sections.

Confrontation

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Third Man	1949	Carol Reed	UK	The Third Man	Graham Greene	1950	Novella
The Red Danube	1949	George Sidney	US	Vespers in Vienna	Bruce Marshall	1947	Novel
Assignment – Paris!	1952	Robert Parrish & Phil Karlson (uncredited)	US	"Trial of Terror"	Paul Gallico & Pauline Gallico	195?	Story
Seven Days in May	1964	John Frankenheimer	US	Seven Days in May	Fletcher Knebel & Charles W. Bailey II	1962	Novel
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming	1966	Norman Jewison	US	The Off-Islanders	Nathaniel Benchley	1961	Novel
The Shoes of the Fisherman	1968	Michael Anderson	US	The Shoes of the Fisherman	Morris West	1963	Novel
Ice Station Zebra	1968	John Sturges	US	Ice Station Zebra	Alistair MacLean	1963	Novel
Gorky Park	1983	Michael Apted	US	Gorky Park	Martin Cruz Smith	1981	Novel
Atomic Station Atómstöðin	1984	Þorsteinn Jónsson	Iceland	The Atom Station Atómstöðin	Halldór Laxness[5]	1948	Novel
Orion's Belt Orions belte	1985	Ola Solum & Tristan Cole (English version)	Norway & UK	Orion's Belt	Jon Michelet	1977	Novel
Buffalo Soldiers	2001	Gregor Jordan	US	Buffalo Soldiers	Robert O'Connor	1993	Novel
Karol: A Man Who Became Pope *	2005	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction
Karol: The Pope, The Man *	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction
The Good German	2006	Steven Soderbergh	US	The Good German	Joseph Kanon	2001	Novel

• ♠ The film is set in Vienna during the Allied occupation of Austria.
• * television film.

Secret missions

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Action of the Tiger	1957	Terence Young	US	Action of the Tiger	James Wellard	195?	Novel
Francis Gary Powers: The True Story of the U-2 Spy Incident	1976	Delbert Mann	US	Operation Overflight	Francis Gary Powers & Curt Gentry	1971	Memoir
Firefox	1982	Clint Eastwood	US	Firefox	Craig Thomas	1977	Novel
Smuggler's Ransom ♠	2008	Daniel Noa & Brandon Rice	Canada	To Die and Live: Smuggler's Ransom	Steve Losee	200?	Story?

• ♠ A US agent must rescue a born-again Bible smuggler from the Romanians.

Espionage

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Iron Curtain	1948	William Wellman	US	This Was My Choice[6]	Igor Gouzenko	1948	Memoir
I Was a Communist for the FBI	1951	Gordon Douglas	US	Saturday Evening Post series	Matt Cvetic	194?	Stories
5 Steps to Danger	1957	Henry S. Kesler	US	The Steel Mirror	Donald Hamilton	1948	Novel
From Russia with Love	1963	Terence Young	UK	From Russia, with Love	Ian Fleming	1957	Novel
Hot Enough for June	1964	Ralph Thomas	UK	The Night of Wenceslas	Lionel Davidson	1960	Novel
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold	1965	Martin Ritt	UK	The Spy Who Came in from the Cold[7]	John le Carré	1963	Novel
The Ipcress File	1965	Sidney J. Furie	UK	The IPCRESS File	Len Deighton	1962	Novel
The Deadly Affair	1966	Sidney Lumet	UK	Call for the Dead	John le Carré	1961	Novel
The Looking Glass War	1969	Frank Pierson	UK	The Looking Glass War	John le Carré	1965	Novel
Topaz	1969	Alfred Hitchcock	US	Topaz	Leon Uris	1967	Novel
The Kremlin Letter	1970	John Huston	US	The Kremlin Letter	Noel Behn	196?	Novel
Hopscotch	1980	Ronald Neame	US	Hopscotch	Brian Garfield	1975	Novel
TASS Is Authorized to Declare... *	1984	Vladimir Fokin	USSR	ТАСС уполномочен заявить...	"Yulian Semyonov"	1979	Novel
The Falcon and the Snowman	1985	John Schlesinger	UK & US	The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage	Robert Lindsey	1979	Non-fiction
The Whistle Blower	1986	Simon Langton	UK	The Whistle Blower	John Hale	1984[2]	Novel
No Way Out	1987	Roger Donaldson	US	The Big Clock	Kenneth Fearing	1946	Novel
Scandal[8]	1989	Michael Caton-Jones	UK	Scandal (uncredited)	Christine Keeler (uncredited)	1989	Memoir
The Russia House	1990	Fred Schepisi	US	The Russia House	John le Carré	1989	Novel
The Waiting Time *	1999	Stuart Orme	UK	The Waiting Time	Gerald Seymour	1998	Novel
A Different Loyalty	2004	Marek Kanievska	Canada, UK, US	Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved (uncredited)	Eleanor Brewer Philby (uncredited)	1967	Memoir
The Company ♠ *	2007	Mikael Salomon	US	The Company: A Novel of the CIA	Robert Littell	2002	Novel
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	2011	Tomas Alfredson	UK	Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy	John Le Carré	1974	Novel
A Perfect Spy **	1987	Peter Smith	UK	A Perfect Spy	John le Carré	1986	Novel

• ♠ The story of the CIA, from postwar Berlin, through the Hungarian Revolution and the Bay of Pigs, to Gorbachev and Yeltsin.
• * television film.
• ** TV miniseries.

The Thirty-Nine Steps

The famous 1935 Alfred Hitchcock version is set during the interwar years.

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The 39 Steps	1959	Ralph Thomas	UK	The Thirty-Nine Steps	John Buchan	1915	Novel

Defection

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Never Let Me Go	1953	Delmer Daves	UK	Came the Dawn	"Roger Bax"	1949	Novel
Skyjacked	1972	John Guillermin	US	Hijacked	"David Harper"	197?	Novel
The Girl from Petrovka	1974	Robert Ellis Miller	US	The Girl from Petrovka	George Feifer	197?	Novel
Judgment in Berlin	1988	Leo Penn	West Germany & US	Judgment in Berlin	Herbert Jay Stern	1984	Memoir
The Contract *	1988	Ian Toynton	UK	The Contract	Gerald Seymour	1980	Novel
I Am David	2003	Paul Feig	US	I Am David	Anne Holm	1963	Novel

• * television film.

Mariel Boatlift

1980

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Scarface	1983	Brian De Palma	US	Scarface (uncredited)	Armitage Trail (uncredited)	1930[1]	Novel
Memorias del desarrollo	2009	Miguel Coyula	Cuba & US	Memories of Overdevelopment Memorias del desarrollo	Edmundo Desnoes	2008?	Novel

Détente

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Russian Roulette	1975	Lou Lombardo	Canada & UK	Kosygin Is Coming	Tom Ardies	1974	Novel

Confrontation

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Blood Alley	1955	William A. Wellman	US	Blood Alley	Albert Sidney Fleischman	195?	Novel
On Dangerous Ground *	1996	Lawrence Gordon Clark	Canada, UK	On Dangerous Ground	"Jack Higgins"	1994	Novel

• * television film.

