Highest-Rated Movies about 'Pearl Harbor'

Return to Hardwick (2019), Empire of the Sun (1987), The Caine Mutiny (1954), Giant (1956), From Here to Eternity (1953), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), The Fighting Sullivans (1944), Eye in the Sky (2015) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Pearl Harbor movies.

#1. Return to Hardwick (2019)

Storyline: The 93rd Bomb Group was arguably the most decorated, most traveled and most effective bomb group of WWII. Helping to cripple Hitler's Europe from the air, they executed some of the most daring bombing raids of the war. Along with the group's rich history, sons, daughters and grandchildren travel to England and explore the 93rd's long forgotten air base - Hardwick.—Michael Sellers

Plot Keywords: pearl harbor, reenactment, berlin germany, tidal wave, d day, world war two, independent film ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. Empire of the Sun (1987)

Storyline: Based on J. G. Ballard's autobiographical novel, tells the story of a boy, James Graham, whose privileged life is upturned by the Japanese invasion of Shanghai, December 8, 1941. Separated from his parents, he is eventually captured, and taken to Soo Chow confinement camp, next to a captured Chinese airfield. Amidst the sickness and food shortages in the camp, Jim attempts to reconstruct his former life, all the while bringing spirit and dignity to those around him.

Plot Keywords: betting, air raid, salute, separation from family, welding, race relations, survival ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. The Caine Mutiny (1954)

Storyline: During the World War II, the crew of a small insignificant ship in the U.S. Pacific Fleet experience an event unlike any event ever experienced by the United States Navy. A Ship's Captain is removed from command by his Executive Officer in an apparent outright act of mutiny. As the trial of the mutineers unfold, it is learned that the Captain of the ship was mentally unstable, perhaps even insane. The Navy must decide if the Caine Mutiny was a criminal act, or an act of courage to save a ship from destruction at the hands of her Captain?

Plot Keywords: ship captain, court martial, mutiny, u.s. navy, u.s. military, naval officer, psychiatrist ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. Giant (1956)

Storyline: Texan rancher Bick Benedict visits a Maryland farm to buy a prize horse. Whilst there he meets and falls in love with the owner's daughter Leslie, they are married immediately and return to his ranch. The story of their family and its rivalry with cowboy and (later oil tycoon) Jett Rink unfolds across two generations.

Plot Keywords: rancher, cattle ranch, mexican american, racism, rivalry, oil, texas ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. From Here to Eternity (1953)

Storyline: It's 1941. Robert E. Lee Prewitt has requested Army transfer and has ended up at Schofield in Hawaii. His new captain, Dana Holmes, has heard of his boxing prowess and is keen to get him to represent the company. However, 'Prew' is adamant that he doesn't box anymore, so Captain Holmes gets his subordinates to make his life a living hell. Meanwhile Sergeant Warden starts seeing the captain's wife, who has a history of seeking external relief from a troubled marriage. Prew's friend Maggio has a few altercations with the sadistic stockade Sergeant 'Fatso' Judson, and Prew begins falling in love with social club employee Lorene. Unbeknownst to anyone, the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor looms in the distance.

Plot Keywords: dead soldier, court martial, awol, dysfunctional marriage, u.s. army, boxing, torture ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

Storyline: This dramatic retelling of the Pearl Harbor attack details everything in the days that led up to that tragic moment in American history. As United States and Japanese relations strain over the U.S. embargo of raw materials, Air Staff Officer Minoru Genda (Tatsuya Mihashi) plans the preemptive strike against the United States. Although American intelligence agencies intercept Japanese communications hinting at the attack, they are unwilling to believe such a strike could ever occur on U.S. soil.

Plot Keywords: year 1941, air strike, honolulu hawaii, weekend, explosion, battleship, anti aircraft gun ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. Eye in the Sky (2015)

Storyline: Colonel Katherine Powell is a UK-based military officer in command of a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya. Through remote surveillance and on-the-ground intel, Powell discovers the targets are planning a suicide bombing and the mission escalates from "capture" to "kill." But as American pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) is about to engage, a nine-year old girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute, reaching the highest levels of US and British government, over the moral, political, and personal implications of modern warfare.

Plot Keywords: war on terrorism, moral dilemma, analyst, technology, bazaar, suspense, child in peril ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. Pride of the Marines (1945)

