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Movies like 1941

Key Features:
World War II, Pearl Harbor, Paranoia, Satire, Slapstick comedy, Military, Mistaken identity, Farce, Historical context
Tone:
satirical, whimsical
Target Audience:
Comedy fans, Historical satire enthusiasts, War movie parodies
Emotional Arc:
Anxiety → Hysteria → Absurdity

1941

1979-12-14
1941 Poster - Find Similar Movies

In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.

Genres
Comedy, War
Cast
Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshirō Mifune, Warren Oates, Robert Stack
Crew
Steven Spielberg, Bob Gale, Bob Gale, John Milius, Robert Zemeckis, Robert Zemeckis
Rating
5.781(658 votes)
19411941
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The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

When a Soviet submarine gets stuck on a sandbar off the coast of a New England island, its commander orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Rozanov, to get them moving again before there is an international incident. Rozanov seeks assistance from the island locals, including the police chief and a vacationing television writer, while trying to allay their fears of a Communist invasion by claiming he and his crew are Norwegian sailors.



Barton Fink
7.456

A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.



Tora! Tora! Tora!
7.1

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.



Catch-22
Catch-22(1970)
6.7

A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.



From Here to Eternity

In 1941 Hawaii, a private is cruelly punished for not boxing on his unit's team, while his captain's wife and second in command are falling in love.



M*A*S*H
M*A*S*H(1970)
6.963

The staff of a Korean War field hospital use humor and hijinks to keep their sanity in the face of the horror of war.



Panic in Year Zero!

While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.



The Americanization of Emily

American sailor Charlie Madison falls for a pretty Englishwoman while trying to avoid a senseless and dangerous D-Day mission concocted by a deranged admiral.



Spies Like Us
6.2

Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for nuclear war.



Down Periscope
6.4

Maverick Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge will never be a textbook officer, but he's a brilliant seaman who's always wanted to command a nuclear submarine — he's been given one last chance to clean up his record. Unfortunately, Admiral Graham, his nemesis, would rather sink the fleet than give Dodge his own boat. So, Graham stacks the deck against him and assigns Dodge to the Stingray, a diesel-powered WW2 submarine that can barely keep afloat. To make matters worse, Dodge's crew is a collection of maladjusted, mistake-prone misfits. Then, he's tagged the "enemy" in a crucial war game, and ordered to take on the U.S. Navy's best.



Pearl Harbor
6.94

The lifelong friendship between Rafe McCawley and Danny Walker is put to the ultimate test when the two ace fighter pilots become entangled in a love triangle with beautiful Naval nurse Evelyn Johnson. But the rivalry between the friends-turned-foes is immediately put on hold when they find themselves at the center of Japan's devastating attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.



Chasers
Chasers(1994)
5.4

Military men Rock Reilly and Eddie Devane are tasked with taking a prisoner, blonde bombshell Toni Johnson, on what becomes an unforgettable road trip. Toni, an enlistee who's in trouble for deserting her unit, soon proves that she's craftier than most inmates.



Go for It
Go for It(1983)
7

After Doug picks up hitchhiking Rosco with his truck, they are mistaken for two bank robbers by the traffic police. They manage to escape only to be confused for two secret agents while trying to take a flight at the airport.



MacGruber
MacGruber(2010)
5.416

Ex-special operative MacGruber is called back into action to take down his archenemy, Dieter Von Cunth, who's in possession of a nuclear warhead and bent on destroying Washington, DC.



Delta Farce
4.764

Three bumbling Army reservists are hustled onto a plane headed for combat in Iraq -- but the fact that the plane drops them in Mexico doesn't stop them from "liberating" what they believe to be the Middle East.



Operation Pacific

During WWII, Duke E. Gifford is second in command of the USS Thunderfish, a submarine which is firing off torpedoes that either explode too early or never explode at all. It's a dilemma that he'll eventually take up personally. Even more personal is his quest to win back his ex-wife, a nurse; but he'll have to win her back from a navy flier who also happens to be his commander's little brother.



The Two Marshals
7.157

September 1943: in the general confusion a thief dressed as a priest and a sergeant exchange clothes and roles.