Secret missions

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Soldier of Fortune	1955	Edward Dmytryk	US	Soldier of Fortune	Ernest K. Gann	1954	Novel

Espionage

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Stopover Tokyo	1957	Richard L. Breen	US	Rendezvous in Tokyo aka Right You Are, Mr. Moto	John P. Marquand	1956	Novel

Defection

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Mao's Last Dancer	2009	Bruce Beresford	Australia	Mao's Last Dancer	Li Cunxin	2003	Autobiography

McCarthy hearings

1954

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Citizen Cohn *	1992	Frank Pierson	US	Citizen Cohn	Nicholas von Hoffman	1988	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Cuban Missile Crisis

October 1962

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Memories of Underdevelopment Memorias del subdesarrollo	1968	Tomás Gutiérrez Alea	Cuba	Inconsolable Memories Memorias del subdesarrollo	Edmundo Desnoes	1962	Novel
The Missiles of October *	1974	Anthony Page	US	Thirteen Days	Robert F. Kennedy	1969	Memoir
Robert Kennedy & His Times *	1985	Marvin J. Chomsky	US	Robert Kennedy and His Times[9]	Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.	1978	Non-fiction
Thirteen Days	2000	Roger Donaldson	US	The Kennedy Tapes - Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis	Ernest R. May & Philip Zelikow	1997	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Mutually assured destruction

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Bombers B-52	1957	Gordon Douglas	US	Bombers B-52 (?)	Sam Rolfe	195?	Novel
Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!	1958	Leo McCarey	US	Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!	Max Shulman	195?	Novel
The Inside Man Slagskämpen	1984	Tom Clegg	Sweden & UK	The Fighter Slagskämpen	Harry Kullman	1980	Novel
The Hunt for Red October	1990	John McTiernan	US	The Hunt for Red October	Tom Clancy	1984	Novel
Hostile Waters *	1997	David Drury	France, Germany, UK, US	Hostile Waters (uncredited)	Capt. Peter Huchthausen ♠, Igor Kurdin, R. Alan White (uncredited)	1997	Non-fiction
K-19: The Widowmaker	2002	Kathryn Bigelow	UK, Germany, US, Canada	K-19: The Widowmaker — The Secret Story of the Soviet Nuclear Submarine (uncredited)	Capt. Peter Huchthausen (uncredited)	2002	Non-fiction
72 Metres 72 метра	2004	Vladimir Khotinenko	Russia	?	Aleksandr Pokrovsky	199?	Novels

• ♠ Huchthausen is credited as a researcher, not as an author.
• * television film.

Doomsday scenario

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Fail-Safe	1964	Sidney Lumet	US	Fail-Safe	Eugene Burdick & Harvey Wheeler	1962	Novel
Dr. Strangelove[10]	1964	Stanley Kubrick	UK & US	Red Alert	Peter Bryant	1958	Novel
The Bedford Incident	1965	James B. Harris	US	The Bedford Incident	Mark Rascovich	1963	Novel
Twilight's Last Gleaming	1977	Robert Aldrich	US	Viper Three	Walter Wager	1971	Novel
The Fifth Missile *	1986	Larry Peerce	Italy & US	The Gold Crew	Frank M. Robinson & Thomas N. Scortia	1980	Novel
By Dawn's Early Light *	1990	Jack Sholder	US	Trinity's Child	William Prochnau	1983	Novel

• * television film.

What if ...

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Damned	1963	Joseph Losey	UK	The Children of Light	H.L. Lawrence	196?	Novel
Archangel *	2005	Jon Jones	UK	Archangel	Robert Harris	1998	Novel
Watchmen	2009	Zack Snyder	US	Watchmen	Alan Moore	1986– 1987	Graphic novel
The Iron Giant α	1999	Brad Bird	US	The Iron Man	Ted Hughes	1968	Novel

• * television film.
• α Animated film.

Grand Fenwick-American War

The fictional defeat of the US by the bowmen of the Duchy of Grand Fenwick.

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Mouse That Roared	1959	Jack Arnold	UK	The Day New York Was Invaded aka The Mouse That Roared	Leonard Wibberley	1955	Novel
The Mouse on the Moon	1963	Richard Lester	UK	The Mouse on the Moon	Leonard Wibberley	1962	Novel

Partition of India

1947

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Bhowani Junction	1956	George Cukor	US & UK	Bhowani Junction	John Masters	1952	Novel
Dharmputra	1961	Yash Chopra	India	Dharmputra	Acharya Chatursen Shastri	195?	Novel
The Jewel in the Crown **	1984	Jim O'Brien & Christopher Morahan	UK	Raj Quartet	Paul Scott	1966–1975	Tetralogy
Tamas **	1987	Govind Nihalani	India	Tamas[11]	Bhisham Sahni	1974	Novel
Train to Pakistan	1998	Pamela Rooks	UK & India	Train to Pakistan	Khushwant Singh	1956	Novel
Earth अर्थ	1998	Deepa Mehta	India & Canada	Ice Candy Man	Bapsi Sidhwa	1988	Novel
Pinjar: Beyond Boundaries ... ♠[12] पिंजर	2003	Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi	India & Pakistan	Pinjar	Amrita Pritam	1970	Novel
Midnight's Children	2011	Deepa Mehta	Canada?	Midnight's Children[13][14][15]	Salman Rushdie	1981	Novel

• ♠ The opening credits include the title (پنجر) in Urdu.[16]
• ** TV miniseries.

Royal Indian Navy Mutiny

February 1946

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Bhowani Junction Δ	1956	George Cukor	US & UK	Bhowani Junction	John Masters	1952	Novel

• Δ It is not clear to what extent this conflict is covered by the film or by the source novel.[17]

1948 Arab–Israeli War

1948–1949

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Hill 24 Doesn't Answer Giv'a 24 Eina Ona	1955	Thorold Dickinson	Israel	?	Zvi Kolitz	195?	Story
Exodus	1960	Otto Preminger	US	Exodus	Leon Uris	1958	Novel
Cast a Giant Shadow	1966	Melville Shavelson	US	Cast a Giant Shadow: The Story of Mickey Marcus Who Died to Save Jerusalem	Ted Berkman	1962[1]	Non-fiction
Bab el shams	2004	Yousry Nasrallah	France, Egypt, Belgium, Denmark, Morocco	The Gate of the Sun	Elias Khoury	1998	Novel
O Jerusalem	2006	Élie Chouraqui	Belgium	O Jerusalem!	Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre	1972	Non-fiction
Miral	2010	Julian Schnabel	UK, Israel, France	Miral	Rula Jebreal	199?	Novel