Storyline: A semi-fictionalized account of Al Schmid in relation to WWII is told. The year is 1941, and he, a foundry worker, is happily living in a rented room in the home of his friend and coworker Jim Merchant, Jim's wife Ella Mae Merchant, and their young teen daughter Loretta Merchant. For various reasons, Al is a confirmed bachelor, much to Loretta's dismay, he who is her first adult crush, and despite Ella Mae's continued attempts to set him up. The "date" Ella Mae sets up between Al and her friend and former coworker Ruth Hartley ends worse than most of those set-ups, but it is exactly their reaction to the date that leads to them instead falling in love. Their relationship hits a slight roadblock on December 7th with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States' entry into the war. Al makes the quick decision to join the US Marines, and while Al and Ruth make no initial commitments to the other before his departure on New Year's morning, they change their minds at the last minute to commit to each other to be husband and wife upon his return. Al's experience in the war, where he fights in the Battle of Guadalcanal for which is would be recognized as a war hero, changes in relation to Ruth. Blinded by a grenade in that battle, Al, at a military hospital in San Diego, is initially confident that surgery will be able to restore his sight, but goes first into denial when it looks he will be blind permanently and second into feeling sorry for himself in his new situation. As such, he plans not to tell Ruth about the loss of his sight in breaking up with her and not ever seeing her again in not wanting either her to marry him out of pity or him to be a burden on her. At the military hospital, Red Cross worker Virginia Pfeiffer, who assists the recuperating men in whatever is required, is also their unofficial voice of reason as she tries to convince him not only that his life is worth living to the fullest as a blind man, but that he owes it to Ruth to give her the opportunity to decide for herself what she is to do with her life in relation to him.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: based on book, crab, bayonet, philadelphia pennsylvania, wedding anniversary, fuse box, lightning ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. Kundun (1997)

Storyline: The Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama as 'Kundun', which means 'The Presence'. He was forced to escape from his native home, Tibet, when communist China invaded and enforced an oppressive regime upon the peaceful nation of Tibet. The Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 and has been living in exile in Dharamsala ever since.

Plot Keywords: tibet, buddhism, buddhist, buddha, slaughter, bug, bullying ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. Air Force (1943)

Storyline: On December 6, 1941 nine B-17 bomber set off on a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii. One of the bombers, the Mary Ann, is commanded by 'Irish' Quincannon. The bombardier, Tommy McMartin, has a sister living in Hawaii and the co-pilot, Bill Williams, is sweet on her. The men are all highly professional with the exception of aerial gunner Joe Winocki, a bitter man who has every intention of leaving the army air corps. They arrive at Hickam Field on the morning of December 7, just as the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor and other military facilities. All of the men prepare to face the enemy, including Winocki whose attitude changes quickly. The bomber and its crew will participate in many missions but not all will survive.—garykmcd

Plot Keywords: parachute, aircraft carrier, sneak attack, sergeant, saboteur, navigator, military hospital ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)

Storyline: The true story of General Billy Mitchell, a pioneering crusader for the Army's fledgling air corp. In spite of an impressive performance during the First World War, the commanders of America's armed forces still think of the airplane as little more then a carnival attraction. Even after sinking an "unsinkable" captured German battleship from the air, Mitchell sees funds dry up and friends die due to poor equipment. He is court-martialed after questioning the loyalty of his superiors for allowing the air corp to deteriorate.—KC Hunt <khunt@eng.morgan.edu>

Plot Keywords: court martial, military, bomber, visionary, widow, congressman, sacrifice ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Flying Tigers (1942)

Storyline: Jim Gordon commands a unit of the famed Flying Tigers, the American Volunteer Group which fought the Japanese in China before America's entry into World War II. Gordon must send his outnumbered band of fighter pilots out against overwhelming odds while juggling the disparate personalities and problems of his fellow flyers. In particular, he must handle the difficulties created by a reckless hot-shot pilot named Woody Jason, who not only wants to fight a one-man war but to waltz off with Gordon's girlfriend.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: american abroad, romantic rivalry, world war two, aerial combat, fighter plane, male bonding, tough guy ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. Midway (2019)

Storyline: MIDWAY centers on the Battle of Midway, a clash between the American fleet and the Imperial Japanese Navy which marked a pivotal turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. The film, based on the real-life events of this heroic feat, tells the story of the leaders and soldiers who used their instincts, fortitude and bravery to overcome the odds.

Plot Keywords: world war two, based on true story, 1940s, u.s. military, warplane, chinese, village ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)

Storyline: It's 1950 on San Pedro Island in the American Pacific Northwest. Commercial fisher Carl Heine Jr.'s dead body is pulled out of the water in a fishing net by his crew, he who died of head trauma. Kazuo Miyamoto is charged with his murder. Carl and Kazuo were once friends, had known each other since childhood, but WWII has placed a strain on any sort of relationship between the ethic Japanese and Caucasian populations of the area, the Japanese population which was and is still substantial on the island. Carl had motive regarding a land dispute between the two families, land which Carl's mother eventually sold from under the Miyamotos and which Carl had just repurchased. Evidence also points to Kazuo being on the water with Carl probably sometime during his last voyage, evidence which Kazuo knew would put him in a bad light, adding on top of being Japanese, and thus decided not to disclose to the investigating sheriff at the time he was questioned. Kazuo and his wife Hatsue's fear come ...

Plot Keywords: injustice, japanese, burial, bus, cat, cemetery, cigar smoking ...

Movie Details Click Here!