Movies like Thunderheart (1992)
The best movies like Thunderheart (1992) are Wild Indian (2021), The Dark Wind (1992) and Wind River (2017). If Thunderheart hooked you with its crime and mystery, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMississippi Burning (1988)7.7/10 from 2,062 votes
- NewestWild Indian (2021)Released 2021
Wild Indian (2021)
Decades after covering up his classmate’s murder, Michael has moved on from his reservation and fractured past. When a man who shares his violent secret seeks vengeance, Michael goes to great lengths to protect his new life with his wife and boss from the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Dark Wind (1992)
What begins as a Navajo officer's investigation into a prop plane crash on his Southwest reservation gives way to a drug smuggling ring and murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Wind River (2017)
An FBI agent teams with the town's veteran game tracker to investigate a murder that occurred on a Native American reservation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIncident at Oglala (1992)
On June 26, 1975, during a period of high tensions on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, two FBI agents were killed in a shootout with a group of Indians. Although several men were charged with killing the agents, only one, Leonard Peltier, was found guilty. This film describes the events surrounding the shootout and suggests that Peltier was unjustly convicted.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Silent Tongue (1994)
Mad with grief after the death of his Kiowa wife, Roe awaits death under a tree with her body beside him. She begins to haunt him because he won't bury her. His father, who bought him the wife, thinks her sister might reason with Roe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Dreamkeeper (2003)
In South Dakota, in an Indian reservation, an old storyteller Indian asks his grandson Shane, who is in trouble owing money to some bad guys, to take his old pony and him to Albuquerque to the great powwow, an Indian meeting. While traveling, Grandpa tells mysterious Indian tales of love, friendship and magic.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Skinwalkers (2002)
Faced with the murder of three medicine men, Navajo police must find the culprit. That the murders appear to be the work of a Skinwalker, or bad medicine man, complicate and illuminate the detective's work.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Powwow Highway (1989)
Two Northern Cheyenne men take a road trip from Montana to New Mexico to bail out the sister of one of them who has been framed and arrested in Santa Fe. On the way, they begin to reconnect to their spiritual heritage.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983)
Shunka Wakan, formerly Lord John, helps his Dakota son defend their tribe against gold rushers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Dance Me Outside (1995)
Explores the sensitive, and tense, relationship between life on an First Nations reservation and life in the outside world. When Native Canadian Silas Crow is forced to write a personal essay in order to get a much-desired job, he tells the story of the rape and murder of an Indian girl by a drunken thug. When the killer received a lenient two-year sentence for manslaughter, the First Nations community felt shock and anger—and tried desperately to deal with the after-effects of this lack of justice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime
Te Ata (2017)
The extraordinary life of Chickasaw Nation citizen Mary Thompson Fisher is given a heartfelt tribute in this moving look at a culture in transition, and the way one woman used her voice to keep Native traditions and stories alive. Raised in Indian Territory, Fisher left home to pursue her dream of becoming an actress, only to find that her true calling was at home all along. From Chautauquas to Broadway and even the White House, Fisher traveled the world performing Native American songs and stories for heads of state, American presidents, and European royalty. Featuring Chickasaw citizens both in front of and be-hind the camera, this touching portrait starring Q’orianka Kilcher (“The New World”) and Graham Greene honors a woman whose own story was the most inspiring one she never told. -TCFF database
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Drunktown's Finest (2014)
On a desolate Navajo reservation in New Mexico, three young people – a college-bound, devout Christian; a rebellious and angry father-to-be; and a promiscuous but gorgeous Nádleehi (trans person) – search for love and acceptance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
A Man Called Horse (1970)
In 1825, English peer Lord John Morgan is cast adrift in the American West. Captured by Sioux Indians, Morgan is at first targeted for quick extinction, but the tribesmen sense that he is worthy of survival. He eventually passes the many necessary tests that will permit him to become a member of the tribe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmoke Signals (1998)
Young Native American man Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories no-one wants to hear. His parents died in a fire in 1976, and Thomas was saved by Arnold. Arnold soon left his family, and Victor hasn't seen his father for 10 years. When Victor hears Arnold has died, Thomas offers him funding for the trip to get Arnold's remains.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrazy Horse (1996)