Malayan Emergency

1948–1960

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Windom's Way	1957	Ronald Neame	UK	Windom's Way	James Ramsey Ullman	195?	Novel
The 7th Dawn	1964	Lewis Gilbert	UK	The Durian Tree	Michael Keon	1960	Novel
The Virgin Soldiers	1969	John Dexter	UK	The Virgin Soldiers	Leslie Thomas	1966	Novel
Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers	1977	Norman Cohen	UK	Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers	Leslie Thomas	1975	Novel

Korean War

1950–1953

Politics 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking *	1976	Daniel Petrie	US	Plain Speaking: An Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman[18]	Merle Miller	1974	Memoir/ Non-fiction

Land operations 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Fixed Bayonets!	1951	Samuel Fuller	US	Immortal Sergeant ♠	John Brophy	194?	Novel
Hold Back the Night	1956	Allan Dwan	US	Hold Back the Night	"Pat Frank"	1952	Novel
Men in War	1957	Anthony Mann	US	Day Without End	Van Van Praag	195?	Novel
Pork Chop Hill	1959	Lewis Milestone	US	Pork Chop Hill: The American Fighting Man in Action, Korea, Spring, 1953	S.L.A. Marshall	1956	Non-fiction
Assembly 集結號	2007	Feng Xiaogang	China	Guan Si 官司	Yang Jingyuan[3]	199?	Novel

• ♠ The novel is in fact credited, but its relationship to the film is said to be coincidental, with its creditation being merely legal in nature.[19]

Air operations 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Bridges at Toko-Ri	1955	Mark Robson	US	The Bridges at Toko-Ri	James Michener	1953	Novel
The Hunters	1958	Dick Powell	US	The Hunters	James Salter	1956	Novel

Military bases 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Code Breakers *	2005	Rod Holcomb	US	A Return to Glory: the Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor, and Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53	Bill McWilliams	2000[1]	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Military hospitals 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Great Impostor ♠	1961	Robert Mulligan	US	The Great Impostor	Robert Crichton	1959	Non-fiction
MASH ♦[20]	1970	Robert Altman	US	M*A*S*H	"Richard Hooker"	1953	Novel

• ♠ The hospital is aboard an RCN destroyer, HMCS Cayuga.
• ♦ In the film version, the implicit target of the satire is the Vietnam War, rather than the Korean War.

POWs 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Manchurian Candidate[21]	1962	John Frankenheimer	US	The Manchurian Candidate	Richard Condon	1959	Novel
The Hook ♠	1963	George Seaton	US	L'Hameçon	"Vahé Katcha"	195?	Novel

• ♠ US soldiers are under orders to murder a North Korean POW.

Koje Island Uprisings

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Joint Security Area	2000	Park Chan-wook	South Korea	DMZ DMZ	Park Sang-yeon	1997	Novel

Refugees 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Battle Hymn	1957	Douglas Sirk	US	Battle Hymn	Col. Dean E. Hess	1956	Memoir

Home front 

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Last Picture Show[22]	1971	Peter Bogdanovich	US	The Last Picture Show	Larry McMurtry	1966	Novel
Though None Go with Me *	2006	Armand Mastroianni	US	Though None Go with Me	Jerry B. Jenkins	199?	Novel

• * television film.

DMZ

1953–ongoing

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Joint Security Area	2000	Park Chan-wook	South Korea	DMZ DMZ	Park Sang-yeon	1997	Novel

Egyptian Revolution of 1952

1952

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Abdulla the Great	1955	Gregory Ratoff	UK & Egypt	My Kingdom for a Woman	Ismet Regeila	195?	Novel
Ayam El-Sadat	2001	Mohamed Khan	Egypt	In Search of Identity: An Autobiography	Anwar Sadat[23]	1978	Autobiography

Mau Mau Uprising

1952–1960

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Simba	1955	Brian Desmond Hurst	UK	Simba	Anthony Perry	195?	Novel
Something of Value	1957	Richard Brooks	US	Something of Value	Robert Ruark	1955	Novel
Guns at Batasi ♠	1964	John Guillermin	UK	The Siege of Battersea	Robert Holles	1962	Novel

• ♠ Officially, this film does not take place in Kenya, but in a fictional emerging East African country where there is a rebellion against a British garrison. Both Uganda and Tanganyika enjoyed smooth transitions during this period.

Cuban Revolution

1953–1959

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Gun Runners	1958	Don Siegel	US	To Have and Have Not	Ernest Hemingway[24]	1937	Novel
Our Man in Havana	1959	Carol Reed	UK	Our Man in Havana	Graham Greene	1958	Novel
Memories of Underdevelopment Memorias del subdesarrollo	1968	Tomás Gutiérrez Alea	Cuba	Inconsolable Memories Memorias del subdesarrollo	Edmundo Desnoes	1962	Novel
Che Part 1	2008	Steven Soderbergh	US	Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War Pasajes de la guerra revolucionaria	Ernesto "Che" Guevara	1963	Diary
Che Guevara aka Che	2008	Josh Evans	US	Don Quixote ♦ (uncredited)	Miguel de Cervantes (uncredited)	1615	Novel

• ♠ Anderson is credited as chief consultant, not as author.
• ♦ Guevara recommends Don Quixote to a campesino.

Attack on El Uvero

28 May 1957

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Che Guevara aka Che	2008	Josh Evans	US	Don Quixote (uncredited)	Miguel de Cervantes (uncredited)	1615	Novel

Battle of Santa Clara

28 December 1958 – 1 January 1959

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Che Part 1	2008	Steven Soderbergh	US	Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War Pasajes de la guerra revolucionaria	Ernesto "Che" Guevara	1963	Diary

Bay of Pigs Invasion

1961

Bulletin ... film currently in development: Fire Bay by Randall Fried

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Company *	2007	Mikael Salomon	US	The Company: A Novel of the CIA	Robert Littell	2002	Novel

• * television film.

Guatemalan coup of 1954

1954

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Che Guevara aka Che ♠	2008	Josh Evans	US	Don Quixote (uncredited)	Miguel de Cervantes (uncredited)	1615	Novel

• ♠ Guevara discusses his participation in Guatemala, before he fled to Mexico where he met Cuban revolutionaries.

Algerian War

1954–1962[25]

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Lost Command	1966	Mark Robson	US[26]	Les centurions	"Jean Lartéguy"	1960	Novel
Le Crabe-tambour	1977	Pierre Schoendoerffer	France	Le Crabe-tambour[27]	Pierre Schoendoerffer	1976	Novel
Là-bas... mon pays	2000	Alexandre Arcady	France	Grande vacance : roman	René Bonnell	1997[28]^¤	Novel
Mon colonel[29]	2006	Laurent Herbiet	France & Belgium	Mon colonel : roman	Francis Zamponi	1999[28]	Novel

Atrocities

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
La Question La Question	1977	Laurent Heynemann	France	La Question ♠ La Question	Henri Alleg	1958	Memoir

Home front

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Wild Reeds Les Roseaux sauvages	1994	André Téchiné	France	"The Oak and the Reed" "Le Chêne et le Roseau"	Jean de La Fontaine	1668	Fable

Cyprus Emergency

1955–1959

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The High Bright Sun	1964	Ralph Thomas	UK	The High Bright Sun	Ian Stuart Black	1962	Novel

Poznań June

1956

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Karol: A Man Who Became Pope *	2005	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction

Hungarian Revolution

1956

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Secret Ways	1961	Phil Karlson & Richard Widmark (uncredited)	US	The Last Frontier	Alistair MacLean	1959	Novel
The Company *	2007	Mikael Salomon	US	The Company: A Novel of the CIA	Robert Littell	2002	Novel

• * television film.

