Movies like Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
The best movies like Jeremiah Johnson (1972) are Dances with Wolves (1990), The Way West (1967) and News of the World (2020). If Jeremiah Johnson hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDances with Wolves (1990)7.8/10 from 4,906 votes
- NewestThe Legend of Van Dorn (2026)Released 2026
Dances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Way West (1967)
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNews of the World (2020)
A Texan traveling across the wild West bringing the news of the world to local townspeople, agrees to help rescue a young girl who was kidnapped.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrain Dreams (2025)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLegends of the Fall (1994)
In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrgan Trail (2023)
A young Abigale Archer is left friendless and alone in a brutal Montana winter during the 1870s—fighting for survival and to retrieve her one earthly possession, her family’s horse, from a gang of bloodthirsty bandits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cowboys (1972)
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTall Tale: The Unbelievable Adventure (1995)
A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community. When Daniel Hackett sees his father Jonas gravely wounded by the villainous Stiles, his first urge is for his family to flee the danger, and give up their life on a farm which Daniel has come to despise anyway. Going alone to a lake to try to decide what to do, he falls asleep on a boat and wakes to find himself in the wild west, in the company of such "tall tale" legends as Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, John Henry and Calamity Jane. Together, they battle the same villains Daniel is facing in his "real" world, ending with a heroic confrontation in which the boy stands up to Stiles and his henchmen, and rallies his neighbors to fight back against land grabbers who want to destroy their town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild (1972)
John Thornton, is a fearless man who's after more than gold; he wants to do what's right. Thornton works for the U.S. mail and is the only person daring and smart enough to figure out how to travel the deadly 600 miles from Skagway to Dawson, Alaska in the icy winter. His incredibly dog Buck is by his side and part of how he survives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan in the Wilderness (1971)
In the early 1800s, a group of fur trappers and Indian traders are returning with their goods to civilization and are making a desperate attempt to beat the oncoming winter. When guide Zachary Bass is injured in a bear attack, they decide he's a goner and leave him behind to die. When he recovers instead, he swears revenge on them and tracks them and their paranoiac expedition leader down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe White Buffalo (1977)
In this strange western version of Moby Dick, Wild Bill Hickok hunts a white buffalo he has seen in a dream. Hickok moves through a variety of uniquely authentic western locations - dim, filthy, makeshift taverns; freezing, slaughterhouse-like frontier towns and beautifully desolate high country - before improbably teaming up with a young Crazy Horse to pursue the creature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDay of the Outlaw (1959)
Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shootist (1976)
Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Books, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son. However, it is not Books' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969)
While confronting the disapproving father of his girlfriend Lola, Native American man Willie Boy kills the man in self-defense, triggering a massive manhunt, led by Deputy Sheriff Christopher Cooper.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisDavy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955)
Legends (and myths) from the life of famed American frontiersman Davy Crockett are depicted in this feature film edited from television episodes. Crockett and his friend George Russel fight in the Creek Indian War. Then Crockett is elected to Congress and brings his rough-hewn ways to the House of Representatives. Finally, Crockett and Russell journey to Texas and the last stand at the Alamo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shooting (1966)
Two miners agree to guide a mysterious woman, who has appeared in their camp from nowhere, to a nearby town; but soon, because of her erratic behavior, they begin to suspect that her true purpose is quite different.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Day at Black Rock (1955)
One-armed war veteran John J. Macreedy steps off a train at the sleepy little town of Black Rock. Once there, he begins to unravel a web of lies, secrecy, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLast of the Dogmen (1995)
A Montana bounty hunter is sent into the wilderness to track three escaped prisoners. Instead he sees something that puzzles him. Later with a female Native Indian history professor, he returns to find some answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuel at Diablo (1966)
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons her husband to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRamrod (1947)
A cattle-vs.-sheepman feud loses Connie Dickason her fiance, but gains her his ranch, which she determines to run alone in opposition to Frank Ivey, "boss" of the valley, whom her father Ben wanted her to marry. She hires recovering alcoholic Dave Nash as foreman and a crew of Ivey's enemies. Ivey fights back with violence and destruction, but Dave is determined to counter him legally... a feeling not shared by his associates. Connie's boast that, as a woman, she doesn't need guns proves justified, but plenty of gunplay results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Trail (1930)
Young scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train along the dangerous trail to Oregon as he tries to get the affection of the beautiful pioneer Ruth Cameron and plans his revenge on the harsh scoundrels who murdered a friend of his in the past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stalking Moon (1968)
While moving a group of Apaches to a Native American reservation in Arizona, an American scout named Sam Varner is surprised to find a white woman, Sarah Carver, living with the tribe. When Sam learns that she was taken captive by an Indian named Salvaje ten years ago, he attempts to escort Sarah and her half-Native American son to his home in New Mexico. However, it soon becomes clear that Salvaje is hot on their trail.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisLonely are the Brave (1962)
A fiercely independent cowboy arranges to have himself locked up in jail in order to then escape with an old friend who has been sentenced to the penitentiary.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Legend of Van Dorn (2026)
A brilliant but disgraced Civil War general gets a second chance in a quiet Tennessee town, but as his bold tactics win battles, a dangerous affair with a married woman, and her jealous husband’s vengeance, threatens to destroy him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Work and the Glory III: A House Divided (2006)
Joshua Steed returns to Missouri a wealthy man with a beautiful wife; however, the past has a way of catching up. Soon Joshua is tangled in a web of rumors, deception and betrayal that threatens to tear his family apart. Back in Kirtland, financial trouble riddles the foundations of the fledgling Church causing a division, and questioning of the Prophet Joseph Smith's divine calling. Has he lost his prophetic gift? Hundreds of Saints immigrate to Missouri, where Governor Boggs raises an army - with Joshua at its head - to address the "Mormon Problem." When the militia receives orders to attack the Mormon settlement, only Joshua can save his family from the gathering mob.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Chuka (1967)
A group under siege at an Army fort grapple with painful memories.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Cowboy (1958)
Chicago hotel clerk Frank Harris dreams of life as a cowboy, and he gets his chance when, jilted by the father of the woman he loves, he joins Tom Reece and his cattle-driving outfit. Soon, though, the tenderfoot finds out life on the range is neither what he expected nor what he's been looking for...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFisherman's Burden (2024)
A father-and-son fishing duo find a briefcase of criminal money in a river and are chased by both the police and the criminals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Yearling (1946)
Jody convinces his parents to allow him to adopt a young deer, but what will happen if the deer misbehaves?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Far Country (1954)
During the Klondike Gold Rush, a misanthropic cattle driver and his talkative elderly partner run afoul of the law in Alaska and are forced to work for a saloon owner to take her supplies into a newly booming but lawless Canadian town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Jeremiah Johnson?
The closest matches to Jeremiah Johnson are Dances with Wolves (1990), The Way West (1967) and News of the World (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Jeremiah Johnson?
Start with Dances with Wolves (1990), the closest match to Jeremiah Johnson.
What is the highest-rated movie like Jeremiah Johnson?
Dances with Wolves (1990), rated 7.8/10 by 4,906 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Jeremiah Johnson?
The Legend of Van Dorn (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Jeremiah Johnson?
Yes: Dances with Wolves (1990), The Way West (1967) and News of the World (2020).
How are movies similar to Jeremiah Johnson chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Jeremiah Johnson, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.