The legendary Native American chieftain refuses to go with his people peacefully to the reservation and starts a rebellion.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Clearcut (1991)
A white lawyer finds his values shaken when he is paired with an angry Indigenous activist who insists on kidnapping the head of a logging company to teach him the price of his destruction.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Songs My Brothers Taught Me (2015)
This complex portrait of modern-day life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation explores the bond between a brother and his younger sister, who find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hunted (2003)
In the wilderness of British Columbia, two hunters are tracked and viciously murdered by Aaron Hallam. A former Special Operations instructor is approached and asked to apprehend Hallam—his former student—who has 'gone rogue' after suffering severe battle stress from his time in Kosovo.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Sands (1992)
A small southwestern town sheriff finds a body in the desert with a suitcase and $500,000. He impersonates the man and stumbles into an FBI investigation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisHold the Dark (2018)
In the grim Alaskan winter, a naturalist hunts for wolves blamed for killing a local boy, but he soon finds himself swept into a chilling mystery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Brave (1997)
A down-on-his-luck American Indian recently released from jail is offered the chance to "star" as the victim of a snuff film, the resulting pay of which could greatly help his poverty stricken family.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Frozen Ground (2013)
An Alaska State Trooper partners with a young woman who escaped the clutches of serial killer Robert Hansen to bring the murderer to justice. Based on actual events.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBetrayed (1988)
An FBI agent posing as a combine driver becomes romantically involved with a Midwest farmer who lives a double life as a white supremacist.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrigham City (2001)
Wes Clayton is a lawman and a bishop in a Mormon community called Brigham. The town is shaken when a woman from California is found murdered. Clayton and his young deputy work with an FBI agent sent to investigate. As a civil and spiritual leader in the frightened town, Clayton must uncover the town's deepest secrets, find the murderer and keep Brigham from ripping itself apart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
The Hollow (2016)
When a U.S. congressman's daughter passing through a small town in Mississippi dies in a mysterious triple homicide, a team of F.B.I. agents descends to investigate, the team's brilliant but jaded lead agent battling demons both past and present, as his beautiful, tough-as-nails partner tries to hold him and the case together. They find a struggling and corrupt sheriff's department, a shadowy and much-feared figure, who seems to be pulling all of the town's strings from his mansion on the edge of town and a local victim with a strange connection to a number of the town's most prominent figures.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
The Homesman (2014)
When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs, to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMississippi Burning (1988)
Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his partner, a former sheriff.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Badge (2002)
A sheriff begins an investigation into the death of a local transsexual after hearing that high ranking politicians may have been involved. Although he is homophobic, his investigation causes him to be rejected by others, forcing him to seek help from the people he once despised.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Quarry (2020)
A man on the run from his own sins, finds himself in a small border town in Texas, impersonating a reverend. The town are quickly drawn to the man's unorthodox sermons, but so is a police chief who has his suspicions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Missing Person (2009)
John Rosow drinks to forget. He is a former New York City cop turned Chicago-based private investigator. At the last minute, he is hired by someone he's never met to follow a middle-aged male subject on the soon-departing California Zephyr train to Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both mystery & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Thunderheart?
The closest matches to Thunderheart are Wild Indian (2021), The Dark Wind (1992) and Wind River (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Thunderheart?
People who watched Thunderheart most often go on to Wild Indian (2021), The Dark Wind (1992) and Wind River (2017).
What is the highest-rated movie like Thunderheart?
Mississippi Burning (1988), rated 7.7/10 by 2,062 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Thunderheart?
Wild Indian (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Thunderheart?
Yes: Wild Indian (2021), The Dark Wind (1992) and Wind River (2017).
How are movies similar to Thunderheart chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Thunderheart, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.