Vietnam War

1957–1975
(See also the First Indochina War)

Politics  

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Ugly American ♠	1963	George Englund	US	The Ugly American	William Lederer & Eugene Burdick	1958	Novel
Blind Ambition *	1979	George Schaefer	US	Blind Ambition: The White House Years	John Dean with Taylor Branch	1976	Memoir
Kissinger and Nixon *	1995	Daniel Petrie	Canada	Kissinger: A Biography	Walter Isaacson	1992	Non-fiction
A Bright Shining Lie *	1998	Terry George	US	A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam [30][31]	Neil Sheehan	1988	Non-fiction

• ♠ The film is set in the fictional Southeast Asian country of Sarkhan, rather than Vietnam per se.
  Sarkhan, a US ally, is invaded by Communist North Sarkhan.
• * television film.

Land operations

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Green Berets	1968	John Wayne	US	The Green Berets	Robin Moore	1965	Novel
The Deer Hunter[20]	1978	Michael Cimino	US	Three Comrades (uncredited)	Erich Maria Remarque (uncredited)	1937	Novel
Go Tell the Spartans	1978	Ted Post	U.S.	Incident at Muc Wa	Daniel Ford	1967	Novel
Apocalypse Now[32]	1979	Francis Ford Coppola	US	"Inspired by" Heart of Darkness	Joseph Conrad	1902	Novella
The Odd Angry Shot	1979	Tom Jeffrey	Australia	The Odd Angry Shot	William Nagle	1975[33]^¤	Novel
Platoon Leader	1988	Aaron Norris	U.S.	Platoon Leader	James R. McDonough	1985	Novel/Memoir
White Badge ♠	1992	Chung Ji-young	South Korea	White Badge: a novel of Korea 하얀전쟁	Ahn Junghyo (An Chŏng-hyo)	1983	Novel
A Soldier's Sweetheart	1998	Thomas Michael Donnelly	U.S.	"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" from The Things They Carried[34] [4]	Tim O'Brien	1990	Story

• ♠ A South Korean sergeant deals with his memories by writing a novel about the guys in his unit.[35]

Battle of Ia Drang

14–18 November 1965

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
We Were Soldiers	2002	Randall Wallace	U.S.	We Were Soldiers Once... And Young[36]	Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore & Joseph L. Galloway	1992	Non-fiction

Battle of Hué

1968

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Full Metal Jacket	1987	Stanley Kubrick	U.S.	The Short-Timers[4]	Gustav Hasford	1980	Novel

Air operations

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Bat*21	1988	Peter Markle	US	BAT-21	William Charles Anderson	1980	Non-fiction
Air America	1990	Roger Spottiswoode	US	Air America: The Story of the CIA's Secret Airline	Christopher Robbins	1978	Non-fiction
Flight of the Intruder	1991	John Milius	US	Flight of the Intruder	Stephen Coonts	1986	Novel

Military bases

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Full Metal Jacket	1987	Stanley Kubrick	US	The Short-Timers	Gustav Hasford	1980	Novel

POWs

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
When Hell was in Session *	1979	Paul Krasny	US	When Hell was in Session	Rear Adm. Jeremiah A. Denton, Jr. with Ed. Brandt	1976[1]	Memoir
Some Kind of Hero	1982	Michael Pressman	US	Some Kind of Hero: a novel	James Kirkwood	1975[1]	Novel
Faith of My Fathers *	2005	Peter Markle	US	Faith of My Fathers	John McCain with Mark Salter	1999	Autobiography
Rescue Dawn	2007	Werner Herzog	US	Escape from Laos[37] (uncredited)	Dieter Dengler (uncredited)	1979	Memoir

• * television film.

Atrocities

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Casualties of War	1989	Brian De Palma	US	Casualties of War	Daniel Lang	1969	Novel
In the Lake of the Woods *	1996	Carl Schenkel	US	In the Lake of the Woods[38]	Tim O'Brien	1994	Novel

• * television film.

Refugees and Boat people

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Turtle Beach	1992	Stephen Wallace	Australia	Turtle Beach	Blanche d'Alpuget	1981	Novel

Home front

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Bamboo Incident Hoa-Binh ♠	1970	Raoul Coutard	France	La Colonne de cendres	Françoise Lorrain	1954[28]	Novel
Friendly Fire	1979	David Greene	US	Friendly Fire	C.D. Bryan	1976	Non-fiction
Taking Woodstock	2009	Ang Lee	US	Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert, and a Life	Elliot Tiber & Tom Monte	2007	Memoir

• ♠ Information on this film is scanty, but it appears to be about the effect of war on Vietnamese children.[39]
  The novel's publication date implies that it actually concerned the First Indochina War.

Demobilization

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Who'll Stop the Rain	1978	Karel Reisz	US	Dog Soldiers[40]	Robert Stone	1974	Novel
Americana ♠	1983	David Carradine	US	The Perfect Round	Henry Norton Robinson	1945[1]	Novel
Heaven & Earth	1993	Oliver Stone	US	When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman's Journey from War to Peace	Le Ly Hayslip & Jay Wurts	1989	Memoir

• ♠ A rootless veteran works to repair a small town merry-go-round.

Casualties physical and mental

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Deer Hunter[20]	1978	Michael Cimino	US	Three Comrades (uncredited)	Erich Maria Remarque (uncredited)	1937	Novel
Coming Home	1978	Hal Ashby	US	Coming Home	George Davis	1972[1]	Novel
Birdy	1984	Alan Parker	US	Birdy[41]	William Wharton	1978	Novel
Born on the Fourth of July ♠	1989	Oliver Stone	US	Born on the Fourth of July	Ron Kovic	1976	Memoir
White Badge ♦	1992	Chung Ji-young	South Korea	White Badge: a novel of Korea 하얀전쟁	Ahn Junghyo (An Chŏng-hyo)	1983	Novel
Skins ♥	2002	Chris Eyre	US	Skins	Adrian C. Louis	1995	Novel

• ♠ For another recent autobiography of a seriously wounded serviceman, see Tumbledown (Falklands War).
  The World War II classic film on this subject is The Men with Marlon Brando (original screenplay, not based on a book).
  Of related interest are Pride of the Marines with John Garfield and The Best Years of Our Lives with Harold Russell.
• ♦ One veteran of the South Korean platoon is left badly disturbed.
• ♥ The story involves a troubled Sioux veteran.

