Movies like Out of the Rainbow (1916)
The best movies like Out of the Rainbow (1916) are The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Hands of Stone (2016) and Hurry Sundown (1967). If Out of the Rainbow hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Out of the Rainbow
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHands of Stone (2016)6.6/10 from 470 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Padre (2018)
American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Visit (1964)
Carla Zachanassian had a child by Serge Miller as a teenager. When Serge refused to marry her, she was driven out of town. By her own wit and cunning, she has returned as a multi-millionaire for a visit. The town lays out the red carpet expecting big things from Carla, only to learn that her sole purpose is to see Serge Miller killed...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky Them (2013)
More interested in partying and flirting with young musicians than work, veteran rock journalist Ellie Klug has one last chance to prove her value to her magazine’s editor: a no-stone-unturned search to discover what really happened to long lost rock god, Matt Smith, who also happens to be her ex-boyfriend. Teaming up with an eccentric amateur documentary filmmaker, Ellie hits the road in search of answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGracie (2007)
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHer Choice (1912)
Mrs. Letitia Summers, owner and principal of an exclusive boarding school, decides to give her two nieces an education while deciding which will be her heir unbeknownst to them. She writes each a letter, stating that a lady of means has provided for their education at Mrs. Summers' seminary. Edith and May are both delighted with the news, but while Edith leaves with her modest belongings May immediately demands a lot of new things to satisfy her vanity and desire to make a great impression. May attracts considerable attention upon her arrival but Edith, in her modest wardrobe, is received with disparaging remarks. Both do well in their studies but on graduation day Mrs. Summers calls the two girls into her private office and tells them that she is their aunt, and she has chosen Edith as her heir in recognition of her kindness and thoughtfulness towards others, particularly towards her poor mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Gehenna (2025)
In this recently found and restored banned underground classic from 1984, four girls go into a bathroom to hide in the middle of a war and, after an impulsive act by one of them, they find themselves trapped there. As panic gives way to despair, tragedy approaches.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
In the Furnace Fire (1912)
John meets Mary and is invited to her home where he falls in love with her sister, Kate. They begin dating and John introduces her to his coworker Frank Johnson. Johnson lies, claiming John is a thief, causing Kate to leave John for Frank. John quits his job and leaves town, while Johnson marries Kate, but they are unhappy. Mary hires a detective who uncovers that Johnson is the real thief leading to his arrest while Mary informs John of his vindication. John returns, finds Kate denouncing Mary, and publicly rejects Kate by embracing Mary, revealing his true feelings for her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Hindoo's Curse (1912)
Adventurers Guy Randall and Jack Lowell flee English Army headquarters in India after being caught cheating. They follow their servant, Sukim, to a Hindu festival where they rob the temple's offering count and Randall steals a sacred jewel, despite Sukim's warning of a curse. The priests vow vengeance. Randall escapes to England, becomes a wealthy landowner, and forces an engaged Grace, daughter of impoverished Lord Leverton, to marry him. On his wedding night, the tracking Hindu avengers murder Randall, leaving Grace a widow free to marry her true love, Greyson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Game of Cards (1913)
A drama about a devoted daughter, Delia, and her mother, who has never stopped hoping for the return of her husband who disappeared years ago.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Sisters All (1913)
Garment manufacturer Sergius cuts his workers' wages, prompting a protest led by two Russian sisters, Olga and Vera. Sergius's affluent daughters, Hattie and Helen, decide to support the workers' cause, moving into the sisters' tenement and joining the workforce, much to their father's dismay. In a dramatic turn, the daughters bring their work to the factory and confront Sergius. They make a final appeal to him in his office, where he eventually relents and agrees to meet the workers' demands. Following this victory, Hattie and Helen decide to return home to their father, and the good news is shared with all the factory girls, ending the story on a note of general rejoicing.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Life's Yesterdays (1915)
Dalton, a promising young doctor, becomes infatuated with a dancer named La Stella who introduces him to drugs, and he becomes a morphine addict. His addiction leads to the death of a child due to a fatal medical error while he is under the influence, ultimately ruining his career.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Esterbrook Case (1915)
Paul Sturgess is engaged to Grace Van Austin. At a party at their Newport home, Grace flirts with Howard Esterbrook leading to a fight between the two men. Later that night, a servant witnesses Paul, with a revolver entering Esterbrook's room. The servant follows, sees a hand emerging from a window curtain, stab Esterbrook then vanish mysteriously. Paul is arrested based on circumstantial evidence. Six months later, a woman known as "The Woman of Mystery" is shot during a raid while trying to assist the police. Moved by hearing about Paul's denied pardon and impending execution, the "Woman of Mystery" reveals information to the detective leading the raid. This revelation leads to a call to the Sing Sing Warden just in time to halt Paul's electrocution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Battle of Gettysburg (1913)
A young woman's sweetheart fights for the Union Army, while her brother fights for the Confederates.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Scarlet Letter (1917)
The film tells the story of a noble but poor woman who arrives at Boston in the 17th century. There she marries an old but quite rich doctor but does not become happy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Out of the Rainbow?
The closest matches to Out of the Rainbow are The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Hands of Stone (2016) and Hurry Sundown (1967). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Out of the Rainbow?
Start with The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), the closest match to Out of the Rainbow.
What is the highest-rated movie like Out of the Rainbow?
Hands of Stone (2016), rated 6.6/10 by 470 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Out of the Rainbow?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Out of the Rainbow?
Yes: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972), Hands of Stone (2016) and Hurry Sundown (1967).
How are movies similar to Out of the Rainbow chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Out of the Rainbow, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.