War Movie Genre Crossovers

Definition
Wartime films with characters and locations set in a major conflict versus a military movie based on a unit, character or military base. Also excluding black-ops and spy movies set in recent middle eastern wars as they fit better into the spy thriller genre. We take a look at some odd and interesting genre crossovers for war films.
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War Crime/Legal
This war genre is fairly under used and features a legal or crime angle to the characters at war.
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Hacksaw Ridge (2016) - Although a good war story, the backstory is the courts martial of the protagonist.
Paths of Glory (1957) - Classic WW1 film on moral courage.
Courage Under Fire (1996) - Another legal investigation after the 1991 Gulf War.

War Heist
Again, surprisingly few films have taken advantage of this sub-genre for war movies.
Kelly's Heroes (1970) - Simply classic and somewhat spoofy WW2 flick.
Three Kings (1999) - Nice idea but drags horribly in the second half.

War Sci-Fi
Technically it's not a sub-genre because sci-fi isn't real of based on actual wars but lets include them anyway.
Starship Troopers (1997) - seriously...?
Aliens (1986) - Classic space marines battling slimy aliens.

​War Romance
Many war films have romance threads running through them but these examples have romance as a major back story.
Megan Leavey (2017) - All about the love of an army working dog in Iraq.
War Horse (2011) - An epic love story and a boy and his...horse.
Pearl Harbour (2001) - Sappy, soppy with too many slo-mo shots and Michael Bay explosions.
Passchendaele (2008) - Canadian made semi-epic WW1 film with authentic action but a bit slow paced.

War Horror
One would have thought that the low budget horror genre would have sought out the higher budget war genre but alas, there are fairly few films out there (thankfully...)
Shadow in the Cloud (2020) - Erm..... monsters on a B-17 bomber in flight (its a novel idea anyway)
Overlord (2018) - Probably the most horror-esque and gruesome war/blood/horror flick.

War Epic
These films have epic budgets too and usually can be recalled by non-war film views with ease.
1917 (2021) - The one-shot WW1 epic. Everyone's seen it (or should)
All Quiet on the Western Front (2022 and 1970) - A true epic and pointlessness of war story (both versions)
Das Boot (1981) - Grungy, dirty realistic submarine movie in German (should be in the classic list)
Midway (1976) - Classic 1970s epic pacific fleet film with tons of real footage.
Saving Private Ryan (1998) - The D-Day beach scene sells the film (nothing like it)
Gallipoli (1981) - Oldie but goodie based on the fateful WW1 Turkish campaign.
Glory (1989) - American Civil War epic with some dodgy facial hair on Matthew Broderick.
The Longest Day (1962) - A classic attempt to see how many Hollywood A-listers can fit in a war film.
Zulu (1964) - It's an epic....just because!

War Comedy
An odd sub-genre for a serious subject but these films manage to pull it off.
Escape to Athena (1979) - Oddly 1970s retro war movie humour
Catch 22 (1970) - Different kind of humour for a war movie.
Tropic Thunder (2008) - Very modern style of war movie humour 

War Thriller
Hard to know where to put these films since they aren't regular action flicks either although they rank in the top 100 war films consistently.
Dunkirk (2017) - The sweeping epic type film which lacks much of a story but makes up in pacing.
Apocalypse Now (1979) - Classic 1970s psychedelic Vietnam war.
The Hurt Locker (2008) - Hard to place this one but the protagonist bomb tech races to find the bad guys.
Casualties of War (1989) - A somewhat typical Vietnam war crimes thriller
American Sniper (2014) - Gritty and visceral Iraq war action thriller.

War Musical
South Pacific (1958) - War musical.... well, there had to be one!

War Western
Ok, not really western films but war films with an obvious western sub-plot, cinematography or score.
Blood & Gold (2022) - An interesting blend of war, heist and spaghetti western complete with high street showdown!

​War Sports
Thankfully not many of these cross-over films exist (they don't really go well together)
Escape to Victory (1981) - Sylvester Stallone in a war film (with Pele)....had to be a sports theme.