Memorial

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Gardens Of Stone	1987	Francis Ford Coppola	US	Gardens Of Stone	Nicholas Proffitt	1983	Novel
In Country	1989	Norman Jewison	US	In Country[4]	Bobbie Ann Mason	1985	Novel

What if ...

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Watchmen	2009	Zack Snyder	US	Watchmen	Alan Moore	1986– 1987	Comic

Cambodian Civil War

1967–1975

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Killing Fields	1984	Roland Joffé	UK	The Death and Life of Dith Pran	Sydney Schanberg	1980	Non-fiction
Nixon ♠	1995	Oliver Stone	US	The Final Days	Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein	1976	Non-fiction

• ♠ Cambodia is covered, in addition to Vietnam.

Congo Crisis

1960–1966 (including the Katangan Secession and the Simba Rebellion)

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Dark of the Sun ♠	1968	Jack Cardiff	US	Train From Katanga aka The Dark of the Sun	Wilbur Smith	1965	Novel

• ♠ The film was unofficially remade as Tears of the Sun, set in a fictitious Nigerian Civil War.

Quiet Revolution

1960–1970?

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Duplessis *	1977	Mark Blandford	Canada	Duplessis	Conrad Black	1973/1977	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Abortive Bolivian revolution

1966–1967

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Che Part 2	2008	Steven Soderbergh	US	Bolivian Diary Diario del Che en Bolivia	Ernesto "Che" Guevara	1968/ 1994	Diary
Che Guevara aka Che	2008	Josh Evans	US	Don Quixote ♦ (uncredited)	Miguel de Cervantes (uncredited)	1615	Novel

• ♠ Anderson is credited as chief consultant, not as author.
• ♦ Guevara recommends Don Quixote to a campesino.

Rhodesian Bush War

1966–1980

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Albino aka Whispering Death	1976	Jürgen Goslar	West Germany	The Whispering Death	Daniel Carney	1969	Novel
A Game for Vultures	1979	James Fargo	UK	A Game for Vultures (?)	Michael Hartmann	197?	Novel

The Troubles

1966–1998

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Cal	1984	Pat O'Connor	UK & Ireland	Cal	Bernard MacLaverty	1983	Novel
Harry's Game *	1982	Lawrence Gordon Clark	UK	Harry's Game	Gerald Seymour	1975	Novel
The Glory Boys *	1984	Michael Ferguson	UK	The Glory Boys	Gerald Seymour	1976	Novel
The Railway Station Man	1992	Michael Whyte	UK	The Railway Station Man	Jennifer Johnston	1985	Novel
In the Name of the Father	1993	Jim Sheridan	Ireland & UK	Proved Innocent	Gerry Conlon	199?	Memoir
The Informant *	1997	Jim McBride	Ireland & US	Field of Blood	Gerald Seymour	1985	Novel
Bloody Sunday *	2002	Paul Greengrass	UK & Ireland	Eyewitness Bloody Sunday – The Truth (uncredited)	Don Mullan[42] (uncredited)	1997	Memoir/ Non-fiction
Fifty Dead Men Walking	2008	Kari Skogland	UK & Canada	Fifty Dead Men Walking	Martin McGartland	1997	Memoir
The Rising of the Moon	2002	Deborah Baxtrom	US	Diary	Bobby Sands	1981	Diary

• * television film.

Six Day War

1967

Atrocities

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Murder in Television House *	2001	Ram Loevy	Israel	"Ido and Einam" from Thus Far	S. Y. Agnon[43]	197?	Story

• * television film.

Biafran War

1967–1970

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Dogs of War Δ	1981	John Irvin	UK & US	The Dogs of War ♠	Frederick Forsyth	1974	Novel

• Δ The film changes the setting of the opening to non-specific Central America from non-specific Africa.
• ♠ The novel's team of mercenaries depart from an African civil war but it goes unnamed. Forsyth had been a war correspondent in Biafra.

Prague Spring

1968

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Unbearable Lightness of Being	1988	Philip Kaufman	US	The Unbearable Lightness of Being[44]	Milan Kundera	1984	Novel

Bangladesh Liberation War

1971

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Aguner Poroshmoni	1995	Humayun Ahmed	Bangladesh	The Touchstone of Fire Aguner Poroshmoni	Humayun Ahmed	198?	Novel
Shyamol Chhaya	2004	Humayun Ahmed	Bangladesh	The Green Shade Shyamol Chhaya	Humayun Ahmed	1973	Novel

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

1971

Battle of Longewala

4–5 December 1971

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Border	1997	J. P. Dutta	India	Diary	J. P. Dutta	1971	Diaries

October War

1973

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Kippur	2000	Amos Gitai	Israel	One-Dimensional Man (uncredited)	Herbert Marcuse ♠ (uncredited)	1964	Non-fiction
Ayam El-Sadat	2001	Mohamed Khan	Egypt	In Search of Identity: An Autobiography	Anwar Sadat[23]	1978	Autobiography

• ♠ Two Israeli reservists discuss Marcuse (as well as used cars) as they drive, looking for the war.

Invasion of East Timor

1975

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Balibo	2009	Robert Connolly	Australia	Cover-Up: The inside story of the Balibo Five	Jill Jolliffe	2001	Non-fiction

Lebanese Civil War

1975–1982

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Circle of Deceit/Die Fälschung	1981	Volker Schlöndorff	France & West Germany	The Deception Die Fälschung	Nicolas Born	1979	Novel
Karol: The Pope, The Man *	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Entebbe Raid

1976

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin	1981	Sharad Patel	UK	The White Pumpkin	Denis Hills	1976	Non-fiction
The Last King of Scotland	2006	Kevin Macdonald	UK	The Last King of Scotland [45][46][47][48]	Giles Foden	1998	Novel

Dirty War

1976–1983

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Jacobo Timerman: Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number *	1983	Linda Yellen	US	Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number[49][50]	Jacobo Timerman	1981	Memoir
Funny Dirty Little War	1983	Héctor Olivera	Argentina	No habrá más penas ni olvido	Osvaldo Soriano	1979	Novel
Night of the Pencils	1986	Héctor Olivera	Argentina	La noche de los lápices	María Seoane & Héctor Ruiz Núñez	198?	Non-fiction
Verónico Cruz La deuda interna	1988	Miguel Pereira	Argentina & UK	Costumbres, Poemas y Regionalismos[51]	Fortunato Ramos	198?	Memoir[52]
Imagining Argentina	2003	Christopher Hampton	Spain, UK, US	Imagining Argentina	Lawrence Thornton	1987	Novel
Chronicle of an Escape Crónica de una fuga	2006	Israel Adrián Caetano	Argentina	Pase libre: la fuga de la Mansión Seré	Claudio Tamburrini	200?	Novel/ Memoir

• * television film.

