Movies like Wild River (1969)
The best movies like Wild River (1969) are How Green Was My Valley (1941), Undercurrent (1946) and Sons and Lovers (1960). If Wild River hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHow Green Was My Valley (1941)7.3/10 from 479 votes
- NewestSarah's Oil (2025)Released 2025
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Huw Morgan, the academically inclined youngest son in a proud family of Welsh coal miners, witnesses the tumultuous events of his young life during a period of rapid social change. At the dawn of the 20th-century, a miners' strike divides the Morgans: the sons demand improvements, and the father doesn't want to rock the boat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUndercurrent (1946)
After a rapid engagement, a dowdy daughter of a chemist weds an industrialist, knowing little of his family or past. He transforms her into an elegant society wife, but becomes enraged whenever she asks about Michael, his mysterious long-lost brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSons and Lovers (1960)
The son of a working-class British mining family has dreams of pursuing an art career, but when he strikes up an affair with an older, married woman from the town it enrages his kind but possessive mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPale Rider (1985)
A mysterious preacher protects a humble prospector village from a greedy mining company trying to encroach on their land.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 33 (2015)
Based on the true story of the collapse of a mine in San Jose, Chile—that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Molly Maguires (1970)
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, 1876. A secret society of Irish coal miners, bond by a sacred oath, put pressure on the greedy and ruthless company they work for by sabotaging mining facilities in the hope of improving their working conditions and the lives of their families.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGold (2016)
Kenny Wells, a modern-day prospector, hustler, and dreamer, is desperate for a lucky break. Left with few options, Wells teams up with an equally luckless geologist to execute a grandiose, last-ditch effort: to find gold deep in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWicked Little Things (2006)
Karen, Sarah, and Emma Tunney are all moving to a small town in Pennsylvania where, unknown to them, in 1913, a horrid mine accident trapped dozens of children alive, underground. But there's a problem. They're still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Sisters Brothers (2018)
Oregon, 1851. Hermann Kermit Warm, a chemist and aspiring gold prospector, keeps a profitable secret that the Commodore wants to know, so he sends the Sisters brothers, two notorious assassins, to capture him on his way to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders (2000)
A cosmic case of flying saucers, intergalactic intrigue and out-of-this-world romance launches Scooby-Doo! and the Mystery Inc., Gang into their most unearthly adventure ever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Damned Don't Cry (1950)
Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInventing the Abbotts (1997)
In the 1950s, brothers Jacey and Doug Holt, who come from the poorer side of their sleepy Midwestern town, vie for the affections of the wealthy, lovely Abbott sisters. Lady-killer Jacey alternates between Eleanor and Alice, wanting simply to break the hearts of rich young women. But sensitive Doug has a real romance with Pamela, which Jacey and the Abbott patriarch, Lloyd, both frown upon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSarah's Oil (2025)
Sarah Rector, a Black girl born in early 20th-century Oklahoma Indian Territory, believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted, and her faith proves right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation's first Black female millionaires—at eleven years old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisChampion (1949)
An unscrupulous boxer fights his way to the top, but eventually alienates all of the people who helped him on the way up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spoilers (1942)
When honest ship captain Roy Glennister gets swindled out of his mine claim, he turns to saloon singer Cherry Malotte for assistance in his battle with no-good town kingpin Alexander McNamara.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreed (1924)
When housewife Trina wins the lottery, her comfortable life with her dentist husband John slowly deteriorates, in part by her own increasing paranoia and partly by the machinations of villainous acquaintance Marcus.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJungleland (2020)
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Union (2024)
A New Jersey construction worker goes from regular guy to aspiring spy when his long-lost high school sweetheart recruits him for an espionage mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ice Road (2021)
After a remote diamond mine collapses in far northern Canada, an ice road driver must lead an impossible rescue mission over a frozen ocean to save the trapped miners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967)
To restore his family's lost wealth, a young Boston lad stows away on a ship bound for the California Gold Rush. When their very proper butler gives chase, all roads lead to nonstop adventure, wild and woolly characters, and a lucky punch that leads to a bonanza of belly laughs!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Wild River and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Wild River?
The closest matches to Wild River are How Green Was My Valley (1941), Undercurrent (1946) and Sons and Lovers (1960). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Wild River?
Start with How Green Was My Valley (1941), the closest match to Wild River.
What is the highest-rated movie like Wild River?
How Green Was My Valley (1941), rated 7.3/10 by 479 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Wild River?
Sarah's Oil (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Wild River chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wild River, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.