Movies like Urban Cowboy (1980)
The best movies like Urban Cowboy (1980) are The Big Country (1958), The Hi-Lo Country (1998) and The Outsider (2002). If Urban Cowboy hooked you with its drama and romance, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest rated8½ (1963)8.1/10 from 2,625 votes
- NewestMontana Story (2022)Released 2022
The Big Country (1958)
Retired wealthy sea captain Jim McKay arrives in the Old West, where he becomes embroiled in a feud between his future father-in-law, Major Terrill, and the rough and lawless Hannasseys over a valuable patch of land.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hi-Lo Country (1998)
An intimate story of the enduring bond of friendship between two hard-living men, set against a sweeping backdrop: the American West, post-World War II, in its twilight. Pete and Big Boy are masters of the prairie, but ultimately face trickier terrain: the human heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Outsider (2002)
Montana sheep farmer Rebecca Yoder offers sanctuary to an on-the-lam outlaw, Johnny Gault, who is suffering from a gunshot wound. Yoder is a recent widow, and her decision to help the outsider doesn't sit well with her Quaker community. As a romance brews between her and Gault, it puts in jeopardy her standing among her devout neighbors. But when an evil rancher makes a play for the community's land, Gault's sharpshooting skills might prove his worth after all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Claim (2000)
A prospector sells his wife and daughter to another gold miner for the rights to a gold mine. Twenty years later, the prospector is a wealthy man who owns much of the old west town named Kingdom Come. But changes are brewing and his past is coming back to haunt him. A surveyor and his crew scouts the town as a location for a new railroad line and a young woman suddenly appears in the town and is evidently the man's daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAppaloosa (2008)
Two friends hired to police a small town that is suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Power of the Dog (2021)
A domineering but charismatic rancher wages a war of intimidation on his brother's new wife and her teen son, until long-hidden secrets come to light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quick and the Dead (1987)
In 1876 Wyoming, the gun is the only law. And for Duncan and Suzanna McKaskel, newly arrived settlers beset by outlaws, rugged frontiersman Con Vallian is the only hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEchoes of War (2015)
A Civil War veteran returns home to the quiet countryside, only to find himself embroiled in a conflict between his family and the brutish cattle rancher harassing them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMontana Story (2022)
Two estranged siblings return home to the sprawling ranch they once knew and loved in order to care for their ailing father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Tycoon (1976)
Monroe Stahr, a successful movie producer, pursues a beautiful and elusive young woman — all the while working himself to death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Picture Show (1971)
High school seniors and best friends, Sonny and Duane, live in a dying Texas town. The handsome Duane is dating a local beauty, while Sonny is having an affair with the coach's wife. As graduation nears and both boys contemplate their futures, Duane eyes the army and Sonny takes over a local business. Each struggles to figure out if he can escape this dead-end town and build a better life somewhere else.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHannie Caulder (1971)
After she's raped by the outlaw trio who murdered her husband, a frontierswoman hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the ways of a gun in order to exact her revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrokeback Mountain (2005)
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outrage (1964)
At a disused railway station, three men -- a con artist, a preacher, and a prospector -- discuss the recent trial and sentencing of the outlaw Juan Carrasco for the murder of a man and the rape of his wife. In their recounting, the three explore the conflicting testimonies of the parties involved in the crimes. Disconcerting new questions arise with each different version of the event.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & western
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Rainmaker (1956)
Lizzie Curry is on the verge of becoming a hopeless old maid. Her wit and intelligence and skills as a homemaker can't make up for the fact that she's just plain plain! Even the town sheriff, File, for whom she harbors a secrect yen, won't take a chance --- until the town suffers a drought and into the lives of Lizzie and her brothers and father comes one Bill Starbuck ... profession: Rainmaker!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSimple Men (1992)
Two diametrically opposite brothers set off on a journey to reunite with their estranged father but when their motorcycle breaks down while passing through a small town, they become entangled in local life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJane Got a Gun (2015)
After her outlaw husband returns home shot with eight bullets and barely alive, Jane reluctantly reaches out to an ex-lover who she hasn't seen in over ten years to help her defend her farm when the time comes that her husband's gang eventually tracks him down to finish the job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlesh and Bone (1993)
Haunted by memories of his father murdering a family, Arlis Sweeney prefers to keep to himself, focusing his energy on his work. One day, the traumatic past that eats away at him returns when he meets Kay Davies, a woman connected to the bloody event. Against all odds, Arlis and Kay fall in love; however, when his father, Roy, reappears in his life -- with the coldhearted Ginnie in tow -- Arlis must deal with his past demons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thing Called Love (1993)
A group of newcomers to the country music business seek love and stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonsoon Wedding (2001)
A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive Flesh (1997)
When Victor attempts to seduce Elena, all he gets for his trouble is a one-way, six-year ticket to prison, where he concentrates on strengthening his mind, his body... and his desire for vengeance on the man who put him there. After his release and still madly in love with her, Victor will stop at nothing to win her over even if means revenge, for Elena has married David, the cop who sent him to prison!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRio Bravo (1959)
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrill Point (2002)
Christian is a presenter at a small radio station. His wife Katrin directs traffic in a car park. Both are friends with Uwe, who runs a fast food kiosk, and Ellen, who works in a perfume shop. Their four lives are stuck in a rut. Until the day Chris and Ellen sleep together and upset the balance of the two couples...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
In the 1930s, bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow, and together they start a violent crime spree throughout the country, stealing cars and robbing banks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWild at Heart (1990)
Young lovers Sailor and Lula hit the road to start a new life together away from the wrath of Lula’s deranged, disapproving mother, who has hired a team of hitmen to cut the lovers’ surreal honeymoon short.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLonging (2006)
An average, everyday metalworker and volunteer firefighter content in his marriage to his childhood sweetheart finds his emotions unexpectedly stirred when he falls for a pretty waitress from a nearby town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
8½ (1963)
Guido Anselmi, a film director, finds himself creatively barren at the peak of his career. Urged by his doctors to rest, Anselmi heads for a luxurious resort, but a sorry group gathers—his producer, staff, actors, wife, mistress, and relatives—each one begging him to get on with the show. In retreat from their dependency, he fantasizes about past women and dreams of his childhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their marriage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Promised Land (1975)
At the turn of the century, Lodz, Poland, was a quick-paced manufacturing center for textiles, replete with cutthroat industrialists and unsafe working conditions. Three young friends, a Pole, a Jew, and a German, pool their money together to build a factory.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Urban Cowboy?
The closest matches to Urban Cowboy are The Big Country (1958), The Hi-Lo Country (1998) and The Outsider (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Urban Cowboy?
Start with The Big Country (1958), the closest match to Urban Cowboy.
What is the highest-rated movie like Urban Cowboy?
8½ (1963), rated 8.1/10 by 2,625 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Urban Cowboy?
Montana Story (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Urban Cowboy?
Yes: The Big Country (1958), The Hi-Lo Country (1998) and The Outsider (2002).
How are movies similar to Urban Cowboy chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Urban Cowboy, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.