Second Shaba War

1978

Battle of Kolwezi

18 May 1978

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Military Coup in Kolwezi La légion saute sur Kolwezi	1980	Raoul Coutard	France	La Légion saute sur Kolwezi : Opération Léopard	Capitaine Pierre Sergent	1978	Non-fiction

Uganda-Tanzania War

1978–1979

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Rise and Fall of Idi Amin	1981	Sharad Patel	UK	The White Pumpkin (uncredited)	Denis Hills ♠ (uncredited)	1976	Non-fiction

• ♠ Author Hills appears in the film as himself.

Nicaraguan Revolution

1978–1979

Nicaraguan Civil War

1979–1990

Politics and Diplomacy

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Karol: The Pope, The Man **	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction

• ** TV miniseries.

Iran–Contra affair

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North *	1989	Mike Robe	US	Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North (?)	Ben Bradlee Jr.	198?	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Soviet–Afghan War

1978–1989

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Charlie Wilson's War	2007	Mike Nichols	US	Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of the Largest Covert Operation in History	George Crile	2003	Non-fiction
The Kite Runner	2007	Marc Forster	US	The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini	2003	Novel

Iranian Revolution

1979

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Persepolis α	2007	Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi	France & US	Persepolis	Marjane Satrapi	2000–2003	Memoir/ Graphic novel
House of Saddam **	2008	Alex Holmes & Jim O'Hanlon	UK & US	Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge[53] (uncredited)	Said Aburish ♠	1999	Non-fiction

• ♠ Abu Rish [sic] is credited as script consultant, rather than author.
• ** TV miniseries.
• α Animated film.

Canadian caper

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Escape from Iran: The Canadian Caper *	1981	Lamont Johnson	Canada & US	The Canadian Caper (uncredited)	Jean Pelletier ♠ & Claude Adams (both uncredited)	1981[54]^¤	Non-fiction/ Memoir

• ♠ Journalist Pelletier broke the story for La Presse and appears in the film as a character.[55]
• * television film.

Gwangju Uprising

May 1980

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
White Badge	1992	Chung Ji-young	South Korea	White Badge: a novel of Korea	Ahn Junghyo (An Chŏng-hyo)	1989[1]	Novel
A Petal	1994	Jang Sun-woo	South Korea	There a Petal Silently Falls	Ch'oe Yun	1988	Short Story

Iran–Iraq War

1980–1988

Politics and Diplomacy

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
House of Saddam **	2008	Alex Holmes & Jim O'Hanlon	UK & US	Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge[53] (uncredited)	Said Aburish ♠	1999	Non-fiction

• ♠ Abu Rish [sic] is credited as script consultant, rather than author.
• ** TV miniseries.

Iran–Contra affair

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North *	1989	Mike Robe	US	Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North (?)	Ben Bradlee Jr.	198?	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Home front

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Persepolis α	2007	Vincent Paronnaud & Marjane Satrapi	France & US	Persepolis	Marjane Satrapi	2000–2003	Memoir/ Graphic novel

• α Animated film.

Salvadoran Civil War

1980–1992

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Salvador	1986	Oliver Stone	US	The Flower of the Dragon: the Breakdown of the U.S. Army in Vietnam[56][57] (uncredited)	Richard Boyle (uncredited)	1972[1]^¤	Non-fiction
Karol: The Pope, The Man *	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Falklands War

1982

Land operations

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Resurrected	1989	Paul Greengrass	UK	Summer Soldier	Philip Williams & M. S. Power	1990	Memoir
Blessed by Fire Iluminados por el fuego	2005	Tristán Bauer	Argentina	Iluminados por el fuego: confesiones de un soldado que combatió en Malvinas ♠	Edgardo Esteban with Gustavo Romero Borri	1993[1]	Non-fiction

• ♠ The book was reprinted in 1999 as Malvinas, diario del regreso: iluminados por el fuego.

Battle of Mount Tumbledown

13–14 June 1982

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Tumbledown *	1988	Richard Eyre	UK	When the Fighting Is Over: A Personal Story of the Battle for Tumbledown Mountain and Its Aftermath	John Lawrence & Robert Lawrence	198?	Memoir

• * television film.

Naval operations

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Verónico Cruz La deuda interna	1988	Miguel Pereira	Argentina & UK	Costumbres, Poemas y Regionalismos[51]	Fortunato Ramos	198?	Memoir[52]

Casualties physical and mental

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Tumbledown *	1988	Richard Eyre	UK	When the Fighting Is Over: A Personal Story of the Battle for Tumbledown Mountain and Its Aftermath	John Lawrence & Robert Lawrence	198?	Memoir
Blessed by Fire Iluminados por el fuego	2005	Tristán Bauer	Argentina	Iluminados por el fuego: confesiones de un soldado que combatió en Malvinas	Edgardo Esteban with Gustavo Romero Borri	1993[1]	Non-fiction

• * television film.

Memorial

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Blessed by Fire Iluminados por el fuego	2005	Tristán Bauer	Argentina	Iluminados por el fuego: confesiones de un soldado que combatió en Malvinas	Edgardo Esteban with Gustavo Romero Borri	1993[1]	Non-fiction

Invasion of Lebanon

1982–1985

Bulletin ... upcoming release: Lebanon by Samuel Maoz

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Beaufort בופור	2007	Joseph Cedar	Israel	Beaufort	Ron Leshem	2005	Novel
Waltz with Bashir † α	2008	Ari Folman	Israel	Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story ◊	Ari Folman & David Polonsky	2009	Memoir/ Graphic novel

• ◊ The graphic novel was published after the release of the film.
• † Dramatized documentary.
• α Animated film.

Sabra and Shatila Massacre

16 September 1982

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Waltz with Bashir	2008	Ari Folman	Israel	Waltz with Bashir: A Lebanon War Story	Ari Folman & David Polonsky	2009	Memoir/ Graphic novel

Lord's Resistance Army Insurgency

1987–2009

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Karol: The Pope, The Man *	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction
Machine Gun Preacher	2012	Marc Forster	US	Another Man's War: The True Story of One Man's Battle to Save Children in the Sudan	Sam Childers	2009	Memoir

• * television film.

Invasion of Panama

1989–1990

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Full Fathom Five	1990	Carl Franklin	Peru & US	Full Fathom Five	Bart Davis	198?	Novel

Collapse of the Soviet Union

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Man Who Knew Too Little	1997	Jon Amiel	US	Watch That Man	Robert Farrar	199?	Novel (unpublished)[58]

Soviet coup of 1991

1991

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Company *	2007	Mikael Salomon	US	The Company: A Novel of the CIA	Robert Littell	2002	Novel

• * television film.

