Movies like South of Santa Fe (1942)
The best movies like South of Santa Fe (1942) are Rawhide (1951), The Westerner (1940) and The Bravados (1958). If South of Santa Fe hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Professionals (1966)7.1/10 from 370 votes
- NewestThe Five (2023)Released 2023
Rawhide (1951)
At a desolate relay station in the west, a stagecoach attendant and a stranded woman traveller are held captive by a band of escaped convicts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Westerner (1940)
Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Violent People (1956)
A rancher, his shady bride and his one-armed brother fight amid carpetbaggers in Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDecision at Sundown (1957)
A man and his partner arrive at a small Western town to kill its most powerful man because the former blames him for his wife's death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGo West (1940)
A con man heading west to search for gold teams up with a pair of scheming brothers along the way. The trio soon find themselves in the middle of a feud between two rival families and two underhanded land developers.
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 Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)
A roving bachelor gets saddled with three children and a wealth of trouble when the youngsters stumble upon a huge gold nugget. They join forces with two bumbling outlaws to fend off the greedy townspeople and soon find themselves facing a surly gang of sharpshooters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from the Alamo (1953)
During the war for Texas independence, one man leaves the Alamo before the end (chosen to help others' families) but is too late to accomplish his mission, and is branded a coward. Unable to expose a gang of turncoats, he infiltrates them instead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fighting Kentuckian (1949)
John Breen (John Wayne), a Kentucky militiaman falls in love with French exile Fleurette De Marchand (Vera Ralston). He discovers a plot to steal the land that Fleurette's exiles plan to settle on and aims to foil it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Proud Rebel (1958)
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRough Night in Jericho (1967)
The only business in the Wild West town of Jericho that corrupt sheriff Alex Flood doesn't control behind the scenes is the stagecoach owned by tough-willed widow Molly Lang and her right-hand man, Hickman. Former marshal Dolan, recently hired by Lang and Hickman as a driver, wants to stay out of the mess, but when he sees Flood's henchman Yarbrough assault Lang, he steps up to fight the corruption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Sunset (1961)
At a Mexican ranch, fugitive O'Malley and pursuing Sheriff Stribling agree to help rancher Breckenridge drive his herd into Texas where Stribling could legally arrest O'Malley, but Breckenridge's wife complicates things.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRun for Cover (1955)
An ex-convict drifter and his flawed young partner are made sheriff and deputy of a Western town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan Without a Star (1955)
A wandering cowboy gets caught up in a range war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReturn of the Gunfighter (1967)
A gunfighter and a cowboy help a Mexican girl avenge the land-related murder of her parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Five (2023)
A scorned woman enlists the help of five strangers to execute a bank robbery. Tensions rise as the men anxiously await her arrival with the money, leaving the crew to wonder if they have been betrayed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisCanyon Passage (1946)
In 1850s Oregon, a businessman is torn between his love of two very different women and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend who goes over the line.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Law and Jake Wade (1958)
Jake Wade breaks Clint Hollister out of jail to pay off an old debt, though it's clear there is some pretty deep hostility between them. They part, and Jake returns to his small-town marshal's job and his fiancée only to find he has been tracked there by Hollister. It seems they were once in a gang together and Jake knows where the proceeds of a bank hold-up are hidden. Hollister and his sidekicks make off into the hills, taking along the trussed-up marshal and his kidnapped bride-to-be to force the lawman to show them where the loot is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Badlanders (1958)
Two men are released from the Arizona Territorial Prison at Yuma in 1898. One, The Dutchman, is out to get both gold and revenge from certain people in a small mining town who had him imprisoned unjustly. The other, McBain, is just trying to go straight, but that is easier said than done once The Dutchman involves him in his gold theft scheme. Based on the 1949 novel The Asphalt Jungle by W. R. Burnett, the story is given an 1898 setting. It is the second film adaptation of the novel following 1950's noir classic The Asphalt Jungle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shadow Riders (1982)
After starring in "The Sacketts", Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott team up again but this time as Mac and Dal Traven, in a movie based on a classic Louis L'Amour novel. They are brothers, who meet up at the end of the Civil War fighting on opposite sides. They go home only to find their family in dire need and their sisters and brother kidnapped by ruthless raiders. They set out to rescue their family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Professionals (1966)
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBig Jake (1971)
An aging Texas cattle man who has outlived his time swings into action when outlaws kidnap his grandson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Stolen (2017)
The story of a woman who must find her kidnapped son, navigating a world she doesn't know, on the edge of danger with every heartbeat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisCemetery without Crosses (1969)
A melancholic gunfighter is drawn into a vengeful and tragic kidnapping plot by his widowed ex-lover.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSanta Fe Uprising (1946)
The Duchess, the aunt of Red Ryder, comes to town to protect her property. Crawford, a town big-shot behind an outlaw gang, tries to prevent her from reaching her destination, but the attack is thwarted by Red. The latter is made town marshal, and when he gets too close to the truth and is making it too hot for the Crawford faction, Crawford has his henchman Luke kidnap Red's Indian friend Little Beaver.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
What Lola Wants (2015)
Seventeen year old LOLA FRANKLIN runs away from home but allows the world to believe she has been kidnapped. Intent on making her way across country, she meets a boy (MARLO) her age in a New Mexico diner. They fall instantly in love. But when Marlo learns of the reward for Lola's safe return, he must confront his own past and decide whether to take Lola back home to collect the reward or help her continue her mysterious journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Windwalker (1980)
An ancient Indian warrior who has reached the end of his life is brought back from his 'death' to save his family from a raiding party of enemy Indians in this unique story of 'Indians without a single cowboy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Grayeagle (1977)
A young Cheyenne warrior, who goes by the name Grayeagle, kidnaps the daughter of a grizzled frontier man John Colter who goes on an epic search for his daughter Beth, aided by a friendly native...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Hell Bent (1918)
A cowboy must save his girlfriend from captivity and then cross the desert on foot with a single waterhole on the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Like South of Santa Fe and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like South of Santa Fe?
The closest matches to South of Santa Fe are Rawhide (1951), The Westerner (1940) and The Bravados (1958). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after South of Santa Fe?
Start with Rawhide (1951), the closest match to South of Santa Fe.
What is the highest-rated movie like South of Santa Fe?
The Professionals (1966), rated 7.1/10 by 370 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like South of Santa Fe?
The Five (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to South of Santa Fe chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside South of Santa Fe, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.