Hanky Panky
5.3

Naïve Michael Jordon is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she's later murdered, Michael becomes the chief suspect and goes on the run.



Mister Roberts
7.067

Mr. Roberts is a Navy officer who's yearning for battle but is stuck in the backwaters of World War II on a non-commissioned ship run by the bullying Captain Morton.



State and Main
6.3

A movie crew invades a small town whose residents are all too ready to give up their values for showbiz glitz.



The Glass Bottom Boat

Bruce, the owner of an aerospace company, is infatuated with Jennifer and hires her to be his biographer so that he can be near her and win her affections. Is she actually a Russian spy trying to obtain aerospace secrets?



The Impostors
5.9

Wrongly accused of physically abusing a fellow actor, starving thespians Arthur and Maurice find themselves pursued by the law aboard a cruise ship.



It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.



Boat Trip
Boat Trip(2002)
5.3

Two guys whose love lives are a wreck look forward to finding ladies on the high seas. Unfortunately, they've mistakenly been booked on a gay cruise.



Disaster Movie
3.2

Over the course of one evening, an unsuspecting group of twenty-somethings find themselves bombarded by a series of natural disasters and catastrophic events.



Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.



Crimewave
Crimewave(1985)
5.5

Fed up of his business partner, Ernest Trend hires the services of two exterminators. When things go drastically wrong and they murder the wrong man, the race is on to frame an innocent video surveillance man.



Critical Condition
5.474

Eddie is a con artist. When he's framed and comes before a judge, he hopes to get off the hook by climbing insanity—but instead ends up in a hospital for a mental assessment. That night, a storm causes a power failure and, in the ensuing chaos, Eddie is mistaken for a doctor and suddenly finds himself in charge of the hospital.



The Wrong Guy
6.8

Nelson Hibbert expects to become the new president of Nagel Industries, but Mr. Nagel gives the promotion to another employee. When Nelson barges into Nagel's office to confront him, he finds Nagel's been murdered. Fearing that he will be implicated, Nelson decides to run from the law...despite the fact that the police already know the killer's identity.



The Couch Trip
5.447

The escaped mental patient and delinquent John W. Burns Jr. replaces Dr. Maitlin on a radio show, saying he's the psychiatrist Lawrence Baird.



Sphere
Sphere(1998)
6.1

A spacecraft is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, presumed to be at least 300 years old and of alien origin. A crack team of scientists and experts is assembled and taken to the Habitat, a state-of-the-art underwater living environment, to investigate.



Sharknado
Sharknado(2013)
3.919

A freak hurricane hits Los Angeles, causing man-eating sharks to be scooped up in tornadoes and flooding the city with shark-infested seawater. Surfer and bar-owner Fin sets out with his friends Baz and Nova to rescue his estranged wife April and teenage daughter Claudia.



To Be or Not to Be
6.701

A bad Polish actor is just trying to make a living when Poland is invaded by the Germans in World War II. His wife has the habit of entertaining young Polish officers while he's on stage, which is also a source of depression to him. When one of her officers comes back on a Secret Mission, the actor takes charge and comes up with a plan for them to escape.



2001: A Space Travesty

When odd reports are received through official channels stating that the President of the United States is being held captive on a secret international moon base called Vegan and that he has been replaced on Earth by a clone, the US Marshall Service immediately sends their 'best' man, Dix, on the mission.



In Harm's Way
6.551

A Naval officer, reprimanded after Pearl Harbor, is later promoted to Rear Admiral and gets a second chance to prove himself against the Japanese.



Airplane!
Airplane!(1980)
7.309

An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.



Up!
Up!(1976)
5.6

Adolf Hitler is hiding out in California under the identity of Adolf Schwartz; however, he is soon murdered by a mysterious assailant. This coincides with the arrival of a mysterious woman in a nearby town. Whatever the case might be, nobody seems interested in investigating the crime, but there are many who are interested in her.



Korkusuz Korkak
7.6

He is a civil servant in the bland state office. His whole life changes when his reports get mixed up in the hospital and he gets news that he's going to die very soon.