Gulf War

1991

Politics

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Karol: The Pope, The Man **	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction
House of Saddam **	2008	Alex Holmes & Jim O'Hanlon	UK & US	Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge[53] (uncredited)	Said Aburish ♠	1999	Non-fiction

• ♠ Abu Rish [sic] is credited as script consultant, rather than author.
• ** TV miniseries.

Operations

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Courage Under Fire	1996	Edward Zwick	US	"In a Grove" (uncredited)	Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (uncredited)	1922	Story
The One That Got Away *	1996	Paul Greengrass	UK	The One That Got Away ♠	"Chris Ryan", M.M.	1995?	Memoir
Bravo Two Zero *	1999	Tom Clegg	UK	Bravo Two Zero ♠	"Andy McNab"	1993	Memoir
Live from Baghdad *	2002	Mick Jackson	US	Live from Baghdad	Robert Wiener	1991	Memoir
Jarhead	2005	Sam Mendes	US	Jarhead: A Marine's Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles	Anthony Swofford	2003	Memoir

• ♠ The events of these books were thoroughly questioned by Michael Asher in The Real Bravo Two Zero: The Truth Behind Bravo Two Zero.
  (See Bravo Two Zero accounts for the saga of the historiography on this single patrol.)
• ♦ Producer Ingrid Formanek is seen with a copy of the book shortly before the war commences.
• * television film.

Home front

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Law of Enclosures ♠	1999	John Greyson	Canada	The Law of Enclosures	Dale Peck	1996	Novel
Towelhead	2007	Alan Ball	US	Towelhead	Alicia Erian	2005	Novel

• ♠ The film is set in the industrial city of Sarnia, Ontario in order to have an oil industry parallel with the war.[59]

Yugoslav Wars

1991–2001

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Harrison's Flowers	2000	Elie Chouraqui	France	Le diable a l'avantage	Isabel Ellsen	199?	Novel
Dezerter Дезертер	2000	Živojin Pavlović	Yugoslavia	"The Eternal Husband"	Fyodor Dostoyevsky	18??	Story

Bosnian War

1992–1995

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Territorio Comanche	1997	Gerardo Herrero	Spain, France, Germany, Argentina	Territorio Comanche	Arturo Perez-Reverte	1994	Novel/ Memoir

• * television film.

Politics

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Karol: The Pope, The Man *	2006	Giacomo Battiato	Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Canada	Stories of Karol: The Unknown Life of Pope John Paul II	Gian Franco Svidercoschi	2001	Non-fiction

Siege of Sarajevo

1992–1996

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Welcome To Sarajevo	1997	Michael Winterbottom	U.S. & UK	Natasha's Story	Michael Nicholson	1993	Novel
Shot Through the Heart *	1998	David Attwood	Canada, U.S., UK, Hungary	"Anti-Sniper"	John Falk	1995	Article
Sympathy for the Devil (Sympathie pour le diable)	2019	Canada, France, Belgium	Sympathie pour le diable	Paul Marchand	1997	Book

• * television film.

Demobilization

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
That Beautiful Somewhere ♠	2006	Robert Budreau	Canada	Loon	A.W. Plumstead	200?	Novel

• ♠ The detective leading an investigation is a Canadian veteran of Bosnia.

Justice and Retribution

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Avenger *	2006	Robert Markowitz	U.S.	Avenger	Frederick Forsyth	2003	Novel
The Hunting Party	2007	Richard Shepard	U.S., Croatia, Bosnia	"How I Spent My Summer Vacation"	Scott Anderson	2000	Article

• * television film.

Somalian Civil War

1991–present

Battle of Mogadishu

1993

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Black Hawk Down	2001	Ridley Scott	US	Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War	Mark Bowden	1999	Non-fiction

Rwandan genocide

1994

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
A Sunday in Kigali	2006	Robert Favreau	Canada	A Sunday at the pool in Kigali	Gil Courtemanche	2000	Novel
Shake Hands with the Devil	2007	Roger Spottiswoode	Canada	Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda[60]	Roméo Dallaire	2003	Non-fiction

First Chechen War

1994–1996

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Prisoner of the Mountains	1996	Sergei Bodrov	Russia	"The Prisoner of the Caucasus"	Leo Tolstoy	18??	Story
Purgatory Chistilishche ♠ *	1998	Alexander Nevzorov	Russia	"Psalm 137"[61]	Book of Psalms Псалтирь	?	Scripture
Proof of Life	2000	Taylor Hackford	US	"Adventures in the Ransom Trade"	William Prochnau	199?	Article

• ♠ A grisly[62] Russian film, deemed "ultra-nationalist exploitation".[63]
• * television film.

1998 Chadian Civil War

1998–2002

Justice and Retribution

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Daratt	2006	Mahamat Saleh Haroun	France, Belgium, Chad, Austria	La clemenza di Tito	Metastasio	1791	Libretto

What if ...

20th century

Coups

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Seven Days in May	1964	John Frankenheimer	US	Seven Days in May	Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II	1962	Novel
The Dogs of War ♠	1981	John Irvin	UK and US	The Dogs of War	Frederick Forsyth	1974	Novel
A Very British Coup **	1988	Mick Jackson	UK	A Very British Coup	Chris Mullin	1982	Novel
The Enemy Within *	1994	Jonathan Darby	US	Seven Days in May	Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II	1962	Novel

• ♠ The film concerns a coup in the fictional African country of 'Zangaro', but the novel's basis was a genuine plot against the government of Equatorial Guinea.
• * Television film.
• ** Television miniseries.

Wars

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
Far North	2007	Asif Kapadia	UK & France	"True North" from Telling Tales	Sara Maitland	1983	Story

War in the abstract

20th century

Film	Date	Director	Country	Source work	Author	Date	Type
The Desert of the Tartars Il deserto dei Tartari	1976	Valerio Zurlini	Italy, France, West Germany	The Tartar Steppe Il deserto dei Tartari[15] [4]^¤	Dino Buzzati	1940	Novel
Notre musique	2004	Jean-Luc Godard	Switzerland & France	?	Fedor Dostoievski[64]	?	Texte

See also

• Lists of book-based war films
• War film
• War novel
• List of war films
• Fiction based on the Vietnam War
• List of United States military books
• Assassinations in fiction

Pages with the same format

• List of films based on arts books
• List of films based on civics books
• List of films based on crime books
• List of films based on film books
• List of films based on sports books
• List of films based on spy books
• List of films based on westerns

