Movies like The Wanderers (1979)
The best movies like The Wanderers (1979) are American Graffiti (1973), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Quadrophenia (1979). If The Wanderers hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Bronx Tale (1993)7.9/10 from 3,081 votes
- NewestArmageddon Time (2022)Released 2022
American Graffiti (1973)
A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRebel Without a Cause (1955)
After moving to a new town, troublemaking teen Jim Stark is supposed to have a clean slate, although being the new kid in town brings its own problems. While searching for some stability, Stark forms a bond with a disturbed classmate, Plato, and falls for local girl Judy. However, Judy is the girlfriend of neighborhood tough, Buzz. When Buzz violently confronts Jim and challenges him to a drag race, the new kid's real troubles begin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisQuadrophenia (1979)
Based on the 1973 rock opera album of the same name by The Who, this is the story of 60s teenager Jimmy. At work he slaves in a dead-end job. While after, he shops for tailored suits and rides his scooter as part of the London Mod scene.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Outsiders (1983)
In 1960s Tulsa, class divisions ignite a violent rivalry between the working-class Greasers and the privileged Socs. When a deadly encounter forces two Greasers, Ponyboy and Johnny, to flee, their struggle for survival and redemption exposes the fragile innocence and enduring bonds of youth on the wrong side of town.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOver the Edge (1979)
A group of bored teenagers rebel against authority in the community of New Granada.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTex (1982)
After their mother dies and their father leaves them, teenage brothers Tex and Mason McCormick struggle to make it on their own.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThere Goes My Baby (1994)
It's the summer of 1965, and the members of the graduating class of upscale Westwood High are eager to reinvent themselves. Valedictorian Mary Beth wants to attend a liberal university. Surfer bum Stick plans to enlist to fight in Vietnam. Calvin lives in the poor Watts section of Los Angeles, which is slowly erupting in violence. As the summer nights grow long, they'll all be forced to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Last Summer (1969)
During summer vacation on Fire Island, three young people become very close. When an uncool girl tries to infiltrate the trio's newly found relationship, they construct an elaborate plot that has violent results.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Wednesday (1978)
Three 1960s California surfers fool around, drift apart and reunite years later to ride epic waves.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight Cowboy (1969)
Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCalifornia (2015)
The year is 1984. Estela is going through the turbulent phase of adolescence. Sex, lovers, friendships; everything seems very complicated. Her uncle Carlos is her hero, and visiting him in California is her biggest dream. But everything collapses when he returns thin, weak and ill. Between crises and discoveries, Estela will face a reality that will forever change her way of seeing the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLiberty Heights (1999)
This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben completes high school, he falls for Sylvia, a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van, attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman while their father tries to maintain his burlesque business.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFour Friends (1981)
A young immigrant comes to America in the 60s and is caught up in the counterculture movement which tests his bonds of friendship and love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
Tony spends his Saturdays at a disco where his stylish moves raise his popularity among the patrons. But his life outside the disco is not easy and things change when he gets attracted to Stephanie.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Bronx Tale (1993)
Set in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1960s, an adolescent boy is torn between his honest, working-class father and a violent yet charismatic crime boss. Complicating matters is the youngster's growing attraction - forbidden in his neighborhood - for a beautiful black girl.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Flamingo Kid (1984)
Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Willis, thoroughly unhappy with his modest homestead, embraces the other-world aspects of his summer job at the posh Flamingo Club. He spurns his father in favor of the patronage of smooth-talking Phil Brody and is seduced by the ample bikini charms of club member Carla Samson. But thanks to a couple of late-summer hard lessons, the teen eventually realizes that family should always come first.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoulevard Nights (1979)
Raymond Avila is an ex-gang member trying to build a future. His kid brother Chuco is a sullen low-rider still caught up in the life. Despite their differences, their family bond is strong. But that bond is violently tested when rivals challenge Chuco's gang and ignite a neighborhood war.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMore American Graffiti (1979)
College graduates deal with Vietnam and other issues of the late '60s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreaking Away (1979)
Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his three friends: the comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends' and parents' annoyance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLast Exit to Brooklyn (1989)
A gallery of characters in Brooklyn in the 1950s are crushed by their surroundings and selves: a union strike leader discovers he is gay; a prostitute falls in love with one of her clients; a family cannot cope with the fact that their daughter is illegitimately pregnant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of the Blue (1981)
A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Own Private Idaho (1991)
Mike Waters is a hustler afflicted with narcolepsy. Scott Favor is the rebellious son of a mayor. Together, the two travel from Portland, Oregon to Idaho and finally to the coast of Italy in a quest to find Mike's estranged mother. Along the way they turn tricks for money and drugs, eventually attracting the attention of a wealthy benefactor and sexual deviant.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStand by Me (1986)
After learning that a boy their age has been accidentally killed near their rural homes, four boys decide to go see the body. Gordie, Vern, Chris, and Teddy encounter a mean junk man and a marsh full of leeches, but they also learn more about one another and their very different home lives. Just a lark at first, the boys' adventure evolves into a defining event in their lives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoyz n the Hood (1991)
Three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of street life. As tragedy strikes close to home, their friendship, choices, and hopes for a better future are put to the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRumble Fish (1983)
Absent-minded street thug Rusty James struggles to live up to his legendary older brother's reputation, and longs for the days of gang warfare.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThis Boy's Life (1993)
When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLicorice Pizza (2021)
The story of Gary Valentine and Alana Kane growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHair (1979)
Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArmageddon Time (2022)
In 1980, Queens, New York, a young Jewish boy befriends a rebellious African-American classmate to the disapproval of his privileged family and begins to reckon with growing up in a world of inequality and prejudice.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Wanderers?
The closest matches to The Wanderers are American Graffiti (1973), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Quadrophenia (1979). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Wanderers?
People who watched The Wanderers most often go on to American Graffiti (1973), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Quadrophenia (1979).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Wanderers?
A Bronx Tale (1993), rated 7.9/10 by 3,081 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Wanderers?
Armageddon Time (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Wanderers?
Yes: American Graffiti (1973), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Quadrophenia (1979).
How are movies similar to The Wanderers chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Wanderers, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.