Coneheads
Coneheads(1993)
5.5

A pair of aliens arrive on Earth to prepare for invasion, but crash instead. With enormous cone-shaped heads, robotlike walks and an appetite for toilet paper, aliens Beldar and Prymatt don't exactly blend in with the population of Paramus, N.J. But for some reason, everyone believes them when they say they're from France.



Hell in the Pacific

During World War II, a shot-down American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain find themselves stranded on the same small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean.



Surf Nazis Must Die
3.857

When a Black oil well worker is killed by a band of California neo-Nazis, his gun-wielding grandmother busts out of her retirement home to avenge him.



Operation Petticoat

A World War II submarine commander finds himself stuck with a damaged sub, a con-man executive officer, and a group of army nurses.



OSS 117: Panic in Bangkok

A secret agent sets out to stop an evil scientist who is about to unleash on the world a virulent biological strain he has developed during experiments on rats.



Lone Star State of Mind

Earl and Baby, two young lovers with a plan to escape their small Texas town. But when Baby's dim-witted cousin Junior gets tangled up in a whole heap of trouble, Earl has just 48 hours to save the day, rescue Junior and keep his promise to get his Baby to Los Angeles in time for sweeps.



Wag the Dog
6.943

During the final weeks of a presidential race, the President is accused of sexual misconduct. To distract the public until the election, the President's adviser hires a Hollywood producer to help him stage a fake war.



Canadian Bacon
5.732

The U.S. President, low in the opinion polls, gets talked into raising his popularity by trying to start a cold war with Canada.



What Just Happened
5.427

During the course of an ordinary week in Hollywood, movie producer Ben must navigate his way through shark-infested waters as he struggles to complete his latest projects. A demanding studio boss demands extensive changes to a movie starring Sean Penn, while another chief won't greenlight a project unless star Bruce Willis shaves his beard. Meanwhile, Ben tries to reconcile with his wife and maintain a relationship with his young daughter.



Almost Heroes
5.392

Two hapless explorers lead an ill-fated 1804 expedition through the Pacific Northwest in a hopeless, doomed effort to reach the Pacific Ocean before Lewis and Clark.



Best Defense
4.3

An engineer fails to get the bugs out of a tank before an Army officer has to use it in Kuwait.



What's Up, Doc?
7.4

The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.



My Fellow Americans

They used to run the country. Now they're running for their lives! Two on-the-lam former Presidents of the United States. Framed in a scandal by the current President and pursued by armed agents, the two squabbling political foes plunge into a desperately frantic search for the evidence that will establish their innocence.



The Kentucky Fried Movie

A series of loosely connected skits that spoof news programs, commercials, porno films, kung-fu films, disaster films, blaxploitation films, spy films, mafia films, and the fear that somebody is watching you on the other side of the TV.



North by Northwest
7.98

Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy, triggering a deadly cross-country chase.



Run Silent, Run Deep

The captain of a submarine sunk by the Japanese during WWII is finally given a chance to skipper another sub after a year of working a desk job. His singleminded determination for revenge against the destroyer that sunk his previous vessel puts his new crew in unneccessary danger.



Brazil
Brazil(1985)
7.7

Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.



Kelly's Heroes
7.3

A misfit group of World War II American soldiers goes AWOL to rob a bank behind German lines.



Silver Streak
6.7

A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.



Amos & Andrew
5.4

When Andrew Sterling, a successful black urbanite writer, buys a vacation home on a resort in New England the police mistake him for a burglar. After surrounding his home with armed men, Chief Tolliver realizes his mistake and to avoid the bad publicity offers a thief in his jail, Amos Odell a deal.



The Final Countdown

During routine manoeuvres near Hawaii in 1980, the aircraft-carrier USS Nimitz is caught in a strange vortex-like storm, throwing the ship back in time to 1941—mere hours before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.



Witless Protection
4.5

When a small-town sheriff witnesses what he believes to be an attempted kidnapping, his effort to save the beautiful damsel in distress sets him down a wild path of comic mishap.



The Big Lebowski
7.841

Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.



The Majestic
6.8

Set in 1951, a blacklisted Hollywood writer gets into a car accident, loses his memory and settles down in a small town where he is mistaken for a long-lost son.