Notes

1. Publication details for this title have been confirmed by the catalogue of the US Library of Congress.
   Source: Library of Congress Online Catalog.
2. British Library Integrated Catalogue.
3. DVD opening credits.
4. Recommended by Sebastian Faulks. Source: Faulks and Hensgen (q.v.).
5. Laxness was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955.
6. Gouzenko's second book, a novel entitled The Fall of a Titan, was the recipient of the Governor General's Award in 1954.
7. Recipient of the Edgar Award in 1965.
8. The film was later spoofed as The Man Who Knew Too Little, with Joanne Whalley-Kilmer playing a similar role in both films.
9. Recipient of the National Book Award in 1979.
10. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1989.
11. Recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1975.
12. The film is dedicated to the late Indira Gandhi, amongst others.
13. Recipient of the Booker Prize in 1981.
14. Recipient of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981.
15. Listed in the 100 livres du siècle, from a poll organized by FNAC and Le Monde in 1999.
16. The film also credits the poetry of both Amrita Pritam and Zehra Nigah (of Pakistan); it is unclear whether this poetry is original or source material.
17. Source: Wikipedia article on Bhowani Junction.
18. Miller's biography is now controversial due to allegations of falsification.
19. Source: Wikipedia, main article.
20. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1996.
21. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1994.
22. Inducted into the US National Film Registry in 1998.
23. Sadat was awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace in 1978, jointly with Menachem Begin.
24. Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
25. According to French Wikipédia, this war in France is still referred to as "the Events of Algeria": dans les textes législatifs notamment, l'expression officielle continue d'être « événements d'Alger » ou « événements d'Algérie ».
26. The film was shot in Spain.
27. Recipient of the Grand Prix de l'Académie française in 1976.
28. Publication details for this title have been confirmed by the catalogue of the French Bibliothèque nationale.
    Source: Catalogue collectif de France.
29. Costa-Gavras produced the film and wrote the screen story.
30. Recipient of the National Book Award in 1988.
31. Recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1989.
32. Inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry in 2000.
33. Publication details for this title have been confirmed by the catalogue of the National Library of Australia.
    Source: Catalogue Home.
34. Recipient of the Prix du Meilleur livre étranger in 1993.
35. Incidents include a short-arm inspection, interrogation (drowning) of civilian suspects, tunnel ratting, a brothel scene, an altercation with US GIs, a war crime, and a VC night assault.
36. The 2008 sequel is entitled, We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam.
37. "The film is vaguely based on the book, Escape From Laos written by Dieter Dengler."
    Source: Rescue Dawn the Truth Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine.
38. Recipient of the Cooper Prize in 1995.
39. The film's Italian title is Sciuscià nel Vietnam (Shoeshine in Vietnam) with an implicit reference to De Sica's 1946 neo-realist classic Shoeshine, a film about children.
    According to French Wikipédia, the film concerns « l'état d'innocence ou [sic] se trouvaient les enfants confrontés à cette guerre ininterrompue que décrit Coutard [the film's director]. Comme ils n'ont aucune notion autre que la guerre quotidienne et banale, ils s'y retrouvent bien naturellement pour vivre une existence que peu d'humains pourraient supporter en continu. » (But then, that's the resilience of children, isn't it?) See Boorman's Hope and Glory for a close World War II equivalent.
40. Recipient of the National Book Award in 1975.
41. Recipient of the National Book Award for First Novel in 1980.
42. Mullan is credited as co-producer and actor, not as an author.
43. Agnon was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966.
44. Recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 1984.
45. Recipient of the Whitbread Award for First Novel in 1998.
46. Recipient of a Somerset Maugham Award in 1999.
47. Recipient of a Betty Trask Award in 1999.
48. Recipient of the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize in 1999.
49. Recipient of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in 1981.
50. Recipient of the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 1981.
51. Costumbres, Poemas y Regionalismos por Fortunato Ramos.
    (En sus textos se basó la pelicula [sic] La Deuda Interna)
    Humahuaca - Jujuy - 1988
    Tercera edicion [sic]
    La base del largometraje "La deuda interna", de Miguel Ángel Pereyra [sic], es parte de la vida de un alumno de Santa Ana, Veronico [sic] Cruz; relato vivencial escrito por este maestro rural.
    Source: Costumbres, Poemas y Regionalismos por Fortunato Ramos
52. English Wikipedia claims the unnamed source book is non-fiction. Spanish Wikipedia claims it is a novela.
53. "The actor[Yigal Naor read various books to prepare for his performance, in particular "Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge" by Palestinian author Said Aburish. During a joint interview with Naor on the BBC World Service, Aburish said [...] that Naor has captured the swagger, gestures and nuances of Saddam."
    Source: ‘House of Saddam’ brings Saddam’s complexities to the small screen Archived 2008-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, Susannah Tarbush, Saudi Gazette. Retrieved 2010-06-24 (12 Rajab 1431 AH).
54. Publication details for this title have been confirmed by the catalogue of Library and Archives Canada.
    Source: Library Search.
55. Source: TV captures heroic Iran escape, Mike Boone, Montreal Gazette, 16 May 1981.
56. Source: Lavington (q.v.), p. 63–64.
57. Foreword by Paul N. McCloskey.
58. Source: DVD commentary.
59. Source: The Free Library: John Greyson's The law of enclosures
60. Recipient of the Governor General's Award in 2004.
61. The Eastern Orthodox numbering of the psalms differs from the Protestant numbering, so the psalm is listed in the Russian opening credits as Psalm 136, rather than Psalm 137.
    The passage used is as follows:
    7 Remember, O LORD, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof.
    8 O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
    9 Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.
62. In Grozny, Arabs and Chechens cut the head off a terrified Russian soldier as black American mercenaries stand and laugh. The corpse continues to kick as the head receives a light roasting over the fire. Later, an Arab attaches the severed head to an RPG and shoots it into the Russian lines.
    Baltic women snipers target the crotch of a screaming Russian soldier.
    Black Americans laugh heartily as an Arab urinates on Russian corpses while performing a little dance.
    A Russian male sniper gains the upper hand when he takes out the groins of the Baltic women.
    The fact that a surviving Russian tank crewman has only one limb remaining makes it more difficult for the Chechens to crucify him. The blood-drooling Russian Christ survives long enough to see victory.
    Many urban warfare scenes involving tanks and infantry are effective.
    The Chechen commander smokes Sobranie Cocktail cigarettes.
63. Source: IMDb review by "Over Nine Thousand", 2008.
64. These authors are credited without specifying the precise nature of the texte in question.
    The film also contains "quotations" which may be the work of the screenwriter (Godard),
    e.g. « Le rêve d'un individu est d'être deux. Le rêve de l'Etat est d'être seul. »

Bibliography

• Clarke, James. Virgin Film: War Films, Virgin Books, London, 2006.
• Faulks, Sebastian and Jörg Hensgen. The Vintage Book of War Stories, Vintage, London, 1999.
• Lavington, Stephen. Virgin Film: Oliver Stone, Virgin Books, London, 2004.
• Russell, Jamie. The Pocket Essential Vietnam War Movies, Pocket Essentials, Harpenden, Herts, 2002.
• 100 Greatest War Movies, special issue of Military History Magazine, Weider History Group, Leesburg, Virginia, 2007.

The Cinema of North Korea

• Delisle, Guy. Pyongyang: A Journey to North Korea, L'Association, Paris, 2003; Drawn & Quarterly, Montreal, 2005.

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