Movies like War Drums (1957)
The best movies like War Drums (1957) are Rio Conchos (1964), Fort Apache (1948) and Garden of Evil (1954). If War Drums hooked you with its western, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDances with Wolves (1990)7.8/10 from 4,901 votes
- NewestTrain Dreams (2025)Released 2025
Rio Conchos (1964)
Two Army officers, an alcoholic ex-Confederate soldier and a womanizing Mexican travel to Mexico on a secret mission to prevent a megalomaniacal ex-Confederate colonel from selling a cache of stolen rifles to a band of murderous Apaches.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFort Apache (1948)
Owen Thursday sees his new posting to the desolate Fort Apache as a chance to claim the military honour which he believes is rightfully his. Arrogant, obsessed with military form and ultimately self-destructive, he attempts to destroy the Apache chief Cochise after luring him across the border from Mexico, against the advice of his subordinates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGarden of Evil (1954)
A trio of American adventurers marooned in rural Mexico are recruited by a beautiful woman to rescue her husband from Apaches.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDuel at Diablo (1966)
In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the killer of his Native wife, and a housewife abandons her husband to rejoin her Apache lover's tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGeronimo: An American Legend (1993)
The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, while reclaiming what is rightfully theirs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApache (1954)
Following the surrender of Geronimo, Massai, the last Apache warrior is captured and scheduled for transportation to a Florida reservation. On the way he manages to escape and heads for his homeland to win back his girl and settle down to grow crops. His pursuers have other ideas though.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMajor Dundee (1965)
During the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Amos Dundee leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners and scouts on an expedition into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding U.S. bases in Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrain Dreams (2025)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisFlaming Star (1960)
Pacer Burton, a young man of mixed Kiowa and white heritage, is caught between two worlds as conflict erupts between Native Americans and white settlers in Texas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWestward the Women (1951)
There's a deficit of good, honest women in the West, and Roy Whitman wants to change that. His solution is to bring a caravan of over 100 mail-order brides from Chicago to California. It will be a long, difficult and dangerous journey for the women. So Whitman hires hardened, cynical Buck Wyatt to be their guide across the inhospitable frontier. But as disaster strikes on the trail, Buck just might discover that these women are stronger than he thinks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Way West (1967)
In the mid-19th century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western US. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrontera (2014)
After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Enduring Promise (2004)
In the 1800s frontier, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though she's met a hero from one of her novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDavy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955)
Legends (and myths) from the life of famed American frontiersman Davy Crockett are depicted in this feature film edited from television episodes. Crockett and his friend George Russel fight in the Creek Indian War. Then Crockett is elected to Congress and brings his rough-hewn ways to the House of Representatives. Finally, Crockett and Russell journey to Texas and the last stand at the Alamo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilverado (1985)
Four unwitting heroes cross paths on their journey to the sleepy town of Silverado. Little do they know the town where their family and friends reside has been taken over by a corrupt sheriff and a murderous posse. It's up to the sharp-shooting foursome to save the day, but first they have to break each other out of jail, and learn who their real friends are.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShanghai Noon (2000)
Chon Wang, a clumsy imperial guard, trails Princess Pei Pei when she's kidnapped from the Forbidden City and transported to America. Wang follows her captors to Nevada, where he teams up with an unlikely partner, outcast outlaw Roy O'Bannon, and tries to spring the princess from her imprisonment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbarosa (1982)
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
SnoozefestMovies like thisNo Name on the Bullet (1959)
When hired killer John Gant rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOld Shatterhand (1964)
Renegades trying to get the army to abandon their fort get the Indians addicted to whiskey, then convince them to attack and drive out the soldiers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlong the Mohawk Trail (1957)
Two episodes of the 1957 TV series "Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans" edited together and released as a feature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Rampage at Apache Wells (1965)
'The Oilprince' is an unscrupulous businessman. He looks forward to a lucrative deal with the "Western Arizona Bank'. He sells the bank oil wells at Shelly Lake that do actually not exist. The Oilprince learns that the colonists would like to settle at Shelly Lake. So The Oilprince exchanges the scout of the settlers by one of his minions to give them another route. But soon The Oilprince has to recognize that he has not counted on Winnetou, the righteous leader of the Apaches, and his blood brother Old Surehand.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Laramie (1955)
Will Lockhart arrives in Coronado, an isolated town in New Mexico, in search of someone who sells rifles to the Apache tribe, finding himself unwillingly drawn into the convoluted life of a local ranching family whose members seem to have a lot to hide.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrontier Hellcat (1964)
Outlaws disguised as Indians commit crimes against settlers but Winnetou and Old Surehand are determined to unmask the bandits and keep the peace. Alternate English Title: Amongst Vultures.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPillars of the Sky (1956)
First Sergeant Emmett Bell faces off with Apache chieftain Kamiakin in this nuanced portrayal of racial tensions between Native Americans and white settlers in 1860s Oregon Country.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
The Apaches are on the warpath and the Army must defend them. Murphy's mission is to get a shipment of rifles, but it's stolen by greedy white traders with the help of mutinous soldiers
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
The Battle at Apache Pass (1952)
Major Jim Colton is a sympathetic leader who has a working relationship with Apache leader Cochise. Colton is undermined by corrupt and politically ambitious Indian agent Neil Baylor who sets up a false attack, and the abduction of a local farmer's son. While Colton is away investigating the matter, Baylor convinces Lieutenant Bascom that Cochise's band is to blame, and incites him to lead an expedition against the Apache band to return the boy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Day of the Evil Gun (1968)
Returning home after disappearing three years ago, former gunslinger Lorn Warfield finds that an Apache raiding party has kidnapped his wife and children. Though he has renounced violence, he now takes up his gun and joins forces with his neighbor, Owen Forbes. Complicating matters, Forbes is engaged to Warfield's wife, who believed her husband was dead. As they pursue the Apaches, the two men are joined by an Indian trader, Jimmy Noble.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Hombre (1967)
John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both western
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like War Drums?
The closest matches to War Drums are Rio Conchos (1964), Fort Apache (1948) and Garden of Evil (1954). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after War Drums?
Start with Rio Conchos (1964), the closest match to War Drums.
What is the highest-rated movie like War Drums?
Dances with Wolves (1990), rated 7.8/10 by 4,901 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like War Drums?
Train Dreams (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like War Drums?
Yes: Rio Conchos (1964), Fort Apache (1948) and Garden of Evil (1954).
How are movies similar to War Drums chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside War Drums, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.