The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear

Bumbling lieutenant Frank Drebin is out to foil the big boys in the energy industry, who intend to suppress technology that will put them out of business.



Tropic Thunder
6.7

A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.



An American Carol
4.2

A cynical anti-American Hollywood filmmaker sets out on a crusade to abolish the 4th of July holiday. He is visited by three spirits who take him on a hilarious journey in an attempt to show him the true meaning of America.



Hardbodies
4.7

Three middle-aged daddies visit California to have a marvelous time at the beach. When they learn that a nice apartment and an expensive cabriolet isn't enough for them to score with the chicks, they employ a student to help them. At first he's as disgusted of them and his job as his girlfriend, but soon they find out how to use the situation to everyone's benefit.



Dragnet
Dragnet(1987)
6

LAPD Sgt. Joe Friday -- the equally straight-laced nephew of the famous police sergeant of the same name -- is paired up with a young, freewheeling detective named Pep Streebeck. After investigating some strange robberies at the local zoo and the theft of a stockpile of pornographic magazines, they uncover cult activity in the heart of the city and are hot on the case to figure out who's behind it all.



The Simpsons Movie
7.015

After Homer accidentally pollutes the town's water supply, Springfield is encased in a gigantic dome by the EPA and the Simpsons are declared fugitives.



Carry On Cowboy
6.3

Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a 'sanitary engineer' named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.



Stir Crazy
6.5

New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.



Out to Sea
5.7

Care-free Charlie cons his widower brother-in-law Herb into an expenses-paid luxury cruise in search of rich, lonely ladies. The catch is that they are required to be dance hosts! With a tyrannical cruise director, and the luscious Liz and lovely Vivian, our heroes have lots of mis-adventures before they finally return to port.



Fathers' Day
5.5

A woman cons two old boyfriends into searching for her runaway son by convincing both that they are the boy's father.



Getting Any?
5.713

While pursuing his dream of having car sex, a goofy middle-aged man makes all the wrong moves and ends up enrolling in a number of crazy escapades.



Fletch
Fletch(1985)
6.7

When investigative reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he's approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk, who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk's story.



Fool's Paradise
4.634

A down-on-his-luck publicist discovers a recently released mental health patient who looks just like a misbehaving movie star. The publicist subs him into a film, creating a new star. But fame and fortune are not all they are cracked up to be.



¡Three Amigos!
6.32

A trio of unemployed silent film actors are mistaken for real heroes by a small Mexican village in search of someone to stop a malevolent bandit.



Zone Troopers
5.331

American soldiers, led by The Sarge, are stuck behind Nazi enemy lines. As they make their way across the Italian countryside, they come across an alien spaceship that has crash-landed in the woods. The alien pilot is dead, but one of the ship's passengers is on the loose. As the GIs hunt down the alien by splitting into smaller groups, they're not only tracked by the Nazis, but also a whole host of other aliens come to save their stranded party.



Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure

Alan gets a map to some war treasure which the Japanese army left behind on a small Pacific island at the end of World War II. But some gangsters try to steal the map from him and so he hides on Charlie's boat which just leaves the harbor. He manipulates the ship's compass so that Charlie is not aware that he is sailing to the treasure island. But when they step on the island, they discover that it is not as abandoned as they believed: there are some natives - and a Japanese soldier still defending the treasure



Neighbors
Neighbors(1981)
5.638

One man's quiet suburban life takes a sickening lurch for the worse when a young couple move into the deserted house next door. From the word go it is obvious these are not the quiet professional types who *should* be living in such a nice street. As more and more unbelievable events unfold, our hero starts to question his own sanity... and those of his family.



U-571
U-571(2000)
6.514

In the midst of World War II, the battle under the sea rages and the Nazis have the upper hand as the Allies are unable to crack their war codes. However, after a wrecked U-boat sends out an SOS signal, the Allies realise this is their chance to seize the 'enigma coding machine'.



On the Beach
6.6

In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. In denial about the loss of his wife and children in the holocaust, American Captain Towers meets careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson, who begins to fall for him. The sub returns after reconnaissance a month (or less) before the end; will Towers and Moira find comfort with each other?



