Movies like Runner (1981)
The best movies like Runner (1981) are Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), The Immigrant (1917) and The Cameraman (1928). If Runner hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Runner
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Cameraman (1928)7.8/10 from 460 votes
- NewestCaught Stealing (2025)Released 2025
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968)
In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Immigrant (1917)
A European immigrant endures a challenging voyage only to get into trouble as soon as he arrives in New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cameraman (1928)
A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Mouse That Roared (1959)
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonderstruck (2017)
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923)
When Marie St. Clair believes she has been jilted by her artist fiance Jean, she decides to leave for Paris on her own. After spending a year in the city as a mistress of the wealthy Pierre Revel, she is reunited with Jean by chance. This leaves her with the choice between a glamorous life in Paris, and the true love she left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKiller's Kiss (1955)
Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer at the end of his career, falls for dancer Gloria Price. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria's violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for Gloria. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCaught Stealing (2025)
Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of late 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJim & Andy: The Great Beyond - Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton (2017)
Through the lens of his stunningly immersive performance as Andy Kaufman, Jim Carrey ponders the meaning of life, reality, identity and career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStyle Wars (1984)
Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's PBS documentary tracks the rise and fall of subway graffiti in New York in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSaturday Night (2024)
At 11:30pm on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television forever. This is the story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of Saturday Night Live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnora (2024)
A young sex worker from Brooklyn gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as his parents set out to get the marriage annulled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrust (2021)
Set in the glamour of the New York and Paris art scenes, gallery owner Brooke Gatwick and her newscaster husband Owen Shore, face temptation, jealousy, twists and mystery when two seductive newcomers enter their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDay Dreams (1922)
In order to impress the father of a girl he is keen on, a young man goes to the city in search of work. In his letters home he writes of his various jobs which her imagination expands into much nobler ones than those that he is actually attempting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterstellar: Nolan's Odyssey (2014)
A look behind the lens of Christopher Nolan's space epic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmerican Pie: Revealed (2004)
Documentary about the making of American Pie (1999), American Pie 2 (2001) and American Wedding (2003).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Irishman: In Conversation (2019)
Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino in conversation about The Irishman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKids (1995)
A group of bored, disaffected New York City teenagers spend a day skating, smoking, drinking, partying, deflowering virgins, and getting into fights.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShaft (1971)
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sweet East (2023)
A picaresque journey through contemporary America, undertaken by a young woman granted access to the strange sects and cults that proliferate in this country by a series of gatekeepers eager to win her over.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Runner?
The closest matches to Runner are Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), The Immigrant (1917) and The Cameraman (1928). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Runner?
Start with Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), the closest match to Runner.
What is the highest-rated movie like Runner?
The Cameraman (1928), rated 7.8/10 by 460 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Runner?
Caught Stealing (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Runner?
Yes: Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968), The Immigrant (1917) and The Cameraman (1928).
How are movies similar to Runner chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Runner, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.