Movies like The Desperate Miles (1975)
The best movies like The Desperate Miles (1975) are Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013), Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996) and Girl in the Box (2016). If The Desperate Miles hooked you with its drama and tv movie, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Deer Hunter (1978)8.0/10 from 4,471 votes
- NewestGigi & Nate (2022)Released 2022
Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013)
Muhammad Ali’s historic Supreme Court battle from behind closed doors. When Ali was drafted into the Vietnam War at the height of his boxing career, his claim to conscientious objector status led to a controversial legal battle that rattled the U.S. judicial system right up to the highest court in the land.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young kids of Harlem. 1996 was the 25th anniversary of the first tournament named after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorn on the Fourth of July (1989)
Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, Ron Kovic becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBirdy (1984)
Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam War. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdam (2020)
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPassion Fish (1992)
After an accident leaves her a paraplegic, a former soap opera star struggles to recover both emotionally and mentally, until she meets her newest nurse, who has struggles of her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInside I'm Dancing (2004)
Michael is a 24-year-old who has cerebral palsy and long-term resident of the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, run by the formidable Eileen. His life is transformed when the maverick Rory O'Shea moves in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArticle 99 (1992)
Dr. Richard Sturgess leads a team of compassionate doctors at a veteran's hospital. Along with Drs. Morgan, Handleman and Van Dorn, he fights to deliver adequate care to needy veterans in the face of funding cuts and a corrupt administration. To succeed, the staff may have to bend the rules and circumvent the villainous "Article 99," a bureaucratic loophole that prevents veterans from receiving the benefits they deserve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlind Fury (1989)
A blind Vietnam vet, trained as a swordfighter, comes to America and helps to rescue the son of a fellow soldier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe War (1994)
The son of a Vietnam War Veteran must deal with neighborhood bullies as well as his dad's post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up in the deep south in the 1970's.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUncommon Valor (1983)
A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Drive by Night (1940)
Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beautiful Country (2004)
After reuniting with his mother in Ho Chi Minh City, a family tragedy causes Binh to flee from Viet Nam to America. Landing in New York, Binh begins a road trip to Texas, where his American father is said to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDa 5 Bloods (2020)
Four African-American Vietnam veterans return to Vietnam. They are in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader and the promise of buried treasure. These heroes battle forces of humanity and nature while confronted by the lasting ravages of the immorality of the Vietnam War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScent of a Woman (1992)
Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCasualties of War (1989)
During the Vietnam War, a soldier finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap a female villager.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHamburger Hill (1987)
The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRolling Thunder (1977)
A recently-returned Vietnam POW loses his family and his right hand during a violent home invasion, and seeks retribution against those responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnna's Dream (2002)
After a gymnastics accident leaves her paraplegic, 18-year-old Anna Morgan returns to high school. Because of time lost due to her injury and rehab, she is repeating her junior year, with her sister Beth. The film covers her adjustments to her new life, and her classmates' problems in dealing with her wheelchair. In a series of small vignettes, it also gives a picture of her family, good and bad, and her parents' efforts to support their kids while dealing with their own fears.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Very Long Engagement (2004)
Young Frenchwoman Mathilde searches for the truth about her missing fiancé, lost during World War I, and learns many unexpected things along the way. The love of her life is gone. But she refuses to believe he's gone forever — and she needs to know for sure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Chatterley (2006)
After a crippling injury leaves her husband impotent, Lady Chatterly is torn between her love for her husband and her physical desires. With her husband's consent, she seeks out other means of fulfilling her needs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Deer Hunter (1978)
Three steelworkers enlist in the army and are sent to Vietnam, one leaving behind a rushed marriage, the others a shared love. What they encounter during the war changes their lives forever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWhite Noise (2005)
An architect's desire to speak with his wife from beyond the grave using EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomenon), becomes an obsession with supernatural repercussions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisRenaissance Man (1994)
An advertising man is slowly sliding downhill. When he is fired from his job in Detroit, he signs up for unemployment. One day they find him a job: teaching thinking skills to Army recruits. He arrives on base to find that there is no structure set up for the class.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFinnischer Tango (2008)
Alex is a passionate musician. He travels from one gig to the next with his tango band. He can't make a living from his music, but he doesn't really care. This changes when he and his bandmates steal a rocker band's tour bus and there is an accident. Alex's friend Tommy dies and the tango band is finished. Suddenly Alex finds himself without an apartment, a pile of debts and with the grim rockers breathing down his neck. There's only one thing to do: go into hiding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Long Roads - Secret Love (1969)
Long-haul driver Hannes picks up a young hitchhiker, Herb, who had a falling-out with his parents after dropping out of college and now travels around doing odd jobs. After a series of adventures, they are joined by Johanna and her child, who missed their bus and need a ride to Berlin. Johanna has left her husband so that he can reflect on their broken relationship and both men gradually begin to fall in love with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vanishing Point (1971)
Kowalski works for a car delivery service, and takes delivery of a 1970 Dodge Challenger to drive from Colorado to San Francisco. Shortly after pickup, he takes a bet to get the car there in less than 15 hours.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Art of Negative Thinking (2006)
The local disability support group visits an involuntary member, not realizing that it will bring them to a critical mass.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Desperate Miles?
The closest matches to The Desperate Miles are Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013), Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996) and Girl in the Box (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Desperate Miles?
Start with Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013), the closest match to The Desperate Miles.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Desperate Miles?
The Deer Hunter (1978), rated 8.0/10 by 4,471 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Desperate Miles?
Gigi & Nate (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Desperate Miles?
Yes: Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight (2013), Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996) and Girl in the Box (2016).
How are movies similar to The Desperate Miles chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Desperate Miles, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.