Movies like The Surf Caster’s Story (1974)
The best movies like The Surf Caster’s Story (1974) are The Chaplin Revue (1959), Shanghaied (1915) and Perfect Day (1929). If The Surf Caster’s Story hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Surf Caster’s Story
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Big Country (1958)7.6/10 from 436 votes
- NewestMotor City (2026)Released 2026
The Chaplin Revue (1959)
Three Chaplin silent comedies "A Dog's Life", "Shoulder Arms", and "The Pilgrim" are strung together to form a single feature length film. Chaplin provides new music, narration, and a small amount of new connecting material. "Shoulder Arms" is now described as taking place in a time before "the atom bomb".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShanghaied (1915)
A shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money. Charlie, a tramp in love with the owner's daughter, is grabbed by the captain and promises to help him shanghai some seamen. The daughter stows away to follow Charlie. Charlie assists in the galley and attempts to serve food during a gale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerfect Day (1929)
Two families embark on a pleasant Sunday picnic but manage to run into a variety of issues with their temperamental automobile. Each incident requires repeated exits and reboardings by Laurel, Hardy, their wives and grouchy, gout-ridden Uncle Edgar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBig Business (1929)
Stan and Ollie play door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen in California. They end up getting into an escalating feud with grumpy would-be customer James Finlayson, with his home and their car being destroyed in the melee.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Woman (1915)
Mother, father and daughter go to the park. The women doze off on a bench while the father plays a hide-and-seek game with a girl, blindfolded. Charlie leads him into a lake. Both dozing ladies on the bench fall for Charlie and invite him for dinner. The father returns home with a friend. Charlie rushes upstairs and dresses like a woman, shaving his mustache. Both men fall for Charlie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBerberian Sound Studio (2012)
In the 1970s, a British sound technician is brought to Italy to work on the sound effects for a gruesome horror film. His nightmarish task slowly takes over his psyche, driving him to confront his own past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarvel One-Shot: All Hail the King (2014)
A documentary filmmaker interviews the now-famous Trevor Slattery from behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrom Soup to Nuts (1928)
Inexperienced waiters (Laurel & Hardy) are hired for a swank dinner party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOur Wife (1931)
Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Good Turn (1931)
Down and out Stan and Ollie beg for food from a friendly old lady who provides them with sandwiches. While eating, they overhear the lady's landlord tell her he's going to throw her out because she can't pay her mortgage. They don't realize that the old lady is really rehearsing for a play. Stan and Ollie decide to help the old lady by selling their car. During the auction a drunk puts a wallet in Stan's pocket. Ollie accuses Stan of robbing the old lady, but when the truth is revealed Stan takes revenge on Ollie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBen and Me (1953)
A revisionist version of American history as a small mouse comes to live with Benjamin Franklin and turns out to be responsible for many of his ideas; including the beginning of the Declaration of Independance!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMotor City (2026)
In 1970s Detroit, John Miller falls for a local gangster's girl and lands in prison for a crime he didn't commit. With his life ruined, Miller plots revenge against the man who took his girl away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBelow Zero (1930)
Street musicians Stan and Ollie have no success earning money in the dead of winter in a bad neighborhood. Their instruments are destroyed in an argument with a woman, but their luck seems to turn when Stan finds a wallet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Corner in Wheat (1909)
On a whim, a greedy tycoon decides to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing grain producers into charity lines and others further into poverty. The film contrasts the differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTowed in a Hole (1932)
Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy isn't an easy task.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWrong Again (1929)
Stable hands Stan and Ollie are tending a thoroughbred named "Blue Boy." But when they overhear two men talking about a $5000 reward for the return of the stolen "Blue Boy," they miss the part about it being the painting, not the horse. They take the horse to the owner's house to claim the reward. The owner instructs them to put "Blue Boy" on the piano and Ollie explains, "these millionaires are peculiar."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Finishing Touch (1928)
Stan and Ollie are hired to build a house in just one day. When they are done, a bird lands on the house and it collapses. Naturally, the owner wants his money back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMatriculated (2003)
The human resistance works to convert a sentinel to their side. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDough and Dynamite (1914)
Pierre and Jacques are working as waiters at a restaurant where the cooks go on strike. When the two are forced to work as bakers, the striking cooks put dynamite in the dough, with explosive results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoppycock! (1966)
Addresses the age-old problem of two men vying for the same woman. Includes an unconventional, contemporary duel between them, with a wineglass and a violin as weapons. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2011.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Why (1987)
The story of a starving third-world infant, set to a song by Harry Chapin. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Night Tide (1961)
A young sailor is enamored with a mysterious woman performing as a mermaid on the local pier. As their existences become entwined, he comes to suspect the woman might be a real mermaid who lures men to a watery death during the full moon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMarjoe (1972)
Part documentary, part expose, this film follows one-time child evangelist Marjoe Gortner on the "church tent" Revivalist circuit, commenting on the showmanship of Evangelism and "the religion business", prior to the start of "televangelism". Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Five Film Exercises: Film 5 (1944)
Opens with a short canonical statement of a theme upon which the entire film is constructed. The canon is repeated in contrasting variations by means of color. A second section poses the same image in deep film space. The image unfolds itself repeatedly, leaving the receding image to continue on smaller and smaller. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
I Think I'm Going to Like it Here (1980)
Chris Columbus's NYU student film follows a naïve freshman from the Midwest as he becomes acclimated to his first year at NYU. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Big Country (1958)
Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAndrey Svislotskiy (1991)
This animated short focuses on the lives of three eccentric people living on a farm in the Ukrainian countryside. Told in a non-linear, stream of consciousness style, the film depicts the deceitful relationship between a master and his two servants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Things to Come (1953)
A vibrant animation by Patricia Marx. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Babobilicons (1982)
Krumins’ fantasy sets the world of flora and fauna on its ear. At one moment grotesque greenish mushrooms grow, wither and reverse their life-cycle, at another, strange crustacean-like animals speed around on a bed of feathers, next a room is inundated with giant ladybugs… Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Surf Caster’s Story?
The closest matches to The Surf Caster’s Story are The Chaplin Revue (1959), Shanghaied (1915) and Perfect Day (1929). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Surf Caster’s Story?
Start with The Chaplin Revue (1959), the closest match to The Surf Caster’s Story.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Surf Caster’s Story?
The Big Country (1958), rated 7.6/10 by 436 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Surf Caster’s Story?
Motor City (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Surf Caster’s Story?
Yes: The Chaplin Revue (1959), Shanghaied (1915) and Perfect Day (1929).
How are movies similar to The Surf Caster’s Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Surf Caster’s Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.