Movies Like Football Thrills of 1944

If you liked Football Thrills of 1944 (1945), a movie directed by Pete Smith, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
We Are Marshall (2006)
★ 6.9/10
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
2
12 Mighty Orphans (2021)
★ 7.2/10
Haunted by his mysterious past, a devoted high school football coach leads a scrawny team of orphans to the state championship during the Great Depression and inspires a broken nation along the way.
3
Escape to Victory (1981)
★ 6.9/10
A group of POWs in a German prison camp during World War II play the German National Soccer Team in this powerful film depicting the role of prisoners during wartime.
4
Pressure (2026)
★ 7.7/10
In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, and the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Captain James Stagg face an impossible choice—launch the largest and most dangerous seaborne…
5
The Express (2008)
★ 7.1/10
Follow the inspirational life of college football hero Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
6
Annapolis (2006)
★ 6.9/10
Jake Huard, from a shipbuilders family, promised his dying mother he'd make it to Annapolis Naval Academy. Thanks to tenaciously bugging a Congressman, he's selected despite dubious grades. Once inside, Jake soon…
7
The Match (2021)
★ 6.1/10
Inspired by true events from the spring of 1944 when the Nazis organized a football match between a team of camp inmates and an elite Nazi team on Adolf Hitler's birthday. A match the prisoners are determined to win…
8
Paterno (2018)
★ 6.2/10
After becoming the winningest coach in college football history, Joe Paterno is embroiled in Penn State's Jerry Sandusky sexual abuse scandal, challenging his legacy and forcing him to face questions of institutional…
9
Men of Honor (2000)
★ 7.5/10
Against formidable odds -- and an old-school diving instructor embittered by the U.S. Navy's new, less prejudicial policies -- Carl Brashear sets his sights on becoming the Navy's first African-American master diver in…
10
Catch-22 (1970)
★ 6.7/10
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.
11
When the Game Stands Tall (2014)
★ 6.7/10
A young coach turns a losing high school football program around to go undefeated for 12 consecutive seasons.
12
Radio (2003)
★ 7.4/10
In the racially divided town of Anderson, South Carolina in 1976, football coach Harold Jones spots a mentally disabled African-American young man nicknamed Radio near his practice field and is inspired to befriend…
13
Rudy (1993)
★ 7.4/10
Rudy grew up in a steel mill town where most people ended up working, but wanted to play football at Notre Dame instead. There were only a couple of problems. His grades were a little low, his athletic skills were…
14
The Young Lions (1958)
★ 6.7/10
The lives of three young men, a German and two Americans, during WWII.
15
Major Payne (1995)
★ 6.5/10
Major Benson Winifred Payne is being discharged from the Marines. Payne is a killin' machine, but the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield. A career Marine, he has no idea what to do as a civilian…
16
Overlord (2018)
★ 6.7/10
On the eve of D-Day, a team of American paratroopers crash behind enemy lines and come face-to-face with a Nazi threat unlike any the world has ever seen.
17
Coach Carter (2005)
★ 7.6/10
Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
18
Top Gun (1986)
★ 7.1/10
For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal…
19
Cadet Kelly (2002)
★ 6.2/10
Hyperactive teenager Kelly is enrolled into a military school when her new stepfather becomes the Commandant. At first she has problems fitting in and taking orders until she tries out for the drill team.
20
The Game Plan (2007)
★ 6.5/10
Bachelor football star Joe Kingman seems to have it all. He is wealthy and carefree, and his team is on the way to capturing a championship. Suddenly, he is tackled by some unexpected news: He has a young daughter, the…