The 7 Best Military and Veteran Movies of Michael Caine's Career

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After some 70 years in film and television, it’s easy to see that military movies are among some of legendary actor Michael Caine’s best works. His breakout role was a war movie. Christopher Nolan even gave his voice a cameo in 2017’s “Dunkirk.” In his next military-related movie, “The Great Escaper,” Caine will portray a real-life World War II veteran who escaped from a nursing home to visit Normandy on the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

Caine is unique among war movie actors these days, as he’s one of a handful with actual combat experience. He served in the Korean War with the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers in 1952 and ’53, and saw Chinese-led human wave attacks in action -- at least one of which he’s been willing to speak about publicly.

Read: Listen to Actor Michael Caine Talk About Fighting in Korea

In a 2002 interview, Caine told the BBC’s Michael Parkinson that he would tap into his Korean War experiences in his work as an actor, especially in his war films. His first movie was a small part in “Hell in Korea,” about a British reconnaissance group in Korea, very similar to his real-world work during the war.

“It’s sense memory,” the actor said. “You go back to something in your real life. I could burst into tears at the drop of a hat. I just go to one place in my life, … and I’m bang! Gone.”

To celebrate his experiences and contributions to the genre, here’s a quick look at some of Michael Caine’s best military and veteran movies, in chronological order.

Zulu (1964)

Fresh from overrunning the British army at Isandlwana in southeastern Africa in 1879, the Zulu broke off and attacked Rorke’s Drift, a small trading outpost defended by a small garrison of British soldiers. “Zulu” depicts the Battle of Rorke’s Drift that pitted around 150 British infantry against an estimated 4,000 Zulu warriors. The movie used historical sources from both sides to create an accurate representation of the battle.

Caine’s portrayal of Lt. Gonville Bromhead -- a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest declaration for valor in the British military -- was the actor’s breakout role. In his interview with Parkinson, Caine said he was familiar with how officers treated the enlisted troops, but he had to learn how they treated each other for the film, which was “very, very well indeed.” At the time, “Zulu” was a box-office hit and one of the biggest movies ever released in Britain.

The Harry Palmer Spy Series (1965)

Harry Palmer is an intelligence officer in British author Len Deighton’s series of spy novels. Although the character was originally unnamed in the books, Caine would take on the role for three movies: “The Ipcress File,” “Funeral in Berlin” and “Billion Dollar Brain.” As Palmer, Caine became the “epitome of ’60s cool.”

Caine’s role as the Cold War intelligence operative in the 1960s was so definitive, Palmer would later become the prime source of Mike Myers’ “Austin Powers” character. Caine would even star as Powers’ father in 2002’s “Goldmember.”

Play Dirty (1969)

Before the Allies turned the tide against the Axis in North Africa during World War II, the British were doing everything they could to sabotage and disrupt Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps. This included long-range desert patrols, British commandos on search-and-destroy missions, and other early special operations efforts.

“Play Dirty” is the story of a ragtag group of oil experts and criminals, led by Caine’s Capt. Douglas. They must move 400 miles into the North African desert to destroy a Nazi fuel depot. It was a box-office bomb, but generally an enjoyable ensemble comedy.

The Eagle Has Landed (1976)

The Nazis never tried to conduct a special operations raid to abduct Winston Churchill, but it sure sounds like something they might have attempted. “The Eagle Has Landed” is the story from the German perspective, and Caine plays decorated paratrooper officer Col. Kurt Steiner, who leads an incursion into England.

Churchill never gets abducted (just like in real life), but audiences on both sides of the Atlantic enjoyed watching the Nazis make the attempt. “The Eagle Has Landed” was one of the most successful movies of 1976.

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

If the movies on this list had been ordered from “best” to “worst” instead of chronologically, “A Bridge Too Far” would likely have been somewhere at the top. Based on historian Cornelius Ryan’s nonfiction account of World War II’s Operation Market Garden, the movie remained faithful to the book, in accuracy and duration.

It not only includes a stellar performance from Caine, but also features James Caan, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Elliott Gould and Robert Redford. Some believe the film never received any prestigious awards, because “A Bridge Too Far” depicted Market Garden as an operational failure (which it was), but it’s still widely enjoyed by audiences, even today.

Escape to Victory (1981)

“Escape to Victory” is based on the story of Dynamo Kyiv, a football team (soccer for us Americans) that played matches against German teams while Ukraine was occupied by the Nazis in World War II. Members of Dynamo would later be sent to prison camps. This movie version features British and American prisoners of war playing against a German team.

The result is something akin to “The Great Escape” meeting “The Longest Yard,” starring Sylvester Stallone (who plays an American captured while fighting for Canada), Michael Caine and soccer legend Péle. Other players on the field came courtesy of the Ipswich Town Football Club, one of the best teams in Europe at the time.

Harry Brown (2009)

By 2009, Michael Caine had become Sir Michael Caine and was 76 years old, so his military roles became much different. In “Harry Brown,” he plays a veteran of the Royal Marines who was decorated for his service in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Caine’s Brown lives in a public housing area of London that has become overrun by gang members.

The gangs prevent Brown from seeing his wife before she dies, kill his best friend and try to rob Brown as he walks home from his best friend’s funeral. Brown puts his old Marine skills to a new use and begins systematically killing the gang members, working his way up to their boss before the police can stop him. Awesome.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, or on LinkedIn.

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