America's Sweethearts
5.698

In the midst of a nasty public breakup of married movie stars, a studio publicist scrambles to put a cap on the escalating situation as the couple's latest film has found it's only print kidnapped by the director.



Trading Places
7.23

A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.



Twilight Zone: The Movie

An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet"—and one original story, "Time Out."



Date Night
6.1

Phil and Claire Foster fear that their mild-mannered relationship may be falling into a stale rut. During their weekly date night, their dinner reservation leads to their being mistaken for a couple of thieves—and now a number of unsavoury characters want Phil and Claire killed.



Wrong Is Right
5.5

Political double-talk, dirty tricks, hidden microphones, spy satellites, bugging the Oval Office and a nuclear bomb for sale are all ingredients in this swift, funny and frightening look at the possibilities in today's political arenas. Sean Connery stars as TV Newsman Patrick Hale on an international chase to track two suitcase sized nuclear weapons and to uncover the twisting maze of apparent involvement of US Government agencies.



Flirting with Disaster

Adopted as a child, new father Mel Colpin decides he cannot name his son until he knows his birth parents, and determines to make a cross-country quest to find them. Accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and an inept yet gorgeous adoption agent, Tina, he departs on an epic road trip that quickly devolves into a farce of mistaken identities, wrong turns, and overzealous and love-struck ATF agents.



Even Angels Eat Beans
6.382

Two mismatched buddies are mistaken for mob enforcers in Depression-era America.



Bushwhacked
5.344

A inept courier realises he has been used by criminals to deliver money. On the run from both the criminals and police, he poses as a Scout leader and leads a scout group on a hike through the mountains.



Weekend at Bernie's

Two young insurance corporation employees try to pretend that their murdered employer is alive by puppeteering his dead body, leading a hitman to attempt to track him down to finish him off.



The Dictator
6.213

The heroic story of a dictator who risks his life to ensure that democracy would never come to the country he so lovingly oppressed.



Mystery Men
5.8

When Champion City's hero Captain Amazing is kidnapped by the recently paroled supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, a trio of average, everyday superheroes -- Mr. Furious, the Shoveler and the Blue Raja -- assemble a new super team to save him.



Overboard
Overboard(1987)
6.8

Heiress Joanna Stayton hires carpenter Dean Proffitt to build a closet on her yacht—and refuses to pay him for the project when it's done. But after Joanna accidentally falls overboard and loses her memory, Dean sees an opportunity to get even.



The Naked Gun
6.521

Only one man has the particular set of skills... to lead Police Squad and save the world: Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. Following in his father's footsteps, he must solve a murder case to prevent Police Squad from closure.



The Big Bus
5.245

A nuclear-powered bus is making its maiden non-stop trip from New York to Denver. The journey is plagued by disasters due to the machinations of a mysterious group allied with the oil lobby. Will the down-on-his-luck driver, with a reputation for eating his passengers, be able to complete the journey?



Torpedo: U-235
6.4

World War II: Resistance fighters accept a suicide mission to deliver a stolen Nazi submarine carrying atomic uranium. Hunted by Hitler’s army, the crew must outwit the German Navy to bring the cargo safely to America.



The Rock
The Rock(1996)
7.137

When vengeful General Francis X. Hummel seizes control of Alcatraz Island and threatens to launch missiles loaded with deadly chemical weapons into San Francisco, only a young FBI chemical weapons expert and notorious Federal prisoner have the skills to penetrate the impregnable island fortress and take him down.



Spaced Invaders
4.705

A crew of Martians overhears a radio broadcast of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" coming from Earth, and, thinking the Martian fleet is attacking Earth, they land their broken-down ship in a backwater mid-American town. As luck would have it, they land on Halloween and get mistaken for trick-or-treaters. Comedy ensues as the Martians try to get taken seriously.



Flashback
Flashback(1990)
6.333

A hippie radical, Huey Walker has been a fugitive for decades, accused of a crime that he may not have committed. Finally apprehended, Walker is escorted to trial by uptight 20-something FBI agent John Buckner. While the two seem to be polar opposites, it turns out that Buckner may have more in common with Walker than is initially apparent, a point that is driven home when the pair faces off against a sinister small-town sheriff.

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